The lightest BMX rims ever?!

It's like almost 1 a.m on a Friday night... It's blogging time! Just thought I'd share some exciting news with all you avid Pijin blog readers...

Was on the phone to Carlo at Proper today... and he was telling me about all the new Proper stuff that's coming out over the next year. The thing that got me most excited was news of some new Proper rims. These are gonna be front and rear specific. The front one is gonna be the lightest rim ever seen that's gonna stand up to BMX abuse. Because hardly anyone runs a front brake these days, there's no point in providing a big braking surface. Proper have reduced the height of the rim walls and come up with a rim that only weighs 240g! To put that into perspective, an Odyssey Hazard Lite rim (36H black) weighs in at 518g. I've been told the tooling for the manufacture of these rims have been set up, and they might make it into the shops in March! Now that is just exciting and scary at the same time...

Metal Rebel Contender - Custom build

Ok, this project has been on the cards for a while now. To build a bike using the Metal Rebel Contender frame (the one with the lightning bolts on the dropouts!).

This is what happens when Carlos has too much time on his hands and a whole shop to play with... kinda like leaving a kid with a big set of lego...

Probably the best bike to come out of Pijin. Yours for 1,500 big ones!

Frame	Metal Rebel Contender 21"
Fork	Odyssey 41 Thermal Pro Race Svelte
Headset	FSA Orbit CE
Bars	S&M Beringer LT
Bar Ends	Odyssey
Stem	S&M XLT
Grips	Odyssey Team
Brake Lever	Odyssey Small
Brake	Fly
Brake Cable	Odyssey Linear Slic
Seat	MacNeil Capital
Seat Post	MacNeil
Front Wheel	Profile mini hub with ti bolts, Sun Rhyno Lite XL rim
Back Wheel	Profile mini cassette 9T ti driver & axle, Fly Rim
Tyres	Front - KHE Premium Mac2 Park, Rear - KHE Premium Mac1.5 Park
Inner Tubes	KHE Twiggy flatland
Cranks	Profile Race with titanium axle & titanium bolts
Sprocket	Profile Imperial 25T
Chain	KMC Kool SL
Bottom Bracket	Profile Mid
Pedals	DMR V12 with ti axles
Pegs	Nah...
Weight	Light!

Bone Dave - silent assasin

Yep, Bone Dave has the new KHE Geisha Freecoaster hub - so no more clickerty click - it's totally silent!

I wanna be a tweaker...

So how do you become a tweaker? Well, you gotta look right for a start! I'm beginning to see more and more people trying to squeeze into jeans that are 10 sizes too small. (Yes, Mr Dave Argles, wearing girls jeans is one thing, but wearing girls jeans that don't even fit?) :p

Anyways, Pies came into town cos he wanted to buy some girls jeans from Matalan but was too scared to go by himself. So when Dan dropped by, they both went off happily...

Dan comes back with some girl's Levi jeans with 25" waist, whilst Pies has to settle for a pair of size 12s. Not to mention the T-shirts labeled for 10-11 years old...

Dan also had to get a pair of Sunday Triumph bars (28" wide!) to complete the look. Now they just have to go out and practice doing their tweaker moves... LoL.

More pics here :
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pijin/sets/72157594360715398/

Happy 2nd Birthday!

Time flies when you're enjoying yourself. Has it really been 2 years? I still remember when we first started out with a completely empty shop. Took me and Dave a whole month to do the shop fitting! We had like 2 frames (ah yes, I remember them so well - a Proper Proclaimer and an Eastern) and 5 sets of handlebars... and a few other bits and bobs... had to spread it all out on the wall to make it not look so empty. When we finally opened, we sold next to nothing in our first 2 months... I spent all my time looking out the window at all the girls people walking past (I have a pretty good view!).

Things have changed a bit since then. We've gained a few more staff and we even have a team (kind of). Yep, we have arguments and annoy each other every now and again but hey, Pijin is like family!

If you're reading this then you (yes, YOU) have probably helped us out in one way or another. Thanks for your suport!

Yep, Pijin is now 2 years old and is here to stay! Let the good times roll. :)

John xxx

Birthday bash pics :
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pijin/sets/72157594356295970/

WTF?!

Who is this guy?
WTF!? %£^*!!!

New Odyssey Fork & Sprocket

After a brief glimpse of Odyssey stuff flying around on the forums, the guys at Odyssey have released some concrete details of their forks and a new sprocket!

I have to say, my first impression of the new Director Fork were pretty fugly. But I think I've changed my mind pretty quick! I won't regurgitate what they've already said but Odyssey are one of those companies that actually design things for a reason rather than just making whatever looks good (which is a bonus). Here's the link :

http://www.odysseybmx.com/dailyword/archives/2006/10/
director_fork.html


The Million Dollar Sprocket is looking a bit heavy duty (and drool inducing for all the hard core street dogs out there).

http://www.odysseybmx.com/dailyword/archives/2006/10/
million_dollar.html

Slosh turns to the dark side

Can it be true? Can it really really be true? Is Slosh really running a gyro? I think he's been hanging around Tony too much. Wot next eh? Will he be putting on some death sticks? Is it too late for him to come back from the dark side? Stay tuned...

And here's the link to his post on the WTP forum :

http://www.wethepeople.de/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?
ubb=get_topic&f=1&t=014760

More YouTube - Scotter Cranmer and Rainbow

Spending far too much time on YouTube. There's just so much random stuff on there... from totally jaw dropping, to totally not-an-ounce of common sense stupid (but ridiculously funny) stuff. I'm just addicted. It's got so bad that I'm now getting withdrawal symptoms if I don't get a fix every couple of hours! Haha. Not really. But you know what I mean, especially all those MySpacers who are reading this!

Anyways, bringing you 2 more clips found by the Pijin staff.

Carlos found this one of Scotty Cranmer's run at the San Jose leg of the Dew Tour. He told me he "creamed his pants" when he saw it! I won't even attempt to describe it - watch for yourself.



J.P. found the 2nd clip. If you're from J.P's or my generation, you'd remember a kiddies TV show called Rainbow (yes, I am that old). I used to watch it on TV... but did they actually air this episode? Hilarious...

New parts unveiled at Interbike

Haven't been doing my homework lately so I'm a bit behind the times. Anyways, this week, Pies got beaten by James in spreading the word on the latest news in shiny BMX parts. It's the Interbike show and the big guns in BMX have been show casing lots of new products. Some are pretty damn tasty, some are just plain fugly!

Check out the full forum post with more pictures from http://www.f-bmx.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=6501

New slammed MacNeil seatpost

Odyssey race forks with no offset on the dropouts

Light looking levers from Colony

Barend Jam - Sunday 17th Sept

So it's been raining for the last 2 days... not good weather for riding out, but possibly freeing up the dirt a bit and making it easier for the Barend boys to do some more last minute digging in time for Sunday.

The boffins at the Met Office seem to think that it's not going to rain this weekend, so bring on the best trails Jam in the English BMXing calendar!

I've been hearing rumours that Rory's gonna be giving away $1,000 of his own money if anybody manages to make it alive across a massive gap that involves some tree dodging... Let's just hope there aren't too many mortalities this year!

And remember to wear your tightest girls jeans. You might win something! :D

Check out the new look Barend website for more details.
www.barendbmx.co.uk

Slosh wins 2 - 1

Slosh 0 - 0 Lonely Girl
Ok, posted 2 videos in the last blog entry, both hosted on You Tube. It's been 2 days now...

Slosh 1 - 0 Lonely Girl
All of you loved Slosh, but mixed reactions on Lonely Girl. [I personally can't decide who I like more?]

Slosh 1 - 1 Lonely Girl
Slosh loses on hits. Slosh video has been up 2 days and been viewed 474 times. Not bad going, eh? Lonely Girl wins by a tiny margin - 709,784 views in 4 days.

Slosh 2 - 1 Lonely Girl
Lots of controversy regarding the authenticity of the videos. After posting over 30 videos in 3 months, Lonely girl finally confesses she is fake on the Jay Leno Show [and I actually believed she was real! Wot a mug?!]. I can vouch that Slosh is real though. Yes, I've actually touched him in real life [once]. But I've never actually seen him do a hop whip in the flesh... hmm...

This weeks leg ends...

Hey, I thought I told you already - NO RIDING IN THE SHOP! Not unless your name is Slosh and you can do this...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yH_wQ1IYZQ0

OMG, have you seen the lonely girl videos on You Tube? Just totally random - I'm hooked! (and where'd she learn to edit like that?) Here's a taster for you :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtH7DTu-DgI

You gotta see the one where P. Monkey is busting out his moves in tune to Promiscuous. Had me in fits! :D

Add her on MySpace now!
http://www.myspace.com/lonelygurl15

The lightest freestyle frame in the world?

Remember the Eastern Grim Reaper? The frame with all the holes in that was stupidly light? Well, Eastern have gone one better and made the same frame, but out of titanium! Weighs in at 2lbs and costs a cool $1,500.

Better start saving the pennies...

Read about it on www.vitalbmx.com!

Thanks to Pies for this bit of news.

Pijin Custom Bike No.2 ?

The money is no object Pijin bike got sold within a week of being built. Didn't even have time to take some pics and post on this blog... which is a shame as it was simply the best bike Pijin has built so far. So how do we top that one? We've just managed to get in the Metal Rebel Contender frame which we have been waiting months for. Definitely worth the wait... Carlos should be building it up on Tuesday unless Jingles decides to buy it before then (you know you want it James!).


It tips our scales at 5.02lb which is slightly less than the manufacturer's quoted weights (must be a first!). Has lightning streaks cut out of the dropouts the integrated seat clamp means there is hardly any seat tube protruding from the top tube - be good for those who really like to slam their seat down. Look out for our custom build in the shop window. Should be on display with 2 other custom builds. We're getting one from Profile Racing. Should be a Mulville frame decked out with the best Profile bits. And Steve from Shindig is doing a custom build using a Take Ivy frame with Drive parts...

Backyard qualifiers up in Bristol today. Good luck to Carlos, Jake, Slosh, Farmer Dan, Tom (little Slosh), Alex (little Joe) and everybody else who is entering!

Last bit of news for today is that Carlos bought a pair of girls jeans from H&M yesterday. Oh dear...

Pretty Joe in Sugar Magazine!

Joe has always been the pretty boy of Pijin. His presence on Saturdays always seems to attract the emo girls into the shop - it's the hair that does it everyime! Now he gets his own monthly column in Sugar Magazine! He's already been to a photo shoot up in London, so expect to see his column appear in the next issue. So grab your sister's copy of Sugar to see what it's all about! Can't wait. xxx LOL

Pijin website back online!

Our website has been down for over a week now. Just to reassure everyone that Pijin is alive and well. I've just not had time to fix it as I've been tied down with my other job. Anyways, the problem was due to a faulty router to our server... A nice girlie gave me a brand spanking new one for free this morning which I got promptly installed and running - so everything is working again. Yay!

Have spent the last 6 months away from Pijin (during weekdays) but I should be returning back in October. Been helping with a new website for THQ Games which went live yesterday! Just a few more bits to do and I will be a free man again! No more long days looking at the computer screen... just building bikes and wheels. Bliss! :)

Shirley Warren Jam Sunday 20th August

Hmm... been lazy on the blog updates again. Didn't know what to write. Slosh suggested writing one titled "Slosh kills Emerald Weapon!"... I might write that one later... keep checking back!

So what's happening this week then? Here goes...

The annual Shirley Warren Jam is happening this Sunday. Good luck to everyone entering! You might even win a prize donated by us. :) Haven't decided what to give yet though...

We're in the process of building 2 Pijin custom bikes at the moment. One is a high end money doesn't matter bike and the other is gonna be a bit more affordable. Been arguing with Carlos and James about what parts to put on... in the end, we had to resort to pulling votes out of a hat. Pictures coming soon once we've managed to build them up!

Slosh rides America!

Mr Slosh recently went across the pond to ride some parks in the USA with fellow Totton local Matt Watson. As well as wowing the Americans with their style, they also tested their English accents on the unsuspecting American girlies...

You might have seen these pics already on Slosh's MySpace... but here they are posted again for the benefit of the sensible people without MySpace.

Photos taken by Matt Watson

Wanna be trendy? Smaller is better?

As with just about everything in this world, trends come and go. Right now, the trendy BMXers are all wearing super tight (girls?!) jeans and T-shirts. Is it just for looks? Or does it actually serve a purpose? Sometimes it's hard to tell. I guess having super tight jeans means you'll never have them chewed up by your sprocket and chain...

Go back a few years and nobody was ever worried about weight. Things seemed to have changed a bit since then, and there are probably just as many weight freaks out there as your girl jeans loving rider. Someone said to me a few weeks back that he'd yet to see a Pijin bike that wasn't light... I guess that statement is probably true... As can be seen from the table below, most of us are running biscuit sized gearing... It saves weight... it's nice and small so there's loads of clearance and you don't have to worry too much about bashing your sprocket up... But is smaller better? Maybe... but the downside is that making things smaller and lighter places more stress on the components. Things will wear out or fail before their larger counter parts. There's no real answer to what's best. You decide for yourself! (I really wouldn't recommend wearing girls jeans... they hurt too much!)

	Gearing	T-shirts	Jeans
Carlos	25-9	super tight	mens - tight
Jake	25-9	tight	girls
John	25-9	loose	mens
James	27-10	tight	mens
Dave	28-10	super tight	mens - tight
Joe	28-10	tight	girls
Slosh	28-10	super super tight	mens
J.P.	33-12	XL	mens
Flo	39-14	never	girls

Jake's very chewed up 25T sprocket...


Farmer Dan's 2T (originally 9T) titanium driver...

Curly's bike check

Okay... it's pretty hard not to have a good bike when you work in a bike shop... you have all the latest gear sitting under your nose, it's just too tempting not to take a few bits every now and again. I guess Carlos spends more time in Pijin than anyone else (even me!) so it's understandable that he finds it a little harder to keep the same part on his bike for more than a couple of months without changing to something better. Slut! So what has he got now? He's been a bit slow out of the starting block this month... and got himself a new Simple Enigma frame (but only after Greg, Ryan, Scot and Scott (Angry) got theirs first...).

Too bad he can't ride it though... ankle injury should mean 5 weeks of no riding! He'll just have to make do with polishing it up over the next few weeks... Oh well, at least he has a new Profile mini cassette hub body in purple coming tomorrow. Rebuilding his wheel should keep him from wanting to ride his bike for a couple of hours at least...

Frame	Simple Enigma 20.8"
Fork	Odyssey 41 Thermal Pro Race Svelte
Headset	FSA Orbit CE
Bars	Odyssey Civillian Svelte
Bar Ends	Fly
Stem	Coalition Povah
Grips	Odyssey Team
Brake Lever	Odyssey M2 Small
Brake	Fly with Koolstop dual compound BMX pads
Gyro	Odyssey GTX-R
Gyro Cables	Odyssey M2 top cable, Snafu astroglide lower twin cables.
Seat	MacNeil Capital
Seat Post	MacNeil
Seat Clamp	Profile Slim Jim purple
Front Wheel	Profile blue mini hub 36H with ti bolts, Primo Balance rim
Back Wheel	Profile mini cassette LHD 9T ti driver & axle, Odyssey 7K-A Rim
Tyres	Front - KHE Premium Street, Rear - Primo v-Monster 1.95"
Cranks	Profile Race LHD with titanium axle
Sprocket	Profile Imperial 25T purple
Chain	KMC Kool SL
Bottom Bracket	Fly Spanish
Pedals	Primo Balance Magnesium
Pegs	Profile Alutanium
Mods	Cut down seat post
Weight	Light!

Disclaimer : The contents of this bike check are accurate at time of writing, but no doubt will have changed by the time you read this!

Another Saturday in Pijin...

Is it a coincidence that they have the same hair styles? Tom and Alex try to emulate the Pretty Joe & Slosh poses... see the likeness?







Will gets the biggest nose ring ever! (Which got promptly eaten after the picture got taken. Yuk!)








Tom showing Will some love on the Pijin floor...







Mr Barclay had a nasty fall at Barend... must be those new bars that he got!

Sprite Urban Games 2006

32°C at the Sprite Urban Games on Clapham Common. Sat in the blaring sun watching the Pro Street Comp early afternoon. Now I know what a sun ripened tomato feels like!

Left the SLR camera at home this year so no good photos to show... the little pocket digital camera wasn't really up to the job so I really didn't take many pics at all. It's no fun seeing all the action through a view finder!

Riding was absolutely amazing this year! Flip-whips, flairs, 720s, 360 double whips, front flips, double whip taps... big tricks, big style... it was all there somewhere today. Can't really describe what happened... my words just wouldn't do justice to the riding. You just had to be there!

Skank!

Read this in the paper while on the bog today... is this for real? It did appear in the credible paper that is the Sun so maybe skank like this does exist in real life?

Pretty quiet in Pijin today... I guess most people are out and about enjoying the sunshine! Had the odd mountain biker and crying girl to deal with... but that's nothing out of the ordinary!

Pijin takes a break!

These hot summer days are just too short. Can never get to sleep at night, and can't get outta bed in the mornings to get to work! 24 hour days just don't work for me. I need to move on to another planet which revolves on it's axis once every 30 hours. That way, I can stay up for 3 hours longer in the evenings and stay in bed for an extra 3 hours in the morning. How good would that be?

Ok, it's been a little while since I last wrote a blog. Pretty Joe has been deputising for me... he's done a pretty good job in capturing the gay spirit we have at Pijin, don't you think? :o One thing he's failed to mention is that he managed to lock our keys in the store room last week! And it was our only set of keys, which meant we had to break in. Silly boy deserves a slap!

Anyways, so what's been happening? Congratulations to Jake for entering his first pro contest at the NASS qualifiers in Southsea. He came 8th and managed to beat Ronnie Surridge [gasp]!! See the photos at www.photoboxgallery.com/964977/3262304.

Mr Slosh has gone to ride America with Mr Watson. No doubt he will show the U.S. boys (and girlies too) some proper English style!

After keeping open for 7 days a week, every week, Pijin will be taking a break this weekend. Probably gonna close early on Saturday to catch the England vs Portugal match. And will be closed all day on Sunday to go to the Sprite Turban Games in Clapham Common on what should be the hottest weekend of the year!

MORE GAYNESS

hya there just stoppping by too show mine and sloshys dashing new haircuts and more gay poses

i am once again proving the point that everyone in pijin is just gay you can see by sloshes legs

i love it ------------ im definately gay !!!!!!!!!!!!

PIJIN xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxXX