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Re: Holy Mother of God it finally happened. posted on 2006-07-14 16:18:54

What's the advantage of using a 3/32" chain? Like a mountain bike chain, right?

Re: what happened to american bb? posted on 2006-07-14 09:29:42

Mid or spanish are both cool if you are blowing up the bearings of a euro, but I think for flatland, euro makes the most sense. Super easy to install and since we're not landing from 20 feet in the air, we're probably a lot less likely to blow up the tiny bearings. Does anyone here actually have lots of problems with euro?

Mid is pretty cool though.

Re: Kink Light Peg Cracked posted on 2006-07-05 13:55:54

Light parts are not indestructable. Either you deal with heavy parts that you don't have to every worry about (S&M Warpig, Hoffman Superforks) or you go with lighter parts that will eventually need to be replaced. Pro riders replace parts relatively often anyway because they get stuff for free, so it's not that big of a deal. The problem is when a hardcore "non-pro" rider (who might be putting just as much of a beating on their parts as a pro) keep the same pair of forks or bars for years. Parts break, but as long as its not a catastrophic failure (read: forks snapping after landing a 8' air or huge box jump transfer) its probably alright. Small part failure isn't TOO much of a big deal, as long as it doesn't happen too often. Bikes are just SO much better built and mechanically sound than they've ever been so the days of breaking all kinds of little shit all over the bike are hopefully almost gone.

No more breaking headset cups, snapping caliper brake bridge bolts, blowing out sidewalls of cheap tires, breaking 10 crappy spokes from one flatland crash, bending poorly made bars, etc... New bikes have less mechanically going on and are just....well....better than they ever have been.

As long as everyone is demanding that every new generation of frames and parts are lighter than the previous ones, we are eventually going to get to a point where bikes will start failing. In the early 90's riders got tired of breaking bikes every month and started making heavier ones that could withstand riding. Weight wasn't so much of an issue as durability, people were just happy to have a bike that didn't fold or have the head tube snap off after a month. I wonder if we've reached that point again?

Re: ATLANTA posted on 2006-07-05 11:57:53

The outdoor concrete park in Athens.

Re: questions I wish could be answered. hmmmmmm??? posted on 2006-07-01 21:27:17

[quote author=OldSkoolRida link=topic=18163.msg196753#msg196753 date=1151796163]
how to get kevin jones to enter at least 1 contest?
will there ever be an all girl pro flatland contest?
will Vicki and Martti ever go brakeless?
will any american bike company have a flatlander rep for them,EVER!? (ex. Chad Degroot for Haro)
will Japanese flatlanders stop being so DAMN GOOD!
will there be any more Dorkin' vids?
will any vert riders come back to flat?(ex. Dennis Mccoy)<--- my flat idol. hee!!! hee!!!
will flat EVER come back to the x games? if not, WHY THE HELL NOT!!?
will I ever find the perfect flat frame and components? (the world may never know this)
just a few question my little over worked brain thinks about. feel free to answer.
[/quote]

1.) Ask Kevin and he'll say he already entered contests, a bunch of them. But why would Kev want to enter a contest against people 15 years younger doing tricks he invented 15 years ago?
He doesn't seem to need to prove anything to anyone.
2.) Maybe eventually. I think more girls would be into flat if they knew what it was.
3.) There have been lots of American companies with flatlanders riding for them. (by American do you mean US owned or US manufactured?) Haro (US company), GT (US company), Schwinn (US company), Standard (US owned and manufactured), Hoffman Bikes (US owned, once US manufactured), Quamen (made in USA), FBM (US owned and manufactured) Right now not a lot of US companies want to sponsor flatlanders, because there is only 2 contests a year in the US and they don't get coverage in the magazines or mainstream BMX media.
4.) Maybe but it would change their styles. They don't need to go brakeless, unless they want to.
5.) I don't think so.
6.) Nope. If I was making 6 figures riding vert, liked riding vert, and was good at riding vert, there would be no way I would dedicate 4-8 extra hours a day of riding time to be a competitive flatland pro, spend hours away from my high paying vert gig, just to not even make 1/8 of what I make riding vert. Lots of vert riders are pretty good at flat, though.
7.) Flat won't be in the X-Games. If ESPN ever puts more BMX events in, they would much rather put in extra events like "BMX high speed long jump" or "super-max quarterpipe" or "slingshot motorcycle BMX high air" than put in flatland again. They barely tolerated it last time, it never got the ratings or the attention, and whether we like it or not, that's the truth. Its just not exciting or understandable enough to the average viewer. The sooner we accept this, the better off we're all going to be.
8.) I hope not. If you had the perfect bike, that stayed perfect, then there wouldn't be any progression in bike design and engineering. New parts make BMX cool.

Re: to all flatlanders!!! please read posted on 2006-06-30 07:32:13

My God. I hope you and your friend have a speedy recovery. It could've been much worse, especially with your friend's neck injury. Were you in a bad area?

Sad to say it, but for lots of kids, 13-16 is prime crime years. Its no consolation, but I would bet you almost anything that in less than 4 years at least half of those kids who assaulted you will be in prison, the other half will be dead. Maybe one or two of them will be permanently disabled or addicted to crack and begging on the street. You can be certain that every single one of them will have a bunch of kids by then, starting the whole cycle over again. So the time for them to get out, beat up people, steal shit, break into cars, get girls pregnant, deal drugs, and shoot at people holding their gun sideways is right now.
They can't have anyone not giving them respect or not thinking they're hard, right?

I don't know what we should do as a society about it. But someone has to do something. If the average ignorant, criminal minded thug first procreates at 15, and the average man does the same at 30, then pretty soon we'll be completely overrun by people too stupid to understand the exponential growth that they were a part of.

It's a sad, sad situation. All those kids know how to do is have illegitimate children, talk in ghetto slang, shoot at people, steal things and collect welfare checks.

Reading this kind of thing makes me want to move to Canada or Europe, though.

Re: decade variations? posted on 2006-06-29 07:28:22

yeah, I've never seen anyone but Craig do that trick. Rope to vertical barhop? The penalty for missing that one is big.....

Re: can i flatland with this bike posted on 2006-06-29 07:26:34

Yeah, that bike would work just fine for you. Remember that the top pros have very "flatland specific" bikes because usually that's all they ride and the level that they're riding on is very, very, very high. You could ride your Eastern for years and progress and learn a ton of tricks on it before you really "needed" to upgrade to something else. Jay Miron, Dave Osato, Rob Nolli, and Tom Haugen all ride "ramp" bikes but are all great at flatland on them. If you can, check out the old Hoffman video "Madd Matt" to see Jay Miron tearing it up on flatland on a HB Condor - you don't get much more "ramp" than that bike but he's doing links that most people here can't do.

Having a flat or ramp specific bike might help a bit, and becomes more important the better you get, but I'd recommend for the time being you just have fun riding everything (ramp, dirt, flat, even vert if you have access to it). Your bike is definitely built to handle anything and just have fun riding and learning whatever you can. Later on you can decide to specialize (like Martii or Trevor Meyer) or generalize (like Chad Degroot, Tom Haugen, Jay Miron) or somewhere in between.

What I would recommmed if you are just starting is to 1.) get a good pump (like a Park or Wrench Force, NOT a department store pump) and pump your tires up to at least 110 psi to start. It will make flatland a LOT easier. 2.) Learn to dial in brakes very well (see the sticky in the tech section of the board) 3.) Keep your bike dialed and in good condition, it will respond better and make things a lot easier. Modern bikes aren't too difficult to keep up, so get some good tools and keep it dialed.

On a side note, a lot of the riders you think of as flatland "specialists" have a lot more ramp or street skills than you think, and vice versa. Dylan Worsley is a great ramp rider, Nate P. isn't bad either....just because someone doesn't get coverage doing something doesn't mean they don't do it - there is more to riding than the parking lot.

Re: geisha hub? posted on 2006-06-27 12:01:37

I know that with a regular freecoaster (Suntour or Nankai) forward ghostpedalling means the cones in the hub are just a bit too tight.

Re: Uni-bike hitchhikers... posted on 2006-06-27 09:43:06

Just work on riding with your regular bike. the weight and balance points for the uni-bike are all different than for a regular bike. It might help some to ride on it, but more than anything just time on the bike will help.

Re: geisha hub? posted on 2006-06-27 09:42:20

What problems have you guys had with them? Is it slipping/inconsistent engagement (ie hardly any slack one time, 1/2 a crank rotation the next)? Too much slack (more than a 1/4 or 1/8 of a crank turn until engagement)?
Pedals move backward with no warning, even after being backpedalled and "set"? Anyway, I'm curious. The hub looked really good, I want to know what is going wrong with it.

Re: 48 vs 36 spoke rims posted on 2006-06-26 06:22:23

48's were invented back in the 80's when the only other choices for wheels were flexy mags or very weak, cheap 36's. Now we have much, much better rims than even what was available even 7-10 years ago, and unless you are overweight or some kind of really burly rider jumping off the roof to flat you don't really need 48's. You do need to maintenance 36's more often though.

Re: Old school rules posted on 2006-06-23 08:58:41

[quote author=Oui link=topic=17955.msg194591#msg194591 date=1151052613]
I honestly cannot think of any other sport where old school riders are so proud of how antiquated they are.

How many other athletes in how many other sports sit around going "HAY, I'M OLD!!!"

:roll:
[/quote]

LOL. You'll understand when you get there, TJ. You see a lot of trends, bikes, tricks, and people come and go. There's a certain amount of pride that comes with having lived through all that. Lots of good stuff like:

When companies like Hoffman and Standard started making bikes that actually worked for what we were doing with them........

Getting to be in the Closing Ceremonies of the '96 Olympics when Hoffman and Mirra did no handed/no footed 540 over a tailwhip in a doubles run....

Finally getting rid of shitty 1" headsets and not having to tighten them every ten minutes....

Getting a pair of threadless pegs for the first time....

Seeing my friends (and me) in the magazines or vids for the first time.

Being there for when Hoffman pretty much brought the sport back from the dead with the Bicycle Stunts Series

Driving hours and hours and hours and hours to be at contests.

Pulling a landmark trick, like a double decade, a hitchhiker, or a super long link, for the first time.

Moving to Athens and having serious, focused riders that were better than me to ride with every day for the first time ever.

Moving to Atlanta, then Philadelphia and making friends with the riders there, and realizing that my riding career might not be over just yet...

Getting a massage in the "athlete's only" tent at the Richmond BS contest. (this particular athlete got 8th place..(I think)) : )

Seeing riding for the first time ever on TV when ESPN brought in the X-Games, and realizing how big bike riding got after being totally, totally underground and unrecognized for years.

Seeing skateparks spring up everywhere, when for years the only way to ride ramps was to build one of your own.

Knowing that I could go all over the country and the world and have friends and people to ride with nearly everywhere I'm ever likely to be.

Getting to ride with everyone from little kids, to big name pros, to my friends that I've known for more than 15 years.

Its been fun going from a little kid grommet to a young up and coming expert....to an elder. (And I'm not even 30 yet.)

There's been bad stuff like having to tell your friend who just carved off the wallride that he just knocked out all his front teeth, waking up at the flat bottom of ramps not remembering what I was doing there, recurrent back and wrist injuries, hyperextending my knee, folding my ankle, getting chased by cops and irate landowners, getting frustrated and tossing my bike... that kind of thing.

There's also been the ridiculous stuff, like integrated bashguard bikes, riding at a "national" contest in people's backyards, bad haircuts, ridiculously shady skatepark owners, rifling through the oldest bike shop in town when I was 16 looking for coaster brake parts to repair my Suntour, 40 pound, massively overbuilt armored bikes, clueless local bike shop owners thinking we were all just little kids "riding off curbs", bending 1 piece cranks at the rate of 1 a week when I weighed 130 pounds, 30 page magazines that were mostly ads for shitty GT completes....

But its been a crazy, fun ride. I'm interested to see what the next 15-20 years or so holds.

Re: ACS RL edge tires WANTED posted on 2006-06-23 07:04:15

RL Edge tires? Good luck.

Re: best trick posted on 2006-06-22 10:48:25

Yeah, Dylan's stuff is great. Very underrated rider.

Re: best trick posted on 2006-06-22 07:58:09

Best in terms of hardest - right now....based on nothing more than my opinion right this second.....

2006 - I'd say its the hiker full kickflip bike varial to backpacker. Justin Miller

2003 - backwards halfpacker kickflip - Simon O"Brien

2002 - Vicki Gomez' links in general

2001 - One handed steam kickflip to wheelchair - Martti, hiker kickflips (who invented this one?)

2000 - blender - Martti

1999 - hand job - full bike varial - Steve Mulder

1998 - no handed pedal straddle time machine, or cross footed spinning hikers - Martti

1997 - Chases' brakeless stuff in Balancing Act

1996 - Gimplash - Paul Osika

1995 - cross footed hitch hiker to backpacker - Trevor Meyer

1994 - Hiker pivot to backwards backpacker - Kevin Jones - or any of Chad Degroots links in Baco 6

1992 - Chase's entire part in Dorkin' 5.

1991 - Whopper (hop tailwhip) - Bill Nitcshke

1990 - quad decade - Chase Gouin

1989 - hitchhiker and backpacker - Kevin Jones or Perry Doom - Perry Mervar

1988 - Deathtruck - Kevin Jones

1987 - no handed backyard in circles - M. Aparijo

1986 - backwards barrides - RL Osborn

1985 - boomerang?

1984 - cherrypicker - Martin A., tailwhip - Brian Blyther

early 80's - curb endo?, 540 rollback?, slider? trackstand?

Maybe someone should push "best trick of the year" to promote progress on single tricks (not links). Would be a cool way to recognize people's creativity I think.

Re: 19"tt hamilton $100! posted on 2006-06-19 13:40:14

One day whem I get rich I'm buying the Duke and endless supply of WTP Stud frames and Haro Nyquist/Bully Nudie bars. :-)

Re: NJcancelled posted on 2006-06-16 08:37:52

I was about to head out the door, stopped to get directions, and found out it wasn't happening.

Re: The New Simple posted on 2006-06-12 22:12:17

Matt, get the gray one! btw, I might be in Chi-town for a week in August. Hope I'm not in Skokie, and hour and a half away this time....anyway if you're around let me know.

Re: So much respect for this guy... posted on 2006-06-12 08:47:31

Yeah, that was really cool. His skating was great, but I was more inspired by his good attitude and positive outlook on life. We could all use more of that.

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