BMXers descend on Toronto Bicycle Show

12 03 2009

This weekend, March 13-15, is one of the biggest events on the BMX calendar for Southern Ontario.  It’s the Toronto International bicycle show and there is wall-to-wall BMX stuff to check out or ride in. There’s the Toronto BMX Jam, a flatland comp/demo, racing (cruiser class, anyone?) and BMX videos being premiered Saturday night at the Cadillac Lounge. If you’re within driving distance of Toronto, this is not an event to miss.

I’ll be there, checking out all the action on Saturday and Sunday. If you’re lucky, you may even get one of the new cruiser revolution stickers. They look a lot like this:

crdc


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Categories : Freestyle, New School, Racing, shenanigans

24″ news from Ride, Sunday & Odyssey

9 03 2009

I guess you can call this your weekend wrap post.

Ride BMX ran a bike check and mini-interview with Jim C. from Sunday Bikes on Friday. There are some great shots of the Model-C and Jim does a good job of explaining the differences between riding a 20″ and a 24″ bike in the interview.  I’m pretty stoked to see that the 24umph bars featured in the bike check were 28″ wide…I’m looking for a pair of wide cruiser bars, so if they’re in the 6.5″ height range…well, let’s just say my interest is piqued.

In other Sunday Bikes news, the new trailer for Up, Up and Away is out…with the Model-C making an appearance in the end. Nice.  Karl Poynter is also leaving the Sunday team but not before getting a few runs on the ol’ cruiser (as you can see in the picture below). Abubaca!

karl_abubaca-500x334

Odyssey also has some pics floating around the interweb of the new 24″ hazard lite rims and 24 inch Aitken tire samples.

And that’s about it for today. Till next time…play safe and keep the rubber side down.


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Categories : Freestyle, New products, New School

I love gold…

5 03 2009

Gold anodized parts that is.

Maybe  it’s because gold seems to be the only thing not tanking in today’s economy or maybe it’s because what’s old is new again…I dunno…but I’m really feeling gold components again. And I’m not the only one. Freestyle legend Taj Mihelich seems to have been feeling the gold vibe for some time now…he’s been rocking gold rims on a number of his past bikes….his current Giant setup being no exception.

I think what got me thinking about/missing gold components is the  ’08 We The People Unified 24″.

wtp-unified_08

The mix of old and new school on this bike really work for me. Unfortunately, WTP has decided to go with a blue and white combo for ’09.

Perhaps, gold components represent something deeper.  They do if we can trust a BMX academic like Wade Nelson.  When asked by Momentum magazine, “What are the virtues of golden spoke nipples?”  Wade simply responded, “Gold anodized spoke nipples are truth.”

gold-valve-cap

Truer words were never spoken. Now where can I get a pair of those sweet vintage gold anodized valve caps he’s got on his bike?


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Categories : Freestyle, New School, Old School

Felt jumps into 24″ trails scene

27 02 2009

Add Felt Bikes to the growing list of bike companies to put out a 24″ bike for trails, street and park riding.  The Felt Brink is a good addition to their lineup as it provides an alternative to their pure-race Sector 24.

felt-brink-241

Unfortunately, despite how stoked I am to see another bike company jump onto the new school 24″ bandwagon I’m little disappointed in how it’s spec’d out. The frame is only main frame cr-mo (top tube and down tube), the bars hi-ten and the price kinda  high. A bike like the Mirraco 20forty is spec’d a whole lot better for nearly the same price.

Hopefully they’re just testing the waters for ’09 and will step things up next year…otherwise why bother  if you’re not going to put out a full cr-mo frame…it doesn’t seem to make sense to have a steel backend for trails, street and park riding…..

Bonus info: if you write into Felt with a question about their product line you have a very good chance of getting a response from Brian Foster’s older brother, Alan. Remember him? One half of Schwinn/Airwalk’s one-two race punch in the 90s.

alan-foster-jumping


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Categories : Freestyle, New products, New School

Every day is like Sunday

22 02 2009

Sunday Bikes has set up a Flickr group…which isn’t that exciting by itself…except in it you’ll find some new photos of the about to be released Model-C.

Like this good shot of the Model-C as Jim C. gets ready for a session. Love the gold components.

jim-model-c

Or this one…Jim C. again with a nice toboggan transfer out of a mini.

tbog-transfer-out-of-mini

Fingers crossed that we’ll see more photos of the Model-C being put through its paces.


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Categories : Freestyle, New products, New School

Orange Y BMX on YouTube

18 02 2009

Messing around on YouTube recently I found a couple of things on the mythical Orange Y BMX track…Back in the day I would read about this track  in BMX magazines, how it was the local track for so many of the big name racers. Well, it’s still going strong today. And you learn all about it in these two videos…albeit in two different (and equally as goofy) ways.

First, the amusing way:

Second, like an instructional video narrated by someone that speaks like he is reciting dialogue from an adult film:


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Categories : goofiness, Racing

Rally driver backflips Dave Mirra’s cruiser

13 02 2009

BMX cruisers…they’re not just for coffee runs anymore. Dave Mirra recently loaned rally car driver Matt Johnson a cruiser (the one he uses for coffee runs) to ride in his warehouse.  Apparently, Matt is a quick study…stomping a backflip like it was nuthin’.


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Categories : Freestyle, goofiness, shenanigans

Mother nature can stop teasing me now…

11 02 2009

We’ve been seeing some unseasonably warm temps in these parts recently and its making me even more antsy for spring. It’s warm enough for riding but with the snow melting and salt on the roads…it’s a sloppy mess. Still, sneaking a few minutes out of the office got me thinking about hot summer days and fun times at the trails.

tuck-jump

The warm snap will be short lived though…they’re already calling for snow on the weekend. I console myself by remembering that both the  Toronto International Bicycle Show and the Supercross are just one month away…

*Don’t ask me who the guy in the pic is…stumbled across it on the internet somewhere a while back…nice tuck jump though.


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Categories : Tomfoolery, Trails

Freestyle BMX in 2012 London Olympics

6 02 2009

What is going on here? Bikebiz.com is reporting that the 2012 Olympics will feature Freestyle BMX! Seeing racing hit the Olympic big time was one thing…but freestyle? That’s pretty incredible. I wonder if  the Olympic powers-that-be will be able to handle the notorious “free-spirited” antics of the average freestyle superstar. We’ll see…

olympic-bmxBMX racing hit the Olympic stage last summer

In a weird coincidence, I stumbled across this today as well:

the beast

the beast

Never mind that the bike will give you whiplash from ’80s nostalgia…look at the numberplate….is it just coincidence that these two items surfaced on the same day? We may be in the end times…


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Categories : Freestyle, goofiness, New School, Old School, Racing

Old school style, new school technology

3 02 2009

Ever since I saw the first couple pics that came out featuring the Knight Proformer 24″ Freestyle BMX Cruiser frame I’ve been anxious to see one built up. Styled after the iconic GT Pro Performer frame, it had the righteous combination of old school looks, new school specs and cruiser sizing.  Well, at long last I have stumbled across some pics of the Proformer built up and I must say, I’m pretty stoked. Someone on OS BMX posted a full-on Eddie Fiola tribute build using the Knight Proformer. This thing is sooo sweet.

knight-proformer

I had a GT ProPerformer back in the day and this brings back a lot of memories.  It’s in the intro to RAD for pete’s sake! According to the Knight site, the Proformer was a limited edition run and is already sold out…I’ve got my fingers crossed that more of these frames have gotten into good hands and more cool builds like this will surface.

Almost makes me want to dig out my old copy of the GT Demo Tape…okay maybe not.


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Categories : Freestyle, New School, Old School, Rad

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