mysticnegro.com Kranky v3.0

Ever since JPR dropped word on The Take’s foray into commuter bikes in the comments I’ve been waiting to see what the finished product would look like.  Obviously, they weren’t going to get much coverage in the BMX media, and they don’t seem to be getting much play The Take’s website, either.  But I did spot a picture of them over on FBM’s site.

I give ‘em a seven.

They look fine, and they definitely both look like they could be nice bases for your very own RRB project (although, you could argue that a high quality base defeats the purpose of a rat rod bike).  There’s just something about the handlebars that I’m not feelin’.  I think it’s mostly the bottom one, which desperately needs its bars flipped and a number plate.  Still if they can hit the price point they were aiming for (it was $400, correct?) they definitely look worth it for round town transportation.

2010 GT Bump

Stop

Just.  Stop.

This is a word problem which assumes that everyone has seen the new Deco bars. If you haven’t

Deco FUBars

(Word of warning to anyone who hasn’t been to the Deco site, it is largely concerned with showing she-nipples in all of their glory and horror.  It is almost completely NSFW unless you work on a porn set.)

Chad has described them as having the look and feel of  four piece bars in a  two piece bar.  He’s also admitted that, they’re basically Bob Bars.

So – True or False – IF the new Deco bars look almost exactly like the bars on my 1st gen GT Pro Performer AND they are based on the Animal Bob Bars AND IF Bob Bars are basically GT four piece bars AND IF those GT four piece bars are four piece versions of the two piece bars on my 1st gen GT Pro Performer DOES Rich Long’s head spin around in his grave?

I have OD’d on Interbike footage and I have some words for you.

Pacific – Hey, you let GT put out a frame, welcome to the late 20th century! I won’t take you seriously until you re-release the Pacman fork.

The Take/The Make - You take this shit outside and settle it like gentlemen.  I thought it was a typo when I clicked on that video.  It’s like buying your wife a Prado bag for Christmas.  Also, did the commuter bikes get shown?  If not I am a sad panda.

Haro/Premium - Hey, a new frame that’s as light as a scooter, but isn’t a scooter?  Yeah, that won’t end badly at all.

Eastern - I’ve defended you against all sorts of criticism for all sorts of things.  But, then I saw this and the bleeding from my eyes started.  While I like the Nitrous series (and the branding of which makes me think you might be gearing it up to make it its own brand) nothing makes up for the Dragon/Reaper/Boss.  BMX companies, Killarado clones make the Baby Jesus cry.

Intense - Shaun Palmer is, without a doubt, the single greatest athlete of his generation (which is, of course, my generation), however he has some of the stupidest tattoos of any living human being.  I’m talking about The Palm’s return to your mountain bike team because, let’s be honest, it’s more interesting than your freestyle bikes which are notable only in that they are full of Sinz parts.  Good try, they look nice and all, I’d even buy one, but I don’t think anyone’s going to notice.

Fit - If my calculations are right, everyone on your team now has a signature bike except Van Homan. Wait, I just checked Dans and Van does have a signature complete available for 2010, that’s everyone.

MacNeil – Speaking of signature bikes, it’s a bit weird that I can order the Young III frame from Dan’s and you just dropped Young?  I mean, at first I thought it was older, but then I realized the graphics are all in your new design language.  Does he still get royalties? Ohyeah, the 22.2mm seat tube is stupid.

MirraCo - Mike Spinner rode for you guys for like three years and didn’t get a signature frame, but Harry Main gets one after a week and a half?  Was it the Jew Fro?  Also, can someone explain this to me.  Dave Mirra is sponsored by Snafu.  Dave Mirra co-owns MirraCo.  MirraCo has a parts line that competes directly with Snafu. Jim Ford lets you get away with this shit?  I thought his entire job was to provide adult supervision so that HIS BUSINESS PARTNER WOULDN’T RIDE A COMPETITOR’S PRODUCT.

Hyper - I don’t care that Spinner doesn’t grind, 3/8″ rear axles are stupid.

I’ve found that there are two types of people in the comsumer electronics world, those who love Sony and those who loathe Sony.  I know, you thought that Mac vs. PC was the big CE battle, no, it’s Sony vs Everyone Else.  But even those who love Sony fall into the superset of those who are annoyed by Sony.  You see, Sony desperately, desperately wants to rule the world through proprietary standards.  sometimes they’re, admittedly, superior to the competition and fail due to sheer hubris (Betamax).  Sometimes they’re marginally successful, but don’t actually replace the existing standard (Blu-Ray).  Usually they’re just annoying and provide no advantage over the competition and exist only so that Sony can try to lock you into its ecosystem for the rest of your natural born life (MemoryStick).

Yeah, MacNeil. I’m not sure who’s idea it was to go back to the 22.2mm seat post/tube, but stop it already.  “Lighter and stronger” my ass, you’re talking grams of weight savings and if it’s lighter it’s weaker (that’s the way tubes work, if you decrease the diameter of a tube, you have to increase the wall thickness to keep the same strength, unless they’re using higher grade steel for the seat tube).  But, let’s call a spade a spade.  Unless other frame makers jump onto this idiocy, the only people selling 22.2mm posts will be MacNeil.  It’s not a lot of money, but times is hard, a few extra dollars per frame might add up to real money in the short term.

Maybe it’s not a naked money grab, maybe it’s just another case of a BMX company hoping that metallugical science will make up for the fact that modern BMX bike design is about aesthetics and scales above all (I’d like to head off anyone who says that the modern BMX bike evolved to a double diamond design because the triangle is nature’s most stable shape.  The triangle IS geometrically stable, but I’d like you to compare the front end of a bike from 5 years ago to the front end of a bike from today,  smaller tubing has resulted in a front quadrangle).

Who am I kidding, it’s probably both.

Jay Miron still remains my second all time favorite rider (behind Fiola, above Bestwick).  I hate to see that his latest trick is shark jumping.

I hate golf.  Hate may be a strong word, but I don’t get it.  The Mrs. says that I would enjoy it if I tried it.  I don’t think she’s right.  Still, this weekend I tried out one tiny part of golf and I have to say, it’s brilliant.

I heard a rumor this morning that they’re closing down DeShong.  For those of you not from Atlanta, DeShong park is the “street plaza,” wedges, ledges, rails and stairs no transitions to be found.  But apparently plenty of drugs and underage drinking.  Which, from what I’ve heard, is why they’re talking about plowing the whole thing.

How awesome is that?

Growing up, as I did, in Alabama in the 70s and 80s I remember seeing pictures of Dominguez, Fiola and Blyther battling it out a Del Mar and The Pipeline and I had.  Nothing.  Maybe familiarity breeds contempt.  Lord knows that the kids at the skateparks around here don’t even pretend like they’re looking after the space.  Maybe it’s because they’re stupid, maybe it’s because they’re kids.  Either way, what the county giveth the county can taketh away and DeShong might be on the short list for the latter.

Damn shame, but not surprising, if it’s true.

So, a new Mike Aitken video came out a couple days ago.

While I was watching it I couldn’t help but thing about how much Aitken looked like Jason Becker when he has his traech.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Jason’s story.  In the 80′s he founded an instrumental metal band called Cacophany with a similarly young Marty Friedman.  When Cacophany broke up Marty went on to join the Rust in Peace era Megadeth (version 3? version 4?  Does the version with Kerry King on guitar that lasted for 30 seconds even count?) while Jason got the most coveted sideman spot in all shreddom, replacing Steve Vai in David Lee Roth’s solo band.

Top of the world, right?

Right after he found out that he had the gig, he found out that he had Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, Lou Gherig’s Disease.  ALS results in complete physical paralysis and in many cases, death.  Jason’s already way outlived predictions on his life, but the paralysis thing…much like Stephen Hawking Jason communicates through an eye activated computer.  He still writes music, but he can no longer play it.  He can’t talk and on a good day he might be able to shake a finger.

Aitken went down on a trick that he could do in his sleep in a place that he’d ridden a billion times.  He wasn’t doing anything crazy, just riding and he had to learn how to walk again. He was, honestly, lucky.

Next time you’re thinking about going out without a helmet, check the video.  It’s worth it as a reminder.

Seriously, dude knocked himself out in the middle of his third run and was so far ahead of everyone else that he won, anyway.  He can’t even remember his runs.

Greatest
of
All
Time

Daniel Dhers doesn’t advance to the finals.  I don’t know how good or bad his runs were since they decided to televise FMX instead for most of it.  Diogo Canina is the number 1 qualifier.  Still, does anyoneone remember lip tricks?  Chase Hawk’s footjams and a single double peg is all I saw by way of moves at coping.