GrindTV.com - GrindTV Bike Blog Videos

ODYSSEY's NEW shirts

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:31:07 PST

Odyssey put out this EPIC video of their new shirts (including Gsport and Flatware threads) being worn by a cute, dancing girl. They know how to promote... Get at this...

It's FRIDAY I'm in love...

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:09:01 PST

Little CURE reference there... Gotta love Fridays. Watch their music video for that song if you want to be creeped out.

If you do not know how beautiful Colorado is... you have your priorities of knowing things mixed up. Empire dudes, from Texas, headed to Colorado and got this EPIC photo feature on defgrip... check it OUT!!

Coco Zurita got some personal information up on ESPN|BMX... top fizzles...
Don't know who he is??? I gotta treat for you. Simon Tabron AND Coco... thanks Rooftop!!!

You know what's good about Jackson Ratima's interview? I asked one of the questions... Get at it...

So Ben Hucke seems to be on Verde/ShadowConspiracy. He won't answer yet but his latest bike is just that. Sooo...

Dennis Enarson is finally putting out a signature frame, the San Diego frame, with Haro. Pix HERE.

Live in NEW JERSEY? Hackettstown JAM going on December Sixth... GET AT IT!!!

2009 Etnies Skatepark Fall Classic

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 10:33:13 PST

I know all of you all kids are all like... all confused when it comes to skatepark riding. You are all like all-ways running into people all the time and being in the way somehow all the time all-ways. Lemme help you. I am a nice guy and so are the guys at ride BMX, so here is a feature they did on what NOT to do at a skatepark. I wrote something similar to this but was less rude and edgy... therefore theirs is better. READ.

Now that you are skatepark educated! Go to the 2009 Etnies Skatepark Fall Classic in Lake Forest, CA. Sunday, November 29th, from 10 in the MORN to 4 in the EVE. Get your groove on with the street and flow contest and of course a BIG AIR contest. Meet pro riders Rob Darden and Corey Martinez (both on Arnette sunglasses?) and have a grand old time.

I might go and enter. Yes I said I might GO AND ENTER. LAteddy. Doing tricks. I do tricks? Yes. I do.

Venting and Videos

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 10:25:46 PST

Do you like fixed gear bikes? Do you hate fixed gear bikes? Do you not care? Express your love, hatred, or apathy in TheComeUp blog. Where adam22 and Rhys Coren go to town on unsuspecting fixie heads for their trendy lameness... My opinion? Fixies are meant for transportation, not tricks. Don't get one if you live in a town full of hills.

The BMX Worlds in Mexico? All I know is Daniel Dhers was the only household name to show up. (Tobias is not a household name, I know.) It's cool that he'd be there, but just to solidify any local's chance at second place. And Tobias got second! The locals should have won the whole thing. They were better...

The Second Annual Nor Cal Classic. Looked so fun, I'm bummed I could not go. Racing, dirt jumping, hanging out.

I love this video. A photoshoot-in-the-life of the older Demolition guys. Haha. Funniest guys in BMX anyway.

These guys are living the life I have always wanted. Trails life.

Music is SO questionable but Keelan Philips is too good to not post. Flatland content... Beware...

These guys are most likely having more fun than you with bikes. You should work on that... Doubles...

I cannot embed this video... thanks Amity... but it is beyond worth watching. Click that...

Check check. Puh puh.

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 10:33:38 PST

Call me lame, but I always enjoy an all black bike. Or a non-black frame with everything else black. I like simple. I like clean. But there is room for color and fun and personal expression. Aaron Ross and Andrew Jackson aren't going to shy away from color in their setups.

First up is Andrew Jackson's Wethepeople rig. Sleepless frame with Royal cranks and Helium forks and bars in matching LOOK AT ME GREEN. I love how ridden this bike is. People would see Andrew Jackson as a street rider, but they will be impressed when they see the dirt on his grips and hubs. Dude seriously kills it at dirt as well.

Next, the all time bright bike greatest, Aaron Ross' Sunday/Odyssey rig. Highlighter Sunday Funday frame with matching highlighter Director forks and signature Space bars. Pink Twombolt cranks and brake hardware and ocean blue rims, grips, and pedals. This is good, but the best bike ever by Aaron Ross was the entirely fluorescent orange rig. Now that... was BRIGHT!

How-To Bunnyhop 360 with Vince Kroff

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 12:03:15 PST

This trick is the most fun trick. I do not need to prove this to you. Maybe I will someday. Check it...

S&M Fall Fiesta

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 10:54:05 PST

Meh. I am kinda bummed I missed this one. Usually I don't care for BMX events because they suck, but this looked fun. Regardless, I had fun in Orange County that day getting glassy waves. Good with the bad...

Looks like the whole SoCal scene sort of turned up for this one. Pretty impressive for what I thought was kind of a last minute idea. Obstacles looked fun. Again, wish I could have been...

Nuno Oliveira, Odyssey BMX and Defgrip head, was there to shoot some photos. Check out his sweet photo gallery HERE.

Also getting photos, S&M themselves. Check out their flickr gallery HERE.

And if you're not a photograph guy, Larry Alvarado has got you covered...

Weekend Warrior Daily Dump

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 11:16:24 PST

I like weekends. Until I come to work on Monday to 25 web videos. Let's try to weed out the weak. First up is, deservedly, Aaron Ross' part from Odyssey's ELECTRONICAL. You're excited...

Next is something I found interesting. A new website covering entertainment and events in CHICO, CA did a video feature on the local BMX scene. Check that out and check out their website, chicogrid.com

Justin Burns making a name for himself on vital BMX from Northern California.

Dylan Stark (The Take) and Cody Ewen do their thing in Los Angeles.

And now... for your overload... of vimeo.

Case of the Mondays

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 10:46:07 PST

Is BMX going downhill again? Shoe sponsors are a big deal in any sport, and for some action sports riders it is a significant chunk of money. We are seeing BMX programs get dropped left and right in shoe companies and more, and other BMX programs get completely dumped to be "reorganized." They probably want an out with the old in with the new situation. Regardless, it is sad to see the economy cut out the weak as BMX programs do not hold nearly as much significance as skate teams, or surf teams, or snowboard teams...

Rory Ellis is hucking his body regardless. El Toro. Barspin. 20 stairs if I remember how to count...

So here are the details for Dave Mirra's contest... KING OF THE ANIMAL HOUSE!!!^{FRIDAY NIGHT
• Cash Jam: 16 riders compete for $8,000
• The rider with the most cash at the end of the Friday night cash jam goes last in the final group at Saturday's final jam
• The winner of the cash jam will also win a Yamaha TTR125 pit bike with DC Shoe Co. graphics
SATURDAY
• 4 groups with 4 riders in each group
• The rider with the most cash from Friday night's cash jam will go last in the final jam
• The rider with the least cash from Friday night will go first. Strategy will come into play in Saturday's final jam
• Prizes for the final jam:

1st place: Subaru WRX
2nd place: Yamaha 250 with DC Shoe Co. graphics
3rd place: Breitling chronograph from Monster Energy

There will be other prizes for biggest trick, best style, sickest line, etc.

The location for Saturday night's Animal House awards banquet is confirmed. The LA Lounge is a hot spot in downtown Greenville, and they've agreed to provide a classy venue with a great spread.

Details of the contest format are still being ironed out, but Dave has
selected judges for the event. The list reads like a who's who of the
BMX scene, and boasts well over 100 years of combined bike-riding and
contest-promoting experience:

Dennis McCoy - pro vert rider
Mark Losey - Photographer
Corey Muth - Verde Bike Co.
Brian Lee - Rider/tattoo artist
Ron Wilkerson - Contest pioneer, bike company owner & freestyle legend}

Friday's DAILY DUMP

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 10:35:02 PST

You know the daily dump is becoming... well... actually daily. Here we have a grip of vimeos, BMX riders' favorite website, to keep you satisfied while you're in computers class at school and can't ride. Come on, I know you're not actually doing your work in computers. You're just trying to find the latest proxy to get on facebook at school...

Thirsty Thursday

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 11:17:05 PST

ESPN's TRUTH TO ME with MAT HOFFMAN. Click here.

Ty Morrow and Dan Lacey always bring the goods in Federal Bikes web videos... see?

Nigel Sylvester still on the grind in another vimeo exclusive with 13thwitness(TM)...

Smoker Dave and Drew Hosselton put out another good video. Always good to see what they're up to.

Moose? From VoiceBMX? Kid kills it...

Fit's King's Ride Shop Jam video. Watch all the SoCal dudes get down...

It is my great pleasure to announce to you, the introduction to the movie RAD... in HD...

Your Web Video DAILY DUMP

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 10:26:42 PST

Unfortunately, me being on a trip this weekend meant everybody and their mother made a BMX web video over the weekend and I come back to well over ten videos post worthy or whatever. So, to accommodate all these fine fellows, here is your web video... DAILY DUMP

Vans Video Vault: Alistair Whitton - More BMX Videos

THIS IS WHAT IS GOOD. RICH HIRSCH'S NEW COMPANY, STRANGER, PROMO VIDEO... (of course it's Caleb)

Funtime Friday!

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 10:07:25 PST

Ben Hucke recently left HARO, meaning he is on the market as of now. We are all waiting to see who will pick up Ben as he may get more than one offer for a sponsor.

DO YOU LIVE IN AUSTIN, TX? Click HERE to view a flyer for an Etnies/T-1 event in Austin...

Fly Bikes released their COBRA TUBE finally, a linking tube that can be changed without taking off your wheel...

Odyssey released some more goods on their new JC/PC pedals, check that out HERE.

Quite a long time ago Fit made an awesome trip to Barcelona and dropped a DVD upon their return. The Fit team was huge at that time and this video is simply awesome... so awesome, that you can watch it all on vimeo HERE.

Props to LIMA from the lightsinthewoods crew for this dirt edit. Makes me want good trails SO bad...

Karl Poynter's part from BRIGHTON AIN'T READY... I didn't like the concept much but it turned out epic.

I dunno how the Give D! crew is always in the Zero Skatepark, but here's another one from the guys...

REPOST of the MONTH. I will try to repost my favorite video of the month. For October, it is Hoffman Bikes UK trip. Seth KILLS it!!!

LAteddy's Official Complete Bike Buyer's Guide

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:41:25 PST

http://www.grindtv.com/profile/completebikebuyersguide/

Click on the link above to visit my new, official Complete Bike Buyer's Guide.

On that profile you will be able to read my advice on buying a bike for just starting out riding, advanced riding for young people, and advanced riding for fully grown riders. Add the profile as a friend and comment on the profile with any questions you may have and I will answer them promptly!

In the future you will see complete video reviews of complete bicycles from the top bicycle companies and much, much more.

More Halloween Footy

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 09:51:19 PST

Before we get to the footage of Halloween contests and such, I'm super stoked to say that Ben Hennon and Mike Miller have been invited to Dave Mirra's invite-only contest, KING OF THE ANIMAL HOUSE. Apparently there are three more riders to be invited to the contest, but with the addition of Hennon and Miller (not noted as big hammer slammers like the rest of 'em) that makes four UK riders at this contest. Regardless, pretty sick and I can not wait for this contest to go down. Seriously...

I told you about RAMPWORX all-nighter event for Halloween this year so if you missed it... not my fault. Here is what you missed, however... Looks so fun I wish I could have one of those.

Here is ride BMX's version of this year's Biketoberfest by Juca Favela. Also check out ride's photographs and mini write up on the event... always a good time with the D! crew...

Chocolate, But For Your Feet!

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 10:26:34 PST

If you thought Nigel Sylvester was going to lay low after immense exposure in the past few weeks I'll be blunt with you... you're wrong. After dropping his Because I Grind Tour web videos all over the web, doing a Vital BMX Q & A video, being featured on MAESTRO KNOWS of vimeo with his bike shop, and re-releasing his Mirraco signature frame this year (which looks better than ever)... Nigel is still on the grind releasing his signature Nike MAVRK shoes (AVAILABLE NOW!)

The coolest thing about Nigel's release of his new shoes is that they are a serious sneaker collector item. This one isn't just for the ratty BMX kids trying to sport their favorite rider's kicks. The 'Chocolate' Mavrk shoe has shown up on popular fashion websites such as High Snobiety and Sneaker Files. The shoes are officially called "Chocolate, but for your feet." At least I think that's the full name. I suppose it's appropriate to abbreviate these shoes as simply "CHOCOLATE."

400 pairs were produced and so far I have only heard of them being sold through DAN'S COMP. So hit up Dan's to order because they're available right now...

Look at me, getting ahead of myself. Let's talk sneakers! Let me start off with the interior (yes, I said interior like it's a luxury automobile). When we're talking fashion forward sneakers you can't go wrong with purple. It sticks out but at the same time it isn't sticking out too much like lime green or preppy pink. The interior's diamond pattern reminds me of a nice jacket. Nigel is from Queens, NY and some would say he is the BMX King of Queens so purple and gold are only fitting for his signature shoe.

Of course the sole is designed for BMX usage. Sticky gum soles to hug your pedals tight. This is especially important for all you plastic pedalers out there who need the extra grip to avoid the slip. The shoes are also extra flex so you don't feel like you're wearing blocks on your feet that are just sitting on your pedals. You want to hug the pedals with your feet to achieve maximum control of foot placement.The tongue strap keeps the shoe tight on your feet so there's no wobble and you won't have your shoe fall off when you take a dive. That doesn't look cool kids, seriously.

Did I mention some of the materials used for these kicks are ostrich leather and crocodile leather? This is truly a King's luxury pair of sneaks...

HALLOWEEN BMX JAMS!!! (everywhere: socal, norcal, texas, NY, UK, AUS, and more!!!)

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 15:25:49 PST

If you ride a bike (scratch that, if you're just alive) and you are trying to get DOWN Halloween night.
You know. As always. I GOT YOU COVERED!!!

If you live in LIVERPOOL, UK you definitely need to check out the RAMPWORX Halloween All nighter.

Adernaline Valley, another UK skatepark, is also having an all nighter but it's sold out. So see who's going and steal their tickets... it's Halloween!!! Be mischievous!!!

Live in South Africa? Check out the Gum Trails Jam in Durbanville Hills!!!

Mission Valley Skatepark (that's San Diego area, SOCAL WHAT!?!?) is having their FIFTH ANNUAL Biketoberfest and you can win money so of course you should go... peep ze flier...

You know the 9th Street Halloween jam in Austin, Texas is always on fire so don't miss it this year!!!

If you live in the Nor Cal Santa Cruz San Jose area... you know... get at Ryan Nyquist for his Halloween jam!!!

Live by Dulwich Hill in Australia??? Check out Focal Point's Aussie Halloween jam... I wish I could be there...

Live by Dumbarton in Scotland? Unit 23 Skatepark is having a Halloween jam with BSD bikes... WORD!!!

Unfortunately it looks like the London Freestyle Festival won't go off this year... pretty wack...

You live in Houston, Texas area? Get at the bmx-forum guys because they're having a laid back Halloween jam...

You live in France? I GOT YA!

You live in the Netherlands? I GOT YA!

Live in New York area? BMX dudes are gathering at Ben Soto Skate Park mid day to ride. No flier, just gather together and have an EPIC TIME!!!

PEE ES, there's probably a grip more I am forgetting or can't find so get social and network! Facebook, twitter, myspace, text your friends, call your friends, send them a telegram, use that big horn thing at the top of a mountain you know that calls all the superheroes into action or whatever!!! GET SOME!!!

IT! IS! FRIDAY!!! Of Halloween weekend...

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 09:55:01 PST

But ain't nothing changed...

Vital BMX's Big Big BMX Show. I think the concept is... you know, but Glenn is a really cool guy so f!ck it...

Here's a video of Albert Mercado 69ing and giving all kinds of D in a web video... (hah, you don't get it do you?)

Karl Poynter is a dope dude. Check out his photography slide show from the Shadow Philly trip...

Odyssey JC/PCs will be dropping soon... you gonna get some???

Because I Grind Tour with Nigel Sylvester

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 09:44:19 PST

Nigel Sylvester is a BMX street rider that came up through the most famous street scene in BMX. That scene is the New York Animal Bikes scene. From his hometown spots in Queens, to the legendary Brooklyn banks, to spots all over the world, Nigel has grown through BMX and even at his young age has become one of the biggest names in BMX street. He is also one of the most pure BMX riders one could meet. Nigel is so engulfed in BMX; he is down to fly across the world and compete in international X Games events or do barspins on the sidewalk in front of his New York BMX store, Format NY.

I would also like to add that Format NY is an epic little shop. Many BMX riders have that dream to run their own bike store and Nigel didn’t think twice when the opportunity arose. He’s so stoked on it, the local kids are stoked on it, and it’s a MUST SEE if you’re an action sports (or shoe) enthusiast running around in New York.

Now on to the topic at hand. Gatorade presented a BMX shop tour throughout the US where Nigel would hit up several bike stores in each city and do an autograph signing and hold a BMX demo session with local pro riders as well. Nigel spent the first half of July traveling the states, supporting the scene, getting the local kids all amped on riding and the free shwag tosses, but also getting his ride on of course.

Check out all the episode of Because I Grind

The tour started in Atlanta, Georgia at the Board-N-Bike shop. Mark Gralla made a special guest appearance. You probably know him as RATKID from the Jersey area. He’s a lesser known rider but definitely underrated in that way. He is a creative street rider with very technical lines, manuals to grinds and back again.

A lot of typical BMX demos are something like one big quaterpipe and one big box jump. And what happens is a couple pro riders go and do their thing, back flippin 360 tailwhips and all that, while everybody sits their and watches. Nigel doesn’t ride that way. The tour brought along some rails and boxes and little kickers so everybody could ride and even discover some local rippers who can express their talents. This is for the streets. This is for having fun. No velvet ropes blocking off the fans from the pro riders. We’re all BMX riders here…

Along with Ratkid and Dave Belcher comes Mike Brennan. These guys are all Animal Bikes riders and OD (Brennan) is one of the standouts of the crew. They call him OD because he goes for the biggest things, just overdosing on tricks. He could barspin a 4 stair… but why not an 8 stair? 14 stair? OD on it, man…

The last stop on the tour was at the OMEGA Bikes shop in Oceanside, California. Also featured at the event are MY HOMEBOYS Boy and E-man. Anthony Flores and Manuel Cantero are Los Angeles riders that are as pure street as Nigel himself. I believe Manuel (E-Man) met Nigel a few years back when they both went to ride with Dave Mirra in ride BMX’s video, Flipside. Boy was riding with E-man in LA all this time and through a few web videos both of them blew up on the scene shortly after. So, E-man and Boy would tag along the California leg of the Because I Grind tour and promote that street as hell riding we love.

Don’t forget to throw in some wild cards on the way like Tom (Ohio?) from the give D! crew and the one and only Mike Escamilla. If you don’t know Rooftop (Escamilla) you need to take a BMX history class or something.

Of course besides the shop demos some good street riding went down and you can see all of that in the last episode. The street guys throw down and get tech. This is their specialty and it’s clearly evident in this video.

What is a cross-country tour without a wrap up party? Gatorade and Nigel Sylvester would not disappoint as the Southern California BMX industry heads gathered in Hermosa Beach to mingle and get down to the one and only Biz Markie. a hip hop legend out of New York so Nigel must have been ecstatic to have such a New York legend to attend his party, as Nigel is now a New York legend himself.

Mirraco, Nigel’s bicycle sponsor, put up Nigel Sylvester’s bicycle for someone to win at that wrap up party. That person had to be stoked to get their hands on not only a dialed bicycle, but the exact one Nigel rode throughout the Because I Grind tour. If that shows up on eBay holla at me because I want it…

Glenn PP Milligan, BMX filmer/editor and vital BMX big BMX show host, showed up at the party to get in everybody’s face with microphones and cameras and hopefully leave some embarrassing moments on film captured forever amongst the attendees. Gatorade had the place lit up with flashy decorations and of course bottles of goods to go around. I think people were more interested in what to put in their Gatorade at the time, however.

In addition to having this tour, Nigel put out a mixtape with the help of Gatorade and in collaboration with The Alchemist. You’ll notice his work throughout the episodes in this blog; just good beats to ride to.

Much props out to Nigel and Gatorade and everybody who participated in the Because I Grind tour. Props for supporting the local bike shops and keeping kids interested in the local shop talk instead of going on the internet and having message board arguments about what colors should be on bike parts all day. As Ja Rule once said in a classic movie (The Fast and the Furious), “It’s not how you stand by your car, it’s how you race your car.” Ride a bike, not a bandwagon!

Watch all the episodes of the Because I Grind Tour

FRIDAY! in BMX...

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 10:35:09 PST

Too much BMX. Lots of industry crap though so get updated, kay? Here we go...

Apparently, Dave Mirra is holding a contest in association with his sponsors like Monster, DC, and Subie!!! This contest is called KING OF THE ANIMAL HOUSE and nobody knows yet exactly what it's supposed to be like. But here's the most exciting information we got. Third place gets a decked out watch from Monster, pretty cool. Second place gets a 250 motorcycle which is nice. BUT... the first place winner of this contest wins a new Subaru WRX STI!!! Dude... I wish I didn't suck. Riders confirmed to be in the contest so far are Daniel Dhers, Ryan Guettler, Mike Laird, Rob Darden, Morgan Wade, Chase Hawk, and Ryan Nyquist. Click here to see a vital bmx update on the contest...

Gary Young donated his hair to LOCKS OF LOVE. Does he look funny?

November 7th street jam with... you could have guessed... S&M and Fit. Click HERE.

Ten pack Dist and Element 51 present a Canadian Pro/Am Contest. Click HERE, eh?

FBM's new Gypsy frame flipbooke can be seen HERE. Support FBM. They are amazingly awesome...

DC has been hit by the economy and riders who's contracts expire might feel the hurt, like Chad Kagy.

Chat with Simon Tabron on facebook... for some reason. Just click HERE.

The 2010 product catalogs are definitely coming out of the woodworks. I couldn't get Mutiny's up because their site is... meh, but HERE is Superstar's latest... featuring Jared Chilko and his fashionable fashion!

Nathan Williams' signature frame, the United Mothership, is coming out. I like this frame, surprisingly...

Apparently, Premium is doing disgusting things to BMX. Like 3.75 pound frames for JJ Palmere, called THE GUTTER SHARK. Let's hope they realize what danger they're putting little BMX rats in here...

Tree released a pretty awesome new stem recently so look at that thang HERE.

And of course, the DAILY DUMP. More web videos than your internetz can handlez...

I would pay money to be friends with TJ Ellis and Anthony Napolitan. I haven't actually met TJ but I have talked to Anthony and he's really nice. A lot of BMX pros are actually. Regardless, I don't know how the best trick judges deciding anything here. I would have just split it between A Naps and TJ because they blew everybody out of the water.

www.allisports.com

What happened over the weekend...

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 10:45:38 PST

Every Tuesday I come back to work and recap the weekend in a blog post, considering that amount of time will have produced 10-15 web videos, 1-5 industry rumors and fun facts, and not enough sleep...

Everybody must know... WHAT HAPPENED AT DEW TOUR???

In vert, Jamie Bestwick did that thing he does and took first... AGAIN. That is a Dew Tour SWEEP and he obviously takes the cup at the end of the night. Chad Kagy in second, Kevin Robinson in third. Steven McCann in fourth, and my main man COCO in fifth. Click HERE to watch ride bmx's video.

In dirt, Brandon Dosch came back and was not going to let Ryan Nyquist take another one. TJ Ellis followed closely behind in second place, and Rob Darden will take third. Cameron White fourth. Click HERE to watch ride bmx's video.

In park, Ryan Nyquist got revenge after not podiuming in dirt by winning this event. Daniel Dhers took second and Mark Webb took third. Dave Mirra took fourth and in a strange turn of events Garrett Reynolds landed in seventh place... possibly showing off since he still won the park tour cup still... heh. Click HERE to watch ride bmx's video.

Jamie takes the cup in a distant 75 points above Kagy with the second cup, McCann with the third.
Reynolds JUST snags the park cup 10 points ahead Miracle Boy Mirra. Dhers snags third cup.
Nyquist takes the dirt cup SIX POINTS ahead of Dosch's second up. Ellis gets third (first in my eyes).

I feel like I posted this before. If so, it deserves a RE UP... ride UK's photoshoot on the giant brick quarter in Newcastle or something. Anyway, check it out it is pretty death defying...

LET THE WEB VIDEO DUMP BEGIN... no captions... just videos...

The last video ^^^ from MPORA is an in depth recap of the Nike 6.0 Tunnel Jam. Worthy watch over the bazillion vimeo/youtube videos...

If it matters to you... if it does... the RAS CATS are officially off Fit and probably both on Cult since they're lifelong homies of Robbie Morales. You knew that...

Tom White is having knee surgery due to a bad fall filming for an Animal video. Speaking of which, Animal has a new website.

Mark Webb is on ALBE'S. Alex Magallan is on DUFFS.

The Year 2009 with Garrett Reynolds

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 10:16:27 PST

What can you say? What can you say about a teenager who took the BMX world by storm and never sold out, never changed who he was, never tried to ride like anyone else, or even wanted to win really really bad. They say if you find a job you love you will never have to work again. I think Garrett Reynolds, out of his love for BMX, will never have to compete again. Sounds weird... you get the idea.

This year Garrett ran a rampage on the park contest of Dew Tour. He also destroyed any X Games street event in his way. Top all of that off with his MTV television show with Dennis Enarson and winning TWO Nora Cups, best video part and best street rider... I'm pretty speechless right now.

So, at the Orlando Dew Cup event this weekend. Garrett was officially crowned 2009 Dew Tour Park Champion. "Feel like I got on a championship ring!" He got more than a ring man... check his watch and his epic cup at the end of the video.

So congratulations to Garrett Reynolds for not only winning all these contests and awards and this and that, but doing all of it with a smile on his face, beanie instead of a helmet, no stickers posted all over his gear, always wearing a flannel or something. Congrats to Garrett for keeping it real and being the most achieved BMX rider today at the same time!

Take THAT Kanye West...

RANGE of MOTION updates

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 15:18:24 PST

Finally. Ride BMX released some updates about their upcoming video RANGE of MOTION. I'll also include some Dew Tour updates in this post from ride...

Southern California BMX riders listen up! The premiere for this epic video will be at THEIR OFFICE in Tustin, CA. Address 1421 Edinger Avenue Suite D. October 23rd at 6 pm. Check the pic below for all of that information you know and go down FURTHER for the trailer for the video, which probably doesn't do the epicness justice. This video WILL be epic.

They're leaving you without a lot to imagine with this trailer, so you know what you have to do...

Now for Dew Tour Orlando updates from RIDEBMX:

In vert, the top 7 from qualifying go (from seventh to first) Francisco COCO Zurita (hell yeah the high flyer), Simon Tabron, Vince Byron, Jimmy Walker, Tim Wood, Kevin Robinson, and Austin... Coleman...

OH! That's right, Jamie Bestwick, Steven McCann, and Chad Kagy AUTOMATICALLY advance to the finals for being tour leaders... phew, I got scared.

In dirt, the top 9 from qualifying go (from ninth to first) Cameron White, Luke Parslow, Ryan Guettler, Chris Gerber, Chris Doyle, Rob Darden, TJ Ellis, Colton Satterfield, and Anthony Napolitan. These nine will also ride against the top three automatic qualifiers Ryan Nyquist, Brandon Dosch, and Dennis Enarson. DIG IT!

Click HERE for vert photos, HERE for a vert video, HERE for dirt photos, and HERE for a dirt video. All from RIDE!!!

FRIDAY! in BMX...

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 10:53:40 PST

ODYSSEY'S 2010 (ONLINE) PRODUCT CATALOG (CLICK HERE) it's so f!cking worth it...

You need to watch this video. It's edited by Edd Allen so it is amazing and what's in it is even better. Huge brick quarter that might as well have been in a Mat Hoffman video game. Dude, gnarly...

Oakley National Trails Championships video from MPORA. All the dirt dudes killing it in high quality filming/editing/etc.

Matt Roe and Robbo of Mutiny Bikes are now hooked up by Lotek. Cool. From Seventies Distribution...

The Etnies team gets down and dirty in the Etnies SKATEpark turned bike park... watch Aaron Ross ruin the sesh...

And in an impossible coincidence the give D crew hits the ZERO SKATEpark turned bike park today... of course they also get their 69 on 69 times...

And last but certainly not least... Some kid filming for some thing called SAF or whatever, going for an epic trick and being denied by Jim C's lack of craftmanship. Haha. "Damn it Jim C!" Classic...

The Aitkens

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 13:39:04 PST

I hate to dedicate a whole post to one picture, but Mike Aitken is one of my favorite riders and his story is so amazing and I'm so glad to see him there with his little boy. Admit it's cool to see Mikey on his twenty inch signature bike and little Owen on the sixteen inch version of it!

spotted on FITBIKECO

2009 Nike 6.0 Banksgiving Jam in Newark Valley

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 11:05:12 PST

Nike 6.0 held an essay contest to win an entire mini ramp a while back, and Newark Valley resident Nick Marzolino came through with what I suspect was a lot more than Nike was expecting. In his essay, Nick divulged a story of his friend Nick Wilson, also a BMX rider, who lost his life in the war overseas. Nike, in hearing of Newark Valley's lack of a skatepark, upped the offer to a full blown skatepark for the next Banksgiving Jam!

After a long time of planning and eventually ramp building, everything came together in a great event where the locals could ride their new Nick Wilson Memorial Skatepark with Nike pro Dennis Enarson.

Enarson loves BMX that much...

The skatepark looks really fun; I think John Saxton really developed a good park in the allocated space. And it looks like there is a mix of wood ramps and dirt jumps, which I wish I could explain to you how good that is. Both riding surfaces have their advantages.

FatBaldMen mastermind Steve Crandall. Nothing more to say...

The BMX community is grateful towards Nike and their contributions towards the sport, big and small, from making award-winning videos to getting right down to the roots and building local skateparks for stoked little grommies trying one handers and one footers. That's what it's about...

Below is Nike 6.0's YouTube video covering the event, including some words from those involved with the project...

ThUrsDAY in BMX

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 10:35:54 PST

Apparently, Sean McKinney has NOT left S&M but Neal Wood has... I seriously don't care anymore.

In the photo gallery you will see an amazing Jake Seeley ad for Sunday, a new Animal fitted cap, AND the new ride UK cover featuring BAZ just blasting this big street quarter. Jeebus...

More from Fit. These "How It's Made" video are all the rage right now. Fit stems... watch...

DGAF Dan and Larry Edgar edit... from vital bmx... if it doesn't work for you, just refresh a couple of times until it works... southern california spots, you know the etnies skatepark, etc.

NIKE 6.0 BANKSGIVING JAM in NEWARK VALLEY. The web videos, they roll in...

Dew Tour Orlando Preview

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 11:28:28 PST

Let's get down to business. This is the last stop. Dew Tour Orlando has a lot riding on it, even some extra things thrown in... read on.

TJ Ellis with three fans. This needs to change...

Rumors:
Dan's Comp is noted to be raising money with the Athlete Recovery Fund at Dew Tour Orlando so support those who support the well being of our favorite riders!

Ride BMX also stepped up to the plate and offered up $5,000 to the best trick at Dew Tour Orlando. I'm not sure if this is specific to dirt or park, etc. I think it is just the whole entire event. Best trick. Anything goes. Make money make money...

Also, BMX heads on twitter have been raving about Dave Mirra's bet to Daniel Dhers. Apparently, Mirra gave $5,000 to Dhers to go brakeless for the Orlando event. If Dhers prefers brakeless he owes Mirra the 5 g's, but if he goes back to brakes Mirra pays up. Maybe I'm wrong. I think Mirra just gave him 5 g's and expects Dhers to not do as well so he can beat him in the event and win in the long run by earning more money through the contest. Regardless! I am stoked to see Dhers go brakeless... let's see how this turns out...

Schedule:
the finals for VERT will go down Friday @ 6 pm
the finals for DIRT will go down Saturday @ 7:30 pm
the finals for PARK will go down Sunday @ 4:30 pm
for TV scheduling click HERE

Jamie Bestwick... de ja vu?

The Points Battle:
As always I start with vert. Simply because it is rather easy to predict. So the only way Jamie Bestwick will lose the 2009 Dew Tour vert title is if he doesn't compete pretty much. If he competes and doesn't win first at Orlando he'll probably still take the overall tour win. However, as far as I know he will compete, he will win, and he will have swept another Dew Tour by winning first place every single event. MONEY! The race for second is between Steven McCann, Chad Kagy, and Simon Tabron is he can pick up his game in this event.

Look at Ellis' face... exactly...

I am kinda bummed to say that Ryan Nyquist may win the Dew Tour dirt title this year. He is a great rider and he has done a lot for the sport and I respect the hell out of him but the riders sitting in sport 2, 3, 4, and 5 will have been robbed if they can't beat Nyquist. Last event's dirt competition was truly upsetting as TJ Ellis had one of the best dirt runs we've ever seen. Nyquist did 360s with barspins on about every set and won...

Dave Mirra doesn't practice. He just envisions the win...

Ugh, let's move on to park. So we have this trifecta of BMX dominators. Garrett Reynolds sits on top. Dave Mirra is behind him by 22 points. And Daniel Dhers is behind Mirra by 20 points. Daniel Dhers can actually take them all down with a first place win but if they finish in 2nd or 3rd places they can still beat Dhers on points for the tour win. So Reynolds is favored to win and if he keeps killing it as usual this one could be in the bag. But Mirra and Dhers are NEVER EVER to be counted out. They have tricks up their sleeves like no other BMX rider I've seen before.

"Pearly Whites" will go brakeless for probably the first time this weekend...

THIS IS IT FOLKS! The last stop... Let's raise some money for our fallen athletes, see some crazy/wild tricks for a $5,000 prize, witness the outcome of the Mirra/Dhers bet of brakes vs. brakeless, watch Bestwick sweep yet another Dew Tour vert title, and witness the battle to beat Nyquit on the dirt course. It's Dew Tour Orlando 2009 people... let's party!

Mr. Everything, simply sitting on top of the game...

(all photos property of ALLISPORTS.com)

TOosDAY in BMX...

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 10:31:33 PST

(this will be the longest blog I've done EVER... I think... at least it will feel like it)

THIS IS COOL. Action sports athletes have always had trouble being insured due to the high risk of injury and we have been dealing with this issue by raising money through non-profit funds to help those riders in need with medical costs. XSI (Xtreme Sport Insurance) caters to the action sports community Individual rates can be anywhere from 17 to 27 dollars a month, which is so cheap I kind of want to look for the catch. Maybe there is none! Support this company by spreading the word and buying in if you're an athlete yourself!

On Twitter I heard that Dave Mirra bet Dhers 5 grand to go brakeless for the Orlando Dew Tour stop. People say this is so Dhers will be at a disadvantage and Mirra will have a better chance of winning thus increasing his pay out for beating Dhers. And, if Dhers likes going brakeless he has to pay Mirra 5 grand for an "I told you so" or something... the situation is complicated let's just see how Dhers does...

NIKE 6.0 BANKSGIVING JAM in NEWARK VALLEY was a big deal in BMX. Nike got a lot of heat for the whole situation but came through and I'm not sure whether the BMX community is accepting of it and happy or still pissed that Nike did what they did in the first place... I'm stoked they finally got it done though.

UPDATES on the FIT/CULT drama, Sean McKinney leaves S&M and is assumed to have gone to CULT with Rob-O. Van Homan makes a heartfelt statement about Fit and ends the message with "STILL FIT!" Haha. This is great...

RIDE BMX is hosting a 5 grand best trick contest, hopefully for dirt? maybe for all categories, at the Orlando Dew Tour stop so we should see a great deal of bangers and bumps and bruises in a video from that event.

If I didn't mention it before, Gary Young is officially on Sunday and here is his bike check.

DK released a new "TEAM" frame and I am getting stoked on their efforts lately. Click it...

So, that Hoffman UK tour video came out and Seth killed it. Now we have another one with Hoffman riders Shane Weston and our beloved Seth Kimbrough. Both of them are killing it with freecoaster-enhanced moves, but I wish I could just think of Hoffman Bikes as a high-end bicycle company. I can't...

Terry Adams, the most famous flatlander in the world apparently, was on the Ellen Degeneres show. I think she's awesome despite so many people hating her. If she can make people happy and laugh when times are shitty, good for her!

Even better... here's the video of Mike ROOFTOP Escamilla trying that double pegger, or quad pegger, grind loop on NITRO CIRCUS. I hate television shows but hey, it's Rooftop!!!

I guess thsi video is cool. Nathan Williams and Dakota Roche destroying one rail at night...

AJ Anaya is awesome. Haha, this dude is so chill. And so good. Peep his vital edit below...

I know I don't post enough flatland videos. This gem should make up for the dry spell... (and I posted Terry Adams on Ellen so give me a break!)

Do you like machining videos? I do. It's good to have a vague understanding of how your bicycle parts are made... WATCH!

Apparently, the members of the come up message boards took matters to their own hands to set off a jam at the Brooklyn banks. It was actually pretty gnarly and some good riding went down. DAHSTREETS gotz a video...

FRIDAY! in BMX...

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 12:21:58 PST

Take a ridiculous idea, give Mike Escamilla some pads, and he will do it. Hell, Rooftop might even do it padless if he's feeling lucky. He went on Nitro Circus and, in true Rooftop fashion, melted your face with a double pegger loop grind. So hard to explain. Check the pisc and let's sit on our hands and wait for the footage to come out...

I love Mat Hoffman. I love Hoffman Bikes. I love web videos. You get the idea...

Vince Kroff is a suicidal Subrosa slammer hammer. Get learnt in this web video about hill bombing...

Odyssey is always bringing the goodies for us. CHECK. THIS. WALLPAPER!

BMX Bandits Style Guide

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 11:56:35 PST

One thing we know about BMX is that if you're not good at riding, you should at least look good and have the most expensive bike at the skatepark. Just because you can't tailwhip does not mean you won't be the one walking away with a girl on each side. Let's talk fashion...

When it comes to kicks, it's good to support the BMX-specific companies. Lotek has actually been around for a while now and their shoes are better than ever. The Dakota Roche sigs in synthetic blue. $70

Tight jeans are a must for a fashionable BMX look. Levi's 510s are always in favor in whatever color you choose. $40-70

To hold those jeans up, you need something impractical, like a high quality shoe lace. $1

If it's a more chilly day and you need a secnod layer top, look at Animal's Mystic shirt in blue. $40

Even colder? That's okay. Nike makes a wide variety of fitting hoodies. Check the ANGLE. $60

As far as tee shirts. There's so much on the market. But here are what I consider five MUST HAVES... $18-24
click on the links to visit dan's comp and snag ones you like. spring for the STAY STRONG tee for Stephen.
STAY STRONG CLASSIC tee
STAY FIT MIKEY tee
THE COME UP STATE OF MIND tee
SUBROSA SUICIDAL tee
ODYSSEY 85 tee

As far as headwear, a nice fitted hat is a BMX must. The Animal Farm in blue will complete this look. $33

I'm really hoping that you know by now you need blacked out wayfarer glasses to ride a bike. Seriously. $3

Don't forget to get some light, simple earbuds to ride with listening to hip hop. SkullCandy Riots (in white?) $20

THree 4 THursday

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 13:57:23 PST

three web videos for a busy thursday...

local shredder KELLY BOLTON for DC

local shredder DANIEL MARTINEZ for ESPN

non-local shredders ripping a local skatepark, STOLEN TEAM riding at VANS in ORANGE COUNTY

LOTEK SHIRTS

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 15:58:18 PST

LOTEK recently dropped some new shirts and the BMX community is always stoked to see the latest from Rich and the guys.

Here is the Stamp tee shirt. Unsure of who designed it but it reminds me of a T Shorts sharpie shirt.
Visit danscomp.com to view the new Lotek shirts and purchase one for yourself...

Vital BMX video of Lotek at Interbike. Peepgame...

Lotek - More BMX Videos

TOosDAY in BMX

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 10:46:15 PST

More news on the Robbie Morales' crew changes. Shawn Garrett, one of the RAS CATS, has officially left Fit and you kinda expect the other cat, Russell Barone, to follow suit as they're both lifelong friends of Robbie. Trey Jones is on the VANS flow team, Robbie's shoe sponsor, after quitting Nike 6.0

The kids' favorite rider IAN SCHWARTZ has an exclusive interview on THE COME UP. Click HERE!

Ben Hittle, aka the best rider in the world, is officially on KINK. Here's a bike check...

Lotek dropped some new shirts, a new website, and a new web video featuring Kurtis Elwell, WOLFMAN, and Dustin Mata aka DIRT.

rideBMX released this cool feature, one I should use, about buying complete bikes. click HERE.

Do not miss this video of Anthony Napolitan, call him Mr. Double Frontflip, and Kevin Robinson doing a MEGA RAMP DEMO in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Nike 6.0 Tunnel Jam

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 10:35:24 PST

Let's get right to it! The Nike 6.0 Tunnel Jam that happened somewhere in England recently went off! It was nuts!

So here are the results of the contest... the BEST TRICK award went to Jason Phelan doing a huge tailwhip to double pegger. Of course the BEST LINE award goes to Dan Lacey who links things together like a straight chain. Over vert Ruben wallride to 180 gapped across the entire course. The BEST RIDER award goes to Sebastian BAZ Keep for many a pocket transfer and super high airs in this sketchy set up.

The team competition saw Nike 6.0's own team winning (is that odd? it makes sense but isn't it?). DK Bikes came in second, Federal in third, and Fly in fourth. Everybody killed it and it's such a rad course, check out the photos and the videos to see what's bread...

Oh, did I mention that tunnel skatepark will remain there for the local riders to enjoy... Great, ten more Harry Mains hitting the scene REAL soon...

MPORA video (watch me):

Holy frame break...

PROPER HAS A GRIP OF INFO ON THE EVENT. Click HERE, HERE, and HERE to read it.
To see the BEST of the BEST photos from Odyssey's NUNO, a tunnal jam judge, click HERE.

Nike 6.0 is finally making amends with Newark Valley and holding the Banksgiving Jam there as promised a year ago or whatever... click HERE to see the photos.

FRIDAY! in BMX...

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 10:54:40 PST

Peep the bikes of Hoang Tran (Subrosa) and Max Gaertig (WeThePeople). Apparently, Hoang has got a signature frame coming out with Subrosa which means I will have to get back into BMX riding and buy all of his sh!t... and learn nose manuals. Max is riding the sick WARRIORS frame by WTP which is his and Mike "OD" Brennan's split sig frame. DIG IT! Pix in the gallery... HOANG TRAN PIX BY JMHimagery

In more Subrosa news, Kyle Hart is OFFICIALLY bumped up to pro even though we felt this was coming for a long time. To commemorate this epic 69ing moment in Kyle Fart's career, here's a Subrosa web video...

Ben Hucke (Haro) just released his last web video before the infamous rain of Portland. BTW, this edit is SICK! I did not expect this epicness from a little web video. WORTH THE WATCH...

AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST, it's actually the MOST. Here is Nick Black (don't quite remember him but I think he's a NorCal dude... something like that...) doing some indoor sketch rail in Vegas at Interbike on a Kink Liberty complete bicycle. Word is he got to keep the bike because this is the best kind of complete bicycle promotion you can get... ever...

Today in BMX

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 11:22:32 PST

Bryce Toole (said to be riding across America on his BMX a month ago) is going to ride to Florida from Pittsburgh with Jeff Smee (Greg Smee's brother) to raise money for a skatepark in Dormont, PA. Here's a statement:

"…he (Smee) received the motivation to start planning such a trip
last summer, when friend Vince Pitcher and his brother Stephen drowned
while camping with family and friends.

“We’re trying to get better parks for the community as well as making a
memorial to their sons,” Smee said. “It kind of started out as a joke.
I’m an outdoors-type person. I thought, maybe this would be possible.
Really, as long as it’s going to take us, we’ll keep trucking.”"

Sounds like it's going to be a fun time. I wish I wasn't so lazy. People are fulfilling their dreams and seeing the world, and I'm here sitting my ass behind a computer blogging... I feel cool...

Eddie Cleveland has a bike check up that is sort of reassuring his partnership with the S&M/Fit family even after the leaving of the Chase's, Dakota Roche, and Trey Jones shortly after Robbie quite his job there. Anyways, the bike is a mix of Fit and S&M components with Primo wheels, the best pedals in the world Odyssey PCs, and the super sturdy Shadow interlock chain... and now we're getting pics from Fit of a new build with flat black and chrome... either way, check both pics. Not too bad...

Also, here is a video from FitBikeCo recapping their interbike experience. Hit it!

The Future of FitBikeCo? Who stays and who goes...

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 16:22:50 PST

Let's go from the start...

About half an hour ago Vital posted an article about Trey Jones leaving the Fit team. This was right after posting about him leaving Nike 6.0 so I was like what is Trey doing, quitting BMX?

Thennn, it got big. I saw the article posted EARLIER (I missed it?) that Robbie Morales left Fit. ALONG with Chase Hawk and Dakota Roche. In case you didn't know, Robbie Morales pretty much runs Fit. Chris Moeller who owns S&M owns Fit. You knew that. S&M is like the parent company. So, apparently Robbie wanted to created a new company (within the same family of S&M) for just the younger Fit riders to move to. I suppose this was to separate the market of hardcore OG riders such as Van Homan and Brian Foster from the new breed of Dakota Roche and Chase Dehart. Apparently, this idea went sour at this point...

THEN... Chase Dehart is said to have left JUST NOW. (from Vital aka BMXTMZ!!!)

Chris Moeller released this statement: "From day one Robbie helped build an amazing team for FIT. I had
known Mike, Van and BF for a long time but I actually never imagined
they'd ride for us...Robbie did-and he made it happen. He also
introduced us all to Edwin, one of the most innovative and influential
riders ever. Robbie definitely has a gift for spotting the best and
most stylish riders around.

I called Robbie yesterday to ask him
about some more shady rumors I heard at Interbike and he got frustrated
and abruptly quit his job. I immediately got a call from Hawk and Dak
who also quit the team. Months ago I had been approached by Robbie to
start a new brand with only the younger team riders so this didn't
surprise me but I was bummed to lose these two because I like them both
a lot. I have no hard feelings toward any of the guys and I think
everyone should do what makes them happy. So good luck boys, and new
frame sponsors be aware if you need some Dak or Hawk frame gussets we
have some for sale!"

So, what happens to Fit now? I assume Chris Moeller has to take over Fit for now if they decide to continue it. Will Eddie Cleveland leave Fit as he did when friends of his left MOSH a few years back? Now it's like a who will go and who will stay game... and considering who's left, what will happen to FIT? (LOL, I hope Jim over at Sunday has some spots on the team open, even after he just added Gary Young!!!)

Garret Reynolds. Nora Cup. Dew Tour. X Games. MTV2. Dude.

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 14:38:08 PST

So, in case you don't understand what each of those things in this blog title have in common let me explain. Garrett Reynolds is a teenage professional BMX rider from New Jersey. His talent on a bicycle is beyond measure and he has the hardware to prove it. Seven gold medals in X Games BMX Street. Dew Tour BMX Park standings leader as of now. Winner of this year's NORA CUP Street Rider of the Year award. MTV2 star in the show "Five Months to Freedom." And he's only 19; nowhere near stopping.

Oh my bad, he ALSO won video part of the year for his part in Nike 6.0's 'WRITING ON THE WALL.' He's this super modest and nice kid just riding his bicycle and loving every moment of it, but he is to BMX what Kanye West is to rap music right now. Just without the "jackass" attitude. (yeah, I used an Obama quote)

Thumbs up, Garrett! I give him full credit (surprising considering my usual negative attitude towards anybody and anything) because he really earned everything he got. He is taking a street style of riding and applying it to a park course like nobody ever has before and beating out the top park names such as Daniel Dhers, Scotty Cranmer, and Dave Mirra.

That is an extremely hard task when the park pros are doing 360 backflips, and triple tailwhips, and frontflip whips. But none of that amounts to anything without style and grace, something Garrett defines in his riding. Just look at that thumbs up air!!!

So congratulations to Garrett Reynolds and here's to more good things to come. He's gaining ground on the Dew Tour, has the X Games on lock, is an MTV star, considered the best rider by the fans and by other professional riders... he's becoming the biggest name in BMX and he did it without an AXE BODY SPRAY commercial. Without a RIGHT GUARD SPORT commercial. Without a BURGER KING WHOPPER BACKFLIP type commercial. No GILETTE EXTREME SPORTS SHAVE type commercial. He did it through his love of BMX riding that led to such skill.

MIKE AITKEN

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 11:51:48 PST

What a year dude...

Here's a local Utah news feature with Mike Aitken where he talks about his tremendous story throughout the last year of winning the local Dew Tour contest, to the injury, to the recovery, to winning the NORA CUP award for dirt, and being where he is now...

He is one of the most influential riders to me. Always putting riding with style and skill and control before doing whips and flips and sh!t...

Also you can laugh at the reporter sounding like an idiot. Can't the news channel hire someone who knows what they're talking about? ...

Interbike Highlights

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 11:45:01 PST

These interbike things... I say no more...

the S&M and Shadow Conspiracy rail jam went off pretty hot. Hoder was there! All kinds of spins and whips and grinds and I believe I saw a 180 fakie tire ride down the rail... or something... WTF? Peep Jake Seeley's LUC-E too...

This year we got what we damn well though we would... LIGHTER, CUT OUTS, CNC'd, SHAVED DOWN, TAPERED, LESS, TRIMMED, HOLES, STRIPPED, PLASTIC, and of course MORE COLORS.

ODI grips was there with their new colorful grips. Colorful grips. The one cool thing they did do was plastic bar plugs with the ODI logo that runs through the entire bar plug so the ODI logo never scratches away. Cool idea.

Sunday Bikes (moving to Texas in the next month I believe) is also doing some moves on their products. The third wave frame is going to feature some cool things like the all wave tube. Not just the downtube anymore. The brake guide channel in the wave tubing. And the removable brake mounts on the new Sunday frames will be a flush design so you don't have those knobs sticking out when you're brakeless. I like that. They also jumped into complete bikes this year. Wait for those hot nuggets...

Odyssey BMX, always known to blow minds at interbike, does it again. First of all the tall bike is always a fun feature. The fire engine red show bike displays the latest colorway from them. Straight red. Their new seatpost is a pivotal/railed post where you can use both and have a little pitch or tilt or whatever to your pivotal seat, and it can also change your Ian Schwartz frame into a railed post if you made a mistake of a purchase! They also have Aitken pivotal seats and some new sprockets flying around for flatland. Their flatland company FLATWARE has a frame going out alongside their twombolt driven sprocket...

WeThePeople's new welds and dropouts scare me. That's okay though. They should be team tested and proven,etc. Eclat has so many colors for every part my eyes started to hurt looking at their cool hubs. KHE released one of those all in one seat and post jobbies for Daniel Dhers called the Pluma that doesn't look half bad. I bet it feels real bad though. Maybe.

Cinema wheel company finally came out alongside companies Verde and Duo. Verde has got the complete bikes and parts rolling as usual, as does Duo.

Primo bit a bullet of some kind and released things in colors. Their crakns in colors! And their new hub, flangeless! I dunno guys. Cardinal released their frame and some bars by BOY I suppose. Pretty cool I suppose.

Subrosa released the new double top tube Pandora frame and their Hold On stem. As well as their amazing line of complete bikes. Shadow released a freecoaster for Karl Poynter. Should be cool!

Eastern released their new Journey frame and their new high end complete bike, THE BOSS. Tree Bicycle Co is doing a LOT with wheels and designed some amazing new straight pull hubs with straight pull spokes.

S&M is really jumping on the trendy train with the WTF ("wave of the future") complete bicycle. It's so shaved down looking it scares me. New hub by S&M on it and all kinds of design alterations that would make any street riding trendster proud. Check out their flatland bars and their shorter link chain that looks dialed, strong. They also had their funny BIG BARS there. Check the gallery. The new Fit Eddie frame with the F-IT brace is looking hot, and chrome.

Mutiny released the LUCKY STRIKE frame. And blah blah blah... Animal and Metal had their "MOBILE BOOTHS" and Sean Burns is the funniest, greatest man in BMX. Animal has white wall tires (for Tom White) and new wheels and an all-in-one tool you want in your tool bag. FlyBikes has dropouts similar to WeThePeople and the seat and post combos similar to many other people. But not really. Their's is different so make sure to check it out. Kinda better I think.

Demolition takes a page out of Tree's books with the spline drive sprocket, F1 style.

Go to RIDEBMX.com or VITALBMX.com to view videos and photos of everything.

ESPN Exclusive: Hawthorne Skatepark Edit

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 11:16:05 PST

Hawthorne Skatepark is pretty much my local park. Recently it has become full pads enforced and it has cleaned up the park a bit. I intend to buy pads (yes I've never had any) and start riding there again...

This video, John Hicks did of all the local shredders including the nicest dude on earth AKA Barney AKA Eric Cuiper, showcases the "new" Hawthorne Skatepark where you are not dodging little kids on skateboards everywhere and you don't smell weed in the small bowl...

Dew Tour SLC Recap

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 11:01:09 PST

Well. Let's start off with Jamie Bestwick. As much as we all sort of KNOW he is going to win, everybody was riding really well this event. I do not know who Vince Byron is or where he is from... but he probably should have scored higher for what he was doing. What I love about vert riding is, due to its lack of documentation that street and park and dirt have, riders seem to pop up out of nowhere and they are good!

Jamie Bestwick really dominated this event like any other, however. His run was just continuous skill, wall after wall, no hesitation, way too high. If only the other riders could trick as many walls in a row as Jamie there would be a competition. I see the other riders do a lot of great tricks, but often they have one or two blank hits in between creating a less fluid, or less impressive, run. Either way, I think Vince did better than sixth. Also, Tim Wood almost over rotated a 900... 'nuff said.

Dirt. This is going to get a bit controversial. A bit rude. But it's clear as day and everybody was saying it, even myself. I don't know what this obsession with having Ryan Nyquist win is, but he did not deserve this one. BY FAR. I feel like I should pull a Kanye West at this moment... "Ryan, I am happy for you and I'm going to let you finish, but TJ Ellis had the best dirt run of ALL TIME!"

It's so crazy how triple whips are being thrown on the first set and sh!t. Diogo's first run looked a bit better than ninth. Dennis Enarson needs that shirt "please stop the tailwhips." Rob Darden needs a new shirt called stop the 720s... and 360s... Chris Gerber's off-axis backflips and double whip flip were nuts. Cam White is such a pure dirt rider. Brandon Dosch as well. So many different tricks.

TJ ELLIS. Back and front flip variations, 360 variations, opposite 3 variations, higher than anyone, smoother than anyone... a frontflip whip? And he got second to a guy who does 360s with barspins and one-handed x-ups all night. I won't go any further... just watch and see...

There we go Dhers... we were wondering where you were on the Dew Tour. Dave Mirra and Mark Webb definitely killed it, but took 6th and 5th respectively. It was cool, however, to see little Brett get third place. He's so young and he so kills it and he so deserved it. How do you have that much style at his age? So, Garrett Reynolds got second in this event. Again, I should mention that his riding is more suitable to street courses but he has changed it up a bit to adhere to park judges better. It's insane how talented this kid is. No brakes, no problem. Don't forget to check him out in Five Months to Freedom on MTV2, graduating high school...

Daniel Dhers went so insane with whips and flairs and those crazy 360 flips or whatever it is he does. Like inverted 720s. Only thing I would take from Daniel is that has uses about 4 ramps the entire run. Give him the win though he went ape-sh!t on that course. And don't forget that wicked inverted 720 tailwhip he did at the end... watch the video...

Check Mike Aitken and his abnormally cute son in the photo gallery... and here are some tour standings updates...

VERT
Jamie Bestwick with 300 points
Steven McCann with 246 points
Chad Kagy with 236 points
Simon Tabron with 214 points
it is just a battle for second here...

PARK
Garrett Reynolds with 280 points
Dave Mirra with 258 points
Daniel Dhers with 238 points
Mark Webb with 216 points
can Garrett hold on to this year's tour win???

DIRT
Ryan Nyquist with 282 points...
Brandon Dosch with 248 points
Dennis Enarson with 226 points
Josh Hult with 200 points
TJ Ellis with 187 points
I give Mike Aitken the win... by default... :D

5 Months Til Freedom (with Garrett Reynolds & Dennis Enarson)

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 14:17:37 PST

High school. Those two words side by side send chills down my spine. School every single day from 7-8 to 2-3 (I forget). Some kind of quiz or test EVERY Friday. Lunch at one time so the whole school packs into long lines and crappy cafeterias. I could go on… but in retrospect I had it easy.

Imagine the troubles of everyday school life with being one of the biggest names in professional BMX thrown in as well. Garrett Reynolds and Dennis Enarson are BMX superstars still in their teen years juggling high school with travelling all over the world to film, attend contests, do whatever they need to as professional riders. Garrett was born in the later half of 1990 and Dennis was born in the earlier half of 1991.

Dennis Enarson jumped into the professional competition at the ripe age of 16. Rising out of the San Diego BMX scene, he grew up around the YMCA park and riders like Steve Woodward. He learned trick after trick and soon became known as a park rider, though he would be even more prominent in dirt events. He was already putting his name in the top 10 at big events like X Games and Dew Tours.

He won the BMX Dirt event at the Playstation Pro Dew Tour stop in the 2008-2009 season AND the 2007-2008 Wendy’s Invitational Dew Tour stop in 2007-2008. This season (2009-2010) he took a park 10th place and dirt 5th place at the Nike 6.0 BMX Open and a park 5th place and a dirt 2nd place at the Wendy’s Invitational. This leaves Dennis in 7th overall in the Park standings and 3rd in the Dirt standings.

This is all even more impressive as it is a comeback run for Dennis after he had shoulder surgery earlier this year. Even more recently, he had surgery on his wrist and is said to be recovering well from that. Persistence, ladies and gentlemen… persistence.

His injuries put him out of riding for periods of time, which unfortunately included Nike’s trip to Europe. I can’t imagine it was fun watching Garrett and Nigel get tricks on some unique setups while he sat there, arm in sling, unable to ride.

But make no mistake, as Dennis comes back from injury and starts riding at the top of his game again, as he has already shown during the Dew Tour, you will see plenty of amazing clips from him and hopefully Nike has some more filming trips planned where Dennis will be slingless and ready to go.

But what’s worse is considering how he went through everything I just divulged to you whilst living at home with the parents and having to keep up with the demanding lifestyle of a high school student. They generally give homework out every or every other night in high school, so imagine how work is for him while he’s away weeks at a time for contests, filming trips, etc.

Garrett Reynolds. If you follow BMX park or street, you simply can not say you have not heard this name. Garrett is one of the best competitors on the scene right now. He’s locked down win after win at several X Games and Dew Tours, beating out all the big names and easily securing himself a reputation as “the best street rider right now.” Not second best, not up there with the top dudes… THE best.

Garrett is out of that Jersey riding scene. Lots of good street riding came out of that Jersey and NY scene and Garrett developed a mixture of street and park riding from his adventures on the streets and in his backyard DIY skatepark… Taking barspins and tailwhips heavily to street and mixing in any kind of grind or manual variation, his trick bag goes DEEP.

I don’t want to even get into this since you should already know, but let’s do this. Competition history. Now, he hasn’t been quite as dominant in the Dew Tour, winning only one stop (this season’s Wendy’s stop… a sign of things to come?). but his X Games results easily make up for a lack of podiums on the Dew Tour. He finished 5th last year on the tour, his best tour overall finish, and this year looks like he could go further.

X Games street, however, is HIS domain. He won the 2009 and 2008 X Games street event in LA. He won the 2009 and 2008 X Games street event in China. He took second at the 2008 X Games street event in Mexico. He won the 2008 X Games street event in Brazil. He won the 2007 X Games street event in Dubai. So what’s that like… all but one X Games street event since the 2007 Middle Eastern event?

Garrett is 19 years of age and already he has been to Dubai, Brazil, China, Mexico, Europe, and more… and while at each of those locations he has further proven himself as the number one street rider. So, where does he find time to study US History and Mathematics?

Well, I guess the only good answer is in between travelling the globe and becoming the biggest name in BMX. Garrett has released a signature frame with his sponsor, Premium BMX. He has fans all over the world and riders that he’s probably looked up to as a little bike riding grom are probably his best friends now, or worst enemies in competition!

So… you know the riders; you got their stories. Thing is, I can only know so much about them as I pretty much only know what they do in their riding life: contests results, video parts, who they ride for, etc. Now, we ALL get to know what their lives are really like underneath all that BMX stardom. Living at home, making it through high school, and hopefully we’ll see some of their BMX groupies who probably don’t help when it comes to concentrating on school work.

So September 19th (that is tomorrow for those who don’t know that it is tomorrow) at 10 pm EST (that is 7 pm PST for those who don’t know that it is 7 pm PST) tune into MTV2 to see what it’s like in the Nikes of a professional BMX athlete going through high school!

Today in BMX

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 11:12:40 PST

You know I try not to post these damn bike checks, but CoCo has such selection when it comes to bikes, and his sick checkered paint job is worth looking at. Check out Mr. Zurita's bike check here... (PS he's a vert rider, fool...)

Here is Volume's photo slide show from the Vital Big Big BMX Show with some derby girls!!!

And here's the actual episode... watch it...

Want to see what Superstar has lined up for 2010? CLICK HERE!

And watch this video of one of my favorites, JARED CHILKO, testing out those products...

Another nice ODI web video with the likes of Raul Ruiz and Chris Gille doing that street thing. GET IT!

Never heard of these guys but by the looks of it this will be a pretty good video... check out the trailer...

Black Rain edit of Ben Hucke and Shawn McIntosh... get on it...

Anthony Napolitan web video via VITAL by Levi's... this guy is awesome...

2009 AST Dew Tour SLc,UT Preview

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 10:14:09 PST

Salt Lake City. Different cities may be more biased as skate fans or BMX fans or FMX. That being said I would consider SLC to be the biggest BMX event on the tour. That area of Utah has always had a big BMX scene, which isn't surprising as legendary rider Tim "Fuzzy" Hall has lived there for years.

First off, I am going to tell you that Jamie Bestwick won vert last year at SLC. He also won vert in the past two Dew Tour Events, Nike & Wendy's, which puts him sitting on his throne in the vert division. Simon Tabron, Chad Kagy, and Steven McCann will simply look up at Jamie and wonder how they will impeach this ruler of the vert world. Seriously, how do you stop him? If he shows up and isn't injured, he is going to win. It's almost that predictable.

At last year's SLC Dew Tour, we had the tear-jerking moment of seeing Mike Aitken in first place, defeating all the whips and spins and flips with his smooth, stylish riding. He was on fire. The local crowd was losing it for him as he linked lines no one has ever seen before. Higher than anybody, smoother than anybody, simply BETTER.

Unfortunately, Aitken went down hard a few months ago and he has only recently gotten back on his bike. Though we won't be seeing him jumping 30 foot sets at this event I am sure he will be there to root for his friends and have fun. That being said, the contest could very well be in the hands of Ryan Nyquist who took the last Dew Tour event after being beaten by two rookies, Josh Hult and Brandon Dosch, at the Nike event. Other big names include Dennis Enarson and Scotty Cranmer who can always come out of nowhere and steal a win. And of course Corey Bohan, one of the more famed names in dirt for his mix of style and trick ability.

BMX Park. I would like to say this is a competition of old versus new, but Dave probably wouldn't respect that. Right now Mirra and Reynolds are tied in first as they swapped first and second places at the first two Dew events. Daniel Dhers is sitting at a disappointing fifth place on the tour but could gain some ground by winning or at least podium-ing this event. Marcus Tooker and Mark Webb are definitely names to look out for, but not as much as Harry Main. Harry broke his leg and took himself out of the first two events but now being back on his bike he is a huge threat to anyone gunning for number one. Harry has more technical, judge-wowing tricks than anybody right now. So let's get to it.

BMX Vert. My bets are on Bestwick. Seriously, what would YOU do!?

BMX Dirt. Ryan Nyquist. Even with Hult and Dosch nipping at his ankles Nyquist always holds strong and is a favorite to win...

BMX Park. This is a tough one. If Main is fully recovered and back on his game for the event I will give him the advantage, but Garrett Reynolds is always down to win his event. Big battle between thsoe two.

Think I'm wrong? My predictions are stupid? Comment this blog and let me know what YOU think!!!

Today in BMX

Thu, 10 Sep 2009 10:28:33 PST

2nd Gen LotekXShadow Chase Dehart shoes... it's up to you kid...

Volume's Demolition's 2010 catalog... do it.

Season's 2010 catalog... do it... again.

Today in BMX

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 10:22:08 PST

adam22 interrogated Jason Enns of Volume/Demolition/Lotek on his website, the infamous, TheComeUp

Stolen made a sweet ad with Morgan Long, which you can see in the gallery, with the announcement of their new crank warranty. Also, watch the video that contains the trick in the photo HERE.

Eastern is releasing a frame called JOURNEY. Weird frame. Still seems very light and cut up and shaved and trimmed like an Eastern frame but more practical, reasonable. Don't like the dropouts. Looks rather okay other than that...

Colony's new version of the Bloody Oath is being renamed, the GNARKILL. Nick Richardson's frame comes light and low as usual, with gnarkill graphics and flat black, shiny blood red, white, and some purple and silver jobs we haven't seen paint options.

Kyle Hart (Subrosa Pro and Odyssey Flow) has a bike check on ride in which he butchers bicycle part names and tells it like it is... nice.

Mihail "Misha" Rostomyan is a Russian rider who put together this edit for DC Shoes. Fun trails riding, you can't go wrong...

The Making of Stay Fit ONE!!! They made it. The trailer is what this is... get psyched. Peep the end for the video premiere info...

Stems and Other Bike Parts

Fri, 04 Sep 2009 10:54:01 PST

Shaving weight. Cutting down. Holes. CNC'd. Thinning and slimming. Saving weight...

BMX bicycles are getting out of hand... and ugly. In the photo gallery are the new Subrosa and Kink stems. They come with awesome holes so you can see your steering tube, save weight, and hopefully get stuff stuck in there so when you spin your bars it sounds like sand grinding around in there...

Eastern made the entirely horrible Grim Reaper frame a while ago, featuring hole in the headtube, long hole on the seattube, holes or CNC around the dropouts, and I believe a hole on the bottom bracket or something. It is said to weigh around four pounds. Hmph. I wouldn't want to ride frames less than five pounds.

Almost all forks come with uber unnecessary cutouts on the dropouts. It saves less than an ounce and you're sacrificing so much more strength! Really!? New forks weigh less than S&M Slam bars. And the new slam bars are like 1.5 pounds.

Seat posts are being cut to 1 inch long or simply integrated into the frame or whole seat conjunction. Seats are being sold as just plastic now... for 5-10 dollars more than padded seats! Pedals are another plastic dominated part, as well as the new Gspotr plegs (plastic pegs).

All kinds of female hub bolts that aren't supposed to be run with pegs and stuff. Foldable tires that are prone to blowing out and the like. Where does it end?

What we need is a company to step up and continue the production of solid bicycle parts. Stems with full faceplates, no cutouts, just a block of metal full of nuts. Old Odyssey CFL stem haha. The new one ain't so bad though...

We need frames five pounds or heavier, and for reasonable prices. Overseas frames for $400??? I thought we outsourced to cut down costs...

We need cranks that we're not in fear of snapping right under our feet (thanks Profile and Primo). We need seats with padding again and forks without cutouts. BLAH!!!

Do me a favor. Support the good companies. Not the trendy ones. Not only to ensure they don't go out of businnes because kids are buying the colorful, lightest parts instead of quality parts, but to ensure your safety that you have a bike capable of handling whatever you take to it!

Another FRIDAY in BMX!!!

Fri, 04 Sep 2009 10:33:10 PST

I hate BMX. So last blog I complained about so many videos going up when I asked them to go down. So, even more went up. This list will be longer. I'm either going to rant about something in this blog or the next... so look for my rant about stems and other bike parts.

Subrosa finally releases the stem we have all been drooling over, the Hold On stem. In the gallery, you will see a stem that, much like the new Kink stem, has been CNCd to bits. I will rant about that in a future blog...

I hate bike checks. But Macneil rider builds are always a treat. Here is Travis Sexsmith's...

The frame pic is of Mutiny's new Lucky Strike frame... Josh Bedford's new sig frame, GET ON IT!!!

So. Liam Fahy Hampton is a great rider for Colony Bicycles, and he recently got some signature grips out that you can see in the gallery. They're pretty cool I guess. But what's better is his video part, which you can watch below from Colony BMX! Also, look for his Hell Stallion frame/fork kit from them...

Haha, Odyssey is amazing. Here's a video of their latest on their front hubs. Volcano bolts. Lighter, smoother, slimmer, unnecessary. Regardless, the video is kinda funny and cool. Look...

I love Stefan's riding style. Very dialed in and precise. His hair's too poofy though. Here is a very high quality Carhartt edit he did recently. WORTH WATCHING. Sketchy last manual for the win...

Albes Team Edit. Maybe this is in response to the Staff Team Edit that recently happened? Sorry, but Staff wins this battle. Big Daddy and friends FTW!!!

Pfohl Films releases another rather good edit this time of Joey Cordova at woodward and some dirt jumps! Watch it...

This is Addison Sasso doing what he considers to be little tricks on curbs and ledges... you know...

Sean Richany. 13 years old. Premium BMX and Staff BMX I believe... holy sh!t

Another edit of the 2009 Stephen Murray Jam from Chris Wilmhurst.

Federal uploaded Steven Hamilton's part from their video. Such a good rider, to see more look for his Can I Eat part on youtube...