Daily Updates

Joell Ortiz

2008-01-02T09:55:00.001-08:00

Our buddy Rik Cordero just shot a new video with Joell Ortiz. All you filmers with handheld HD cameras should watch this and see how to properly use your $5,000 toy. This whole video was shot on a shoestring budget with a Panasonic HVX and a small light kit. Click here to see the high res version.

Free Delivery

2008-01-02T09:46:00.000-08:00

Justin Schroth at Lucent Productions is putting together a film called Free Delivery. As the name implies the film will be free for download and should be finished in the next couple months. Right now he just started the editing process. With 20 hours of footage left to digitize Justin has a rough week ahead of him. Here's a few screen shots of his US Open footage.

Crux Review

2008-01-02T09:41:00.001-08:00

Asilvertouch put up a review of the new Ryan Leech DVD. I haven't seen it yet but the teaser was actually pretty sick (click here to watch). Based on these screen shots and the positive comments in the review it's a safe bet that your money won't be wasted on the Crux DVD.

Ken Block 171 Foot Jump

2008-01-02T09:35:00.000-08:00

When Ken isn't jumping rally cars over huge distances he's running this little shoe company called DC, you might have heard of it.

Intense Socom

2008-01-02T07:29:00.000-08:00

The guys at Sicklines.com just got their hands on an Intense Socom and will be building it up for a complete test. This is one of the gnarliest DH/Freeride frames out there. They spoke with one of the welders at Intense who had this to say about the Socom's construction: "all tube junctions are double butted or straight gauge. Similar to the Uzzi VPX, it is double welded at all joints. Like pipe welding, bead is applied on the inside as well as the outside." Intense went above and beyond to make sure the frame is bombproof. Look for the full bike test on Sicklines in the near future.

Liquid Dirt

2008-01-02T07:25:00.001-08:00

There are several new updates from the last week or so up on Liquid Dirt as well as on the Tonic Fab blogs. Check them out if you feel so inclined.

Grindstate

2008-01-01T12:10:00.001-08:00

Shino got around to putting in some nice updates on Grindstate. This time there are a bunch of street MTB photos. Do yourself a favor and take a look.

New Litter Site

2008-01-01T11:27:00.000-08:00

After tinkering with a few redesigns the guys at Litter finally settled on a new layout. This time they got it right. It's super clean, less cluttered and looks dope. Littermag.com

Paper Planes

2008-01-01T11:24:00.000-08:00

This is by far the best paper airplane flight ever. The guy throws it out the window of a 30 story building in NYC and the plane just keeps flying until it touches down in the street.

Happy New Year

2007-12-31T14:12:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! Be safe. I'll see you all in 2008.

MDE Anvil

2007-12-31T09:11:00.001-08:00

Italian brand MDE Bikes recently released photos of their latest DJ/Street frame called the Anvil. I don't really need to say anything here. I'll just let the first 3 posts from the RideStreet forums say what we're all thinking:

-ugly as sin!

-thats looks like the sort of frame people rode 7 years ago but with a worse colour scheme.
essentially thats awful

-yuck.

In case you're wondering it will retail for around $850 US (yes thats and eight), is made out of aluminum and weighs about five and a half pounds (2.1 kg).

Final verdict: 24 Bikes is calling from the year 2002 and wants their overpriced pink aluminum hardtail back.

Scott USA

2007-12-31T08:44:00.000-08:00

After entering the US market only 3 years ago Scott USA has recently been able to add some toys to their arsenal. For 2008 they will be carting various bikes and team members to events in this decked out beast of a truck. Since trucks like those only get in the neighborhood of 4 or 5 miles per gallon I wonder how many more bikes they'll have to sell to fill the gas tank. Scott USA - 1, Mother Nature - 0.

via Decline

Get Fresh or Die Tryin

2007-12-31T07:59:00.000-08:00

Mike Reid posted this up on the NSMB boards. It's a teaser for a low budget flick called FRESH and there is a surprising amount of sick riding. Look out for the flip whip and Joe Perizzo's cork 3.

1990 Throwback

2007-12-31T07:58:00.001-08:00

Here's the footage of Mat Hoffman throwing a 900 on a mini-ramp over 17 years ago.

Rob Rebholz Year in Review

2007-12-30T06:10:00.000-08:00

I just got an email from Rob Rebholz with a bunch of photos from his past year roaming around the world. Rob's work has been featured in MBUK, Decline and a host of other magazines. He spent a few months in Europe over the summer following the big competition series over there and then couch-surfed his way across America. He got to shoot photos and ride bikes the whole time.

Right now Rob is taking some time off, relaxing and earning loot to finance his 2008 adventures. Here's a little sample of what he sent over:

Big Sky, MontanaGrant Fielder AKA Chopper
Adam Hauck at the Banks
JD at the Qashqai skatepark event
Andreu Lacondeguy
Paul Bas Secret riding spot somewhere in Europe

See you next week

2007-12-25T12:49:00.001-08:00

I'm taking the week off, mainly because everyone else is and also because I haven't taken a real week off of updating this thing since it went up last year.

The new site will be up in a few weeks, once it's live you can expect some new video updates, t-shirts and announcements of new projects. 2007 was a ridiculous year and it looks like 2008 will only get better.

In the meantime any of you who can't get enough of the blog can follow my every move on the new Twitter page I set up last month. Check it out here if you're not familiar.

Spin to Win

2007-12-24T09:04:00.001-08:00

This is nuts. It's easy to hate on fixed gear riders for doing tricks but at some point you just have to give them a lot of credit. This is that point. Watch this clip because it's crazy.

Charge Team Addition

2007-12-24T08:58:00.000-08:00

Charge Bikes just signed a London-based rider named Ted James, also known as Super Ted. He's riding the Plug track bike right now and has plans to set up a fixed gear bike for off road use. Interesting. Based on this photo we can expect some unique track bike riding to come out of the Charge camp this coming year.

Charge also has a feature in the new MBUK about their Radstock private training facility.

Knight Rider

2007-12-24T08:49:00.000-08:00

Whether or not you agree with NBC's decision to bring back Knight Rider and their choice to use a Ford Mustang it will definitely be interesting to see how the show looks when it comes out in February. Popular Mechanics just did a side by side comparison with the old and new cars. Click here to check it out.

Lights

2007-12-24T08:38:00.000-08:00

As of 2012 you won't be able to buy incandescent light bulbs anymore. To me that is some really crazy news. The light bulbs we've been using our whole lives will disappear. The US just passed a law barring the sale of these in four years. Not surprisingly the EU and Australia decided long ago to get rid of them even sooner. My advice for anyone looking to make some money in four years is to start buying incandescent bulbs in bulk today. It will be like moonshine during prohibition, everyone forced to use fluorescent lights are going to want some old fashioned 160 Watt brighter-than-the-sun bulbs to light their homes.

Mike Reid's Year in Photos

2007-12-24T08:32:00.000-08:00

Mike Reid posted some nice shots up of his better photos from 2007 (the best ones have been, or are being published). This is my pick of the top four. That Alex Revelles shot toward the bottom is absolutely nuts. Click here for the other eight.

JD Swanguen on Intense

2007-12-24T08:21:00.000-08:00

After one season on board the Cove factory team JD Swanguen has made the jump to the Intense team for 2008. This past season he came in 2nd place in the Junior division at worlds. Here's what Intense Cycles founder Jeff Streber had to say:

“I wanted to start working on getting a U.S. rider back on top in the World Cup series, like in the old days,” said Intense Cycles founder, Jeff Streber. “With Intense being a U.S.-built brand, I think JD could grow into that rider, and we are giving him the chance to focus on World Cup racing.”

via Sick Lines

Phil Sundbaum on Haro

2007-12-21T15:06:00.000-08:00

Big thanks to Lutze for giving me the "one hour exclusive" on this. These days no website can really get an exclusive on any news story for more than a few minutes (the time it takes to copy and paste) but it's always a good look.

Phil will be embarking on a world tour next summer called the Summer of Shred on the heels of his breakout summer this past year. Aaron Lutze is going to serve as the tour director and also create a bunch of media around it. Phil, who was formerly riding for Black Market will be joining Eric Porter on Haro as well as Gravity Components.

Save Hidden Valley

2007-12-21T11:49:00.001-08:00

I'm sure most of you have seen the petition going around to save the famous Hidden Valley trails in Huntington Beach. These trails have been featured in tons of videos and are the stomping grounds for many of your favorite pros. As you can see from the image above they are sick. I've been there a few times and they are everything people say they are and then some.

Click the link below to sign the online petition. There are about 1,000 signatures thus far.
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/savehiddenvalley/Photos by Zach Dank via Liquid Dirt

Merry Christmas from Funn

2007-12-21T11:31:00.001-08:00

Funn Components just released a special red and green anodized set of their hydro discs in time for the holidays. These are actually the 2008 F2's that aren't available to the public yet. They won't be released in this colorway but the guys at Dirt Magazine were fortunate enough to get their hands on a pair.

Large

2007-12-21T08:29:00.001-08:00

The Transition blog has a bunch of new updates. Among them is this shot of Travis Erickson boosting on a mammoth banked wall in Seattle.

Black Market 357

2007-12-21T08:05:00.000-08:00

The .357 complete bikes have finally arrived at the Black Market warehouse. This is their first complete bike offering and as you would expect it looks amazing. In addition to a solid components lineup the blue/white color scheme with matching components looks fresh. To quote Carter Holland himself "We got the .three57's in the building and ready to go kick some P Bike ass at your local spot" He has a good point, with comparable price points why would you buy a P Series bike from Specialized? It will be great to see smaller companies take over the marketplace in the future.

Really?

2007-12-21T07:37:00.000-08:00

Yes, really.

Epic

2007-12-21T06:36:00.001-08:00

Thursday

2007-12-20T13:50:00.001-08:00

Another interesting day today full of driving all over creation. Fortunately driving in Connecticut is fun and this time of year the scenery is great. Some of the back roads are still gnarly from the snow which makes things interesting. I hit up Ikea for some new office furniture. Ikea leases this entire building next to their store just so they can place ads on it (it's right next to the highway).
I had to do a little climbing to find the right legs for the table I bought. Low cost comes at a price I suppose.
Then I headed across town to meet up with Mike Steidley. When he's not doing 40 trials demos a year, competing or assisting in the marketing efforts for his sponsors he's trading stocks - when I walked in he had all sorts of graphs, stats and market info running. Vicious!Mike runs his riding career like a business and it definitely shows. A lot of riders out there could learn a few things from this guy.
After catching up on things and talking a little business over lunch I hit the road. Fortunately I had Speed Racer in front of me the whole ride back. It was some New Yorker in his CLS500 with a lead foot.Holding steady at around 90 brought my 30 minute journey down to 18. I'm not promoting speeding, nor am I promoting the operation of a digital camera and motor vehicle at the same time, but the Merrit Parkway is like the Autobahn of Connecticut so I couldn't resist.

Day Off

2007-12-20T07:15:00.001-08:00

As many of you probably noticed there weren't any posts on here yesterday. Between finishing a 60 page report and moving most of my computer and video equipment up here to Connecticut there was little time to do anything else. In the afternoon I also had to run down to you-know-who's studio in New Jersey to take care of a few things. To my surprise he had his whole fleet of vehicles parked out back.
While most artists rent cars for their videos, Juelz only has to open his garage. Here's the Corvette from the "There it Go" video.
His Bentley Flying Spur
And of course the mother of them all, the Rolls Royce Phantom.
Nice.

Nailed It

2007-12-20T06:45:00.000-08:00

Video director Vashtie put together this clip for the "Us Placers" track that Kanye, Pharrell, Lupe Fiasco and Thom Yorke did together. They cast child versions of each musician and the end result is ridiculously spot on. They even got their hands on a glow in the dark Brooklyn Machine Works BMX bike for the kid-Pharrell to sit on! Crazy.Speaking of Brooklyn, after selling out of the first run of SR6's Joe decided to extend the production run by another week. Now you still have a chance to get your filthy mitts on one before the holidays. Stock colorways only.Hit up Brooklyn for more info.

Dirt Magazine Photo Annual

2007-12-20T06:41:00.000-08:00

After 71 issues it's surprising that this is Dirt Magazine's first ever photo annual. It's even more surprising since they have some of the best photography and layout in the game. With that said I can only recommend that you go out and get your hands on a copy of this as soon as it comes out.
via Dirt Magazine

Whip it Real Hard

2007-12-20T06:38:00.000-08:00

This is the latest cover of Ride UK that I discovered over on The Come Up. What you're seeing is correct, and 18 stair tailwhip to flat.

Atomlab

2007-12-18T09:13:00.000-08:00

Mike Flaherty is approaching if not already surpassed "mad scientist" status in my books. Atomlab products are constantly evolving and the latest in the series of evolution are the Pimp Lite stems and Hydrotwist gyro. They come in two sizes, 38mm and 55mm. As the picture shows the 38's weigh in at only 158 grams. They're available in 3 colors with laser etched graphics and a ton of detail all around.Another new product is the Hydrotwist Gyro. For $79.99 Atomlab provides a simple way to run a rear hydraulic disc brake and still spin your bars. After spending a considerable amount of time dialing in the correct seal tension Mike and his team found the perfect balance between keeping the fluid in and the bars freely spinning. The end result is a small reservoir that holds the liquid in between the two split ends of the cable. With everything sealed off you bars spin as if they would with a traditional cable setup, minus the inevitable tangle.Oh yeah they sweeten the deal by offering the gyro already set up with the Pimp Disc Brake for $215.

Ellsworth

2007-12-18T08:56:00.000-08:00

Ellsworth recently announced the development of a bike with an unlimited number of gears. The system that drives it is remarkably simple - it's a transmission comprised of ball bearings and metals discs allowing you to set exactly the gear you want with a surprising level of precision. Although the first bike it's on is a cruiser, and a hefty one at that it's good to see non-derailleur drive trains getting developed. Click here to check it out in full detail on the Ellsworth site.

Nike Air Chocolate

2007-12-18T06:14:00.001-08:00

In of the coolest promotional strategies seen this holiday season Nike 6.0 sent out a four pound chocolate cake Air Insurgent, size 9 to their media partners. Our friends at Decline were fortunate enough to get blessed with this beast/work of art.

Kid Robot x Nemesis Project

2007-12-17T19:05:00.000-08:00

I'm normally a fan of these track bike collaborations but this one just seems to shout "Mr. Me Too" from the mountain tops and is both hideous and ridiculously overpriced. Kid Robot just opened a flagship store in Miami and got together with that guy at Nemesis Project to create the most overpriced embarrassment to cycling since, since....well I can't really remember. The bike costs $6,000 and the wheels don't even match. Let me repeat that...it costs SIX THOUSAND DOLLARS. This sets a new standard in "Shit we think people might buy because our cool brand got together with some obscure brand and the result is this jaw dropping kick-in-the-nuts to capitalism."I apologize for the rash of highly critical posts on here lately. The holiday season brings tons of new products and that means for every great product comes a small group of embarrassing ones. Out of all those we get an even fewer number of products that can only be described as "offensive." This is one of them. They call this bike a "one-off piece of art." I object to the word art being in there, but on the other hand it's a good thing they only made one.
Thanks to Highsnobiety for the photos.

Rik Cordero Interview

2007-12-17T11:48:00.000-08:00

Rik Cordero has taken the music video world by surprise. A few months ago he was picked to direct a teaser to Jay-Z's "Blue Magic" video and since then has released an onslaught of gritty videos with an impressive roster of artists. Utilizing a Panasonic HVX-200 with 35mm cinema lenses, a simple light kit and a relentless work ethic Rik has raised the bar for low budget video standards. Now everyone from Ghostface to Boost Mobile is lining up to get a piece of the action.I just did an interview with him that you can check out over on Banquet - anyone who has any interest in the music video business should give it a read. Click here to check it out.

Toboggan

2007-12-17T09:46:00.000-08:00

The Liquid Dirt crew is back at it. While the rest of country is riding toboggans Zach Dank is throwing them over large doubles.

The Dark Knight - 6 Minute Preview

2007-12-17T09:25:00.000-08:00

Late last Thursday night myself and some friends went to see "I Am Legend" at the IMAX theater. The movie was just ok, although definitely disappointing since it wasn't shot on IMAX film so the whole thing was really grainy and blurry. Why they opted to show it anywhere but in a normal movie theater is a good question. On second thought it looked awful. Aside from the poor picture quality the movie itself was pretty cool and was only an hour and a half long.

The upside was that before the movie started we got to see a 6 minute preview for the new Batman movie. It's a bank heist scene and it looked incredible on the IMAX screen. I will definitely be seeing this film on the biggest screen possible when it comes out. Here's the whole scene as filmed by some bootlegger...the quality isn't great but stick with it because it's crazy.

Banshee Amp Proto

2007-12-17T09:02:00.000-08:00

Here is the first production prototype of the new Banshee aluminum dirt jumper called the Amp. As promised there will be no decals and no paint, except for the head tube badge and one sticker placed inside the left chain stay.

via the Banshee Blog

Metzger Meets Metzger

2007-12-15T07:22:00.000-08:00

I've been waiting for this for the longest time. Mike Metzger, my buddy that rides for Transition - finally got in touch with moto legend Mike Metzger. The amount of confusion that has occurred because of their same names is ridiculous. Here's what Mike had to say: (taken from his post on the Transition blog)

So This year Transition sent me down to Cali for the Woodward West Super Sessions. After the flight to Cali some buddies and I crashed at Carter Hollands place before the event. While there I met a young Ripper named Thomas Hancock. If you haven't herd of him yet, you definitely will. At first i introduced myself to Thomas as Mike, leaving out my last name because it had no relevance. But soon after one of my buddies said, 'Hey Metzger, hand me that tool'. At this point I got a funny look from Thomas, and he asked me if I knew that the Moto cross Metzger talks about me. Dumb found i replied 'no'. Thomas went on telling me that Metzger (moto metz) has watched my videos and seen pictures of me on the internet. I asked him how he knew this, and Thomas told me that he rides for Metzger (moto metz). Next thing i knew Thomas was calling Metzger up and leaving him a message telling him that he was hanging out with the mountain bike Mike Metzger he has seen on the internet. About 10 minutes later he called back and asked to speak with me. Long story made boring, I was able to talk with him on the phone and for the first time ever Mike Metzger met Mike Metzger. It was a very cool experience, and a great story to come back and tell my friends. Hopefully in the future, Mike Metzger will have a chance to ride with Mike Metzger

Trouble in Paradise

2007-12-14T11:57:00.001-08:00

Doug Smith hit me up earlier today to let me know that the brilliant minds behind the Adidas Slopestyle scheduled the event on the exact same weekend as Crankworx Colorado. I guess it's a good thing that we now have so many major slopestyle events that scheduling conflicts arise. Either Adidas will back down and move their event over by one weekend or both events are going to get half the pro turnout. Only time will tell.

Spy 2008

2007-12-14T11:50:00.000-08:00

Spy Optic's half-assed commitment to mountain biking will continue in 2008. They released some product to our good friends at Pinkbike of some of their 2008 moto goggles. I wonder if they got the memo that the exploding bag of Skittles look died along with the allover print hoody last year. Click here for more photos and info.

Ferrari Goes Green

2007-12-14T11:36:00.000-08:00

In a move that has surprised a lot of people, Ferrari has announced that they will increase the gas mileage of their cars by 40% over the next five years. As cool as this is it is definitely not a ground breaking announcement. They only make 6,000 cars a year and you can bet that each one sold is an absurdly non-essential purchase. Anyone wanting to reduce their impact on the environment probably won't be buying a car with a V12 engine. A 40% increase across the board on all their cars averages out to about 16 MPG. You can't fault them for wanting to do something good, but this appears to be more of a marketing move than anything else.

If anything Ferrari should take a cue from Tesla Motors, their flagship model aptly named the Tesla Roadster (seen in the photos above and below) is 100% electric, goes 0-60 is 3.8 seconds, goes up to 250 miles on one charge and costs less than 2 cents per mile to operate. On top of all that it's less than half the price of the cheapest Ferrari. Base price is $98,000 but they are already sold out for the next two years. Click here to check out the Tesla website.

Decline Photo Contest

2007-12-13T15:17:00.000-08:00

Decline is having a photo contest so if you're an unpublished photog you should probably go enter.

Commencal Max Max

2007-12-13T13:35:00.000-08:00

Commencal is now offering a fully rigid street/dirt jump complete bike called the Max Max Team. No word on price yet but you can bet it will be super cheap.

If you want something a little more substantial they are offering 5 additional variations of the bike with various suspension, component and paint options.

Boyko Signs 2 Year Deal With Norco

2007-12-13T13:33:00.000-08:00

The title says it all. Boyko has re-upped with Norco for a 2 year deal where they will fully support his riding, competing and filming.

Dylan Dean Interview

2007-12-13T12:49:00.001-08:00

We just did an interview with Dylan Dean that you can check out over on Banquet. He discusses everything from painting helmets to the sudden downfall of Utopia Optics and his current lawsuit with them. Dylan has his hands in a million different things in this business. Click here to check it out.

Hacksaw Returns

2007-12-13T06:39:00.000-08:00

Jim "Hacksaw" Severt is now living in Reno again after a brief relocation to Portland. Saw's trails in Reno are some of the best so look for him to be back in action slaying it on home turf soon.

Photo: Nick Brandreth

Oakley X London Police

2007-12-13T06:31:00.000-08:00

The London Police are a group of graffiti artists from England who moved to Amsterdam in 1998. Their goal was to bring a fresh visual style of street art to the world of illicit drugs and red light districts. In 2002 they embarked on a world tour where members of the crew tagged up cities from Tokyo to NY.Oakley got together with these guys as part of their Artist Series Collection to design a whole lineup of product. The whole package is available for $500 and includes a limited edition hoody, Crowbar goggles, Gascan sunglasses and highly detailed cases for each product. The Gascans will be available outside of the package for $170.
via Hypebeast

Lizard Skins "Peaty" Grips

2007-12-13T06:25:00.000-08:00

Our good buddies at Pinkbike put up a review of the new Lizard Skins X Steve Peat grips. This was definitely a cool project for Lizard Skins and a positive direction to be taking the brand in. If you're looking for a bad ass set of white grips look no further.

08 Event Schedule

2007-12-13T06:10:00.000-08:00

It looks like event promoters are announcing the dates for their 2008 events earlier than ever this year. There will be two events in Leogang, Austria this coming season. The first is the Nissan White Style (am I the only one that thinks that name is hilarious?) which will take place on February 2nd. The event will be comprised of s slopestyle course made from snow and wood.

Then this summer they will hold the Out of Bounds Weekend from June 6-8. This is where the annual 26Trix dirt jumping competition will be held.

Finally, the official announcement for the Adidas Slopestyle has been made. It will take place in Saalbach, Austria from July 31st to August 3rd. It's funny because the press release they sent out has two paragraphs defending their choice to cancel last years event with only two weeks notice. Blaming it entirely on weather which many have argued was a bit suspicious from the get go. Either way the good news is that the event is back on for 08 and should be a great addition tot he competition schedule.

Myopic

2007-12-12T19:59:00.001-08:00

In case you're wondering Ryan Senechal is still riding a bike and will also be relaunching Myope.net at some point in the future.

Jet Pack with 10 mile range available soon

2007-12-12T14:59:00.000-08:00

The highlight of my day today was finding out about this. The first commercially available jet pack. It's going to be released in the next few months and will have a range of 10 miles. Although it retails for $226,000 dollars and runs on jet fuel the idea of being able to fly anywhere seems well worth it. In time Jet Pack International hopes to bring the price down considerably and make it a viable means of transportation and commuting. Between this, the iPhone, hybrid cars and commercial space travel it looks like the next 10 years are going to be a lot of fun.

via Gizmodo

E13 Film Sponsorship

2007-12-12T14:06:00.001-08:00

E13 Components has a great reputation for supporting a wide variety of events, riders and industry projects. This year with Aaron Lutze at the helm of their marketing program E13 has jumped on board as official co-sponsors for the 2008 releases from Clay Porter and Don Hampton.

Clays new video "F1rst" will be released at Sea Otter this spring. As part of the agreement E13 will be releasing exclusive clips from the movie throughout the winter.

Don Hampton's new film "Latitudes" will also premiere this spring and feature his usual stable of riders.

Car vs. BMX

2007-12-12T07:20:00.000-08:00

If you have five minutes this clip is definitely worth watching. via The Come Up

Kirt Voreis in "The New Deal"

2007-12-11T15:58:00.000-08:00

As part of the web marketing program we're running for Lizard Skins there have been a bunch of things popping off over on Pinkbike in the last couple of months. For the video page on there I just put up the Kirt Voreis segment from "The New Deal." I filmed/edited this segment when I was 17 so you'll have to excuse the experimental approach I took with the "video scratching" in the first 45 seconds of the segment. Aside from that there is stuff in there that Kirt threw four years ago that to this day is still very impressive.

Nike 6.0 Fur Pack

2007-12-11T15:55:00.000-08:00

Just in time for the winter season Nike's 6.0 brand took a pair of the Air Morgen's and incorporated fur fabric into the construction. Even the "swoosh" got the fur treatment. These appear to be a Japan release only.

Via Hypebeast

Super Sessions Last Update

2007-12-11T07:30:00.001-08:00

I promised there wouldn't be any more poached Super Sessions coverage but this stupidly corked 3, (now known simply as a "spinner") by Joe Perizzo was too good to pass up.

The shot seen below is Geoff Gulevich with an x-up off the roller coaster.More photos and words @ Pinkbike.

Pants

2007-12-11T07:27:00.001-08:00

What happens when an overseas denim factory has all it's dryers break on the eve of shipping a big order? They put 'em all outside to dry. You have to give the Chinese some credit for ingenuity.Photos via Five Four

DC Flagship Store

2007-12-11T07:02:00.000-08:00

Fresh on the heels of the Burton flagship store opening on Melrose in LA, DC Shoes opened up their first store right down the road. They took a slightly different approach than Burton and created a smaller more boutique style space.
DC's product line is larger than ever so this store only carries the newest and most exclusive product.
It seems like opening a flagship store for your brand is the cool thing to do these days. This past year saw tons of shops opening up in Los Angeles. As you can see in the photo below DC set up shop right next to the new Crooks and Castles store.
Photos via The Hundreds

Subaru Pro Team Official Plans

2007-12-10T18:40:00.000-08:00

After much speculation (which turned out to be incorrect) the official announcement has been made regarding the Subaru-backed French super team headed up by world champion Fabien Barel. A young Spanish company called Mondraker will be supplying the bikes through 2009. Need more information? Hit Decline for the rest.
Decline via Fabien Barel

BMW in Reed Pages

2007-12-10T18:29:00.001-08:00

As we reported on a few weeks ago Jeff Staple's crew of photographers photographed the Brooklyn shop for the premiere issue of his publishing venture, Reed Pages. Jeff is a true leader in design so getting this type of attention is huge for a bike brand.

There are a few more behind the scenes shots over on the BK blog. Look for Reed Pages to drop sometime in the next month or so.
Staple Design

Gee Atherton Insanity

2007-12-10T12:49:00.001-08:00

Here's a side of Gee Atherton that you don't normally see when he's racing on the World Cup circuit - back flips over road gaps and gigantic snow jumps. I don't know how he's able to crush himself like this and still be one of the top racers in the world.
Gee Step down

Huge
Gee Snow Gap

Via Gee Atherton's MySpace Page

Hauck

2007-12-10T09:18:00.000-08:00

Here's a couple shots taken by Carter Holland of Adam Hauck doing what he does best . Photos are from the Black Market site which has also been updated with 2008 product.

LRG x Suzuki

2007-12-09T18:07:00.000-08:00

LRG is at a point where anything they do is usually really cool. In this case their collaborations involving things on two wheels just get better and better. Building on the success of the Fit collabo Suzuki hit up the Lifted Research Group and had them design a special edition Hayabusa street bike. In addition to the custom paint and graphic scheme LRG had a hand in spec'ing some of the components with many of them being one-off custom. The level of detail on this project is amazing. Click here to see the full sizes version of the above photo.

Via Hypebeast

Fit in Dig 62

2007-12-09T18:05:00.000-08:00

Fit Bike Co has a new ad that will run in UK based magazine Dig. If you've ever wondered what a huge tabletop on a huge set of doubles looks like then wonder no more.

via The Come Up

Crankworx Colorado 2008

2007-12-07T11:06:00.000-08:00

The dates for next summer's Crankworx Colorado event have been announced. The action will take place from July 31st to August 3rd and there will be $30,000 in prize money up for grabs. The events will include slopestyle, big air, cross country and downhill.

SS3

2007-12-07T10:51:00.000-08:00

This is the final Super Sessions post. Zach Dank (member of the Liquid Dirt posse) posted a very candid review of the weekend on the NSMB message boards.
Here is the unedited copy of Zach's take on the whole event:

"Supersessions 3 didn't compare to Supersessions 2. They let too many tight pant wearing, emo trolls in this year.

The Carnage was intense. The Myer Brothers got fycked up. Nick took the worst of it with a lacerated Intestine. 5 hours of surgery later, he was all good.
Peanut came up short on a big dub, and broke his RST, and clapped his dome hard. He didn't remember being at Woodward. The next day, he was clicking massive 360 turndowns in the Hanger.
Cru Jones pulled a squirly move attempting to get into the big line and landed on his grill.

The only thing that turned out better this year was the Duel Slalom. That $hit was off the chains. I believe Greg Watts dominated.
Taylor Sage threw the nastiest roosts i have ever seen. He even handled that $hit Grave Digger status with a flat.
Watts gave Griz a mouthfull of dirt in one corner, and i caught it on film. Good $hit.

Ryan Howard has the sickest steez in MTB, and it showed at SS.
Over all Tyler McCaul owned the Dirt, and that is all that counts.
T-Mac, you are the man on this one.
More photos here.

Guy Marsh

2007-12-07T10:49:00.000-08:00

You know his steeze. Photo from the Tonic Fab blog a while back.

New Malakye Site

2007-12-07T10:31:00.000-08:00

Malakye just launched a new website - it could use a little more color but aside from that it's a definite improvement from their old one. For those of you not familiar, Malakye is like Monster.com except it focuses entirely on action sports industry jobs. Even if you don't need a job it's cool to see what kind of opportunities are out there.

2 Girls 1 Cup

2007-12-07T10:24:00.000-08:00

By now I'm pretty sure everyone in the world has seen the 2 girls 1 cup video. (If you haven't just type it in on Google and make sure you're not at work). Well after a recent performance the entire lineup of The Roots were convinced to watch the video back stage. Here is their reaction:

Mind Blower

2007-12-07T10:22:00.000-08:00

One of the most amazing and progressive snowboard video parts you'll ever see.

SMX

2007-12-06T15:08:00.001-08:00

NSMB has more shots of that snow bike that everyone seems to really like these days.

Wheels of Steel

2007-12-06T14:28:00.000-08:00

Two summers ago I was in NYC and there were posters everywhere for an upcoming concert by a French band called Birdy Nam Nam. The name was so stupid that I really paid no attention to it. Fast forward to three days ago and I'm watching TV. A channel called NYC TV was playing all these performances from random bands that did concerts in Central Park in the summer of 2006. To my surprise an award winning DJ crew from France took to the stage and unleashed one of the most original, creative and mind blowing 15 minute sets you could ever imagine. The crew was called Birdy Nam Nam- and yes the posters I saw were for the very concert I was watching two years later.The videos I posted on here really don't do these guys any justice. The live performance was unreal and the best part was they started it off playing jazz on their turntables. It's unfortunate that the video is not available online. They make 8 turntables sound like one single instrument. I also liked how they make a highly entertaining performance out of it. Anyone who has seen guys like DJ Shadow perform live know that all he does is essentially geek out on his MPC the entire time, and that's about as entertaining as watching your next door neighbor play drums by smacking kitchen utensils against a Formica counter top. These guys tear up vinyl like it's going out of style (and coincidentally, it is).

Stolen

2007-12-06T10:59:00.000-08:00

This is a great headline and a great story. Don't get my wrong, I am not advocating the theft of expensive automobiles, or theft at all for that matter. But the creativity employed here is brilliant.

"BERLIN (Reuters) - A thief in Germany used a flower pot to steal a 150,000 euro ($221,000) Porsche.

Reversing out of his open garage, the car's owner heard a scraping noise and got out to investigate, police in the western city of Bonn said Tuesday.

As the 56-year-old was bending down to remove a flower pot jammed against a tire, a man pushed him aside, leaped behind the wheel and drove off in his grey Porsche 997 Turbo."

Romo in Sweden

2007-12-06T08:20:00.001-08:00

Pinkbike's photo of the day today is actually a pretty rad shot. It's a photo of Steve Romaniuk in Are (pronounced "orra"), Sweden.

Freestyle skiing phenom Jon Olsson put Are on the map several years when he started throwing his annual invitational big air event there. The skiing world found that Are was full of big mountains, great snow, attractive women and insane night life. Now the MTB world is starting to catch on and for good reason. The summer months provide near-perfect weather and endless trails.

Steep

2007-12-06T08:18:00.000-08:00

Sony just acquired the rights to this big mountain skiing moving called "Steep" produced by High Ground Productions. It's a little cheesy but will definitely be cool to see in a movie theater.

16mm

2007-12-06T08:11:00.000-08:00

I spent some time yesterday helping out my friends who are working on a new video project. Even though 24p HD cameras have become the new standard there are still certain things that only a 16mm Bolex can accomplish. The look, texture and control you get with film still has it's advantages here and there.

Updates

2007-12-06T08:00:00.000-08:00

There has been a serious lack of updates on here this week. It's that time of year where I have absolutely no free time and find myself working 14-18 hour days. Regular updates will resume on Monday when things settle down a bit. In the meantime I have been getting a bunch of projects for 2008 dialed in. Once the new website launches expect to see some great collaborations, new products and most importantly new videos. Most of this has been a long time coming so it will be great to finally release everything in the new year. Stay tuned.

Kinrade

2007-12-05T14:03:00.001-08:00

Here's a shot of Mike Kinrade blasting that famous gap in Kelowna, BC - shot by Sterling Lorence.

Bafus on Black Market

2007-12-05T12:23:00.001-08:00

Steve Bafus is on Black Market for the upcoming season. In addition to that he's got a full ride from Pita Pit, who loaned him their tour bus for the Super Sessions. Many more photos and words over on the Black Market site.

Ghost Ride the Whip

2007-12-05T07:31:00.000-08:00

This is what you don't want to have happen to you in a 4X race.

Santa Cruz Dirt Jump Prototype

2007-12-04T14:53:00.001-08:00

Decline has fresh pictures of the new Santa Cruz dirt jump hardtail that Jamie Goldman has been torture testing for the last several months. Apparently the full build is well below 30 pounds. This may or may not replace the oddly designed Jackal.

More Coverage

2007-12-04T14:46:00.001-08:00

Liquid Dirt has one of the most comprehensive Super Sessions write-ups and some great photos. Seen up top is Alex Revelles with a completely dumped 360 over the dirt spine. Jeremy Combs (who runs Liquid Dirt) slammed hard on the step down and needed some stitches on his face.

Apparently the Dual Slalom is what most of the riders decided to do for the weekend. That in addition to crappy weather led to an unusual lack of typical craziness that usually accompanies events like this. Click here to read the full report on Liquid Dirt.

Flipper Year in Review

2007-12-04T14:28:00.000-08:00

If you like looking at photos of downhill racing head over to Litter and check out their first installment of photos from Gary Perkin, also known as Flipper.Flipper also updated his website with a new photo gallery on top of the 30 or so galleries he already has up. Click here to check it out.

Fuji X Obey

2007-12-04T09:18:00.000-08:00

Fuji's collaboration with Obey turned a lot of heads at Interbike this year. After months of waiting the bike has finally been made available in a limited run of 300. It will retail for around $1,200 and be available at select retailers nationwide. All online retailers selling the bike have already sold out.

via Hypebeast and BNQT

Pump Tracks Are So Hot Right Now

2007-12-04T09:10:00.001-08:00

The organizers of the Sea Otter Classic have decided to add a pump track to the 2008 event. The track will be situated in their demo area - aside from that the press release offered no other details. Pump tracks have blown up in popularity over the last couple of seasons so it comes as no surprise that Sea Otter has added this in an effort to boost their relevancy.

via Bicycle Retailer

Super Session Photos

2007-12-04T09:02:00.000-08:00

Alan Davis, web editor at Bike Magazine was on hand at the Super Sessions and shot a stack of photos. Up top is Cam McCaul throwing a barspin off the new rollercoaster feature in the DJ park. Below is JD Swanguen boosting with his old school moto helmet on.More words and photos over on the Bike Mag site. Click here to go there.

Revolution

2007-12-04T08:56:00.000-08:00

The new issue of Revolution Magazine is out. This is issue number 11 of the Australian magazine and it looks like a good read.

Image via Farkin

Fully Flared Out Today

2007-12-04T08:51:00.000-08:00

Lakai Footwear's team video "Fully Flared" was released today. It is the most anticipated skate video to be released since Girl Skateboards dropped "Yeah Right" in 2003. That video went on to sell close to 200,000 copies worldwide. Lakai has been filming for Fully Flared for the better part of five years and early reports say it was worth the wait. Here's the teaser:

Super Session Update

2007-12-03T13:27:00.000-08:00

Tons of stuff has been going on out in California this past weekend. A huge list of riders descended on Woodward West - so far the best photos I've seen aren't actually from Woodward West, but were taken by Mike Reid while he and his crew were en-route to the event. Seen up top and below is Joe Perizzo doing what he does best at Zach Dank's trails (thanks for the correct information Zach!).Unfortunately a member of their crew, Nick Meyer, took a handlebar to the stomach and ripped open something in his stomach - early reports say it was an intestine - needless to say he had to be airlifted out but is expected to make a full recovery.

Hacksaw's son Peanut hit the ground really hard when his fork broke. He ended up with a concussion.Decline posted up a quick update with this shot of Adam Hauck's prototype wood grain Black Market. This is without a doubt one of the best looking Black Market's ever.A couple more shots:
More photos should start floating around the 'net in the next few days so keep checking back.

Photos from Pinkbike, Decline, Liquid Dirt and Black Box

Cam Zink on Felt

2007-12-03T12:24:00.000-08:00

Cam Zink is off Haro and on Felt for 2008. This is somewhat surprising news as Felt has not demonstrated much interest in mountain biking in years past.

Additionally, Felt does not have the most substantial or well developed MTB product lineup. It will be interesting to see how Cam will contribute to the development of their program.These are the only two frames listed on their website that look even halfway capable for freeride/dirt jump use.

via Pinkbike

Dirt Magazine Cover "Contest"

2007-12-03T12:11:00.000-08:00

Dirt Magazine is giving readers a chance to design their own cover of the magazine. At first this sounds like a great idea but upon further reading it doesn't actually sound like much of a contest. The winning cover won't actually get printed and as of right now there aren't any prizes. What kind of contest is that?

Weekend Update

2007-12-03T10:07:00.000-08:00

I got the chance to see Lupe Fiasco put on a sick live show this past Thursday. As far as live hip-hop goes his show is one of the best. He had tons of energy, sounded good and did a killer remix of the Gorillaz track "Feel Good Inc" to start the show off. You can preview his new album over on Hip Hop DX where they have a 10 minute long mix of every track off "The Cool." Click here to listen.

On Friday I was up in Burlington, Vermont and got to see another incredible live show. The New Deal (no relation to my DVD by the same name) played for close to 3 hours and rocked the crowd of 1,000. This was one of the top 5 live shows I've ever seen.

The next day I came back down to NY and we got our first snowfall of the year. It was only an inch or two but it was enough to turn this empty parking lot into my very own test track. I spent a good 30 minutes driving in reverse spinning in circles until Public Safety asked me to leave.

Kona Clump in Argentina

2007-12-03T09:50:00.000-08:00

Litter has three full photo galleries from the Kona team trip to Argentina where they filmed for NWD 8. The trip actually took place several months ago but last week John Gibson provided the goods to Litter for everyone to see. Click here to check it out.

Whips

2007-12-03T08:22:00.000-08:00

Here's another video of a random kid throwing flat ground tailwhips on a 26" bike.
Untitled from plonka on Vimeo

East Coast Interbike

2007-11-30T09:32:00.000-08:00

Word is going around that the people responsible for Interbike are thinking about creating another event that nobody enjoys going to. For 2008 there are preliminary plans to hold an East Coast demo from October 16-18t at Roger Williams Park in Rhode Island. The idea is that this new show will attract more retail stores and shop employees who normally don't make the trip out to Vegas.

via Bicycle Retailer