Big C'mon

This evening was to be a gap of relaxation time sandwiched into a weekend packed with obligations. I bought and chilled a box of Winter Ale and a six of Bowen Lager at work, and called ahead to check that Dave was working at Ride On. The intention was not to drink all the beer, but to provide a reasonable selection for the occasion.

Not expecting much, there turned out to be some projects going down in the shop. One of said projects is a customer's refresh of a late '90s S&M Sabbath, one of the beefiest flatland machines you will ever see. It brought me right back to those days of a black S&M frame, one that currently sits idle in my collection. This bike even had a Hoffman Gack front wheel, which complements my S&M's rear from the same era.

The bike was heavy as hell, about as heavy as my tall bike, which turns out to be somewhere under 40 pounds if the scale at Ride On is at all accurate. Of course, chillin with Dave brings you thoughts of bike aesthetics at the respectable and still functional level. I'd say the nearly-original custom build S&M was within those limits. 

Another example of period-correctness is the outfits just before the most famous scene in rad; the topic of the Baby Come Back top tube pad has brought us back to modern BMX. The Sean Burns Blood Wolf does look good, but its specs page is weak as compared to the Rebel Contender. I want to know bottom bracket height!

Dave's Metal pops too! I'm pretty sure its name is Big C'mon. Who the hell else pulls of that kind of ridiculous colour combination? Of course it also rips it up down Main Street.

The tall bike's left crank arm had been dry for too long and finally started complaining about it. Dave asked if there was any grease in there; the jury's still out on that one. Rather than continuing to dry-wrench it until it went quiet again, I chose to grease it, which worked a lot like butter. Dave, meanwhile, was hammering a Campagnolo headset cap into this beater. C'mon!

My callous fell off and now I've got an oddly-shaped tender hand. But I feel great. Riding BMX twice this week was good for me. Talking to Dave about progression was also good. I'm going to come out and say I want to learn tabletops this year. So I say: set it up and the shit will happen. Get out there and ride, god damn it. Bleeding hands and all.