It lives!

Finally, Blogger works again!

To quote me from a few days ago:


I think I'm now the only person involved in BMX who isn't at The Pool, but bills needs paying and work needs doing. The final stages have been revealed, and the setup looks absolutely nuts. Head over to Defgrip where they've done the hard work so I don't have to, haha.

As a bit of a warm-up for watching some Dennis Enarson footage, here's a video from his recent trip to The Caribbean with a bunch of other dudes that ultimately ended up being covered by Dig in the form of an article and this video.



In related "Dig videos and articles" news, here's an edit of Stefan Lantschner and Simone Barraco by Matty Lambert that featured as an article in the new Dig. I thought I'd seen this already and wasn't really into it so I sort of avoided watching it the past few days, then happened to check it out again now and realised that not only had I not seen it before, but it's also an awesome video.



Briefly heading back to the Defgrip theme, here's a cool feature with Darryl Tocco. The dude's got a point...

It still doesn't really seem right seeing a Props trailer without that music, but the riding in this is legitimately nuts. Could pretty much watch Garrett Reeves footage all day.



In a slight contrast (and you know I'm all about the contrasts), from the glitz and glamour of Props to the more down-to-earth scenes of London, Bristol and Sheffield, here's Marv's video "Fair play".



This is pretty up-to-the-minute - here's a fresh edit of practise from The Pool which is reinforcing my feelings of being disappointed I can't make it and also showing how nuts it's going to be. Should be interesting checking out the differences between those sticking to the jump-box and those riding the whole setup. Speaking of, Brian Foster is going to be riding, and also has a signature frame and a bunch of other stuff coming out through Fit.



In a move that's no doubt going to somehow become as needlessly controversial as the "Why are there only white riders on the 'Role Models' issue cover?" internet-fuelled debacle of a few years ago, Ride have dedicated their next issue to a UK scene check with a strap-line of "This Is England". Should hopefully be some cool stuff in it though, so as long as you keep your eyes off message boards and comment fields it should be hunky dory. Click here to view Owain Clegg bagging himself a cover.

Moving swiftly on to actual interesting riding stuff, here's Aaron Smith celebrating becoming a full part of the Demolition team by making a little welcome edit.



Want to see some ridiculous "messing around" footage of some awesome riders? Of course you do...



Seth Kimbrough has been awesome for what seems like forever, and it's cool to see how his style has adapted and changed over time. This video's got what I'd consider to not really be his usual sort of stuff in it, but it's fully awesome.




Two words: Mike Hoder.



This S&M teaser/intro features Cameron Wood, Randy Brown and someone smashing a wheelie on a quad. I'm not not going to post it (double negative, you work it out...).



...and that's pretty much that.

-----

As a little Brucey Bonus too, in the intervening period I found a photo of the new Sergio Layos grips from Fly.

Mixed bag.

If you're a fan of incomplete photos of pro riders bikes, then it's almost like Christmas (2011) has come early, thanks to Mutiny and G-Sport.

If, however, you like cool videos showing what it's like to be part of a team and getting to travel the world and get scared by some guy in a boat, this one's for you (thanks to the ever-awesome Kink.



Lastly, Red Banks Jam? Be there!

G-Sport Edit

G-Sport Welcome Edit.

That first link is about as functional and direct as G-Sport products and the G-Sport website. Link-up! Anyways, Randy Brown, Dave Thompson, Dakota Roche, Van Homan and Andrew Jackson - pretty much a "Favourite riders of mine" compilation video, and it's awesome.

Fun time.

Well, when snow means you can't ride your normal bike, but that doesn't mean you can't ride any type of bike. This thing rules! Front ski has suspension so it levels off a bit more when you're riding it, but means you can jump it and land a bit sketchy if you have to. Awesome.






I can't remember if I put it up before (I hope I did...), but Sunday have put up Part 1 of Ian Schwartz's section from Up, Up and Away. The second part is pure bangers, this is just pure tech. All good.

Ian Schwartz, Part 1 from SundayBikes.com

Lastly, TheComeUp has a new video from Chase Dehart, Randy Brown and others. The song is awful and the quality's not much better, but it's pretty much worth watching just for a bump 3 that Randy Brown does about 3/4 of the way in. Click here.

Haha, amazing.

Harry Main tries a 900.

Harry Main doesn't land it.

Announcer: "Harry fires off 900's in his sleep."

Aaaah, irony. Anyway, this is Harry Main's winning run (and his not winning run first) from the recent T-Mobile comp that I don't really know much/care much about. Saw this over on Ride. 27 second long Need For Speed adverts: Do one. So glad you can skip them now...



The S&M team rule. As proof, this is from a session or two near their HQ:



ESPN have a Ryan Sher comp on, but you've got to sign up and register with them to even be considered for the prize and you don't really want to have to do that, so for your own protection, I'm not linking you to it - simply telling you about it.

http://www.Footjams.com/Correctionhops Literally all I can really remember about this video. It's park though, so I'm not really the best judge of it. I'm sure some people will be keen.



Flatbank pyramid setups are way more fun that they theoretically should be. In related news, warehouse setups rule. Here's Mike Taylor and friends getting involved:



Lastly, this is an amazing video. Again, the spectre of the concept of 'online premieres' rears it's ugly head, but that's something I don't really have the time or energy to really write about now. Click here anyway, it's really, really worth it.

Then come back here, dammit.

'Ford Purple Velvet Metallic'

Best colour ever, photos soon (even if 'metallic velvet' doesn't make sense)!

Everyone in this video rules, watch it:



Tip of the hat to Pete for that thumbnail, and also for slow-mo'ing himself dead sailoring that bars. So good. In other dead sailor news, I saw a kid at Stoke plaza yesterday dead sailor a 5-set on a skateboard. I was totally unaware that it was possible to dead sailor a skateboard and actually roll out of it, but fair play to that fashion victim.

Bit of Union to lighten the wintery mood? Just played some pool at lunchtime in our non-heated warehouse - trying to type this is a nightmare.



Ben Hucke had this web-edit come out recently for Sputnic - dece:



Laaaaastly, this section from the 2x4 video was one of my favourites - Randy Brown (spotted this on Orchid's site), ripping. So good.



Said it before, and I'll say it again - Orchid's player does the neatest embed code ever!

A predictive text?

Pointed it out as a joke a few days ago, but turns out that actually, T-Nez isn't on Orchid any more, and neither is Kevin Porter according to this post on the Orchid site. Calling things early!

While we're speaking of Orchid, they've got a "sneak peek" of the new Randy Brown shoe's black/gum colourway. Every other word is bold.



Frenchys Day 6.

Done!

EDIT: Actually, I'm not - apparently Randy Taylor is getting hooked up by TheLongURLToType, according to this post by Mutiny. Here's his new rancidly-coloured setup:

I can't think of a decent title.

Ani-A.BikeCo. have some new wheelsets that are coming out that, judging from the price of the LM and LM-R rims, will probably be worth more than their weight in gold when they come out. Seriously, people are probably going to sack off scrapping copper and switch to these wheels. Anyway, Format have some photos up here.

Josh Bedford's got a new sample of his signature frame through Mutiny. Om nom nom.



Oh, and pegs?

Seems like they're uploading the rest of the 2X4 DVD? Pretty handy considering my copy is some 400 miles away from here and I really want to see Randy Brown's section again. He does have the ender though, so at one a week it'll almost be a Christmas present from them...



But for now, Cody Jennings.

Giant have some photos of their new products up (In retrospect, I probably should've put this after the Animal/Mutiny stuff? Poor lay-out...) on Chris Arriaga's bike. Worth checking out anyway. Bear in mind that Giant make virtually every bike out there, the quality should be good - wonder if it'll hold out?

Anyone seen the point?

You can clearly see that the guys who run the Dew Tour obviously realised that street was pretty popular. As people who are constantly after increased ratings and more exposure for sponsors and logos and all that jazz, so they appeared to think that trying to appeal to street riders would be beneficial. No doubt they also noticed that street web-edits were pretty popular and received a hell of a lot of views - especially if they contain the 'big names' - so, what better way to attract street riders than have the biggest names ride street, and make a street web-edit? Well, that kinda makes sense (Apart from missing the non-competitive point of street riding, and the no pressure, do-what-you-want point of it too), but when that 'street' is actually a pretty linear park format, and the riding is limited to just doing back and forth runs on that particular setup, it's not really the same thing. At all. Although the riding's pretty insane in these videos, there's no real connection to street whatsoever. Must be pretty stressful for the filmers too, having to try and make uniformly painted ramps with sponsors logos all over the place actually look good, and try and get different angles in. No fun at all. Ah well, I'm sure they'll get some £££'s from it, but it does seem to be a return of the 'big' competitions just trying to milk BMX for all it's worth. After some of the people running those biggers comps had turned it around and actually seemed to be more concerned with the way that they interacted with and represented BMX, it's pretty disappointing to see organisers doing stuff like this...

Anyway, the videos are pretty cool I guess (Although nowhere near as cool as it would be with the different backgrounds and cool environment that street brings with it, as well as unique setups that allow riders to be more creative (The point!)), it still seems like they could've done so much more, and so much better.

What's Randy thinking about?

What's Randy thinking about?



It probably isn't the new Macneil Whitton III frame?



It might be the new Dew Tour course that he's gotta ride soon?


Maybe Orchid know?

Best WebVideo In Forever.

Bold claim, but whatever. The freshly signed to Federal Ty Morrow, and a video part destined for a previous sponsor. I love the way at the start his bike kinda rolls off in a "See you later..." kinda way...


Go to BNQT for more videos.


In other webvid news, the site that first seemed to really pump out quality BMX vids online, MidwestBMX, are back.


MidwestBMX.net is Back from jeff on Vimeo.

Crazy Germans.


Zwanzig Zoll Riders Mag Nr. 26 from Bommel on Vimeo.

The Making Of Stay Fit #23 with Homan, the New Era wearing alter-ego of Chase Dehart and Dakota Roche:



Lastly, the new frames from S&M for Randy Brown, Cardona and Cam Wood. 3/8" making a comeback? Rejoice, Profile Mini users. (Man, I hope these resize right (EDIT: Hell yeah!))

Scraps...

Mark Noble is continuing to put up cool stuff on ESPN, showing again why he helped steer Ride so well for such a long time. In this article he has a pretty interesting interview/talk with Chris Harrison, product designer for Federal. Well worth a read!

In semi-related news, Ride have a video up on their site from the Corby sessions that took place while they got the content together for the latest Role Models issue. Seems to have been a controversial issue, but people talking is better than people keeping quiet. Being made to think about things is good...



There must've been some hectic friction burns for Jason Phelan.

In that interview issue of Ride, the long overdue Josh Bedford interview is featured as a full interview. He pulls some pretty crazy lines for it, has an interesting story to tell, and seems to generally have something worth saying. Anyways - key thing is that after KO'ing his collar bone, he's now back riding and testing a signature frame, according to Mutiny, which is where I grabbed this pic from.



Whilst we're talking about interesting, different individuals, Ian Schwartz - who's been pretty under the radar of late - has a bikecheck up on RideUS's site, which is where this tech little widget is from:

Actually, that's a lie - I just went to copy the embed code and they've disabled it, so you've got to go here to check that out. BONUS! Ian also has a few things to say on the Sunday site, including some stuff about new shoes, new spots and new Lotek videos. Apparently Rich Hirsch has remembered he's made some of the best videos around, and is going to do more. Good times!

Probably should've put this earlier, but ESPN have a new video up of Brian Hunt that seems fairly similar to one I've posted before, but I'm fairly sure isn't the same one...



You be the judge?

Check out from 00:37 - 00:44 - potentially the most hectic rollback I've ever seen.




Speaking of hectic, Proper have a new stem coming out in their disappointingly non-flight enabled Microlite range:





Here's the details straight from Bikeguide, which therefore might mean they're not actually true:

Specs:
- 6061 T-6
- 52mm reach
- 249g (8.78 oz)
- Recess allowing for the fork compression bolt to sink flush for a clean look.
- Rounded back that stays out of the way of your knees.
- Internally relieved and slotted top to bottom (stronger than side to side).
- Additional clamping area for slip-free bars.

S&M have a new shorter Redneck XLT coming out, and a new Randy Brown frame, but their site is so abhorrent that I'm not even going to link to it. Just imagine a slightly refined, stubbier Redneck, and a fancier Fit Dehart frame. Hey presto!

In semi-local scene news, Tom Chilvers, who some of you dudes at Pijin will know, fully mangled his ankle tonight:



Whips: Fully not worth it. But seriously dude, get well soon!

"Myspace" Dan has upped and left the UK now, having left Southampton a week or two ago. It's actually his birthday today/yesterday (3rd March), which he spent somewhere in Cambodia - happy birthday Dan!

All in good time...

Man, I've got so much more to say but I'm super tired. It involves Randy Brown, who features in this rad little Orchid ad (See Fit? These 'ads' are better than not-so-good photos with product photo 'ads'!) with Van Homan, who also will feature in the post I'm gonna make possibly tomorrow.

But yeah, w00t:


Van Homan and Randy Brown 2009. from Orchid Footwear on Vimeo.

Randy's sig shoe is gonna look like thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis:



Swish. Function low-top.