08/12/07 - RADBMX Xmas Bash...

This was a big one for me, my first RADBMX get together (I'd missed the last 3 or 4) & to say I was excited was an understatement! The buzz on the site threads was good & it seemed that everyone who was going, was well up for it :-) Saturday came around & I spent most of my day dialing my bike & car & getting everything else ready to go. Ray, Mikey & I decided to trip up in the Scenic & by 4:30pm we were all packed & on route...

I don't get to see my riding buddies very often outside of when we are sessioning together so the trip up was a good chance to catch up & talk bikes/cars/life etc. We arrived at the park early & upon entering, it dawned on me that the last indoor park I had ridden was this one about 3 years previously! I was excited & feelings of anticipation about the park were rising as the last time I had been there it was some kind of Xgaymes stylee place that I didn't really enjoy in the least. After a quick piss & loiter in the entrace, we had negotiated the secret password for entry & we were in. My initial impressions were "yeah that looks cool" "Ooow I like that bit!" "yeah that's all good" & "nice mini" I was thinking a good session was going to be on the cards...

As more & more RADBMXer's filtered in & the Xmas Jam kicked off, it was like going back in a time warp to 'BACK IN THE DAY' central! I mean riders with their very own style!? - Front Brakes! - seatposts! one & all enjoying their riding & having a great time.

We mainly sessioned the mini for a good while which was nice, skatelite, fast but the coping was a bit 'proud' for my liking if I care to split hairs ;-) Ray was all over the park like a nitrous fueled duracel bunny in what seemed like one continuous 5 hour run! Boy got stamina indeedy ;-) I rode around the park & checked out the 'new' spine mini setup which was evil & would probably take me a good few sessions to get to grips with so I opted out on this occasion. Alex, CBCL & Mason Smith seemed to have no such 'issues' with it & they continued to rip it up good! I enjoyed going backwards a lot, 50/50's down the escalator. the spine with a flat bank on one side deal was good for a mess about & Milks & I came up with some cheeky little numbers on that. The mini got most of my efforts & I made some nice litttle bits on it. Milkey made some disaster stuff & was trying some wheel jam type nose picks on the sub on the back of the mini & also some sweeeet footplant tailwhips on the flat bank & almost to fakie too ;-) Ray was more or less just a blur of spinning & tapping in a 'Tas' stylee & was blowing minds with some of his 'Icantevensaythattrickletalonedoit' signature moves, he pulled one of the smoothest 540's on the mini I have EVER witnessed too (which was probably wrong way too) :-)

After a few hours my left thigh started to cramp so I stepped down for a break. I took a big tin of Roses chocs with me as a small token of Crimbo spirit & so I went on a pilgrimage around the park dishing out choc's to all in attendance & managed to get rid of half the tin. Everyone was having a good time & I don't think there was a bad vibe in the house :-)

Milks & I went for a mooch upstairs to look at all the old skool hardware that people had lovingly assembled & there was some rather impressive bikes to behold.

I think one guy (pkradman?) got most of the prizes for his efforts & also one the raffle too! How lucky!? After the draw & prizes were all dished out we decided to go do a bit more riding which continued until the ‘park ranger’ decided it was time we all went home. We said our goodbyes, loaded up the bikes & charged on home.

I met some good people, saw some old friends again & enjoyed some good riding at the RADBMX Xmas Party Bash & would say it’s the best doo I’ve attended in a good long while, just like the good old days.

Roll on next time...


Thanks to Mikey for the pics.

Deranged...

..hey, at least it has skating and riding in there!

Pic of the week...

Had to post this great picture of Alex on his 'Old Fools' road trip to Cornwall last weekend.



RAD doood!

For more nfo & more pics, check out Doug Cains blog

Twice a day...

No posts for ages I know, well I haven't had anything to write for a while but last weekend I was determined to beat the winter weather & get pedalling.

I was up & out on Cinders (my aging 26") by 8:30am, I've been feeling ever the couch potato of late so I have decided to keep up regular exercise in the form of cycling, running & walking. so I did about 30-40 mins on the MTB which got the blood pumping & I soon realised just how much I'd lost the fitness as I plodded up that first hill!

After some shower/lunch/shopping action, I loaded up my 20" & drove to the park. No one of note out today & the way I was feeling it wasn't going to be a marathon by any stretch. After a quick warm up run & some advice given to idiot girls running about on the ramps, it was solo mission all the way. It was great to get out again, I get a real sense of well-being after I have done a few runs & the cogs start whirring over what to try next ;-) With an hours worth under the belt I was heading for me ma's for a well earned cuppa.

After which I crashed straight into the down & out of a sodding cold!

Cheers, sniff sniff..

Black Mags...

...WORD

How to make a Skyway...

Just add hot plastic!

New paint and some pictures

Yo yo yo.
How come pimp my ride uk is hosted by Tim Westwoooooood? He's such a goon. Gimp my ride? Anyway, I spent a slightly overcast saturday a couple of weeks ago painting my bike. For the first time in the history of the world, I actually took everything apart(except my grips, I couldn't be arsed with them, and my chain, cos my chain tool is a bit knackered). There was also some masking tape involved.



Next time I don't think I'll bother, the tape leaked a lot around the edges, and it was a pain in the arse. I did start to mask the engraved shield logo on the headtube up too, but soon got bored. dreadful. I think I should re-cover my seat, it don't quite seem to match. While I'm bitching, the white turned out a bit too yellowy for my liking, but tough.


I actually rode my bike on wednesday, and Chaz got all confused and rode Ian's bike. He did some nice no footed nosepicks, and I attempted to capture the front brake action:



Quite possibly the worlds biggest tweaker:

"Rare old skin" does not even begin to cover this dude. Mental much?


Dirty John goes high, this is a slightly old pic, I think Chaz has a different angle of the same thing somewhere.

Tuff Luv...

See More BMX Videos at VitalBMX.com

Eating shit & flowers...

Got some of the new Coalition/Union grips from Cyclone in the mail today. After a flying visit to the local bike shop for some patches & back home for a puncture repair, I fitted the grips to my 20"

I use GT85, a teflon based lubricant/degreaser (WD40 also works well) to fit grips, as you can slide them onto the bars easily & they dry on in about an hour. A liberal squirt down the grip & a quick rub around with a finger of your choice is all you need :-) I've never had problems with grips slipping yet & you don't get any residue when it comes to cutting them off when they are worn out, like you do with glues or hair sprays...

To say they are bright would be an understatement! but I think they look nice & they certainly feel nice too. As the nfo sheet that comes with the grips states: A quality grip with swear words on...

& they match my garden flowers perfectly!

Thanks to Cyclone for their usual 'super fast mail order'

Sun is out so a spot of riding is on the cards...

Ghostrider...

Looking for some alternative cycle interests, outside of BMX, I came across this site...



A poignant reminder of how riding down your local street can get you dead.

RIP

Hello old friend...

I'll tell you, the odds seemed against a session at Combe bowl yesterday, people dropped out, the weather was looking doubtful, my ribs were still giving me shit but, alas, the hardcore got to caress those luscious Combe curves once again.

I picked up Sboy's bike as he was in Oxford & we arranged to meet in the village. The car trip was one of anticipation, cloud watching & finger crossing that the rain would hold off & soon enough I was parking up at the cricket pitch. Bikes unloaded & a short wait for S & we were walking the field, feeling that 'Combe vibe'. No one else riding but plenty of people around, enjoying a Sunday afternoon in the park, chilling & watching the men in white & their little red ball. We made camp & started with a few runs from the top of the keyhole :-)

After a short time spots of rain began & it continued to deteriorate into a shower so we took refuge under the trees & spent some time discussing the trials & tribulations of life & pretty soon the rain had stopped & the sun was making something of an effort to get us riding again. Some dumb kids turned up for a game of football in the bowl & after some blatant ignorance, on our part, they gave up the 'can you do a blah blah blah' banter & went on their way. With the bowl drying out nicely we sessioned again, S made some nice hip jumps, fast plants & carved the bowl fast & with style. I think I made some nose picks (surprise) & even a pretty good 540 variant. When we had had enough & the sky was looking like more rain was imminent, we called it a day & walked back up the field to the cars.

I'd love to know who actually built the bowl, just so that I could say thank you to them for the effort taken to do so & for the good times that I've had there as I'm sure, anyone who's ridden there over the years, has had too...


Sorry for the lack of foto's, my cam complained of needing batteries the moment I powered it up :-(
Splendid.

Hello old friend...

I'll tell you, the odds seemed against a session at Combe bowl yesterday, people dropped out, the weather was looking doubtful, my ribs were still giving me shit but, alas, the hardcore got to caress those luscious Combe curves once again.

I picked up Sboy's bike as he was in Oxford & we arranged to meet in the village. The car trip was one of anticipation, cloud watching & finger crossing that the rain would hold off & soon enough I was parking up at the cricket pitch. Bikes unloaded & a short wait for S & we were walking the field, feeling that 'Combe vibe'. No one else riding but plenty of people around, enjoying a Sunday afternoon in the park, chilling out & watching the men in white & their little red ball. We made camp & started with a few runs from the top of the keyhole :-)

After a short time spots of rain began & it continued to deteriorate into a shower so we took refuge under the trees & spent some time discussing the trials & tribulations of life & pretty soon the rain had stopped & the sun was making something of an effort to get us riding again. Some dumb kids turned up for a game of football in the bowl & after some blatant ignorance, on our part, they gave up the 'can you do a blah blah blah' banter & went on their way. With the bowl drying out nicely we sessioned again, S made some nice hip jumps, fast plants & carved the bowl fast & with style. I think I made some nose picks (surprise) & even a pretty good 540 variant. When we had had enough & the sky was looking like more rain was imminent, we called it a day & walked back up the field to the cars.

I'd love to know who actually built the bowl, just so that I could say thank you to them for the effort taken to do so & for the good times that I've had there as I'm sure, anyone who's ridden there over the years, has had too...


Splendid.

bruising

Check me out

Day after crash:



Day after day after crash:



Bruise is spreading, and there's a little bit on the inside of my ankle now too which is new today.
That dark stuff near my toes is bruise too, not fluff, as I initially thought.

Story goes, I was gonna go riding/play with camera, so I headed in to town, down that monster hill that is broad street, and swing round the corner into marlborough street, which is surprisingly full of parked cars and two people in the middle of the road. I miss the people, and the first car I was going to hit, realise the second one is coming right for me and bail, roll my foot over a goodun, and get my bike wedged under a car. Joy.
"Oh my god are you alright?" is pretty far down the list of thing I want to be hearing right now, but they say it at least three times. Cunts. I also have some gravel rash on my elbow.
I untangle my bike from the car(this makes a nasty noise, I think they have some door/bodywork damage but I honestly couldn't give a flying one) and start to continue into town, thinking I can still ride, putting my seat straight, but my foot is swelling up before my eyes and my pedal is at a horrible angle so I head home, where Emma convinces me I should go to hospital, so I do, and sit around for ages, and they tell me it aint broken, and walking on it normally and keeping it moving will make it heal quicker/better, but it'll probably be a couple of weeks before I walk normal, and six weeks before I can do "sport". Yippee.
And I banged my right thigh(other leg) and have difficulty bending my knee, so walking is nae fun.
Did I mention that on saturday I ordered new forks, tyres and shoes, what with it actually being dry.

From a bad one to a good one...

Yeah! it's always good to follow a poor riding session with a particularly good one! You gotta make good use of the little sun we've seen so far this year, so Sboy & I were, once again, tripping over to Chacombe for some Saturday afternoon BMX'ing. We both made some stuff, rode hard & had a good little session in the lovely weather...

What more could you want!?

A Splinter or two...

Here's the result of a nice slide across the plywood.



I've had to shave my leg so that i can pull out the splinters without clumps of hair coming with them (ouch) A build up of puss has now set in (yummy) so I'm off to try & dig out some more...

... now where's those damn tweezers?

mid week session...

I often find myself writing negative things about riding sessions & yes, BMX in general I suppose, so when I got home last night, I was feeling like I wish I hadn't bothered...

I've not ridden spiceball for a while as we have been having some good sessions over at Chack (when the weather is forgiving enough) so I figured I should go get some riding in, down at my local. SB has a funny vibe to it, sometimes when it's quieter & there are a few riders getting their groove on, it can be great but more often than not, the shitheads are in attendance. Last night was not good for me, I couldn't make nowt & I don't dig riding on my own so, along with a few wipeouts & the aforementioned shitheads resident, I was defeated & heading back home...

Today I have a shin full of plywood splinters & a feeling SB is best left well alone...

Combe anybody?

Hands up who was there...?

This has to rank as one of the best comps we ever went to!?

KOC - 1993
Krt owned that mini ramp, the Standard army dominated & Team Sano debagged anybody within spitting distance!

Legend...

Paul Osicka

New camera+new back wheel=pics!

I got a shiny new digital camera off of ebay, partly courtesy of people giving me money for managing to stay alive another year, partly because I have a job that pays me more than £12 a month, and partly because I've got an awesome girlfriend who's willing to give me access to her credit card. She'll learn!
Camera is a Ricoh GR digital, and although I have yet to do anything major with it, it seems really cool, like full manual controls you don't have to go through 12 menus to get to, wide angle lens(21mm!), and a nifty continuous mode thing where it blasts 16 pics in about 2 seconds, which I'm sure will be most entertaining. And a hair over 8 Super EXXXXTEEEME!!! MEGA PIXELS. Or something. Hopefully now I'll get back to taking more pictures, because it's been a while since I shot anything other than bikes not moving, or family crap. I do have about 14 rolls of film still to get developed though, and I'm pretty sure there's some fgood stuff on there somewhere. And for once I'm not exaggerating on the numbers, I really do have a lot of used up film.
Anyway, I used the new camera to take a couple of pics of my bike, complete with Ian's old back wheel(cheers dude!).


Only differences from the last check are the new wheel(proper hub on a 7KA, 13t driver, 48 spokes), a few less links of chain hooking it up to a 36t T1 sprocket that was free, and I might have to paint. The attila stem also shit the bed, stripping the two bolts at the front, leading to wobbly bars syndrome at epic the other week. Rubbish. Back to the Redneck then! Also I think I have less paint and more dirt. And a fishing rod.........
The axle has a groovy allen key hole in one end too. Not sure why only one though :/



Peaceout

Fashionable?...Moi?

I've been toying with the idea of getting a freecoaster for years now but hub design & cash were always a big issue for me, seeing as BK was changing up some of his stuff for his next project (post to follow soon) I thought I'd grab his old one...

Changing gearing can get expensive these days & it was through getting the chance of buying up Bob's old stock & the favorable exchange rate, that I decided to get it on. As this coaster only came in a 10t version, I had to look at downsizing the sprocket too. Originally I was waiting on the new BSD 'Alex' sprockets but the excitement got the better of me & I couldn't wait to get this project going. I have also been looking at Treebikeco sprockets for a while now, as I'd heard nothing but good things about them & after a check of their site, I discovered that they had a new 'light' sprocket in the works. After the offical launch indicated on Tree's site, I had BK get on to our ever trusted US BMX supplier, par excellence, Pat @ Flatlandfuel. Before long it's here (along with a fuck-off, massive order of lovely flatland components for Rayo & Bob) & the upgrade is on a roll...

I stripped & rebuilt the Odyssey Reloader freecoaster to make sure all was well.

I had to true the wheel of some spiteful up & down action & it was a couple of mm out on the dish but nothing major as far as the wheel was concerned.

The sprocket is the correct size (22mm) for the BSD Ti axle already on the bike so it was all a real nice fit & went together without heartache & I was glad to get rid of the nasty top-hat spacer for some super true sprocket rotation ;-)

With everything together, I don't think the weight has changed much? The freecoaster wheel is definitely heavier than the Proper cassette wheel it's replacing but with loosing the links from the chain due to smaller gearing & the difference between the 36t ANIMAL BIKES sprocket & the Tree light, it's kinda balanced it all out...

Always good to get new stuff for the 20" & I have enjoyed getting this sorted. Now just need to wait (for ever?) for the damn rain to stop falling so I can go test the beast...

Thanks:

BK for the wheel
Alex for the BSD offer
Pat for getting hold of the Tree light

In the midst of a waster generation...

What is it with kids today? Last night we tripped over to Chacombe for a relaxing evening session & had to sweep the entire park due to glass everywhere, fires lit against the back of the mini & basically sort out a fucked up mess of a park! I don't get it? if I'd have had this sort of facility on my doorstep when I was a nipper, I would have been using it for it's intended purpose & shredding the place daily! It's so easy to be a fucking waster these days eh kids?

So...

BobK, Co, Pornchai & I got our stuff together & after the above cleanup operation we had a good little session. Co has borrowed Bob's old 'Big-D' & seemed to be enjoying a bit of flat & ramp action & hopefully this will be just what he needs to get back in the saddle & back to being the little ripper of old! BK was just chipping away at some bits he's working on, I'm sure he likes to get out on his own solo missions to get some stuff learned but it's always good to see him riding... I just made a few of my normal bits & had a good time.

Summer evening sessions are the best eh...?

Combe next...

A great way to get rid of £6...

Bought the Smiths album 'the queen is dead' for my birthday & it's such a great CD. I worked in a record store (remember those!?) when this came out in 86 & remember buying it on vinyl at the time. After 20+ years it hasn't aged a day & still sounds great, so go & spend a few quid on a copy & kick back & enjoy the fantastic, often funny, song writing & great melodies, it's worth every penny.

Or if your a tight git then go see I-tunes, Ares or whatever his name is for the ripped, compressed & rubbish sounding MPfree version...

enjoy

For Dummies guides vol:1

Available from Amazon now...

Celebrity Race - I don't think so...

from vitalbmx.com:

Dave Mirra Wins Celebrity Race!

The annual Toyota Grand Prix Celebrity race was held April 15th in Long Beach, CA. The race is full of Hollywood actors and professional athletes, and the winner for 2007 was none other than Dave Mirra! Apparently Dave can do anything he wants and come out on top. Congrats to Dave, and you can check out Toyota.com for more info. Crazy.

Results
1. Dave Mirra - NO Dave we said celebrities

2. Martina Navratilova - too busy eating pussy to win

3. Joshua Morrow - who?

4. Mike Skinner - in full factory Burberry uniform

5. RJ Romero - He owns the fucking company! he shoulda won by default

6. Bucky Lasek - you can't skate on gravel, he was destined to place low

7. Scott Kelley - KELLEY is wanted by the District of New Hampshire - New Hampshire Joint Fugitive Taskforce, based on arrest warrants issued by the U.S. Marshals Service and Coos County Sheriff's Office, NH for Unlawful Flight to Avoid Prosecution and Non-Custodial Kidnapping. - last seen in 7th place!

8. Emily Procter - won worst actress awards in 2001, 2002 & 2003 & her dad is a Doctor?? would that be as in the porn film "Dr Proctor - Anal Specialist" what a winner!

9. Kell Hu - & fuck you too unknown

10. John Salley - Ex NBA, aka 'the spider' I reckon had he not gone with the 280mm profile cranks choice he woulda placed higher...?

11. Aisha Tyler - Actress & avid 'home beer brewer' (piss head) was probably too fucked up on 'Old Thunderpussy Barleywine' to give a shit about some poxy BMX race

12. Jery Westlund - A former political consultant for the U.S.-controlled Bicycle Club casino has been indicted on charges of embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars from the card club's political campaigns - how could he loose?

13. Kathryn Morris - shes a hottie, I have nothing derogatory to say about her

14. Robin Quivers - I bet he does being up against that 'legendary celeb' Dave Mirra!

15. Annamarie Dean - Toyota race car driver - should have come second right behind RJ??

16. George Lucas - not even the force could elevate George to place higher

17. Kendra Wilkinson - one of Hugh Hefners bunny's - stick to your inevitable porn career girl, you certainly have the rigged up face for it


So I can see it now, DM thinking 'I could beat those mofos for the gold medal!?' If it was that much of a bargain bin celeb deal then where where the following Z listers??:

1. Vera Duckworth - go go you spiteful old fucker!
   
   
2. Carol Thatcher - hot off her 'I'm a retard get me outta here!' win in 05, she would been hot for rockin' the 20" & leaving DM in her wake
   
   
3. Gareth Gates - someone coulda pulled this looser fuckwit outta the dumpster he now resides in & put the goons career back on the track
   
   
4. Joey Deacon - what a legend! well if he wasn't RIP he must have been down for the win, all he needed to do was have a chat with DM pre moto & he would drenched him in spit from all that whistling shit & DM's Oakley Razor Blades ((or whoever he's sponsored by this week)) would have been fully misted & he woulda put it over the first berm without a doubt...

Celebrities one & all then...

where's Wakey?!?

What with the perfect weather we seem to be having here of late, the bike sessions are becoming more frequent :-) So Saturday comes around & we find ourselves on the road to Chacombe once again...

Mikey, BK, Sboy, myself & Dopeammo maestro, Co put in an appearance this time round. We all had a great session in the sunshine, Milkey made 'bus driver' disasters & was trying foot jam foofs, Sunil was well back on form & riding the best I've seen him ride in years - go-go-dude!! BobbyK was inspired by watching a legendary old bike video of us from 10+ years ago & was out to prove that riding with craig'MuttDogg'walters back, circa 1994, was not the highlight of his flatland career & he's now set to blaze his way through 2007 - on one wheel. Co seemed to be enjoying himself & will hopefully rejoin the ranks this year & it would be great to see... watch this space ;-) After filming some 'comp runs' we were all shot & so retreated home, for some much needed shade & hydration, Same time next week then dooods.


Oh yeah, I did some more nose picks.

Blue skies for Easter

Well for the first time in ages, I rode twice in less than a week over the Easter BH-weekend. I'm really getting into this riding thing eh? Whilst some people think nothing of riding on a daily basis, it's a bit of a big deal for an 'old timer' like myself...

So after having a good little session on Thursday with Milkey, Rayo etc, I find myself hooking up with Sboy & BK for another nice little trip over to sunny Chacombe :-) I hope this is a sign of things to come this year as it's a bit of a rarity getting to ride with Sunil & Chack is also suitable for a little rock & roll, in a flatland stylee, which meant BK was also attending - all good!

The sun was out, we had some Slapshot on the tape deck & the old road trip feelings were resurfacing once again. It's great at this time of year, to think you have all that potential good weather & sessions to come, in the months to follow...

There were about 20 skaters 15 bladders & 35 BMXers already sessioning the ramps when we got there... thats a bit of an exageration actually, in reality, there was just one 10 year old girl & a toddler using the ramp as a slide & they soon scarpered as we rolled up :-) you gotta love having a park all to yourself eh?

Having ridden only 2 days earlier I was soon familiarising myself with Chacks curves & Sboy was soon in his element too, going for his tricks including those classic TM fast plants ;-)



Bob was squeaking his pinkies & looking forward to knee surgery



I made some more nose picks (I can do some other tricks - I think?)

& we snapped these photos which I feel really capture the good little session we had on a Saturday afternoon @ Chacombe ramps.

Paint is good

So, Alex got me thinking about how much I painted my Dirtbike(RIP), and I figured I'd share a few of it's moments. Unforortunately I can't find any of it when it had this awesome yellow/red fade on the go. The red was the same as the wheels(Renault capsicum red) and the yellow was the same as the yellow when it was new (Fiat broom yellow).


So, this one is the first paintjob I did on it, which involved riding into town, buying some paint, and taking it to the park to paint it. There was A LOT of overspray all over the tarmac, and we ran out of yellow so chaz was sent on a mission to get more while the wheels got done, or something. The gold and orange were 100% impulse buys, in a "hmm, nice orange, ooh, and gold, for the ladies" stylee.
Below we have the final, death colours. I think the bike was actually stripped down for this one! I really like the green, and the brown bits looked a lot darker in real life, almost black. The orange looked good in the can, but I'm not such a huge fan of how it turned out.




Parts-wise it's identical to my current bike, cept it's got T1 bars, a redneck light, and I had to cut the brakemounts off myself, and a different seat cover. And clamp. And a shadow conspiracy chain. Oh, and the front tyre's a dirtmonster, and the back is a tioga FS100. Same fat/skinny arrangement as now!

END

At long last, my bike!

Yea, so it's taken a while, but here goes






Frame- S&M Black Bike, 20.5, no brake mounts!
Fork- Dunno, some I found in the garage, poss old DK ones, not too heavy, soon to be replaced!
Bars- Attila Hot Bars, couple of inches chopped off each side
Grips- Oddy Gary Young. I think my mate Phil in Bristol took pity on me and my holy grips and gave me these
Stem- Attila toploader
Headset- Super**** campy thing
Seat- Primo Haemorrhoid
Post- Might be a Primo Rod, cut down pretty good
Clamp- One Ian gave me, custom super paint job. No finger marks in it, honest
Cranks- Solid. Awesome cranks, pissed me off A LOT recently because the spindle is 7/8, so it wouldn't work with my 22mm bb, but still amazing
BB- S&M 22mm
Sprocket- Metal 44t, many layers of paint
Pedals- Oddy Jim C. Best pedals I've ever had. Set number 2, much paint
Chain- Pretty stock looking thing, poss a KMC, the pins look like they've been punched. Contains links from more than one chain, in a Frankenstein stylee. Again, lots of paint
Front Tyre-Maxxis Holy Roller, fat bastard size
Back Tyre- Primo Wall, skinny bastard size(1.85)
Front Wheel- G-sport Homer on an oddy hazard lite. There's chrome under there somewhere
Back wheel- As above, with less layers of paint on the rim, but more flat spots
Freewheel- Shimano 16t baby!

Pretty standard, no high tec modifications, put a lovely cover on my seat, a bit of tape round the brake route hole in my seat tube to keep the crud out, will probably do the same to the gyro tab holes on the headtube when I get round to painting it. Also had to take the crank axle down to 22mm from 22.225, which was fun. It's still very snug going into the crank arms, but I guess time will tell if I need to shell out on new ones.

Future plans are to get new forks(hopefully coming from Ray, hopefully soon), a new front wheel, prob 36, and sort my gearing out down to 36/13, which'll probably mean a new back wheel too. Aaaaaand I need a halflink so I can suck my back end up a bit. Anywhere round here sell em? Or do I need to find an excuse for a trip to bicester?

Seeya out soon!

C.U.N.T?

Well ain't I the consummate BMXer? 2 sessions in as many weeks! I better slow down a bit. Arrangements were made to meet up at the park for 5pm-ish, so it was off into the sun again. I love the feeling I get when I'm heading out to ride & the weather is good...

Was great to catch up with Milkey as I've not seen him for a year or so (besides the brief 10 mins meet @ ROM last August) & so we had plenty of slagging off of the current state of BMX to get off our chests. Bob K put in an all too brief appearance & disappeared soon after, due to 'van issues' which I won't go into... I started to get the feel of the ply again after feeling a little bit sketch the last time down & made some nose picks, nothing new there then. Chris & Rayo turned up & got going, with Ray nailing every trick in his (very long) list, I saw him make a wall tap to manual out which was grand. Some of the local kids were heckling some loner guy on a unicycle who seemed to be rehearsing for the next 8-mile movie although I couldn't understand a fucking word that was streaming from his mouth...? hey-ho...

Well it was nice to get out while the sun was shining & the weather report for the rest of the week was bad, although today looks set to be a nice one again...

Well as the title suggests, perhaps see you next Tuesday?

1st of the year...

14th of March & I got to dust off the bike to go & session Spice ball ramps for the first time this year. It's a nice feeling that we are coming out of the winter season & cutting work early is always a good thing ;-) So, I arranged to meet up with Ray as it was his birthday - congrats mate!

Nice to see some of the local boys sticking with it & all riding well, John's Footjam nosepicks were grand, totally like the old classic nosepick, boned out & real nice. Ray had the usual fire in his eyes & appeared to be in training for the upcoming 12 hour all nighter @ Epic this week end - go boy go! I was being reserved as ever, playing it safe & just trying to get back the feel of the park again, I really should ride more...

Today is 'sore back' day again! I'm not perturbed by it at all & can't wait to get out again though, so see you next week... weather permitting of course.

Sign up...

JD over at Union has a petition post on his site to save a local park & Epsom trails therein. It's always good to sign a petition to attempt to help save something BMX related & you never know you might get the chance to session there some time? Go & take the time to sign on the line:

Save Nonsuch Park

cheers

Pre BMX...

Before BMX arrived in the UK, I was fully into riding my 26" wheeled Raleigh Bomber. I have always loved bikes, as far back as I can remember (although I don't remember my defining '2 wheels only' moment...?) & I treated this one, as I have done every bike since: with mucho care & attention... sort of.

I remember the build up to ownership well, I had been pleading with mum & dad for a Bomber on a daily basis since about July! I would strategically leave the Freemans catalogue open on the 'Bomber' page & just go on & on about how good it was & that 'the price was really good for that bike!' I would pull mum or dad into Trinders on a Saturday morning visit to town & stand & stare at it on the display stand, well I must have worn them down sufficiently as on Christmas morning I woke up to find it behind the downstairs living room curtains! I remember shedding a tear I was that happy :-)



I had the original black, 3-speed Sturmey Archer hubbed version, there was also a single speed version. It had sponge grips with the push-in plastic end caps, big beach cruiser bars (It was after all, a copy of the popular US beach cruisers that preceded it) all the usual Raleigh steel accessories like brake levers, solid cotter pin cranks, pedals & brake calipers. It came sans mudguards of course & had grippy dirt tyres which looked quite like Primo dirt monsters do today & also ran a big foam padded seat made for comfortable 'cruising' around the streets.



It was finished off with the nice 'bomber' graphics which were a concoction of planes, tracer fire & search lights, oh, & who could forget the Raleigh crest on the head tube? - all good.

When Tony 'Burlo' Ball came to live in Banbury & started at Drayton school, we made friends on pretty much the first day & we arranged to meet up after school, when we both came riding along to meet each other & he had a Bomber too, we just couldn't believe it! He had the single speed one (ever the purist) & we rode around Drayton, jumping off steps & having a great time.

Well with all this jumping about, the forks on the Bomber became it's Achilles heel, they were designed with a kink in the fork blade at about the level of the brake blocks & quickly became 'choppered' with all the air time. Burlo got his replaced first, he waited until the tyre was rubbing the fork bridge! & mine followed soon after, apparently there were a lot of kids having the same problem... I also remember he came around one day after school & his mum had just bought him a new 'anti skid' tyre from Trinders & of course we took that 'Lying Trinders Bastards' Challenge & after about 10 minutes of 50ft, full tilt, brake melting skids, the inevitable 'BANG' of the tyre submitting to defeat was echoing around the houses. We both laughed so hard, fuck knows how he explained that one to his Mum!?

With the advent of BMX in the UK, my attentions soon turned to the '20" dark side' & I honestly don't remember what happened to my Bomber!? I think I must have had it for a couple of years before it was replaced by the Falcon Pro & the rest as they say, is history...


The legend that is the Sturmey Archer 3 speed hub

I also found the History of Sturmey Archer too, which has some great information about the company.

Heres a C&P from the 'International Cycle History Conference held at Osaka in 2000':

3.3.4 A precursor of the mountain bike

The models discussed thus far already existed when Yvonne Rix became product manager. Following her appointment, she noticed older teenagers in England riding conventional cycles fitted with dirt track racing handlebars and sorbo protective padding. This observation led her to instigate the Bomber. To get the desired image and line while minimising the need for retooling, the front end came from a bicycle already in the range, a Nigerian roadster providing the sloping cantilevered back end. Equipped with chunky tyres and specially-made handlebars, the Bomber somewhat resembled an early mountain bike but was well ahead of the MTB craze and was developed independently of it. Launched in 1981, it was promoted in an advertising campaign featuring pop star Toyah Wilcox.

I have been thinking for a while that a Bomber project is something I might be interested in doing at some point, I saw an old guy trundling along on one last year & was so suprised I nearly crashed my car! If you have any Bomber nfo then please forward it on to me...

Memories...

I was sorting some stuff out at home yesterday & I came across an old T-shirt...

It got me thinking & reminded me of when I had a Condor frame back in the day. The shirt in question was bought by BobK from the Bicycle Stunts series comp in Oaklahoma in 1994. This comp was amazing, we got a VHS tape off Stu Dawkins from Backyard who was also there with his camcorder clocking all the mad footage: John Peacy won stunt boy with a style all his own & ruled the place on his little GT. Jay Miron did some mental tricks (super fast nose manuals etc) & owned the place in my opinion. Matt was flipping everything, Mirra was flying high, Rooftop was hitting the roof or dying trying, the Gute was in FX & Taj & Joe Rich were making their mark on BMX too. Stuart King was going for it with massive no hander landers & 720's.

The flatland was amazing too, all the west coast boys had travelled to drop their latest links with Day smith & Edgar Placencia taking it to the next level as usual. One name missing from the flat side of things was Richard Zabzdyr (owner of Graveyard products) who was tragically killed in a car crash on the return journey from that years York Jam a few months earlier, check out his riding on some of the older vids as he was soo soo good & could spin faster than anyone.

I remember BK returning from his 'US Summer tour' & us all getting together in the pub & hearing all the stories he had to tell. His riding had improved dramatically & it went to show that if you put the effort in, you got rewarded.

Thanks for the shirt (& the memories) Bob.

R.I.P Richard Zabzdyr

Nothing to do with bikes...

but it did make me laugh. And it has fire

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfZLe9Ksy3w&mode=related&search=

you've all heard of Gsport yeah?

ok, so on this BMX site called www.bikeguide.org ..theres been a bit of a debate ( aka slaging match) between G, the head/owner of Gsport,( although I think their mostly owned by odyssey now?) and disgruntalled 'customers'. this seems to do with mainley products produced under the odyssey logo but designed by G.....

G really should learn how to deal with people better, I mean to quote him..." my designs & products pay my mortgage"


http://www.bikeguide.org/forums/showthread.php?t=100659 this is the best ( in my opinon) thread..



and I found this pure entertainment...




Quote:

So I design cranks that only fit 70% or so of sprockets and get a slagging.Wheras these companies like Profile, Tree, Fly etc, make a sprocket that only fits 20% (at a guess) of cranks (without a shitty spacer) and no one says anything against it?

Key thing being that they don't say anything about it because they DO fit, even if you have to use "a shitty spacer"? For most people, if their new sprocket can go on their bike, they're fine. Sprocket spacers aren't the biggest problem you face on a BMX, nor are they an insurrmountable problem, so as a result most people don't have a problem with running one. Notice how people got by for many years before the introduction of Wombolts? Either way, I know you're not a stupid person and you'll know full well why people don't complain in the manner you suggested in your post, so I'll not waste my time by elaborating more.

Quote:

If we go with 22mm then the sprocket is STILL going to wobble about and give uneven chain tension. The "integrated adaptor" is about the only way to counter this. It allows us to have a really nice tight fit without the rider having to hammer the sprocket ALL the way down the axle which would ruin the fit even more....


I had fine chain tension with no sprocket wobble, and without having to hammer on my Profile Imperial sprocket onto my Primo Hollowbites. 22mm spindle and a 22mm sprocket worked out fine for me. No doubt someone will chime in with some horrifying experience about how using a 22mm sprocket on a 22mm spindle gave them lung cancer or something, but from my point of view it works perfectly well enough. The only time I've had a problem with running a sprocket was using a piece of shit top-hat spacer that wasn't worth the money it was made of. With my Mankind sprocket that had a good spacer with it, it worked fine. With a decent spacer, my current United sprocket is fine. With a decent spacer, my brother's Superstar sprocket is fine.

Quote:

The fact is that MOST sprockets are made to piss poor tolerances anyway.

Any chance of specifics here, G? Not that I'm saying that the usual generalisations used on here aren't really insightful 'n' stuff, but it might be nice to know what you consider to be made to "piss poor" tolerances? All the sprockets I've seen and have measured seem to be pretty good these days, in that sprocket manufacture is better than it's ever been.

Quote:

For example 1" would be a good size. We could use 25mm bb bearings and reduce the weight of everything without any loss in strength. Wheras going to 22mm would make it heavier AND weaker....

Are you honestly trying to say that using bearings that are smaller (in that you're increasing the inside diameter of them, but retaining the same outer diameter, unless you're planning on introducing a new BB size that's larger, just to accomodate some cranks...) makes things stronger?

Quote:

If they are using a non-standard hole (liek 22mm) then in my opinion it is THEIR job to make that clear and justify the change.


Cranks (apart from Wombolts) use either a 22mm spindle or a 19mm spindle. By making their sprocket 22mm, it means that half (or whatever the percentage of people is) won't have to use a spacer, and they can supply a well-made spacer for those running 19mm. They've made sprockets that work for the current cranks out there, and from my experience and from other riders I know, they work fine. I'm not saying the Wombolts are shit cranks or anything, before I get a knee-jerk, stereotypical Bikeguide reply of "LISTEN TO G" or some shit along those lines. I don't personally like them, but that's due to other reasons than sprocket sizes.

Quote:

Seriously what is it with fuckwits that cant make these distinctions?


Much appreciated there George, always nice to know what company owners are like. Interesting to note when I used similar terms with someone before, I got a threatening post saying I'd be banned if I ever did it again, and I've seen other people suspended for less, especially with how ridiculously anal about some stuff moderators are on here.

Quote:

I see Grant Smith implying I am a hypocrit, (for setting the record straight about Taiwan), while trying to jam his nose up Chris Moellers arsehole in this month's Ride UK, because he cant distinguish between me slagging shoddy early 90's taiwan made forks and Magoo accusing them of human rights abuses, while buying from there....


Perhaps he was implying more about the way that you used to seem to have an anti-Taiwanese slant to your advertising (going on about being made in Sheffield, and so on...), then happily jumped into Taiwanese manufacture with Odyssey? I've never had a problem throughout my riding life of using Taiwanese products, so don't start "fuckwitting" me again and try and set me straight, I'm just putting across what my interpretation of the article was. This isn't a personal attack on you G, because the Ride articles you do on setup and BMX related stuff are generally good, but it just seems when you're defending your products you seem to not actually be the same person, at all.


rip'd from BG ...

BTW... something not many of you may know, but.. alot of 'Gsport' products, are BAD copies of someones else's work/designs, & most of his 'own' designs are evident when you see them (nimrod forks, wonder bars, custom frames)

here, I believe are some of the true innovators (to which he copyied from)

P.E. hubs
bizhouse
& me, (6-7yrs ago I had a 2hr phone converstation with him about a duel cable system from the lever to the top gyro, only to read that 'HE came up with the idea' ) ....

There are more, some bmx, some mtb ( new 'wave' down tube tech on sundays)..but I think the point is made!

street killer?!!?!

fly mosca 19.8
ody civilan hi-rise bars, eastern grips w/flanges cut off, loophole barends ti bolts
ody elermentry stem, ti bolt, carbon stem stackers, kink headset
ody race forks
ody 7ka, rim vandero, ti axle, ti nuts, khe 2.2 tyre w/four holes in side wall repaired with puncher patchs, khe tube.. allsorted broken spokes, custom wood chip stuck in spokes, ( bloody benchs)
ody hazard hub ti axle ti 9T driver ti nuts, primo 1.95 commet tyre, khe tube.. allsorted broken spokes.
wtp toxic slim pegs.. sometimes 2, sometimes 4!?!?
primo cranks, rnc ti axle, no axle bolts, fly bb... custom cracked ( left arm..)
dmr mag pedals, one side pins removed
profile (yuk) 25t chainring w/custom bashguard
kmc sl710 chain, w/half link (makes a proper dodgy noise as it goes around the driver??.. custom noise maker....)
gt seat clamp w/ti bolt, custom drilled, for that punk effect en'it
macneil fat capitol w/shortened post, ti bolt

getto cammo paint

so a few changes to the street bike (currently my favorite at the mo).... brake gone, reason... 990 post's were flexing so much that i'd always crush my fingers + the brake felt really crapy so I ditched it, not to worry tho, no chance of this happening on my park bike!.. so I shaved the mounts guides etc off, then touched in the paint.. ( proper getto!!).. I made a bashguard from a worn macneil chainring/bashguard..