Videos like Criminal Mischief and the old Animal, FBM, and Little Devil videos are what I grew up watching and what inspired me to ride. Something about the burly simplicity of hauling ass at an impossible gap or trucking at a brand new dirt double not knowing if it's even possible, are the thrills that made me want to ride my bike all the time. Here's a few minutes of Criminal Mischief that I stole off YouTube. It's mostly the introduction, which is absolutely awesome. Then Jason Enns and Garret Burns' sections.



Bikes, Beer, and Crazy People must be one of the best combinations that I know of! Van Homan's part in CM is also unbelievable. Notice the 44 tooth sprockets as well; gotta love it. If you like what you see, then get an East Coast Destruction VHS and press play. I don't think those ever saw DVD's, so you'll need to pull out the dusty VCR for it.

I'll post some photos from the 2by4 jam tomorrow afternoon also, sit tight, or go ride...the jumps are looking nice today.

Cheers,
-Mark

This already happened, but is still worth a mention...


Click it

I missed the barbeque at 2by4, but I got to the trails just as everybody else was filtering in. If you were out there, then you know how many people showed up and how sick the riding was. I'd say there were over 70 riders and almost as many spectators hanging out all day.

Van and the local riders had all of the jumps in the main line perfectly shaped and ready to rip. Hats off to them for that! The smaller sets in the back were surrounded by mud and more than a few people got swallowed up in it.

If I had to give my vote, I'd say that Brian Foster threw the biggest moves and rode smoother than anyone else there. 360 turndowns and more flow than water. The mood of the day wasn't about getting broken though; Brian's just that good. Riders were pulling all kinds of trains, most with something like 10 bikes in them.

I wish I'd gotten some footage, but I wasn't very interested in stepping off my bike to pick up a camera, so I'll have to rely on other people who were shooting and filming...expect to see some of it posted on here when I get my hands on it.

All in all, a perfect session, and I'm sure the burgers were good too!

-Mark

Nick has spent a nice chunk of time riding and testing the Anson City Limited frame from Brooklyn Machine Works. After all was said and done, he says the frame held up and kicks ass. Check out the rest of his review by clicking on the photo below.



-Mark

Awesome!!



-Nick

Nick just passed the word on to me that Eastern Bikes is working on a plastic bottom bracket. If I wasn't an engineer, I'd scoff at such a thing, but since I am, I know better. They're using some kind of high strength plastic as the casing for the new bottom bracket bearings, which will apparently be much lighter and cheaper than ordinary metal bearings.

There isn't too much out in the open about them yet, except that a few prototypes are out in the streets. I'm glad to see that they've put some useful engineering into this part, rather than thinning tubes and making ridiculous holes in things. That's evolution!



Keep your eyes open for some more info on these as soon as it becomes available. We'll be watching too.

-Mark

I stole this video from Vital 'cause it's pretty f'in dope! A whole bunch of front tire/peg variations that I've never seen before. It's definitely worth a watch, otherwise I wouldn't have posted it :)



-Mark

Al from BMX Invasion hit me up a few days ago with the flyer for Bike Battle 8 at none other than Hackettstown Skatepark. Click the image below to see it full size and clear enough to read. The date is May 25, and I imagine it will be an awesome time. Might see me there behind a lens too.

I tried to find some videos of past Bike Battles, but YouTube isn't cooperating right now. I'll put them up another time. Go, it's gonna be sick!


^click me^

-Mark

Mike Flaherty from AtomLab and the crew at Black Market are putting on an awesome jam in San Diego in a few weeks, and if you like bikes, beer, California, and have the ability to get there, then you really ought to. The entire thing is a jam format lasting 3 days. One day each of park, dirt, and street, with overall winners for each day, as well as quick little mini-events throughout each day.

Mike has hooked up an awesome deal for lodging with a local hotel to ease the suffering on your wallet, although the entry fee is very very cheap already. Click the flyer below to read all of the details, or just go check out thrashbike.com to see it there. If this event is anything like the rest of the events Mike has organized, then it will be a guaranteed blowout!

I don't know if I'll be able to make the trip, but we definitely need some east coast shredders to show the other coast that we may not have the mountains, jumps, or parks, but we've got all the street in the world and want to drop some knowledge on the folks in the west.

If you think you want to go but don't have the resources, send us a video and we'll check it out and see if we can't help you out a little bit. Send your stuffs to mark@njdirt.com! Quickly, the deadline is soon approaching!


click to go big

-Mark

Phew, we're back. And with that, thank god, the spammers have all been forced to flee the forum rendering it usable once again.

There may not be much going on over here just yet, though you can be on the lookout for a full test of the Mongoose Ritual Street 26, which will drop once I get the proper number of hours on it. So far, the bike is great! Nick has some news on the Brooklyn ACL frame that he's been rocking for some time.

So check back every now and again, as things ought to start moving again.

NYC Freeride joined up with Diablo this season to produce a pedal specifically for Diablo Freeride Park, which can only be purchased there, and which will be an official product of the US Open this season. They are called the "Glory Hole pedals". Funny, ya?

Here it is, straight from the horse's mouth...

"BROOKLYN, N.Y., February 4, 2008: NYC Freeride is very pleased to announce an exclusive product sponsorship of Diablo Freeride Park for the 2008 season. As part of this agreement, NYCFR LTD. will be manufacturing a limited edition run of custom Glory Hole Pedals produced exclusively for the park.
The “Diablo” Glory Hole pedal will feature a custom logo and color scheme and will be available to purchase exclusively at Diablo Freeride Park. In addition, the custom NYCFreeride “Diablo” Glory Hole pedal will be offered as prizes as the exclusive pedal of the 2008 U.S. Open of Mountain Biking and the 2008 Diablo Domination Series. “As the most-visited park in the east, Diablo Freeride Park is the perfect venue for NYCFreeride to showcase our products as we embark on a new phase of product development”, said Andrew Grossi, NYCFreeride General Manager. “Diablo Freeride Park plays host to several high-profile events and will provide us with product exposure benefits that are second to none.”
NYCFR LTD. is known throughout the industry for producing not only artistic bike components but also cutting edge designs with bomb proof durability, Just as bikers continue to push the limits of riding in competition and for leisure beyond the limits, we at NYCFR LTD. aim to provide the industry with top quality components built to handle the extreme limits of technology and complete function. We are a rider owned and operated Brooklyn NYC based company who manufactures our own components that are built with pride, and although we want our influence to be felt worldwide, our focus is to help support and shape the east coast scene. We also want to help and support others who share these same goals. Without loosing sight of our small beginnings, with hard work, and competent design principles, we plan to take what started out as a passion for bicycling and evolve into a significant influence in the mountain bike and BMX arena.
NYCFR LTD. is also proud to announce that we relocated into a new state of the Art facility that houses an entire line of new CNC machining equipment which has allowed us to keep all of our manufacturing in house and most importantly keeping production in NYC. We are working on an exciting new line of components currently in development. While we continue to produce our current product line, our company is known for manufacturing the most durable pedals you will ever use, every component is built to the highest manufacturing standards with the most state of the art materials available.
"

-Mark