Roll On 20s

Dah Shop One Year Anniversary

2009-04-22T17:04:00.002-04:00

What, you thought this blog was dead?

Well, it might be.

But in the meantime, check this out. Maybe it'll wake this site back up.

Flatland Jam Part II

2008-09-22T22:13:00.004-04:00

10 more photos.

The most amazing thing I saw—and I don't think I got a shot of it—was the guy on the yellow Strowler pedalling standing up with no hands. Think about that for a second, or even go try it if you like. But I'd recommend padding up first.

Flatland Jam

2008-09-21T16:26:00.004-04:00

There was a flatland jam in Tompkins Square Park yesterday. Probably 20 riders, many of them rolling and spinning all day—one doing so despite a fatally-tweaked frame. They gathered from all points in the New York metropolitan area, obviously, but also from Pennsylvania and Canada and elsewhere. It was not a contest.

I brought my camera. Here's 10 shots for now, with more to come later this week.

Down With The King

2008-08-27T06:22:00.003-04:00

My laptop is.

And I'm posting from it right now, which is surreal in a not-very-surreal kind of way.

Name every sticker on there and win absolutely nothing.

400 Degreez

2008-07-18T16:48:00.001-04:00

Man, it's hot as hell out there.

Take Me to the Top

2008-07-07T14:50:00.003-04:00

I may write SPRFLS (updated daily!), but at heart I'm just another trend whore. So when I saw that topload stems were making a comeback, and thought about how a little more rise would help my 37-year-old back, I went digging in the crates:

Much better.

P.S. I'm gonna try and start updating this on a weekly basis, at least. It might not be much sometimes, but what the hell.

Flickr.

2008-07-05T14:23:00.003-04:00

Started a Flickr page where I'm just going to start uploading everything, riding or not. We'll see how long THAT lasts. It's over at http://www.flickr.com/photos/russbengtson/.

Not gonna quit this blog quite yet, though. Then again, if it keeps raining every day, I might never take a riding photo ever again.

How I Roll.

2008-07-04T08:02:00.004-04:00

Sometimes I leave the backpack home and just ride around with my little point and shoot (a 7.2 megapixel Casio Exilim EX-Z70). It's slim enough to fit in a pocket, and takes decent photos as long as you don't want to shoot action. And if you don't need a flash. Or much of a zoom. Half the time I forget I have it and don't use it at all.

Anyway, lately I've been just randomly shooting down/across at my bike as I roll down the street. Maybe it'll be a summer-long series. Pavement! Crosswalks! Sidewalks! Grass! Cobblestones! (Maybe not cobblestones, I wouldn't be able to focus on anything, and I'd probably drop the camera.) Here's a couple just for the heck of it, taken somewhere around Spring Street and Broadway:

(Shorts by Zoo York, sneakers by adidas.)

Seeley Gets Luc-E

2008-07-01T21:57:00.002-04:00

Can't say I know Jake Seeley all that well. Or at all, in fact.

What I do know is this: a) he's on Sunday flow, and b) he Luc-E'd to turndown 180 the Pace ledge, which has seen a lot of action over the years.

Other things worth noting are that this took place on June 24th, that he didn't pull this particular attempt (but did pull the next one, which I didn't get a good shot of, so it's still plenty legit), and that he would have given it another go but security decided we were done for the day.

I suppose I should have shot the rollout, but I wasn't using the flash (in deference to the video cameras) and the frames-per-second rate was pretty slow. Not like anyone checks this blog anymore anyway.

Kevin Robinson High Air in Central Park

2008-06-23T04:33:00.004-04:00

I can't believe it's taken me so damn long to post these—I meant to do a long post about the whole scenario over at SPRFLS, but Supes's post over on Super made me reconsider. If Mat Hoffman was there, and he signed off on it, who am I to question things? Nobody, that's who.

Honestly, I only had two real problems with the whole event : 1) The Red Bull wasn't free, and 2) the ever-annoying NYC Parks Department didn't provide a place to park/lock bikes, and actually harassed people for locking their bikes to park railings. Um, it was a BIKE EVENT. A little common courtesy (and common sense) would have gone a long way.

(Also, I'm not convinced Kevin cleared 27', but I promised I wouldn't talk about that.)

A nonparenthetical aside: Can we please refrain from calling Kevin Robinson "K-Rob"? That's a lazy "nickname" that should be restricted to basketball (T-Mac) and baseball (A-Rod) players. Hell, it sucks for THEM. Kevin deserves a real nickname if he's going to have one at all.

As usual, it was good to see the NYC BMX community, both past and present, show up in force. Things may be fractured now, but at least we can all come together for a corporate-sponsored televised event. Power to the people!

Anyway, eight photos. All in chronological order. To be honest, I was more impressed by the flip than any of his "record" (sorry!) runs. Feel free to use them elsewhere (now that it's only two weeks later), just credit me. Or the blog. Whatever.

Red Bulls**t

2008-06-13T18:22:00.003-04:00

Unless you live under a rock (or don't follow BMX at all) you probably know that Kevin Robinson allegedly broke Mat Hoffman's high air record on a custom-built Red Bull ramp in Central Park last night. I say allegedly because, from the viewpoint of the ground, it looked like he came up a couple feet short. This feeling was widespread.

I'm gonna write more about it on the blog I actually update, but for now here's the best flick I took all night. Think this was his second-to-last run. Poaching flashes rules.

BET Cats

2008-05-08T23:59:00.005-04:00

Hola, hovitos. Been a minute, huh? Again.

Not that I'm one to make excuses (even though I am), I've just been slacking with the camera and spending more time on the new blog. But hopefully you'll see more posts on here as it continues to warm up outside. Pretty sure I even saw the sun this week. Gangsta.

Anyways, much going on. Edwin, Tyrone AND Nigel all have new shops opening (or open) in BK, Manhattan and Queens respectively. Power moves. I've got shots of Rone's shop—Dah Shop—that I need to sort through and post one of these days. It's down on Division Street, right near the Manhattan Bridge. You know they come correct with all the latest Animal stuff, as well as all sorts of singlespeed gear. They built up what I'm pretty sure was the first FBM Sword to hit NYC. And they already got mentioned on BikesnobNYC, so it's official. Here's the flyer:

I went down there the other day to see what was going on, and to drop off a copy of "Dead Bang," which Rone hadn't seen yet (and you should absolutely own by now). As it turned out, he was supposed to head down to the Banks to meet up with Edwin and Nigel in order to shoot something for BET. Seeing that it was a gorgeous day and I was actually carrying my camera, I figured I'd tag along. Also, Edwin's bike was unavailable, and since I ride pretty much the same setup he does, my bike would be a pretty good backup in case he needed it.

So we get there, and the crew is already in place. Nigel threw a few barspins (shocking, I know):

And then he posted up in different places and answered questions as we all rode around behind him. If this does ever air, look out for me—I'll be the white guy.

P.S. This spot is right around the corner from Dah Shop. Nothing I love more than old grimy-ass storefronts that haven't changed since LaGuardia was the mayor, not an airport.

Spring has sprung.

2008-04-06T21:27:00.002-04:00

Spam! Tabled fakie at some spot you've never heard of. His frame is lighter than yours--I'm pretty sure if you hold it up to the sun you can see through it. Shot with the lousy point-and-shoot (and mildly brightness/contrast modded in Photoshop) because I didn't feel like lugging a bag around. If I were a Photoshop expert, I would have considered erasing his bike and turning it into one of those "invisible bike!" images. I'm not, so I didn't.

The bridge is not over.

You Can't Bring Me Down

2008-04-03T17:59:00.003-04:00

Springtime is the the air. Can you feel it? Sure, it's still in the mid-50s (at best), and you get strange looks when you wander out of the apartment wearing shorts (well, at least I do), but it's coming. Spring! When the streets fill with scantily clad would-be models in search of employment (Coffee Shop is right down the block, ladies) and the wonderful smell of boiling garbage. Oh wait, that's summer. Spring is random thunderstorms, freezing-cold mornings and busload after busload of suspected tourists. Regardless! April showers bring May mold and whatnot. Psyched! I can't wait to start leaving Pleg residue everywhere like a spritzing dog. Is that even grammatically correct? I don't care!

This post is brought to you by Canada Dry seltzer and the exclamation point. And a chickadee.

My camera bag is actually dusty at this point. Didn't even think that was possible. With luck, I'll start posting some new-new flicks soon.

Is This Thing On?

2008-01-29T15:00:00.001-05:00

Apparently there have been questions as to whether this blog is still alive. It's a question I've asked myself, to be honest. And I'm not sure whether there's an answer yet. This could be an extended winter break, or this post could be an epilogue. I suppose I just haven't had anything to say.

Rider Down

2007-11-07T02:53:00.000-05:00

According to the FBM website (aka Steve Crandall), Metal Bikes head honcho and toothpick master Jimmy Levan "has taken a spill, and is in a hospital with some serious head injuries." Others who were there said the spill took place on a skateboard, and that he may be in a medically induced coma. I'm not sure exactly what to believe at this point. Over the years Jimmy has taken seemingly countless nasty blows to the head and come out no worse for wear. Hopefully, in the end, this one will be no different.

Get well soon. Jimmy. You've got a lot of friends out here.

(Photo from the Fox Jam at the Brooklyn Banks, June 2, 2007.)

Li'l Taco

2007-10-31T02:11:00.001-04:00

This is Li'l Taco. I'm not sure where he's from, or how old he is (I've heard both 14 and 16, I think) but I DO know he a) did this rail pegless, and b) tried to 180 the MLK steps. Ludicrous. Now he's doing truckdrivers and tailwhips. Kid's too good.

Photos from August 12th of this year.

Panoramas

2007-10-29T01:42:00.001-04:00

This shot is my desktop image right now. '32 Ford coupe parked on 4th Avenue and 11th (or thereabouts) after midnight a couple weeks back. D50 with the 10.5 fisheye, no flash. Can't remember the F-stop or aperture (I should really write that stuff down sometimes).

Banks jam setup. Shot with the Exilim point-and-shoot, no flash, balanced on the curb at the top of the bank. I think it looks like a New York scene out of the '70s—except for my bike, of course. And the ramps. The wedge pyramid didn't even last a week. The quarters are still there.

The sign above the door at Max Fish on Ludlow between Houston and Stanton. Shot with the D50 and my little-used LensBaby 2.0. I really should use that thing more.

Photo shop

2007-10-28T18:07:00.000-04:00

I am not a professional photographer.

Not only have I never taken a photography class or been paid for a photo, but I've pretty much only shot digital (at least when it comes to BMX). There's something romantic and real about shooting film, but I like a) being able to see my images right away, and b) being able to store 500-plus full-sized frames on one 2g SD card. I also don't carry much equipment. Three lenses, the camera body, and that's about it. I have a slave flash, but the (light activated) remote isn't very reliable. Not to mention I need AAs for it. The one thing I absolutely should invest in is a spare battery for my camera, because I'm forever forgetting to charge mine, then having it die at the most inopportune moments.

(You know, I actually did shoot 35mm news photos--and develop them--when I worked briefly for the Oxford (PA) Tribune right out of college. Not sure if that qualifies me as a pro, though.)

I'm also not one for a lot of setup time. I like to think part of it is because I approach BMX photography from more of a journalistic standpoint (record what's happening without influencing it), but part of it is because I'm kind of lazy. All too often do I realize too late that I should have been standing THERE instead of HERE. And that maybe I should have started using my 50-200 lens before last week. But my normal MO is just pulling the camera out of the bag when I see something interesting happening (or about to happen) and try and capture what I can.

Sometimes there's someone filming already, and I'm always conscious that my flash could mess up a line, either by distracting the rider or rendering the clip unwatchable. So, I improvise. In this case, Nigel was doing a 180 on the bank to barspin out (I think) and the slow shutter speed captured it in a different way. I really like the blur of the front wheel and bars. If I was a real photographer, I would have set up a tripod up top and stabilized the background but, yeah, I'm not.

I really like this next one, although it seems it could benefit from some further brightness/contrast adjustment. If I remember correctly, this was a session where we were messing with the "bulb" setting, where the shutter stays open as long as you keep the trigger pressed down. You can set it up so the flash fires twice, once when the shutter opens and again when it closes. The hope was, with the camera stationary, that it would pick up a double-exposure image of a feeble-to-smith. It didn't. But the ghost feeble is still kind of cool.

(This post was somewhat inspired by Keith Romanowski's latest update over at Ride LI. Keith IS a real photographer, and his stuff is super-rad. Check it out.)

Still Life

2007-10-26T21:30:00.001-04:00

Clearing more stuff off the desktop.

Stack of kids bikes in Portland, Oregon. I don't know if it was art, a class trip, or some sort of horrible first-grade pile-up.
Downtown NYC. Architecture from a period best left forgotten.

Banks Jam setup night, around 4 a.m. I have NO IDEA who would ever want to tag a wall like that. I mean, that kind of thing is ILLEGAL.

Kool Stuff

2007-10-21T21:13:00.000-04:00

Got to the Banks sort of late today due to an extremely late night last night. These things happen. Anyway, Mike Hoder was there, and while he didn't flipwhip over the rail out of the bank or anything, he sure did some high wallrides. Lazyman steez with the camera, wideangle sideways shots without even looking through the viewfinder or using a flash. By the time I switched positions to shoot from a different (and better) angle, the show was over. Oh well.

Ruben, really, whatever you want to call it.
Check out the face of the kid in the red T. Priceless.

The last two shots could be in Highlights magazine as one of those "point out the differences" things.

Today in the Life

2007-10-21T04:27:00.001-04:00

Nick "Spam" Ponterio wallslap.

Joey "AM:PM" Piazza hanger tooth.

Frank "Winteractive" Macchio whip.

Eric "He's Like, 15" legburn turndown.

Joey "Look For the Official Matt Brown Photo" Piazza hang over.

Random photo post

2007-10-19T19:56:00.000-04:00

Just what the title says, fool.

ARBOC

2007-10-18T12:36:00.002-04:00

So, I'm in Utah on some basketball-related business. Quick trip--got in yesterday around 1 pm, and the shuttle to the airport is picking me up in less than an hour (It's currently 10:40 a.m. local time). Twenty-four hour turnaround. Good times. I didn't bother bringing my bike, which was for the best since it actually hailed yesterday. Despite the fact that it was sunny out. Utah is strange. Still, it was nice to get out of the city and detox, even if only for a day. The photo up top is the view from a step outside my motel room. (Yes, I said motel room. It did have a Tempurpedic bed, at least. Not bad.)

And, to keep things BMX, here's a year-old (October 10, 2006, to be exact) shot of Joel Moody icepicking the Bakery Ledge. So artsy.

Throwback

2007-10-16T18:39:00.000-04:00

Sometimes photos slip through the cracks, you know? I go through the trouble of resizing and renaming them, and then they wind up sitting on my hard drive for, uh, 10 months. Oops. So instead of posting these two shots of Oba Stanley back in December when I took them (or at least in January when I posted the shots of Skinny that I took on the same night), I let them marinate until now. My bad.

Overgrown

2007-10-15T10:55:00.001-04:00

Have you ever ridden the Brooklyn Banks? This may seem, to some, a silly question. After all, it's the most popular spot in the five boroughs, is it not? People come from all over the world to ride it, skate it, take pictures of it. The question should not be "have you ever ridden there," more like, "have you ridden there today"? Right?

Wrong.

Because the spot you know as the Brooklyn Banks, thats only half the story. This is the other half.

This seemingly abandoned park across the street used to be the epicenter of the Brooklyn Banks. When you said you were going to the Banks, THIS is what you meant. You'd only ride the big banks if the small banks were too crowded (which they often were). The big banks weren't nearly as much fun—no transition—and were often left to kids from the projects. Skaters rode the brick waves first, then BMXers adopted it, most notably with the 1989 Meet the Street contest (do yourself a favor and watch all five parts). Then came Animal and BASE Brooklyn, capturing the action through the '90s and '00s—Will Taubin stalling the sub wall with a cigarette dangling from his mouth, Tyrone Williams abubacing the same wall, and most famously, Grimaldo Duran launching over the fence onto the access ramp. I'm sure skateboarders have even more memories.

But when the banks were renovated following the 9/11 attacks, the small banks were converted into a park. And slowly but surely, they've been forgotten. By everyone, apparently, judging from the weeds. A tiny space tucked out of the way between two police-use roadways, the Brooklyn Bridge and a now-abandoned access ramp, the small banks are a horrible park for the same reason they were a great riding spot—no one ever finds it by accident. And why would anyone want to go there on purpose? The only people I've ever seen using the benches are the homeless. Even without the history, it was a questionable place to put a park.

But the history makes it that much worse. Steve Rodriguez of 5Boro skateboards, the Banks staunchest supporter (without whom we wouldn't be riding ANYTHING down there, mind you), has spoken of replicating the small banks in a new skatepark in another borough. Which is fine, but seems silly when the real thing is still sitting there, undamaged and sleeping.

So admit failure, New York. Do the right thing. Take up the benches, and put them somewhere where they'll actually be used. Re-brick the soil, and return the small banks to their former glory. Let another generation of skaters and BMXers enjoy what used to be one of the best riding spots in the world. Make the Banks whole again.

(Joey wrote about this first over on Native, by the way.)

Dave Voelker 360ed in off this wall in 1989.

Welcome fall

2007-10-14T10:21:00.000-04:00

Hot enough for ya?
If your dog is smaller than your shoes, you're doing something wrong. This little critter was dragged (literally) past us three times--which was good, because the first time I didn't have my camera out, and the second time I forgot to turn it on. Third time was a charm. I would have used the flash, but a) I didn't want the owners to flip out, and b) I thought the "dog" might be incinerated.

Charles Hearn, seatgrab. If I pulled the trigger a split-second later, it probably would have looked more like a toboggan. Shot from a distance with my 55-200, which for some reason I'd never used before.

Take two. AM:PM. (Note the kids playing in the background. I thought someone might flip out when they saw me--a bearded guy in a hoodie--pointing a long-lensed camera in their direction. Thankfully, no one said anything.)

Joey Piazza splitting the uprights like Adam Vinatieri. Field goal barrier hop.

Interbike photos?

2007-09-27T13:19:00.000-04:00

No one's posted anything yet except for Dig. Step it up, slackers.

P.S. The Metal tandem at the Odyssey booth is outstanding. Jimmy LeVan and Sean Burns should do a record-setting kicked-out toothpick on it.

P.P.S. Re: The Ian Schwartz Sunday frame. Predictable "seatpost" setup. Surprised it took this long for someone to actually do it.

Animal Jam 2007

2007-09-27T01:49:00.000-04:00

I didn't go for very long this year. Got there late, left early (after the second fight of the day jumped off, so to speak). As it turned out, I missed the good (Andrew "Street Sweeper" Mick demolishing the rail) along with the bad (long-time local Mel getting hit by a moron on a Harley who decided the Banks would be a good place for burnouts—pun intended). Last year I took something like 300 photos, this year it was more like a dozen. Which was a shame, seeing that Animal went through the trouble of building ramps (two three-sided wedges, one with a sub, and a wedge spine with a grind box going up and down) that the city has probably scrapped by now. Oh well.

Ended up rolling out with Joey Piazza (who was the subject of roughly 10 of the 12 photos I actually DID take at the Banks), Rob Dolecki, Wormz and one of the Corts brothers to some empty downtown spots (one of the happy side effects of the jam). Wormz, Corts and Dolecki split off from us to shoot some stuff for FBM, and Joey and I met up with a couple of his friends from Albany to ride a little more. Well, for THEM to ride a little more. Joey filmed, and I gave the Nikon a little more of a workout.

Feeble to hop-up camera-splash manual. Leonard Street.

Not-quite-flat rail up.

Not-quite-flat rail down.
Right now it seems like everybody's in Vegas at Interbike BUT me. Next year.

Page Sixsixsix

2007-09-16T22:01:00.000-04:00

WHAT TWO NYC STREET SHREDDERS who have been the subject of multiple photos on this site are now on flow with legit bike companies? About damn time, too.

Beautiful Godzillas

2007-09-12T02:34:00.000-04:00

Yeah, I know. No new posts in a while. Save it. Anyway, inspired by this article, I took the photo below while sitting on the steps of the park off Christie and Houston.

I was made aware of said article by this blog, which is probably the greatest cycling-related blog in existence. Mainly since he, you know, updates it.

Nike Campus lakejumping (finally!)

2007-08-26T21:27:00.000-04:00

Hola. Sorry it took me so long to post this, the best part of the Nike 6.0 trip I went on a week and a half ago. Would have posted it earlier but a Vegas trip (and recovery from same) got in the way. More on that later.

To recap, Nike 6.0 flew a bunch of us action sports journalist types out to Portland, Oregon to get a better sense of the inner workings of Nike (which I already knew pretty well from my days at SLAM) as a whole and the 6.0 division specifically. Um, more on that later, too.

The day on campus concluded with a demo from the entire team—which, seeing that half the team is snow/surf/wake, was delivered primarily by the riders. Garrett Reynolds and Mike Spinner threw 360s and talwhips anywhere they pleased, while Nigel Sylvester stuck mainly to the wedge landing of the boxjump. That is, until a launch ramp was positioned by the gigantic manmade lake in the center of campus.

Said lake doesn't see much action. It's not stocked with fish, and, up to this day, the most oft-told story involving it was about a maintenance man who—on his first day, no less—drove his cart straight into it while trying to cut a corner too close.

Well, then there was August 16th. Nigel had to be talked into it, but only a little. He took two or three runs to scope it out, but that was it.

T-shirt and New Era were laid aside, and he 3'ed in on his first attempt.

Once the bike was wet, the only thing to do was try again.

Tuck no-hander.

One of the snowboard kids joined in—also on Nigel's ride. This was when I realized there were better positions to be had.

Same kid threw down one hell of a backflip on his second attempt. He went down with the ship, taking a big scrape to his back in the process, but it didn't seem to bother him much. He also couldn't find the bike right away, which made for an entertaining minute or two.

OK, this was crazy. When Nigel had the littlest kid on the team stand on his pegs, I had all sorts of bad visions—loopouts, coming up short, kid stepping off at the wrong time. But the launch was flawless.

The bike made it through the whole ordeal with flying colors—although he did snap his left crankarm yesterday. Collateral damage?

Riding on the back of Nigel's bike off a launch ramp into a lake wasn't even the most insane thing the kid did all weekend. Yes, that's spraypaint.

I guess other people were worried about the possible results too, because that was it. Nike giveth, Nike taketh away.

More riding shots from campus (Mike Spinner edition).

2007-08-22T05:40:00.000-04:00

Sometimes it's easy to forget that Mike Spinner is still pretty much a kid. Sure, he's beating the big names in pro contests and cashing checks from big-time sponsors (still dude, put the Monster bottle down and slowly back away), but first and foremost he's a dude who loves riding his bike. That's still what counts most, right?

And, to paraphrase another Nike athlete, anyone else pull a 1080?

That's what I thought. On with the show:

• 360 table. Child's play. So to speak.

• One-handed X-up. Who doesn't love x-ups?

• Tailwhip air. When I told him I wanted to get a shot of him riding the quarter, he was like "sure, I'll do a tailwhip. Stand on the right side of the ramp." He did three whips, I got one timed right. Sort of. What I'm trying to say is that Mike's better at doing tailwhips than I am at taking photos. Sigh.

• X-up. Clicked. And beyond.

• Tailwhip. Not as good a shot as the one I posted a couple days ago, but hey, at least it's a different angle.

More riding shots from campus (Garrett Reynolds edition).

2007-08-20T22:48:00.001-04:00

Garrett Reynolds turned 18 just two weeks before the trip out to Portland. He's from Toms River, New Jersey, and has been killing it for years. Damn kids.

• Nosedive 360. I was standing too far away. That's RIDE photog Keith Mulligan in the correct location. Damn professionals.

• 360 tuck no-hander. Garrett has a boatload of 360 variations, and he broke a lot of them out on campus. No need to dip into the really crazy stuff for a crowd that wouldn't be any more impressed anyway. Incidentally, I moved closer, but he was just too high for the fisheye.

• Truckdriver to fakie. So fresh and so clean.

• Tailwhip air on the street spine. I really wish I clicked the shutter a half-second later. Everything else was spot-on—the sky, the ramp, the angle. Oh well, practice makes perfect, right?

• Autographs. All three of the dudes got rushed, but I think Garrett signed the most. At one point I turned around and saw him signing some kid's cell phone. I had to ask. "Is that the first time you've signed a cell phone?" He looked at me a little funny. "No." Sheesh.
Lakejumping flicks coming soon. Promise.

Illest car in the PDX

2007-08-20T22:00:00.000-04:00

Woke up to roll out to Nike campus on Friday, and saw this Impala parked across the street from our hotel. Badass. A few minutes after I sat in the street to take the photos, the driver got in, jacked it up (hydraulics!) and drove off. Love the stock (and dented) beater body and factory steel wheels with the lowrider suspension.

Nike 6.0 Trip

2007-08-20T03:25:00.000-04:00

So.

Spent the last couple days in Portland on Nike's dime checking out the latest from 6.0—their somewhat inclusive action sports division. More on the trip (and the shoes) later, but for now, a few select photos. On the 16th, they actually built ramps on campus (Nike's HQ is called "the campus" for very good reason) and let their athletes loose on it while hundreds of employees drank dollar drafts and watched them go off. Obviously the wakeboarders, surfers and snowboarders were pretty much out of luck, but Mike Spinner, Nigel Sylvester and Garrett Reynolds had a blast.

• Mike Spinner, tailwhip. This is one of the best photos I've ever taken, in my humble opinion. It certainly helped that Spinner can throw whips whenever he wants. (Two days after this, he won Dew Tour Park.)

• Garrett Reynolds, manual to whip. The whole black/blonde hair thing is confusing, but when you're as dialed as Garrett, I guess you can do whatever you want.
• Nigel Sylvester, 180 bars. It was funny listening to the announcer (who I believe is also the TM) talk about Nigel—that he doesn't enter contests or ride big ramps, and he instead rides to make video parts and that kind of stuff. I think he meant well, but Nike may still have a little to learn about street riding.
At the end of the session, Nigel became without a doubt the first rider to jump into the manmade pond/lake in the center of campus. Photos of that to come. I expect there's still water in his bike.

And after it was all over, after dinner and a trip to the arcade, I went with the team to the former Savier (now Nike SB) skate warehouse downtown and partook in a closed-door session. By the end, it was just myself, Nigel, and a pair of Nike skate guys—and I was wishing I brought an additional flash. Or two. I missed Nigel's bar to smith to hop bar out, but I did get this barspin on the same obstacle. Still a little underexposed, but oh well.

Joey Crack

2007-08-15T01:46:00.000-04:00

He'll hate me for saying it, but Joe Piazza's been on a mission lately. Downtown rail ride despite a bent-to-hell rear wheel (well, actually said rail ride was cause of said bent-to-hell rear wheel). On Sunday the 12th. After a bunch of tries, he pulled it clean at the end—which means I get to use all the flicks. (Last shot was the one.)

Street Dreams

2007-08-13T00:02:00.000-04:00

June 25th, 2007. James Horan with a true rollercoaster grind at an undisclosed location less than 10 minutes from Union Square. Think of them as urban trails, or steel velvet ropes.

This spot, more familiar terrain. Over Smith in a line, end of the day.

Skavenger, again.

2007-08-12T04:17:00.001-04:00

So I'm sitting here at 4:17 a.m., stone sober, drinking an Ito En Green Tea and watching BASE Neighborhood Superheroes (can we get a DVD release please, Enos?), and, well, I may as well post something.

Watched the Skavenger video the other day (thanks much, Rone), and realized that, not only was I there for a lot of the filming (you can distinctly hear me say "yeah" after George D's ridiculous ledge combo) but I actually shot some flicks of tricks that showed up in the video. Which, I figure is a good reason to re-post some of them. Right?

(By the way, if you haven't bought the video yet for some reason, step your game up.)

Sleezy E, cover shoot, Halloween night. The "LA" is for Launchpad, wreckanize.

Edwin Delarosa, 360 street gap. Pretty sure you can see my flash fire in the video. My bad.

Aaron Ross, feeble to manual to 180. If I remember correctly. Tribeca in early October, no flash. Still pretty psyched on this shot, actually.

Skinny, fakie to bars on a not-totally-brick day at the end of December. I'm actually not entirely sure if this was the same clip from the video, but what the hell.

This definitely wasn't in the video—because no one was filming—but seeing that Nigel did a ton of 180 bars in the video (including some while he was still riding for We The People). So, yeah.

Um, same thing here. Not the same icepick Ralphy Ramos fires out in the video, but same trick at the same spot. And I don;t think I've ever posted this photo before either, so there.

Um, apropos of nothing, Keith Mulligan's section in Neighborhood Superheroes is really, really good. Not as good as Will's (which is one of the best BMX video sections of all-time) but really good, nevertheless.

P.S. Come back, Rich Andreu.

Skavenger.

2007-08-06T03:25:00.000-04:00

OK, after a ridiculously long wait, the Skavenger (what key do I hit to get the "k" to flip around?) video is out. You know the deal: Vinnie, Edwin, Tyrone, Scerbo—along with "lost" Vic Ayala footage and ridiculous sections (I assume—I haven't actually seen it yet) from Marlon Europe and Nigel Sylvester. Actually, I don't HAVE to see it to know it's ridiculous, I was there while some of it was being filmed. So just buy the damn thing. (I couldn't find it on Empire's site, but I'm sure they've got it by now.)

Photos. Skavenger representation at Max Fish, and Marlon with a nose wheelie at the Banks on August 1st.

Oh yeah, X Games.

Linkin' Park

2007-07-31T23:06:00.000-04:00

Haven't been riding much BMX lately, and when I have, I haven't been taking my camera. (Actually, that's not entirely true—there's a whole day's worth of shots I still need to offload off the Nikon, I just haven't done it yet.) I DID go to a Mets game with my parents this weekend, though, so here's a surprisingly decent zoom shot with the point-and-shoot of David Wright from that:

And here's a bunch of stuff I feel like linking to.

• Dakota Roche is talented. Watch the video in the lower right-hand corner. (But Robbie, please, for the love of God, stop with the "______ Life..." stuff. I'm begging you. For the good of humanity. Move on.

• Lavender Odyssey Life... (See how silly that sounds?) And while we're on the request tip, day-glo orange next, please. Safety orange, hunter orange, whatever you wanna call it.

• If you don't love Brian Foster, there's something wrong with you.

• Someone e-mail me next week and let me know how this was. I'm insanely bummed to be on the East Coast. For one day, at least.

• I still want one.

• Vinnie and them are holdin' it down on Skavenger. Daily must check (the video from July 28th is real ill).

• This might very well be the best Dave Mirra photo ever.

• Jim Bauer's new bike is terrifying.

• OK, one bike photo. Apparently this is how you SHOULD lock your bike, since this POS department store Mongoose has been locked up on the corner of Houston and Broadway for months. Nice streetwear stickers, dude.

Return to the 36/16

2007-07-17T03:07:00.000-04:00

As I implied earlier in the week (and mentioned in the comments) Will Taubin is back on a bike. He claims to be "just a casual rider" now, but I'm not so sure about that. Shep stall to 180 out, 50-50ing a jersey barrier both ways, and footjamming a skinny little ledge out of a sketchy rollup doesn't seem all that casual to me. 'Cause if it is, then I must be, I don't know—sleeping? Comatose? Dead? Not to mention this was only his second time out in the city in a WHILE.

Here's his last bunnyhop barspin on the old Lengthy before stripping it down to build up a new ride—which is still set up with 36/16 for the time being.

Regardless, I'm just happy that Will's back out. Lots of good memories going back a lot of years—when riding was much more simple in every possible way.

(And once again, my apologies for the lousy point-and-shoot shots. The Casio is great for eBay product shots, not so good for action. Even using the flash didn't help. The decapitation, unfortunately, was strictly user error.)

And finally, saw this on my way home, parked on 28th Street between Park and Madison. At 2:30 a.m. On a Monday night (well, Tuesday morning). On the street. Oh well, I guess it's just a Gallardo.

How Not To Lock Your Bike

2007-07-15T21:31:00.001-04:00

Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?

2007-07-13T07:16:00.000-04:00

It's hard to believe that there are abandoned buildings anywhere in Manhattan. I mean, I know how much MY rent is, and said absurd amount makes the idea of leaving ANY residential building empty for more than a week seem financially, how you say, stupid. Yet on last night's midnight ride we came upon this hotel that—while apparently under reconstruction—looked not only vacant, but possibly haunted. This despite a PRIME location (which will not be disclosed at this time).

Well, one makes do with what one has. Joey Piazza, hop to narrow-ass ledge ride that wouldn't have been possible if said hotel were open. Damn doormen. (Please pardon the subpar point-and-shoot shot—no bellhops, no bag.)

No photos, just words.

2007-07-05T03:13:00.000-04:00

Good week so far, despite pouring rain on the Fourth. Late-night pizza runs, Chinatown road racing, out-of-town visitors killing it, legendary riders returning to active status. Photos were snapped with the point-and-shoot—silliness, mostly—but said camera is not currently in my possession. Obstacles at the Banks change and move on the daily, a pair of Jordan XIVs have been draped from a lamp post. Over the weekend, riders and skaters were joined by hopped-up, camera-wielding fixsters and the lost tribe of rollerbladers.

Have fun, ride bikes.

More From 6/22

2007-06-23T03:45:00.000-04:00

The shot above is an artsy long-exposure jammie from the Manhattan Bridge skatepark. Quiet night. (It wasn't entirely empty—the exposure time knocked all the people who were actually moving out the frame.) We rode there until dark, then went off in search of sustenance.

The rest of these shots are from the earlier Banks session, and shall be captioned appropriately. Enjoy the weekend, peoples. Next update on Sunday! Hopefully.

• Nigel Sylvester at speed. Obligatory sponsor shot (holla at ya 6.0s). Note the lack of pegs.

• Nigel again, 180 to fakie up the bank to bars. And yes, actually, Nigel probably could throw the bars with his head cut off.

• And again. 180 to fakie up the bank to halfcab bars.

• Hussani (spell check before next time), fakie bars on the shiny new S3.

• Myron with the footjam held a bit too long.

• Dominican Dave, tiregrab. Give Grease his wheel back, man. And his chain tool, damn. Ha.

Don't Believe (All) the Hype.

2007-06-22T23:18:00.000-04:00

That photo above is of the Brooklyn Banks. Looks calm, right? No police tape, no d-tecs, no fights, no news crews. And that was taken early this evening, at just another mellow session at New York's finest spot. Coincidentally, we ran into Steve Rodriguez earlier, the founder of 5Boro Skateboards and THE reason the Banks are open in the first place. He's in continuous talks with the City and the Parks Department to keep the spot open, and to make it better—for skaters AND bikers alike. He's got all of our best interests at heart, so let's not allow the illest spot in the world to get shut down over something stupid.

The word of the day is RESPECT. Gotta give it to get it.

(All the same, be careful out there.)

And here's all that was poppin' off today: Nigel Sylvester, MirraCo/6.0/Animal/Skavenger (apologies if I forgot anyone), 180 to rollback up the bank to bars. On repeat like iTunes.

Blast From the Past

2007-06-22T15:30:00.000-04:00

Seeing that I don't have anything new at the moment, here's some shots I took (with a crappy point-and-shoot digital) at the King of Dirt (Core Tour!) at South Street Seaport back in 2001. Riders include T.J. Lavin (of course), Corey Nastazio (ditto), Todd Lyons, Mike Parenti and John "Superfly" Skvarla. Among others. I suppose Ruben Alcantara may have been there, but I disremember.

One thing I DIDN'T get a photo of took place in the am prelims, when Grimaldo Duran borrowed my brakeless STA (after he flatted on his bike) and tried to backflip the second set. Things didn't work out so well—I was banging reddish dirt out of my grips and pegs for weeks.

Anyway...

20 - 10 = ?

2007-06-22T03:58:00.001-04:00

With the Mongoose out of commission, Joey hits the East Village in search of a new ride.

Pink and white, coaster brake, padset, chrome bars, dropout-less straight-leg fork, peg- and caliper-free? Looks like we have a winner.

The Last of Fox.

2007-06-20T15:24:00.000-04:00

Two sequences and a couple of random shots. I suppose there's a chance that I go back through the photos again later and pull a few more, but for now let's assume that this is the end and we can all go on with our lives.

• Sequences. Yet another Mike Aitken wallride (I definitely should have moved off to the side for one set) and a garden-variety Chase Hawk manual-to-wallride-to-180-to-backwards-carving-manual-to-back-in kind of thing. He tried a few different things before coming up with this finished product.

• Other shots. It's funny I just got the one of Allan Cooke. A bunch of dirt-jumper types were there—Cooke, Corey Bohan, Heath Pinter—but I didn't really shoot much of them. Oh well. Joey Piazza showed up on his Mongoose Villain (since retired for fork replacement). And Jimmy LeVan just decided to trip down from Louisville for the occasion.

The Time is Nau

2007-06-19T17:10:00.001-04:00

What the hell, I might as well keep posting the Fox stuff now in order to maybe get to new flicks someday. Here's a couple more of those Darryl Nau bikeflip attempts (note the position of the bars—it would have been a bikeflip half-barspin) and another tabletop shot. I love tabletops. (I also re-ran the bikeflip shot from the previous post just because.)

Darryl grew up as a racer on Long Island, now he's just...awesome.

Just Another Mike Aitken Wallride Sequence

2007-06-19T15:40:00.000-04:00

I realized, as I went through all the photos I shot at the Fox jam/demo/whatever, that I probably stood in one place for too long. It's a good thing I'm not a professional photographer, or I probably would have gotten fired. (As a professional writer, which I actually am, I probably shouldn't have used the word "probably" four times in this paragraph, but oh well.)

Anyway, I shot this particular sequence with my still-relatively-new fisheye, which I'm still getting used to. Obviously I wasn't close enough—until Mike bailed, at which point I jumped out of the way (missing what would have been a classic last frame of him looking back over his shoulder at me with a big grin on his face). He eventually did pull this particular maneuver, but i like the crash sequence better than the pulled one. Go figure.

Afternoon Sequence

2007-06-19T14:15:00.000-04:00

I'm not sure if Ruben Alcantara was banged up or just didn't like the Banks much, because he didn't really ride on Saturday. He mostly took part in the impromptu T1 reunion (along with Joe Rich and Garrett Byrnes), got his photo taken for a RIDE bike check (prototype Fly everything!) and sat and watched alongside the rest of us. I don't think he even did a single tireslide.

However, he did hit Aitken Pillar™ a couple of times, and I caught one of them. An ordinary wall carve by an extraordinary rider.

Even More Fox (Morning Update)

2007-06-19T09:58:00.000-04:00

So I finally got through all the photos—all 359 of them (why I didn't shoot one more frame to make it an even 360 I'll never know). This isn't all the rest of it—I prefer to keep stretching it out for whatever reason—but there's some good stuff worthy of further explanation. I suppose.

• As stated earlier, Mike Aitken OWNED this wall. Pillar. Whatever. This was one of his early attempts (when the light was still good), a basic carve that I would cut off my right arm to be able to do. (Of course then I definitely wouldn't be able to do it, but that's beside the point.)

• Brian Foster walking his bike back up the bank after either a) riding the back wall, or b) carving off that little wedge and airing into the bank. BF is like the Tony Hawk of BMX or something. He's pushing (or is ) 35, but still absolutely kills it. And has a great time in the process. Hey, at least in this shot he's in focus.

• Scotty Cranmer, flair attempt. Yes, I probably should have used a flash—or at least gone to manual mode to wash out the sliver of white and bring everything else up. But I didn't, and as it turns out I think this shot looks kind of cool. Or maybe I'm just telling myself that. Regardless, Scotty's flair may have been THE most ridiculous thing I've ever seen at the Banks. More attention, please.

• Towards the end of the day, Darryl rolled up to me and said "I think I've got something I want to try." When I asked him what it was, he wouldn't tell me. "I don't want to call it out and then not do it." Not five minutes later he's speeding up the bank to try this—a bikeflip flyout. He never did catch it—a lip would have helped—but it made for a rad series of photos anyway (more to come later). Yes, I learned my lesson and used the flash.

• I knew Robbie was gonna be on this trip, and since I'd recently built up an old Trail Boss similar to the one he used to ride (and knew I'd be shooting more than I'd be riding) I figured I'd bring it out and let him see it. Obviously he was stoked (as was Russ Barone in the background).

One More Sequence Today Because Waiting Until Tomorrow Sucks

2007-06-18T21:13:00.000-04:00

If you go back through the archives of this blog, you'll find a post titled "Josh Stricker is a Sick Motherfucker." Something like that, anyway. The point of it was that he'd done something never-before-seen—wallriding the back wall of the Banks out of the Banks themselves. It's a 10-12 foot gap to get to the wall, and you need to be going roughly nine million miles an hour to hit it. I got the sketchy sequence, and Scerbo got the footy (which, if I remember correctly, appears in the new Etnies video that isn't even officially out yet).

Now, late in the day of the whole Fox thing, Brian Foster started looking at that same back wall, only closer to the stairs. There was this little triangular wedge up against the wall, and his thought was to ride the back wall, then use the wedge to roll off. Two or three bitch runs just to measure up, and he was ready.

Well.

It didn't look like he was going as fast as Josh was, but BF flew off the bank, connecting with the wall at least a foot or two higher than Stricker did. He dropped off the wall—missing much of the wedge—and hopped back into the bank. Easy. Afterwards, he joked about calling Stricker that night. At least I think he was joking. BFF, man.

(Stricker, for the record, is still a sick motherfucker.)

Of course the next morning, when most of us were fighting brutal hangovers, Scotty Cranmer came back to do the same exact thing—and tailwhip out. Riiiiiight. (They at least HAD footage of it on the RIDE site.)

More Fox.

2007-06-18T17:13:00.000-04:00

Single photos today. And just some general comments/observations:

• Darryl Nau, he who brought the world Blacken and "Seek and Destroy," is the mayor of BMX. Dude knows EVERYBODY (and has the, um, most unique sense of style of anyone on a 20-inch bike—sorry, Sean Burns). He can also still ride like a man, as evidenced by his 40" showing in FBM's bunnyhop contest (in the rain...on a 35-pound STA with 44/16 and 14mm 48s front and rear) and something else I'll post later. I'm sure Darryl has heard about technological advancement, but wants no part of it. Darryl is awesome.

• Joe Rich had a bad back (and apparently jacked his ankle up riding trails later in the week), so he didn't actually ride the Banks at all. But it was still like royalty showing up. If that sounds gay, call me Sally.

• Mike Aitken (as evidenced from the sequences I put up last night) would have been well within his rights to uproot that particular pillar and take it back to Utah with him. Brian Foster killed it as well, but Aitken's on another level.

• Had someone chosen to blow up the Chipotle all those bikes were stacked in front of (photo above—name all the pros bikes and win nothing!) it would have been the worst day in BMX ever. At least since Standard went out of business.

• Wait, Standard's still in business?

• Robbie Morales is definitely at mayor status as well. Not sure if I understand his riding an Edwin with a slammed seat and wide bars, but hell, I think he's earned the right to ride whatever the f**k he wants. Always good to see you and the Long Island crew.

• Besides Aitken, Brian Foster and Chase Hawk KILLED it. Scotty Cranmer was ridiculous as well—maybe even a step above everyone else—but I feel like his riding is so out of reach and so impossibly dialed that it's impossible to even judge it against anyone else's. With BF, Aitken and Chase, you're like "oh yeah, I see how you could do that." With Scotty, your brain just shuts down. Flair off half a tire laid on the bank? Whip to footjam to abubaca? F**k outta here.

• Enough from me, here's some more flicks.

Holy Crap, It's An Update!

2007-06-18T00:46:00.000-04:00

So, uh, hey. What's been going on? I've been meaning to update this thing for a while now, but you know how it goes.

Anyway, this is the start of what will probably turn out to be a week-long series of updates chronicling the Fox field trip to the Brooklyn Banks on June 2nd (as mentioned in a little preview post over on defgrip—thanks, fellas). Since you've waited long enough, figure we may as well get straight into some of the photos—the sequences shouldn't need much in the way of explanation (if you're looking for stories, the whole trip was covered pretty thoroughly on the RIDE site—although I'll tell some tales as the week goes on). Enjoy. We* apologize for the delay, and hopefully will be updating pretty regularly throughout the summer. Holla.

(And you know what? Let's just go with all sequences tonight. Four of Utah's Finest (sorry, Fuzzy), and one of Scotty "What, No Tailwhip?" Cranmer—which is right at the top just in case you missed it.)

*I

STOLEN BIKE

2007-04-26T22:39:00.000-04:00

I was gonna drop a lot of stuff here, but I might as well just keep it simple.

Deep breath.

My bike was taken at the Brooklyn Banks tonight. It was around 6:30, still light, and the guy who took it approached me as a friend. I didn't remember his name, but he's one of those guys that comes through now and then, riding a scrapped-together bike asking about different stuff. Tips on how to nose wheelie, whether anyone has any parts for sale. Anyway, he asked to try my bike, and I made the mistake of saying yes. Haven't seen it since. And of course I let my renter's insurance lapse.

A lot of people at a lot of companies—people I TRULY consider friends—helped me piece this bike together. (A few of you might even read this post, and if you do, thank you. Again.) A few parts, including the seat and post and the tires, weren't even a week old. As I can't afford to build another new bike right now, I'm going to be asking a lot of those same generous people for help again. Feeling like a fool. All because someone decided to abuse the rider-to-rider trust that's usually solid. A rider should know better than ANYONE not to steal another rider's bike.

I'm mad right now (my bike was finally set up PERFECTLY), but most of all I'm just disappointed that it's come to this. I've ridden little bikes my whole life, and BMX has meant a lot to me. It still does, but obviously things have changed. Whether I get my bike back (a long shot) or I build another one (which might take a while), I'm not gonna be as trusting or friendly anymore. And that's kind of sad. Part of me doesn't even want to ride BMX anymore, let alone take photos or write about it.

If you hear anything, or see this bike (I took the picture TODAY), let me know.

I'm also half-seriously looking to move out of New York. Too expensive anyway. If anyone knows of any writing/editing gigs in a town with a real BMX scene (and a pro basketball team), let me know. There's nothing holding me here.

FRAME: 2007 Fit Edwin, 21" (original version with chainstay wishbone and plate seatstay brace)
FORK: 2007 Odyssey Race Classic
CRANKS: Odyssey Wombolt 175mm
SPROCKET: Odyssey Vermont 28t
WHEELSET: Odyssey cassette/Hazard Lite 36 (LSD), Odyssey M7
TIRES: Odyssey P Lyte 2.1s
PEDALS: Odyssey Jim C mag
SEAT: FBM Rumble Seat
POST: FBM Web Post
BARS: Animal Bob Lite
STEM: Animal Jumpoff
GRIPS: Animal Edwin
BARENDS: Animal
PEGS: Odyssey Jpeg Lite (4)
HUBGUARDS: FBM rear, BSD front
HEADSET: FSA Impact
CHAIN: KMC 510hx

Be careful out there.

The calm before the storm.

2007-04-15T21:44:00.000-04:00

Riding had to happen on Saturday—not because it was particularly nice out, but because the coming week was going to be so bad. The 10-day forecast said rain, rain, and more rain.

So, the Banks. And the first time I actually tried to shoot any riding with my new fisheye. It's going to take some getting used to, because you need to be MUCH closer to your subject if you want to use the whole frame. And I don't want anyone's wheel hitting the lens. It'll probably take a good bit of practice.

Well, I ran into Ralph Bury for the first time in a long while, so he was a natural test subject. Only the one whip photo really popped (and since he didn't land it, I probably shouldn't even use it—but it's not like he's never done a whip before). And I had to take a shot of his mangled Macneil SL. It's broken in half, the padding is gone, AND it's completely covered in electrical tape. Sort of a Macneil Junior. (Someone send him a seat!)

I wanted to link directly to Joel Moody's bike check on the T1 site, but apparently I'm not l33t enough to figure out how. Anyhoo, Mr. Moody's bike is rad—and he's a good dude to boot. You can (and should) preorder his latest work now.

Friday the 13th: A New Beginning

2007-04-13T13:19:00.000-04:00

Not really. I just wanted to use the title of a Friday the 13th movie on Friday the 13th. (My all-time favorite Friday the 13th flick remains The Final Chapter. Crispin Glover, Corey Feldman, and hot naked twins. It honestly doesn't get much better than that. I think I still have it on VHS somewhere.) And I know I've said it before (and lied) but I really do intend to update more often.

SRSLY.

Anyway, it's in the 50s, so I might actually go ride (!) today, but first I wanted to post up a few items of interest that I've run across. (And a random fisheyed photo of my now-disassembled Sunday—I put my Edwin back together for the longer rear triangle.)

• Remember the Sunday Vinnie frame I posted about yesterday? Now you can win one. I don;t really condone ordering from Dan's Comp (Empire 4 lYfe), but winning contests from them is fine. Free is free.

• The 2007 Bicycle Film Festival is coming up on May 19th (well, that whole weekend). Plenty of BMX stuff going on—the premiere of Etnies new epic, "Grounded" (click that and this to view the RIDICULOUS trailers) and an FBM-sponsored bunnyhop contest in the street outside the theater. And you can submit your own short video as well. But the deadline is Sunday, so you might want to get on that.

• Brian Tunney's oddly named blog is home to some great interviews he's conducted. The Vic Ayala one, particularly (everyone who rides should read and learn). Taj is good, too.

• If someone were to send me a 21" white Stricker frame, I wouldn't be upset.

OK, time to go outside.

Spring? Please?

2007-04-12T17:39:00.000-04:00

Got back from Arizona (where I was visiting fam) early this A.M., and landed at JFK to find rain and sub-40-degree weather. What the hell is going on here? I was tempted to get right back on the plane and make them take me back to AZ.

So...yeah. In the meantime I'm waiting on some new stuff to beautify my ride (since I can't, you know, RIDE IT), and surfing the Net. The usual stuff.

(Big ups to Vinnie Sammon, by the way, for getting some signature love from Sunday. Been a long time coming.)

And here's a lovely self-portrait of me from the Grand Canyon. The first two people who commented on it said it looked fake. It isn't. Nikon D50 with a 10.5 fisheye. Sunglasses were $5 at Wal-Mart. Holla. And note the T1 Garrett shirt. I was gonna send the photo to Joe actually, but then I thought, no, that's stupid. Is it?

Mike V

2007-03-23T17:59:00.000-04:00

So, the weather finally took a turn for the better (and then another turn for the worse, but whatever). March 13th was one of the first good days of 2007, which required a trip to the Banks. After spending a good portion of the afternoon there, things seemed to be slowing down as the sun went down.

Then a couple skaters showed up, coming down from the East side. They were carrying videocameras and—yes, a generator. Interesting. The first good night of the year, and some out-of-towners (assumed: they arrived in an SUV) were gonna shut down the Banks for their own purposes. They started to set up lights across the whole bottom of the Banks. Everyone was skating Element decks, so at least we knew who to blame.

A couple of the guys were just skating, including one hessian-looking dude with long blond hair, a baseball hat, and a denim jacket with some sort of crest on the back. One of the other riders I was with poked me. "That's Mike V!" Sure enough, a closer look revealed that it indeed was Mike Vallely. Which meant no one was gonna disturb this particular session. BMXers can be pretty stupid sometimes, but no one's THAT stupid. He started hitting the bank, sliding sliders and popping bonelesses. Pure '80s style.

Since I had my camera, I figured I'd try to poach again (look back for my post about Mark Gonzales to see earlier efforts). Well, I was in a bad spot, and maybe the flashes weren't going off as long. Regardless, I only got one semi-useable shot. And here it is. (I actually really dig the shadow.)

Anyway, I once again apologize for the long absence. Now that spring is actually in the air, I plan on being out a LOT more. And I have a Nikkor fisheye on the way that should make for some really cool photos. So stay with me.

Why isn't it spring yet?

2007-02-19T14:08:00.000-05:00

It's times like now when I start to wonder about the whole global warming thing.

Not really, mind you. I haven't seen Al Gore's flick yet, but I don't need to see a movie to know we're fucking up the environment something fierce. And it WAS 70 degrees in early January. But for the past week it hasn't been above 30 much—mostly in the teens with a chill wind—and my bike has been just sitting there mocking me.

All my bikes, for that matter. And that's a lot of bikes. Anyone who's been in my apartment can attest to that. And they keep growing. Just today I got a brand-new-from-1994 raw Standard STA frame (I didn't even know they MADE STAs in '94), and just the other week I built up my first-ever Trail Boss.

I always wanted a Trail Boss back in the day, but was always convinced that I needed to be riding an STA. I'm not entirely sure why—I never broke one, never even came close. But every time I bought a new frame, it had to be Stronger Than All. But when I saw a complete Trail Boss on VintageBMX for $400, I had to jump (no pun intended) on it. I changed over a few things (crank/sprocket/pedals, wheelset, bars) to make it more Robbie Morales accurate, and plan on riding it some just for the sheer fun of it.

Just as soon as the damn snow melts.

PROJECT: TANK

2007-02-02T21:34:00.000-05:00

I know, I know. Don't even start.

Anyway, yeah, back in action. It's winter, so it's not like I've been riding much. Or taking photos. Or doing much of anything else bike-related, for that matter.

Well, except this. Project: Tank. Something that's been in the works for damn near a year now.

The object was this: build the heaviest possible BMX bike using all commercially available parts. It was an answer to the lightweight silliness that's been going on lately (not that ALL lightweight stuff is silly, but stuff like the Grim Reaper and the Drive fork are ridiculous). As word of the project spread (both locally and through BMXboard.com), offers of donations came in. After all, it's not like anyone in their right mind was gonna use this stuff. I had to buy a few things on eBay (the cranks, the pegs) but pretty much everything else was either donated or already in my possession.

I finally got the damn thing rolling last week—I was waiting on the fork, which came all the way from England—and when I took it to the nearest shop to blow the grips on, I took the opportunity to weigh it. This was without any pegs, brakes, chain tensioners or barends, mind you. It came in at 39 pounds, or thereabouts. Which was depressing. I figured it would be over 40, easy. It would appear that the 50-pound mark is out of reach, but I'm not giving up hope yet. Further suggestions for added weight are always welcome.

But for now, here she is:

Note the custom hammer dents in the downtube. Aerodynamics!

Chain tensioners would help.

FIEND!

Monster drivetrain.

G-Sport fork dropouts. Don't ask.

And I may as well give the parts rundown. Any company that has excess heavy stuff, feel free to send it to me.

FRAME: Eastern Hercules (A partially hi-tensile steel version from a complete—would all chromoly be heavier? What I REALLY want is a pink chromoly Pork. I also beat the crap out of the downtube with a hammer when I was having trouble installing the cranks. It dented something fierce, but didn't seem to weaken anything.)

FORK: G-Sport Prong (You might know G-Sport as the Odyssey affiliate who brought you such items as the Marmoset hub and Wombolt cranks. Well, before all of that, when George French was making stuff in his basement laboratory (poetic license), he came up with things like these forks. Canti mounts, wide-spread legs, HUGE dropouts with dual-position slots. Scary.)

CRANKS: Profile SS 170mm (I believe SS's are actually heavier than Solids. Although Solids would LOOK heavier. And I really should get some 180s.)

WHEELS: Haro Heffer hubs laced to Alex Triple Walls with 12-gauge spokes (Absolutely ridiculous. 48s, of course. The hubs use 14mm bolts instead of a traditional axle, with socketed heads—like Primo Jewels. The bolts MUST almost meet in the middle, they're so long. And the bearings are like crank bearings. The Alex rims speak for themselves—somehow this is the first set of them I've ever owned.)

PEDALS: DK Iron Cross, sealed (Amazingly heavy. Each one weighs about as much as a pair of Jim C's.)

BARS: Hoffman Love Handles (Lots of welds, lots of chrome, 1" grip tubes. Cut down, but not much.)

STEM: Standard (I really need an XL Casket. Or a GFR Redneck.)

HEADSET: FSA Pig DH unsealed (When tightened down enough to keep the fork from shifting, it pretty much seizes. Makes riding it an adventure.)

SEAT: Odyssey Business Class (Jim Bauer's done a lot of great things for Odyssey—this seat was not one of them. Massive, and EXPENSIVE when it was new. Like, $70 expensive. But hey, that's only $35 a pound.)

SEATPOST: Hoffman (I think. Whatever, some sort of uncut Primo Rod clone.)

SPC: Primo Viking (A Mongoose triple-bolt would be heavier, I guess. But it would also be Mongoose.)

TIRES: Primo Wall 2.10 (Eventually I'll double up, either with two more Walls, or a pair of Hoffman Skidmarks. The thought that I used to double up ON PURPOSE—and not just to add weight—is scary.)

SPROCKET: Profile Blackjack 44t (Mainly because it fits on the SS spindle without an adaptor.)

CHAIN: Kink/KMC 415h (Only until I can get a 420 or 520.)

PEGS: Kink El Guapo (The creations of a vastly troubled mind.)

GRIPS: Primo Chad DeGroot (No real reason.)

FREEWHEEL: Regular ol' Shimano (Soon to be swapped out for a FatClaws.)

MODS: Massive hammer dents in downtube and driveside chainstay due to anger, Dan's Comp sticker collage on toptube, thornproof tube up front.

TO COME: Kink chain tensioners (assuming I get a different frame), brakes (probably AD-990s with original Modulevers), Odyssey Hammerhead barends. Possibly a Solid fork and Solid cranks if I can find them.

One Frame To Rule Them All.

2007-01-11T23:54:00.000-05:00

Hand-me-down frames used to be the norm. Back when Standard ruled the East Coast, it seemed like half the riders in the city were on second-hand (or third- or fourth-hand) STAs. And why not? They lasted forever, and who wanted to pay $330 for a brand-new one if it was just gonna get beat to shit anyway?

For the most part, those days are over. As frames get lighter and lighter, they get more and more disposable (although, alas, no cheaper). You can still find used frames, of course, but they're a lot more likely to be dented, twisted or otherwise mangled. And actually, with half the city riding for somebody (or just knowing somebody), there are always new frames to be had at less than retail. Not to mention people switching out frames from week-to-week—so I suppose the hand-me-down idea actually is very much alive, just with newer product.

Which brings us to the battered green frame you see up top (and below—in an exhaustive collection of photos). It's a rarity in more ways than one. For starters, it's one of the first Sunday frames ever made. I believe Jim Cielencki himself rode it first [CORRECTION: I spoke to Jim, and he did NOT ride it. My bad.], and it was the frame that appeared in the first Sunday ad. Then, in less than a year:

• Mike Hoder took possession, and was riding it when he 360ed over the Sean Burns gap at the Brooklyn Banks (see the Lotek Mixtape for footage).

• It was passed on to Vinnie Sammon, who rode it as his first Sunday frame.

• Big James got it, and rode it for a while. I believe the huge table out of the Banks (the very first shot on my blog) was on this bike.

• Mike Brennan had it for the Tiseo Jam this summer, and rode it for at least part of his Shook part. It survived sprocket stalls to over seven-foot drops to flat. More than once.

• Then it went to Blackman, who did God knows what on it. Hopped onto police cars, jumped off things that shouldn't have been jumped off of.

And now it sits in my apartment, waiting to go back to Buffalo. Jim sent Blackman a brand-new '07 frame in exchange for it, and I expect it will get a place of honor at the Sunday shop/offices. The amazing part? No dents or cracks. And still straight as an arrow. It looks beat, sure, but it's still perfectly rideable. A fresh coat of paint, and it would look brand-new. Not bad for a 5.4 pound frame that's been through the hands of some of the biggest street killers on the East Coast.

NEW ANIMAL BOB BARS.

2007-01-10T00:19:00.000-05:00

Who would have thought it? Bob Scerbo buying into the whole "wider is better" revolution? And in chrome, no less? Apparently he's been spending a little too much time out of the New York/New Jersey area. He's not running brakes again quite yet, but if he decides to, he'll have plenty of room for the levers. Chroming was expensive, but well worth it jusdging by the finished product. The new bars are 28" wide and 8" high, and will retail for about $15 more than the current Bob Bars. Same sweep and bend.

According to Ralph, Bob "just wanted to try something different, and there was no way I was gonna let him run Slams."

(None of the aforementioned is true. Well, except for the measurements. In reality, that's two pairs of uncut GT bars from the early '90s, the bars that the "Bob Bars" are based on. One pair actually IS going to Bob—he doesn't have any of the old ones left—the other pair is probably destined for one of my bikes. And while it wouldn't surprise me if Bob ran the GTs, you can expect them to be cut down and—probably—painted black.)

Global Warming.

2007-01-07T15:37:00.000-05:00

Woke up yesterday at the crack of 2 p.m. and turned on NY1 to check the weather. According to the little box in the corner, it was 72 degrees. 72? In NYC? In January? I had to open my bathroom window and stick an arm out just to make sure they weren't kidding. They weren't. Didn't even bother to wake up more, just threw on whatever was closest and rolled down to the Banks. It was crowded, of course, but just to be wearing a t-shirt in January was bliss. Never did get my camera out of my bag—which is unfortunate, because apparently Garrett Reynolds trucked the steps. To flat. And I didn't even see it.

Today it's in the 50s, which feels chilly compared to yesterday, but still downright tropical for NYC. I should be riding, but with my main bike down for the count (broken cranks) it's a day for laundry, football and finally updating (my bad) this site.

And I guess what this update is about is this—it doesn't have to be 70 in winter for people to be killing it. While some riders seem to disappear in October and hibernate until spring, others just bundle up and stay out there 24/7/365. Like Skinny. He's in Cali right now (or somewhere out West anyway), but this is what he was doing from 12/28-30 in the City. RIDING. You can check the image file names for exact dates if you're interested.

"Hey! I'm gonna do a fakie wallride and make a face!" Um, OK.

Fakie wallride to barspin. Progression. Joey Piazza behind the lens on the other side.

50-50 around the corner (sort of—sticky icky icky) at St. Vincent's. Someone wanna buy me a fisheye?

Good trick, bad photo. That's what I get for shooting from the hip.

Much better. Suicide no-hander up the wood.

(Oh yeah—also ran into Keith who does Ride LI yesterday. Cool site with great photos of guys from LI and the City. Check it out.)

Happy Holidays.

2006-12-28T19:23:00.000-05:00

Yeah, man. The weather in NYC is still delightful, although the post-Christmas shoppers are wearing on my last nerve. LOOK UP WHEN YOU CROSS THE STREET, ASSHOLES. I'm definitely gonna be hitting somebody this week, I can feel it.

Haven't been riding much lately—was back home on Strong Island for Christmas, and I don;t have a bike at the folks house right now. I have every intention of building up an old Standard to leave there one of these days. Preferably a Trail Boss, although I don't actually have one yet. If you've got a 21", let me know.

I stopped by the old hometown bike shop while I was home, and man, it's scary what they still have laying around. Not only do they still have a bunch of BMX stuff from the '80s (I bought a set of GT folding forkstanders from roughly '86 still sealed in the package), but they have tens of thousands of dollars of '90s mountain bike parts (including a complete titanium Mongoose, of all things) all still listed at their original retail prices. I find it hard to believe they ever sell anything. And while I'm pretty sure I got the last pairs of Shimano DX pedals out of there years ago, but I still hesitate to mention the name of the shop lest it get cleaned out by some enterprising eBayer. Find it, you won't.

Other than that, I got to contribute a top five list to Defgrip, wrote up something on the Brooklyn Banks for the next FBM zine (good lookin' out, Steve), and I took the Odyssey Twisted PC pedals off my coaster bike (and added an Evo II front brake). Heading out now (with the camera), so hopefully I'll get some new flicks soon. Otherwise I'm gonna have to make something up. Like BMX resolutions for '07. Hm. That might be fun anyway.

Stay tuned.

Quit Your Day Job

2006-12-18T01:37:00.000-05:00

Recently I wrote a story on Bob Scerbo for an upcoming issue of Ride UK (issue 100, if I remember correctly). While I was doing the research for it, I watched Don't Quit Your Day Job a bunch of times. It's not like I wasn't already familiar with it, but I wanted to make sure I remembered everything.

Those of you who know me, know that I have a little bit of a bike problem. OK, a lot of a bike problem. I probably have more BMX bikes and parts in my apartment than any shop in the city. So watching DQYDJ gave me an idea for my latest project. And when I found a 1" chrome Standard Lengthy frame and fork on eBay for $45 shipped, it all came together.

I call this one Project: Taubin, for obvious reasons. It still needs a Standard axle in the front, and a set of chrome Standard pegs, but other than that it's pretty much perfect. I never had a Lengthy back in the day (just an S&M Dirt Bike and then a long run of STAs), so it's about time I had one. And of course I had to ride it.

Took it to the Banks this weekend, set up with an Animal 45t sprocket (too new-school to keep on) and Standard two-piece Strips (the six-piece were more appropriate). It rode really well, except for the usual early '90s problems (the chain tensioners, front hub and headset all loosened up). There were a whole bunch of kids there, and they were all staring at the chrome. One kid, braces gleaming, rolled up on his Fit or whatever to ask a question: "Is that some sort of old race frame?"

Maybe some other people need to watch DQYDJ, too.

Blackman!

2006-12-12T15:07:00.000-05:00

Whenever I run into Blackman, two things are guaranteed: 1) his bike is fucked up somehow, and 2) he wants me to shoot some photos. Usually it's just MySpace stuff—as was this—but this one was good enough to share. He's been talking about doing it for a while, last night was the night. Oh yeah, his chain was so tight that the cassette sounded like a chainsaw.

The Gonz—the original

2006-12-04T15:52:00.000-05:00

Two days of posts in a row! Amazing.

Went to the Banks last week (on the 28th, to be exact) to ride a little, only to find an entire camera crew camped out in front of the main wallride pillar. Still and video. Turns out it was an adidas shoot, featuring one Mark Gonzales. That would be the Gonz, the OG Gonz, the one who essentially invented street skating back in the '80s. One of the illest skaters of all time. So, despite the fact that no one else could ride, it was actually OK. How often do you get to see an exclusive session with a legend?

So I sat in the back, pulled out my camera, and tried to time my shots with the professional flash. Did pretty well, too, probably got eight out of 10. These are the best of them.

Height

2006-12-03T21:04:00.000-05:00

I don't mean to be getting all weekly on everyone. My bad, I promise to be a little more alive. I guess part of it's been that I haven't been shooting as much—and it's finally feeling a little like winter out there. Dipping into the 30s this week, sweet. Thanks to the weather changes, I'm also working on my first killer cold of the season.

Anyway.

Rumor has it that James Dickens is gonna pump up the volume this year and hit all the high-bunnyhop comps. And, if you know him, you know that a lot of people are gonna be in trouble. Late-night Banks hop over a construction barrel. Clean as a whistle.

I'm Back.

2006-11-27T21:52:00.000-05:00

Well, between Thanksgiving, some super-nice weather (which is still with us for the time being) and lots of work, I kind of lost track here for a second. My apologies. I got a few shots over the past couple days, but haven't even uploaded them yet. Which means you're getting another old photo—and I haven't even decided which one yet.

Been hectic in the city lately. Lots of filming going on (for Skavenger—see Grindstate for more on that, and Prototype), lots of bangers dropping, lots of people getting broken off. Some more than others. Marlon, who normally does hang fives like some people do manuals, slipped on one on a narrow ledge and broke a couple toes. Badly. He spent the night in the hospital, and is out of commission for at least a month. Get better soon, Marlon.

It's funny, though, because this might be the last good week for a long while. Winter's coming, and these 65-degree days can't last forever. Edwin's leaving for three weeks or so on a DC trip with some other stops, and by the time he gets back it'll probably be time for the northern migration of the triple-fat goose.

Oh yeah, a photo. Dave Roman with a wallride to X back in September. Gonna be harder to do these now that you're running those Slams, Dave.

Wormz on Defgrip.

2006-11-20T16:43:00.000-05:00

The interview is up. And I've got a lot more shots here that I may as well post up (sent some to FBM as well—I believe in sharing the wealth). Wormz is gonna blow up big this year, I can feel it. About goddamn time, too.

Brooklyn Banks railhop. Up the bank, over the stairs and rail to flat. I thought the contrast with the autumn foliage looked neat.

Fakie barspin on the steepest part of the bank. Not only is the rollout sketchy, but there's no lip or anything. He threw a whole bunch of these, and even the misses looked good.

George D. rail, Brooklyn, NY. This spot's right over the Brooklyn Bridge, and has been sessioned by everyone from George Dossantos (duh) to Will Taubin. Wormz fired out this icepick first take. Look at his face—it's as easy as pedalling down the block.

Oh yeah, big ups to Rob-O for comin' through with a copy of Fitlife. It was worth the wait (damn, Van Homan).

Wormz shoot.

2006-11-19T20:49:00.000-05:00

Went out with Wormz a couple days ago (Friday, to be exact) to shoot some photos for an interview he did with defgrip. Figured I'd post one here—I'll post more (and a link) when the defgrip stuff goes up. Actually, you might want to click on over there right now to check out the interview with Will Taubin.

(Oh yeah, it's worth noting that he didn't really like this photo, and absolutely didn't want me to send it to defgrip. I didn't. Although if I ever pulled a turndown like this (especially on a steep, sketchy bank), I'd probably print up t-shirts with the image and wear one every day. Then again, I ain't no pro. Wormz is the best.)

Muffinman!

2006-11-17T09:47:00.000-05:00

My main man Muffinman, no homo. Joshua Aaron Fuentes is 17, runs uncut Slam Bars and bright-ass Profile hubs, and says 'no homo' more than anyone alive. He also does whips to the pedals and all sorts of disaster variations, no homo. My man Shino has an interview and some rad videos up on Grindstate. Go check it out, no homo.

Brooklyn Banks, August, no homo.

Footjam nosepick, October, no homo.

Tapes

2006-11-16T19:47:00.000-05:00

I found this box of tapes outside my apartment buiding one night as I returned home from riding. I didn't take any of them, because I've got way too much crap to begin with, but had to take a picture because I thought it was an interesting mix. Queen Bee!

NigelCo.

2006-11-16T00:21:00.000-05:00

Was sitting on the basketball court at the Banks today, frustrated to the point of bike-throwing over hang fives (today wasn't my day), when the SK3 rang. T.I.'s, "Ride Wit' Me." Meaning it was a fellow rider. Nigel Sylvester, to be exact. Calling from LAX, where he was waiting for a return flight to NYC. I didn't really ask what he was up to out there—but he's sure got a lot going on right now between MirraCo, Nike 6.0, and whatever other new sponsors he's down with. Hopefully this means—at the very least—he's gonna be getting more coverage. Here's a few shots to tide you over.

180 bar up the stairs on We The People, August.

Huge 180 bar flyout on MirraCo, October. Actually, this may have been a double bar attempt, or a bar-to-bar back. Whatever it was, it was HIGH.

Skinny!

2006-11-12T19:30:00.000-05:00

Is the best, period. He's always down to ride, and—more importantly—always down to scavenge a piece of wood so everyone can ride the Union steps. And I don't think I've ever seen him mad. Ever! I was super-stoked when he got on Volume, because he deserves a spot on a real company more than anyone I know. He reps BASE Bkln and Animal HARD (check the screened Abercrombie shirts for proof), and he did a lot for Bulldog that went unappreciated. If Jimmy Mac had listened more, maybe the company could have actually kept some of its better riders (and, um, had frames with internal headsets).

I've seen Skinny do some amazing things—like 180 bars anywhere and everywhere, and putting his bottom bracket back in with a rock. I also have no doubt that, if you needed it, he'd give you the shirt off his back. Logos and all.

Tailwhip up the wood, Brooklyn Banks, 8/12/06.

Edwin De La Rosa

2006-11-12T16:46:00.000-05:00

I've known Edwin for a long time now—since he was just another scrappy kid rolling around on a second-hand (probably more like fourth-hand) cracked STA. Thing is, Edwin was never "just another" anybody, really. He was always doing something worth watching. And when he got put on Fit (good move, Robbie), he just got better. Quickly. He let the haters hate and just produced banger after banger, progressing at a geometric rate (check the difference between his parts in Turbulence and the first Animal video—let alone Can I Eat?, All Day and Fitlife (still waiting, Robbie)).

After however many years of riding, Ed hasn't let anything grind him down. To me, at least, he's the same quiet dude I met way back when. He may be living in Philly now, but it's always good to see him back in NYC. He may not have started the whole four-peg, no-brake thing (Will Taubin, motherfuckers), but he's done much to preach the gospel of street riding to the masses worldwide. And with Fit, DC and Animal on his side, he should continue to do so for a long time.

*Disclaimer* I've ridden two Ed frames, both acquired courtesy of Nick Benson at Fit. While I'm not running one at the moment, I have nothing but love for those guys. You too, Robbie. Get back out here more often.

Straightforward street gap, Bond Street off Broadway, NYC. Warm-up stuff...

...for this. 360 street gap, stomped clean. Same spot 10 minutes later.

Something on the Banks pillar—360 wallride, maybe. Bob Bars, yep.

Random photo post

2006-11-12T02:48:00.000-05:00

As I continue to go through the hundreds (thousands?) of photos I've shot over the past couple months, I'll need to do the occasional photos-only post to keep things moving (and hopefully interesting). Eventually maybe I'll even be caught up.

Launchpad's Halloween costume. If you don't know who he's supposed to be, please kill yourself.

These guys rolled past Union Square more than once this summer/fall in their matching $200,000-plus cars (a Ferrari F430 droptop and a Lamborghini Gallardo—I think), zooming around other traffic and stopping to talk—about what, who knows? Probably supermodels and cocaine. Those Lambo exhaust pipes are, how you say, bitchin'.

BooJuw does pretty good hang fives—better than me, anyway. Another night at Union.

I shot this bird at the Oklahoma City zoo a couple years back when my sister used to live there. I'm not sure where the "ORLY?" phenomenon started, but I'm always glad to partake. SRSLY.

Tyrone Williams, full factory.

Joey didn't pull this particular icepick. I'd like to think it was because the ledge flat-out rejected him (gold and green polka-dot bike? cuffed girl jean shorts? tie as headband?), but he was probably just having a bad minute. I shot the whole sequence, but thought I'd leave well enough alone.

Tyrone Williams

2006-11-10T14:40:00.000-05:00

I ain't gonna lie—when you meet Rone for the first time, you might think he doesn't like you. And you might even be right. But you might also be wrong, and if that's the case, you're good. Because there aren't many realer dudes in the greater NYC area.

Besides working a full shift at Metro Bikes on Canal, Rone finds time to produce like crazy. Animal, Prototype NYC, Redline, [fill in shoe sponsor here]—if Rone's riding for someone, he commits 100 percent (on either side of the camera, even). Notice how many ads he's been in lately? Also note the color coordination he's got going on with the signature Piff bars. Always thinkin'. And it's always been like that, even when he was riding a free STA, or getting flow from Fly.

So if you see him rolling, say what's up (whether he's on the NY-monogrammed pegged bike or the raw and orange pegless freecoaster Phantom). It can't hurt. Much.

Up the bank, to alley-oop rollback to halfcab bar back in.
Wallride to tiregrab out.
All previous photos from the Brooklyn Banks, 10/21/06.

Other side of the lens. 10/10/06.

Grease

2006-11-08T02:47:00.000-05:00

If Chris Brescia ("Grease," from here on out) didn't have a full-time girl and a part-time dog, he'd probably find a way to actually live at the Banks. OK, and if he wasn't a full-time student and worker as well. Actually, it's hard to believe that he finds time to ride at all, let alone be good at it. He's a bit of an anachronism among New York riders—for starters, he has those two weird clamps on either end of his bike connected by cables to levers of some sort that make his wheels slow down and stop, and—it's probably related—he knows how to use a spoke wrench to make his wheels more round and straight than is usually required. His idea of "dialed" is actually DIALED, not the usual "hey, it rolls when you pedal it."

He won't stop watching the Front Brake Revolution DVD (and if you sit on his couch for more than two minutes, you're gonna end up watching it, too), and considers Rob Ridge and Rick Moliterno to be somewhere up there with DaVinci and Mozart. And, since his time is indeed precious, if you're out there to do something other than ride, he's not interested. Respect that.

Double footplant whip. He pulled it. Now, if he'd only pull a REGULAR whip.

Something resembling a double-peg stall that's more like—whatever. He pulled that, too.

Both shots above from a balmy November 1st, 2006.

Vinnie Sammon

2006-11-08T02:37:00.000-05:00

Vinnie Sammon's from West New York, New JERSEY, which doesn't make any sense, but we try not to hold it against him. He used to come around with James Kennedy a lot, and while James disappeared somehow, Vinnie became more or less a regular. He lives in Jersey City now, but still makes New York appearances more than some people who actually live here. One of the OG Animal (and Skavenger) dudes, he's also on Zoo York, Duffs and Sunday (he's the best possible tester for the "dent resistant" wavy downtube). It all couldn't have happened to a nicer guy, despite the whole Jersey thing (check the headtube sticker—and the little Jersey outline on the bars). Zoo Jersey? Wouldn't surprise me. But hopefully merked.com comes back for the first time first.

Some sort of unpulled topside grind on the li'l sub at the Banks (but he's pulled it plenty before, and the shot just looked cool). 10/21/06

By the way, you can thank Vinnie for pointing out I posted the wrong address for this site in my myspace bulletin. And I can thank him for my current frame—thanks, Vinnie.

Wormz...

2006-11-07T14:18:00.000-05:00

...knows what time it is.

MLK High, 10/22/06

2006-11-07T02:34:00.000-05:00

I know I'm jumping around a lot here, so bear with me. October 22nd was the second day that Glenn Milligan was in town filming Dave Dillewaard, Yonny Wakefield and Ryan "Biz" Jordan for various projects. The first day we all rolled down to the Banks—and inevitably would up staying there all day. During a late-night drinking session at Max Fish, I asked Glenn where we'd be going the next day. "Anywhere but the Banks," he said. Fair enough.

Martin Luther King High, up in the 60s on the West side, has been the site of quite a few BMX moments, most recently Blackman's feeble to death drop off the ledge along the steps—it was both a RIDE cover and his banger clip in All Day. At the top of the stairs, there is a sizeable platform with benches, planters, and all sorts of little stuff. And this giant iron cube.

The idea was to get clips, of course, and Glenn picked out a likely spot. Don't be fooled by the short sleeves—it was kind of brick out there. And he might live in Cali now, but the purple Skavenger shirt and flat-brim camo New Era means he still belongs to us. The lavender front end in the foreground is Biz's new Volume 81. Nice bike.

It was cold, as stated earlier, so there wasn't gonna be any crazy stuff going down. Instead, Biz and Dillewaard decided to have a little competition to see who could pull this line first—feeble on the wooden bench to pop-up whatever this is on the i-beam, to pop off. Simple enough, I suppose, if you discount the 15-foot drop off the other side. And the fact that no one could pull it clean. Right around the same time Biz was saying "this is the hardest trick I've ever tried," I was realizing that it probably would have been a good idea to recharge my camera battery after taking roughly 500 photos the day before. No good. Biz eventually pulled the line clean, and after a few almost-attempts of barspins out, we moved on to the next spot.

Just one more shot from MLK, though. Nigel Sylvester and Ralphy showed up, and this shot gives you a pretty good look at Nigel's MirraCo prototype. It's loooooooow. And light. The flat brown paint job is tuff, but the frame can (and will) be tougher. Thicker dropouts and stays, taller triangle, and a final weight of a bit over five pounds (I'm guessing) when it's all done. And no brake mounts. Feel me? (Nice Nikes too, B.)

Nigel's got the fairly typical NYC setup going—four pegs, no brakes, Animal Jumpoff/Piff Bars/sprocket/seatpost clamp/Hamilton pedals/GLH-ASM combo, and Macneil Pivotal seat/post run looooow. It'll be interesting to see how many people trade those in for FBMs just for the hXc/American style points. I'm still not sold on 22-8 gearing, though, despite the fact that I ran it for a couple weeks. It just LOOKS wrong.

Balance

2006-11-06T23:10:00.000-05:00

Since the last post was all photo, this one is going to be all words. If that's OK.

There's something about riding BMX bikes that I'll never understand. At least once a week, without fail, I ride past a big group (could be kids, could be slightly older folk) and someone yells "do a trick!" Sometimes, if they've seen a little X-Games, they even specify. "Do a tailwhip!" Or whatever. Then, when I ignore them, they act all upset, like I owed them something.

That part I understand, mind you. People are stupid, people in groups get stupider exponentially. But why does it happen to us? Why don't people wearing running shoes get asked to sprint, or people carrying a basketball get asked to dunk, or dribble between their legs? Hell, even skateboarders and road bikers get off demand-free.

So yo, my fellow BMXers, next time you see someone with a laptop? Insist he or she show you their Tetris skills. Pass someone out shopping? Yell "buy something!" I just think we need to start fighting back.

Self-Explanatory

2006-11-06T15:16:00.000-05:00

Joey Piazza II

2006-11-06T11:49:00.000-05:00

Shot this one at Union in August with someone else's slave flashes. Sat in the crosswalk to shoot it, keeping one eye on the traffic and the other eye on Joe. Shot four acceptable frames, of which this was the best.

Oh yeah, it's a 180 over the hydrant (and whatever those little poles are) and into the street.

Guess Who?

2006-11-06T03:04:00.000-05:00

Three bikes parked in front of Mamma Mia's Pizza in Jersey City, home to one hell of a big slice. Mine's the one you can barely see. Can you guess which Jersey-based pros the other two belong to? (Don't bother checking the filename, it won't help.) Bonus for identifying the rider in the background.

Flatland

2006-11-06T02:45:00.000-05:00

Flatlanders appear to be somewhat of an endangered species in NYC. Either that, or they simply ride in places that I don't know about. It used to be that Union Square was the place to go for those with small gears and short wheelbases. James Kennedy ruled the spot for years, before disappearing to parts unknown. Now it's Joe's turn. Three artsy night shots—hitchhiker, halfpacker and stick bitch(?). Oh, and a timer shot of yours truly with a half-assed hang five at the Banks volleyball court. They've since gotten a lot better.

How Soon Is Now?

2006-11-06T02:03:00.000-05:00

Sorry, was just listening to that song and thought it would make a right proper header. Now, to find an equally perplexing photo...

Random Brooklyn Banks Photo

2006-11-06T00:06:00.000-05:00

You can go to the Banks pretty much every day and always see something new. Like the gold bike from a few posts ago. I saw this one day a few weeks ago and literally laughed out loud. And I had the camera, so...

Ferrari

2006-11-05T21:39:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago, I was rolling home up Lafayette Street when I saw this brand-new Ferrari parked in a public parking lot. It was one of those lots right off the street, with some cars raised off the ground on lifts (for double-decker storage purposes). The Ferrari was parked right in front of the attendant's booth, perfectly placed under a pool of light. I got all the way up to Union Square when I decided I HAD to go back and shoot it. I laid my bike and bag on the sidewalk, leaned against a parked Range Rover, and took roughly 20-25 shots. No one chased me off, but pedestrians gave me a rather wide berth. I think it was worth it. (Once again, the D50 and Lensbaby.)

Charles Hearn

2006-11-05T20:30:00.000-05:00

Let's see. Charles speaks fluent Italian, does graphic design for a living, keeps the Prototype website hooked up, and even designed a shirt for Animal once (the Hamlet one). Oh yeah, and he also rides a bike. Not at the moment, of course, because he broke the ever-popular scaphoid bone (fuck a scaphoid, b), but hell, it's snowboard season anyway.

Pillar fakie. Green S2. At height.

180 bar off the bakery ledge the night the Austinites were in town.

Solid Gold

2006-11-05T19:53:00.000-05:00

Ran into neighborhood superhero Will Taubin on the Lower East Side last night. Completely random. He mentioned he was building up a bike (finally!) and that he'd traded one of his old Volumes for an old Standard Lengthy (!!!) that he'd actually ridden back in the day. Like, the standing platform Lengthy. When I told him he should spraypaint it all gold (like the bike he was riding in some of Neighborhood Superheroes and Don't Quit Your Day Job), he was down.

Then, today, I went to the Banks and saw this:

Awesome. It's a sign.

Blackman

2006-11-05T13:31:00.000-05:00

It's hard for me to really break down Blackman for you, since I don't really understand him myself. He's 17 years old, already was on a RIDE cover feebling a ridiculous ledge at MLK High, had a split section (with Nigel) in Livin' In Exile (and had some hot clips in All Day), was sponsored by Volume and Animal, and was living at the Snoff Shack. He also wears his pants lower than physics allows.

No more (well, except for the pants). Currently he's riding a scrapped-together Sunday (a prototype frame that has already been ridden by Mike Hoder, Vinnie Sammon and Big James), no one's really fuckin' with him as far as filming goes, and I guess he's living back at home. He even got his ass beat at the Tiseo Jam—although he stuck around long enough to the three the 10-stair rail and win $50-odd bucks in the process. But he's still young, and while you not like him as a person, you've gotta respect the way he rides.

Back wallride attempt.

Wallride to whip.

Air out of a wedge at the top of the bank.

TISEO JAM

Beatdown.

Body slam.

Scopin'.

Three over the rail.

Cakin'.

Joey Piazza

2006-11-05T03:31:00.000-05:00

When Joey first started coming around Union Square (at least best I can remember) he was riding a Standard Shaman that weighed more than he did. We called him "Average Joe," because it just fit. Years later, he's off at college (Albany) rolling on a Fit Series 3, working on stuff for Prototype NYC and AM:PM, and spending his summers in the city doing, well, this kind of stuff:

Austin x NYC

2006-11-05T02:29:00.000-05:00

These shots are from October 10th, 2006. Joel Moody and Aaron Ross were in town filming for the upcoming Empire BMX video (if you haven't picked up the last one, you're seriously missing out). I missed many other sessions, but joined them downtown on this night, along with Mike Osso, Vinnie Sammon, Bob Scerbo, Charles Hearn and Tyrone Williams (among others). Joel spent a lot of time behind the camera, but still got some lines in.

Joel Moody, icepick.

Aaron Ross, smith.

Aaron Ross, feeble to manual to 180 out.

Aaron Ross, flat tire.

Joel Moody, nosewheelie (the flash was a mistake, as it turned out).

Incidentally, Aaron's bike is really, really, REALLY bright.

Dave Dillewaard

2006-11-04T12:37:00.000-05:00

Dave Dillewaard is really tall. He's an Aussie who lives in Corona, CA for a good portion of the year, rides for GT, enters all the big contests, double fists whenever possible, and did a tailwhip-to-manual-to-barspin back in at the Banks. Among other things. When he first got down there, I overheard a kid say to his friends, "oh, he must be sponsored by GT." Damn right, bitches.