To convince people that this is not a bad idea, the Brits have released this video which is full of Parkour/Free Running (there is a difference, one is concerned with efficiency, the other includes flourishes think racing v. riding trails).  Ok, it’s not full of it, it kinda uses it really poorly and it’s just a really bad ad.  I guess there’s always a possibility that when a new sport is being used to sell an old product it will be done wrong.  This is pretty high on the “it makes everything look lame” scale.

Still, after seeing Jake Kooser’s Redline strapped to the back of his Smart car, I can’t dismiss this abomination and a bike rack as not a viable mode of BMX transportation.

You see, for most of the existence of this site I’ve basically been able to poke fun at the easy target that was the truly ridiculous “advancements” of BMX as the freestyle industry marched head first towards making every bike look like an 80′s race machine.  But now we’re here and, yeah, I’m bored.  I mean, how often can I point out that there is a strength/weight correlation that you can only ignore for so long or make fun of how every bike looks the same or scream “we’re all gonna die!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” while posting a picture of some part that’s been machined to within a picometer of its life?

Probably about as many times as I have.

But the thing is, without pushing those limits and making those thoroughly ridiculous parts, you never know where they are and you don’t get better, or you don’t get better faster.  Also, I find myself at a loss for content for this site, which makes the two people that read it very, very sad.

So, for me, please bring back the crazy parts that make little sense and bikes that endanger your life just by looking at them and ugly color schemes (thank you GT) and general ridiculousness.  I miss it.

Then I started thinking about how many parts on a modern BMX bike are disposable.  I mean, I’m not just talking about plastic pedals and plastic pegs but also any peg labeled “park only/light street.” All of the plastic one piece seat/post combos, super thin grips and constant forays into plastic bottom brackets.  Not to mention that there seems to be a race on to see how much material can be removed from every metal part of a bike until someone actually dies from product failure.

Somehow or other we’ve gotten to a point in BMX where marketers have turned weakness into strength, “Plegs are cheap and easy to replace!” Yeah, but a couple of weeks ago I was talking to Dave at the skatepark (and I don’t know Dave’s last name, he’s just Dave, there’s also Mrs. Dave and Baby Dave) and he was talking about how he’s had the same set of Kink OG pegs for either five or nine years and he’s almost ground through them, finally.  I’m not against plastic pegs (I actually run two sets of Dumbchucks, I do like that they’re less destructive, although I have to call “marketing hyperbole” on George French’s original claims that plegs do no harm to the environment) but I just think it’s crazy that kids will now replace the cheap Wellgo pedals that came on their bikes – that will likely outlast their frames – for equally cheap plastic pedals that will likely need to be replaced due to general riding.

Say what you will, the BMX industry has giant balls for pulling this one off.  But not as big a set as the good folks of Sears, Roebuck & Co.

Anyone who knows me knows about this

View from my deck 8:31 am 09/21/2009

I’d gone to let the dogs out an hour earlier and water had actually gotten up to the top step.  At this point the water started to recede and by 1:00 it was all gone.  By 7:00PM the water was back up to the top step again.  We had experienced a “500 year flood” two times in one day. In the shed were, among other things, my paint gun, some two stage auto paints, my table saw, my random orbital sander and my lawnmower.  All but the paint gun were submerged, twice.

So, for the last couple of weeks we’ve been looking for a new lawnmower and we found that most Sears stores carry a collection of used mowers, some of which had what seemed to be really good prices.  But you had to get them when they were “priced to sell.”  Last week a salesman even straight up told us not to waste our time and come back this week.  So, this week we came back and we saw a few used mowers that seemed to be good deals, but The Mrs. said “let’s go inside and see if these are actually good deals compared to new ones.”

No, they weren’t.

The Sears at Gwinnett Place Mall (and I don’t know if this is true for all of them) was selling used mowers for exactly the same price as new mowers.

We couldn’t believe this was true, so we went out and checked and, yup.  So, a guy who answered the phone “manager on duty” while talking to us was like, “If it were me, I’d buy a new mower, the used ones are usually people who really don’t understand lawn mowers who bring them back and they may not have treated them the best.”  But the price of a new one and the price of a used one are EXACTLY THE SAME, “Yeah, I can’t really change the price.  I’d just buy a new one.” But, seriously, why would you price a used one the same as a new one? “Yeah, I’m not in control of that.”

Yeah, BMX industry, you may have perfected openly selling planned obsolescence to adolescents, but your cojones need to grow about 50 sizes to match this crap.

Also, don’t buy used lawn mowers from Sears.

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.

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.