Top Ten of 2010

31 12 2010

Here we are here again, on the eve of a new year.

It’s been a big year for 24″ bikes.

Let’s take a look at the top ten things that went down.

10.  24s got vertical. Ben Snowden hit the vert ramp on a borrowed cruiser and showed 24s are at home on any terrain.

9.  The world is still flat (for some). Kevin Jones turned more than a few heads by riding a 24″ at the York Jam.

8. BMX Plus! didn’t know if they loved us or hated us.  We didn’t care, we’d rather read Fastlane BMX mag anyway.

7. Kids are traveling in style these days. Front of the bike, back of the bike or in a custom sidehack, these kids are along for the ride.

Sidehacks are fun

6. Cruisers went brakeless.

5. Front brakes made a comeback.

4. Sunday came out with a front brake fork prototype….and a shaved head tube prototype frame…and a wave tube frame prototype.  This, on top of introducing TWO 24″ bikes in their lineup at Interbike.

Jim C with Wave-C protype at Ray's MTB (Scott Steinbrick pic)

3. Twin-top tubes made a comeback.

2. Liquid Bikes made a splash with the progressive Feedback frame.

1. It’s still all about the ride. Old school or new school, it’s all about getting out there and riding your bike.

Photo of the year? Trent B with a super-stylish bar endo.

Happy New Year everybody!


Comments : 8 Comments »
Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
Categories : Freestyle, goofiness, New products, New School, Old School, Racing, Skatepark, street, Tomfoolery, Trails, Trails/Jumping

Talking 24s in Fastlane BMX mag

6 12 2010

I’ve been a fan of Fastlane BMX magazine for a while now.

In an era when racing is all but ignored in the major mags, Fastlane is all about BMX racing.

Sure you can pick up a mag from one of the major U.S. sanctions, look at the token coverage in BMX Plus! or if you can deal with the erratic publishing schedule, find a BMX World (even though it reads like a brochure from the Department of Motor Vehicles).  All in all, not great options.

To me , if you’re into racing (or need to be reminded of how fun racing is) Fastlane is the only mag worth buying. Stories are fun to read, there’s international coverage and great photos. It’s combination that’s tough to beat.

Fastlane doesn’t run hot and cold on 24s either…from cruiser bike checks to regular shots of cruiser riders, Fastlane isn’t afraid to show cruisers some love.

That’s why I was stoked to have the opportunity to write an article about cruisers in Fastlane #8.

(That’s yours truly banging elbows with my friend Carbon in the photo, top right.)

If you’ve ever wondered how I got hooked on the whole cruiser thing, this is something you’ll want to check out.

(Note: Fastlane is UK- based, so visit fastlanebmxmag.com for ordering info.)


Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Categories : New School, Old School, Racing, Trails, Trails/Jumping

BMX Plus runs hot and cold on 24s

26 04 2010

Although he isn’t the editor anymore,  I will probably always think of John Ker as the face of BMX Plus! magazine. And now because of his magazine’s seemingly hot and cold treatment of cruisers in recent months I feel compelled to write him this (admittedly tongue-in-cheek)  “Dear John” letter.

John Ker: no love for the 24?

Dear John,

I thought we really had something. After not reading your magazine in what seemed like forever, I picked up your magazine at the local store and noticed you had changed over the years. No longer were you associating with Radical Rick or doing “who’s radder” features….you were actually showing some honest to goodness riding once in a while. More importantly, you showed some love for the cruiser with a couple of 24″ bike tests in 2009.

Your advertisers seemed to have noticed this too. One of them rewarded you with not one, but two 2-page ads for their cruisers.

But your self-destructive nature got the best of you, didn’t it? Out of nowhere in your April issue, you featured an article called Cruising into Oblivion: The Death of the 24.

How could you do this? Both to our fledgling relationship and to your advertisers? For the love of God, there’s a 2-page ad for Redline‘s top-of-the-line Flight 24 in the very same issue that you say 24s are cruising into oblivion!

It makes me so mad…and I imagine Redline isn’t any happier. I wrote a post about it, hoping to salvage things, to help you see the error of your ways and to let you know that 24s are not dead yet. After that I didn’t hear from you for a month.

Now all of sudden, in the June issue it seems that the ‘love’ is back with a 10-page race cruiser shootout. While it’s a grand gesture, after declaring our relationship essentially over, to try to win me back with a 10-page article, it seems just a little to late. I guess you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone, right?

I know what you’re going to say, that you’ve changed.

But I’m not sure if I can bury the hatchet just yet. I think you’ll have to prove to me that you want this relationship to work.

How you ask?

A full-on 24″ freestyle cruiser shootout.

I think that’s what it will take to win me back.

So John, what do you say?


Comments : 11 Comments »
Tags: , , , , , , ,
Categories : Freestyle, goofiness, Racing, shenanigans, Tomfoolery

Live after death: 24s aren’t done yet

2 03 2010

“The rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated.” Mark Twain


Despite showing  love for the cruiser in recent issues, BMX Plus! seems to have now sounded the death knell for the cruiser in their April 2010 issue in an article called Cruising into Oblivion: The Death of the 24.

It’s  actually kind of amusing however when you take a look at this sensationalist article in relation to the rest of the magazine. For instance, Redline has again seen fit to place a two-page ad for a cruiser in the magazine. And this time it is their top-of-the-line Flight Pro 24!  I’m going to go out on a limb and say there must be some kind of market for 24s to justify that kind of advertising.

And in their mailbag section, a reader writes in about racing Cruiser for two years, “…One thing led to another, and now I race a 24-inch Haro…”.

Are big ads and actual reader feedback not clear enough signs for Plus! that cruisers are alive and well?

Guys like Danny Caluag, Barry Nobles and George Goodall (who is  featured prominently in the Redline ad) are also keeping excitement alive in the National race scene.

And completely ignored by the article is the explosion in popularity of modern trails/park 24s…which I don’t have to convince you of, if you’re a regular visitor to this site.

The death of the 24?

Hardly.

We’re just getting started.


Comments : 2 Comments »
Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
Categories : Freestyle, New School, Old School, Racing, street, Trails, Trails/Jumping

Redline runs 2-page Proline 24 ad

13 01 2010

Flipping through the latest edition of BMX Plus! recently, I was pleasantly surprised to find a two-page ad for the Redline Proline 24.

So many companies give short shrift to 24s in their ads,  it’s nice to see Redline step up and recognize that cruiser riders want to see “their” bikes in the BMX mags too. For Redline to do so in a two-page spread makes me respect them even more.

What’s more, I love that they chose the Proline 24 over the Flight 24 for the ad. While the Flight 24 is certainly a sought after bike for the hardcore race crowd (with factory Answer Scythe forks, etc.) the Proline 24 is a simple, well-spec’d bike that works: Chromo forks, Redline Flight cranks…everything you need to win races or ride trails…nothing too fancy, but nothing that needs replacing either.

Even though I’m kind of surprised it wasn’t offered in red, or that cool bronze-y gold of last year, I find that this blue version is growing on me. Great job, Redline.

Respect.


Comments : 4 Comments »
Tags: , , , , , , ,
Categories : New products, New School, Racing, Trails

BMX Plus! shows cruisers some love

14 07 2009

BMX Plus! seems to have the staying power of Keith Richards. When other magazines folded, BMX Plus! kept right on trucking.  Dismissed by many as not being hardcore enough, they seemed to have found the magic formula to keep puttin out a mag, month after month.

But what is that magic formula? Maybe it’s that they’re not afraid to spotlight 24″ BMX every once in a while.

Last month I picked up a copy at a local bike shop and was stoked to see a GHP 24 being tested. Then this month I noticed a MCS Magnum 24 being tested. Pretty cool considering 24″ BMX tests are so few and far between.  Can’t say that I’ve ever been a huge fan of Plus! but the last few issues have made me take notice and start looking for it on the newstand.

mcs magnum_test_aug_2009


Comments : 3 Comments »
Tags: , , , ,
Categories : New products, Racing, Trails/Jumping

The bike that started it all….

10 11 2008

It was the bike that always taunted me.

Back in the day when all the kids in my neighbourhood raced, Hutch Pro Racers were the bike of choice. Chrome-plated 4130 pieces of 1980s state-of-the art BMX technology. If you didn’t have a Hutch bike you were either saving your pennies or trying to convince your parents why buying you a Hutch was the most important thing ever. In those days we didn’t have the internet, the X-games or BMX showing up in commercials…despite this I was a BMX media junkie, camping out at the convenience store waiting for the next issue of BMX Action, BMX Plus!…even buying (ugh!) Super BMX  to get my fix. But reading those magazines was just a sideline to my other addictions…racing and riding my bike. I was on my bike, it seemed like, every waking moment I wasn’t sleeping or at school. When I finally got my Hutch Pro Racer frame, I was stoked beyond belief. My brother and I put it together after I got home from school and I raced it that night. I can’t remember how I placed but I do remember loving that bike…to me it was the best thing ever.  I would go riding after a night of racing…I just liked being on my bike.

After a while I noticed that some people at the races were getting more riding time than I was…the people with cruisers. One kid in my neighborhood had both a 20″ and 24″ Hutch. Too say I was envious, was an understatement. Not only was he racing his age class and open…he got to race the cruiser class. Since I was only racing my age class he was racing 3 times as much as me! I felt robbed!  That Hutch Cruiser was my nemesis…a chrome 4130 cro-mo beacon to the fun I was not having. Cruisers were another chance to race, to have even more time on my bike. I think at that point the seed was planted that I would one day get a cruiser.  Through the years I got into freestyle and jumping and kind of pushed the idea of riding a cruiser out of mind….cruisers weren’t made for serious riding, I thought/rationalized to myself.

As fate would have it though I would soon get hit hard by the cruiser bug again. Finding myself in Chatham (Ontario) one thanksgiving weekend for a family thanksgiving dinner I convinced my girlfriend to check out the local track. I had thought there would be race but it turned out that just a few people were practicing. The track director offered me a loaner bike (20″ Redline) to ride and I took her up on her offer. It was a bit small for me but good enough to get the job done. I was chatting to a local between laps and he offered to let me try his Haro Nyquist 24. I took him up on his offer and took it for a spin. It was so comfortable…and fast. I could not believe how good it felt. I was hooked. From now on, I was going to go big wheeled, or go home!


Comments : 3 Comments »
Tags: , , , ,
Categories : Old School, Racing

Next Entries »