Mix.

This is awesome, for some fairly obvious reasons.



Mutiny are working on a top-loader.



Scott Ditchburn has lost some pegs (pretty sure he used to always run 4?) but still does some ridiculous lines.



Akin Hercules-Walker rides some fun spots from inside the M25.



Lastly - S&M went there. Oh dear...

"That's what she said."

This is going to be a long one.

Top billing today most definitely goes to one of the best BMX photographers out there, Mr. Rob Dolecki. His new site is up now and is super good. Go check it out here and have a good nose around, plenty of awesome content!

In other creative type stuff, Mutiny have re-posted Rich Wilson's Media Apprentice video, with a cryptic 'Expect more soon' kinda thing. Should be interesting to see what that's all about, but in the mean time, an awesome video:



New video from RideTheSky that's worth a watch:



Dig have a bike-check with "So hot back then" Erik Elstran - click here to see a not-your-average bike check.

S&M have both a new website and a new webvideo:



Very much unrelated, apart from the it has the name 'moon' in the title, but the sequel to the absolutely awesome Lotek Mixtape is out later this year, according to their site. Can't wait for that, big guns!

It was pretty big news a while back, but Brad Simms has an interview out with some cool photos of rad (and sorta un-pulled stuff) trickery that talks a bit about his dropping from the Snafu team. Go to Ride US to check that out.

Last but not least, here's a Howies web-video for you to feast your eyes on.



...and with that, I'm gonna eat some soup, shoot some pool, then take some photos of shiny coloured aluminium stuff.

Mark's Tedious Link?

In an old interview, Eddie Cleveland replied to the question "What would you change about yourself?" with "Bigger feet and hair like a white man." Well, Eddie has another interview up, and because I have larger feet, I missed out on getting the awesome pair of Etnies from TK Maxx my house-mate got by having undersized feet. Speaking of Etnies, the Odyssey X Etnies shoe is out - click that link to check it. How's that for editorial link-up? Pretty damn fine, if I say so myself.

One of my favourite web-videos from last year was a Give-D edit of the San Diego locals with some kind of remix of Born To Be Wild as the sound-track - Albert Mercado and Hoang Tran were stand-outs in that vid, and now Albert Mercado has a new little skatepark edit I spotted on the Kink site, and Hoang Tran has some lines in the latest Tuesdays With Miles I saw on TheComeUp.





Time for some photos methinks - first up, some awesome photos by Rob Dolecki (I shouldn't need to put 'awesome' before 'photos' there, bearing in mind Rob Dolecki hasn't ever seemingly shot a bad one) on Dig from a recent Banks Jam, and then some photos of Mike Hoder in a "The new flipbook" style thing on S&M.

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.

Randy? S and M.

This dude now rides for Eclat, and is also a winner:



It's been a while since Randy Taylor's had an all-out banger section, so it's always good to see this again!

A bit of S&M for you too. I'm too kind.



If you've got a WTP Warrior frame, go here to win some stuff. Pretty exclusive contest - if you've got one, you've probably got a good chance of winning!

Lastly, courtesy indirectly of TCU, and directly of Manmade, a reminder that a fair while back Garrett Reynolds was better than almost everyone else is today.

More S&M hub news.

Lurking pays off. Those were the shots of the S&M hub, and here's another one - this time with a drilled out 8t driver?



Shiny. Another rumour flying around is that they're potentially going to be out-sourced from S&M to none other than Profile? Who knows!

In other "Vague news about hubs" news - Alienation have popped up with a new clutch-system rear hub. Not a freecoaster! They're almost silent, and theoretically give almost instant engagement. Various companies have been doing them for MTBs for some time, and they're popular for commuter road-bikes and the like, so it was only a matter of time 'til they appeared in BMX. Allegedly the Ratchet was potentially going to be clutch-drive very, very early on, but Mr. French didn't like how quick it engaged going fakie. Hmm... Anyway, Alienation! More on Ride.



Might as well put this here too - Demolition have finally got a placca pedal out:



Apparently it's "Bad music, awesome riding" day for webvideos. First up is some nuts riding but awful music from DahStreets. Ben Hittle's getting dangerously close to breaking into the Top 5 riders to watch list?



BNQT decided to do a "Best of..." edit that teamed their best footage with the worst music they could find:


Go to BNQT for more videos.

'mare.

As I'm typing this, "Kickass Miracles" is on on Dave, so while trying to remember what to say, I've gotta watch some dude get his cheeks pierced by a 2" wide spiked pole, then stand up and hold them there. It's nuts... AAAAAnyway:

I mentioned a while back about a potential S&M hub - or at least a hub with S&M bolts on it. Assumed it was actually a Ratchet with some different hardware and a different driver, but according to Moeller, S&M are making a "Made In America" cassette that should be out by the end of the year.

Interestingly, if those actually are the pics of the proto hub that I posted before, I knew about them before even Moeller did, haha.

"Tight game", to bite someone else's phrase...

EDIT: Click here for that other post with the pics in.

Interesting.

Found this on Bikeguide - apparently some kid brought it in to a guy's shop to have something sorted on it. S&M branded bolts, a different type driver to the Ratchet, and some other bits and pieces - early Ratchet prototype or some kind of rival hub? Who knows...

BMX TRICKS AND STUNTS, YO

I started off riding in a small, little town in Wales with nowt but a little mini-ramp, a 3-set and what could potentially be considered a flat-bank in so much as it's theoretically a bank, and isn't transitioned. Either way, it meant that we had to look at things differently when we were out riding to find stuff to do, so naturally seeing edits of people in roughly similar situations interest me. *Name removed for confidentiality* first e-mailed me a link to his friend's Youtube videos a while back, but then I actually got an e-mail off Joe himself with a link to a pair of new Vimeo videos. Some really creative riding here, proving that you don't have to live in a BMX fashion city to be able to put out a cool edit. Click here for his vimeo channel (Which has another vid on there).

People are Strange from ]:_:[ on Vimeo.

Thanks for the link, Joe!

Orchid mentioned on their site yesterday they'd be putting up a little Geoff Slattery edit, and lo, they have. I really like the word 'Orchid'. Orchid.

Geoff Slattery 2009 from Orchid Footwear on Vimeo.

I also really like the way that Geoff rides tight little ramp setups like that. You just know that was hard as hell to ride...

Speaking of Orchid, they also point out that Kevin Porter's now got a coffee sponsor. Hectic! Go here for irrelevant details that won't make a difference to your life.

In similar news, Eli Platt's quit Subrosa and Shadow to focus on uni. Fair play I guess, although my experience of uni hasn't exactly been favourable. Good to see him stand by his ideals though, Ride US have an interview up with him about it all. Shallow interview with a deep person.

Skating doesn't have anything to do with this blog, but I do and I like skating, so check out some cool skate company ads riiiight here, thanks to a link from InTheGnar, thanks to a link from BMXfeed.

Sunday have a new trailer up for Up, Up & Away, but it still won't make me buy it simply because I don't really want to spend money just to see the Ian Schwartz amazing double-section again. It's really good, but not good enough to buy for me. However, I'm told that I'm 'really negative' and that the video's 'sorta alright', so don't take my word for it. There's definitely some other good stuff on there, but we're pretty much talking better than Electronical (Not a challenge), but not as good as... say... That's It or I Wanna Live (Which most definitely is a challenge, because both those videos rule). I should probably also take this opportunity to point out how much I really want to see the new Empire video. So I will. I really want to see the new Empire video.

Oh, and S&M have some pics of their latest cash-cows on their news feed. Seeing as they're still sticking with their flash site, I can't deep-link to that page so you'll just have to either do battle with their site, or just take my word for it that you probably won't want a re-issued Holmes, you'd probably buy the Fit Shiv forks instead of the first "US-made tapered leg and integrated race" Pitchforks and that the seat (Which comes with Eclat-esque Pivotal adapter. Taiwan 1 - 0 Eclat) does it for me but won't do it for you. Just bear in mind I used to run race seats on my BMX 'cos I thought they looked cool - what would I know?

I am tired. That should also suggest to anyone offended by anything in here that they probably shouldn't take it personally. Getting my Kerouac steez on.

I always laugh at James Woods' face in that image.

Well, tonight the usually awesome InTheGnar was awesome in that it reminded me of the Newrick video, but also kinda sour 'cos it had a pretty awful fixie freestyle jam video. I mean, they were talking about it in a negative way, but it still made me think about fixie freestyle which I consider a negative thing to have happen to you. Seriously - Southampton dudes - you ought to be super glad that this hasn't really kicked in with you guys. Getting snaked really, really slowly by people who are physically incapable of performing tricks is pretty infuriating. Seeing someone really slowly roll around the bottom of an awesome concrete bowl setup is pretty bad too... Anyway, yeah, enjoy.

sac rumble in the jungle trick comp from Miles J. on Vimeo.

But yeah, the Newrick video. It was never gonna be 'normal', but it's still awesome. For S&M.

James Newrick :: S&M from Channel 4Down on Vimeo.

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!

No way!

You mean Professional BMXers are normal people, just like us?



Who knew...

Rory Ellis, S&M's (Interestingly (Well, not really) I can't put S&M as a tag because you're not allowed to use &'s. FACT.) wallride machine, has a little edit up. Can click the HD icon and go check it out in HD, but for 2 minute web-edits there's probably no need? Your call I guess.




Madera have made one of the more frightening looking stems of recent times. 9.1oz - que? Unfortunately I just bought a new stem, never mind eh.





In Mark news, I got to ride today without having to wear 5 layers. T-shirt weather in February? Hoot! Similarly, bright sunshine and new spots. Also got to see a couple of hyenas and some hectic birds of prey at London Zoo on the way there, as well as some music-type people's expensive mansions. Camden Lock - who wouldn't.

I'm down in Southampton riding from tomorrow for a few days - the weather's supposed to be good, so people had best be out. No excuses...