I HERD U LIEK BRAP

SO WE PUT A 20B INTO UR FC SO U CAN BRAP WHILE U BRAP



WIIIICK-EDDDDD

B-tionary Entry: Brap

BRAP: [brap] verb, adjective, brappy, brapping, brapped

1)An onomatopoeia for the sound of a tires rotational momentum not being translated to forward motion on dirt. Originally the sound is of a single cylinder motorbike engine increasing in rpm, it may be used for larger vehicles or even bicycles.

"Looks like you've already been through here. I can see your brap marks."

"I brapped up the brappiest hills I've ever brapped today."

Related viewing:

When You See It

Hometown shreddin

This completely blew me away. I absolutely lost my shit at 2:10, and am now watching it on repeat.

JP Auclair Street Segment (from All.I.Can.) from Sherpas Cinema on Vimeo.

I grew up here. The multiple stair sets are in West Trail. The town is built up onto the side of the hill with narrow switchback streets which are NO JOKE in the winter (I used to deliver chinese food up there). I've shredded sections of this on my bike, but would never think to do it on skis.

Brovativ Lyfestyle vid

Here's a new Danny Hart edit, showing his training routine and cutie girly.



Overall, the best things about this video for me are:
-the Fifi Nasty song
-the penny arcade
-the forest scene
-fox jammies

Poison Landlady

 I just realized you can embed pinkbike videos in blogger. Great. A few notes about this video:

1. 360 lookback, both ways, pay attention kids.
2. Every time I watch it, I end up listening to the song about a dozen times, which brings me to my next point...
3. If you ever met our old landlady on Triumph Street, you might get creeped out by the original video.
4. Sometimes I love power metal as a predecessor to fantasy metal.
5. I want a sub-25 pound dirt jumping hardtail.
6. Anybody wanna jump bikes into water next summer???

TONIGHT - From the Inside Out

When: Tuesday November 15. Doors at 8:00pm, show at 8:30pm. Where: UBC NORM Theater Cost: $10 at the door. Tickets now ready at Dunbar Cycles. First come first serve. $5 for members

SCRUB OF THE MONTH

Evan Schwartz gets some flow and huck in Kelowna.

Better Halloweens Than Ours

Seen in Bellingham, inspired by the Otters.

Red Bull Mini Drome Today!!!

Well,.. I'm nervous/pumped, about 85% over my cold, and 120% ready to slay.
This is gonna be rad.



Location: Rocky Mountaineer Station
Address: 1755 Cottrell Street
Free for Competitors and Spectators
Minimum 18 years of age
Pre-Register at Super Champion Bike Shop, 245 Main Street
Qualifiers: 12pm
Main Event: 5:30pm

HOLY SHIT YEAH, BUT NO. CAMRY DRIVER WINS.

You had me at "AK-47."



Via Jalopnik. Also, it's an Accord. Twin nose vipers strike at 1:54. Gunplay, ululating, a backseat "DAT ASS," Tokyo Drift meets Oakland sideshow meets oh my God their logo even looks like ours. I'm pretty sure the rear window reads: "Mothers, hide your daughters."

Straight outta Cloncpton

At first i was all 'wha?' .. but then I was like

3 for the weekend

Hammers: dropped.

The Fiend Promo from Fiend BMX on Vimeo.

Seth Kimbrough - PHX to PDX...Again? from Shadow Conspiracy on Vimeo.

And this, friends, is why I bought a FERD.

Always Hoon Responsibly

When it rains it pours. I know you all love this shit. Gymkhana 4.

New Dan Mac

Cable ride = awesome! And you can tell when the backflip is imminent.

Tales of the Tall Man Apollo

I picked up this Tall Man Apollo frame last year from an imaginary character from the internet. He didn't want to meet, but left the frame zip-tied to a fence in my neighbourhood. The price? Free.

I held on to the frame thinking I'd learn to weld my own tall bike with Lyle's TIG machine... but the frame was almost too nice for it. Chrome stays, forged dropouts, original paint, and straight; things that are hard to come by, but especially for tall mans.

Jesse put the call out for a large frame and I decided to pass it on. Here's what he came up with: two-speed kickback with a coaster; a sensible city cruiser.

Cypress Gold

Getting lost on Cypress isn't all bad...

Two wheels and an engine: a slippery slope.

We fit the body panels to my scooter at the local motorcycle repair shop...

Woah.

The weekly ComeUp CatchUp yielded this gem of an edit. I can't even describe what's going on in here. G-turn to fencepick?

Rooftop 2011 United Video Part. from Channel 4Down on Vimeo.

Support Your Local Legend

Surrey Steve goes in hard - and this is apparently just a teaser for a video eight years in the making. China Creek represent!

Surrey Steve from Uncle Steve on Vimeo.

Bonus edit for ridiculous ice-to-fuf old school tech lip tricks, a Canuckmobile, and a VPD guest appearance in our old alleyway. Also, this guy has one of the all-time funniest stolen bike repo tales. Watch and learn.

Gah.

Sean Burns - 'Surfin for the Ugly Broads' from Bone Deth Video WasteLand on Vimeo.

I've seen things you people wouldn't believe...

$210 days on a borrowed 30-year-old Sekine... Couriers sailing five feet in the air over the hood of a Porsche Cayenne near the Bentall gate... All these moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain.

Time for vacation.

You Like This

25 minutes of BC shralping—if this doesn't get you stoked to ride then you can fuck right off.

More viewing

This is pretty much a video blog lately.

I've only watched episode 1 of Triple Rush, but enjoyed it.

Episode 1

Episode 2



Also, here's a dude surfing a LarryVsHarry Cargo bike:

TCB BULLITT CARGO SURFING from Storts on Vimeo.

Accidentally the Whole Crankarm

Three weeks ago, Nick had a rim blowout due to brake wear. In the meantime—and I do really mean meantime, as Nick takes a very long time to make decisions—I lent him the Sekine Machine. Tonight, he accidentally the whole crankarm. The story:

"We were racing up Quebec, and it went ping on my first pedal stroke off the Broadway light. Then we stood on the corner laughing for about 15min. Jen said it was one of the funniest things she's ever seen.

Sorry Morgan. =-( At least it gave its life to a hilarious cause."

Well, I think it's just awesome. Just the other night in Lyle's shop I was saying how great it was that this bike that I've owned for almost five years is getting thrashed by yet another member of ProjB. (Lyle rode it for a bit after he broke his Bianchi.)

Next up, Nick will give us feedback on what 175mm cranks feel like on a single speeder as opposed to the 170s he just broke.

Triple Rush

I'm pretty stoked for this. It stars some of the crew from the Fixed.gr forum over there.

Line 4

This is the best mtb commercial I've ever seen, really.

The Line, part 4: blood on the trail from Marco Toniolo on Vimeo.

..buy rose or pigface will kill me..

The line has gone off the page.

I still don't understand what's going on...

This is where I draw the line.

You've all been chomping at the bit for Part 2. Well, here it is.

Where do you draw the line?

Isn't that an old DK song?

Just saw this, it starts off slow, but gets pretty rad.

The Line, part 1 from Marco Toniolo on Vimeo.

I'm looking forward to Part 2

This.. is.. Sheffield!

Some highlights from the descent on the BUCS XC course in England. Pretty good for a larf.

BUCS 2011 X.C Carnage! from Joe Bowman on Vimeo.

Masters of Dirt

Man these dudes can wrangle their machines. Not even going to start to call a best trick on this one, but the four-wide dirt bike backflip and the two-man mini dirt bike backflip are among my favourites.

The Aftermath of Bikes Inside

Dustin caught this video of Emily and Carrie's mini bike beer bungee at last weekend's party. Dustin and Cody brought the Bad Party and Proj-B brought the mini bikes. W2 Storyeum was definitely the biggest space we've ever had a bike party, and carrying our mini bikes there on our Vallie Components racks turned out to be a great choice!

Another Trophy for the Collection

Adding to Lyle's Zoobomb 2008 and my Helltrack 2009 trophies, as well as the "bench warmer award" I got in Grade 8 football, I hereby present the 2011 St. Valentine's Massacre trophy. I have to make a plaque for Nick Berry and myself, so we can pass the trophy on to next year's winner. Full race recap on the Mighty blog.

Just a little pre-race inspiration...

While the clock ticks down to Morgan chasing the $500 gran prix in the annual Valentine's Day Massacre, here's a little Berg Cup hoon action courtesy of Speedhunters. Grab a coffee, turn your speakers way, way up, and be prepared to have to explain to your girlfriend why an Opel Manta is not necessarily the most feasible project car to own. See you at Crab Park!

These. are. the. brakes.

I hardly rode my BMX at all last year.

I even did some upgrades to it sometime last spring. New wide bars, new fork, and a new colour scheme. Still it didn't get ridden.

The bike just wasn't practical. I think I only commuted on it once or twice, and recall not giving myself enough time to really have fun with it.

I'm pretty sure that it was partly because Morgan and Nick convinced me to take the brake off. That really affected how I viewed the bike. Suddenly it just didn't seem as maneuverable. Sure, I learned to foot Jam skid it in 3 of the 4 positions.. but the rest of the brakeless experience just didn't seem as boosty or flowy as it is supposed to be.

I guess I never put enough hours into it to feel totally comfortable riding it like that. ..and it was tough, because I have to ride to spots. I suppose if I was living half a block from a skate park, it would be a different story.

Long story short, I decided to put the brake back on my BMX.

Its a nice little black anodized forged and CNC machined piece from Suelo (Fly's flatland brand). Its actually a front brake, and using it on the back of my bike was always a bit of a bodge. The knarp cutouts in the ends of each arm are designed such that the cable is actually meant to be stretched across it.

A rear brake would have slightly more 'hooked' notches for a straddle cable to pull up from the centre. In using this brake before, I always had to have a piece of bike tube over the straddle cable, acting as a safety to stop it from popping off the arms.

Thankfully, I found a piece of the original hardware that came with the brake. A cool little cable end barrel that fits in the arm, as it would be used on the front of a BMX. I was thinking I'd have to make my own version of it.

An Avid Rollamajig would be amazing.. but after looking at RideOn, OCB, and mighty.. I thought I would have to settle on a custom radiused V brake noodle.. Until Pat showed me the Flexie. (Pat Pending). Its just a section of Bowden cable, with a plastic sleeve, and some special end hardware.

Here's a shot of the brake hardware laid out on the bench:


You can see that the flexie is a bit lower profile than an already radius tightened V brake noodle. I actually shortened it down to half its original length, as I didn't think it was necessary. It all went together pretty quickly once I remembered which way the springs go in the Fly brake.

Here's the finished result:


I've got a good 7mm of clearance to the backside of the crank arm. The cable is anchored to the top tube by two zip ties. The spring tension has to be slightly higher on the non restricted arm, but they end up hitting the rim at the same time. The cable is fully lubed with Pedro's Synlube, and it feels amazing at the lever with the Speed dial tuned for maximum mechanical advantage. Even a certain lever 'feel' snob should be happy with it.

So I'm ready to get back into the kind of riding I like to do on this bike. Dry weather is nearly upon us.

Wade! Sign My Chest?!

Turns out I'm not the only one still riding these days.

Eric Lawrenuk at those jumps you've always had your eye on when riding up the Second Narrows Bridge on ramp, and then some Seymour downhill con Jordie Lunn. Thanks Khaled for the link.




Ross Measures at mtbville has a new edit up, street shralpin' with lots of local spots. I think I've watched his Gulevich video 20 times.




Ross also shot this little interview with Wade Simmons. Jodi is now carrying a sharpie in her mtb bag, if you know what I'm saying...

17 Questions: Wade Simmons - More Mountain Bike Videos

Strahan Loken shredding some classic west coast conditions on Vancouver Island, from Aaron Larocque. He's always got to get his Honda Element in there...




More fish-fryin' Strahan Loken. Mike Siemens, the best thing to come out of Abbotsford since Jose da Silva, likes this vid.




Lyle and I have known Mike since 2002 or something ridiculous like that. Yes, the Volkswagens. Mike's doing a blog post for every ride this year, aiming for 120 trail rides. He was recently caught wearing nicely contrasting colours - take note!


Photo by Ian Harker.

Now for some helmet cams... a clean run of Crazy Carpenter at the Woodlot in Maple Ridge: "old school skinnies and dorps to falt" from Dylan Sheffer.




And a recent video from Ladies Only on Fromme, where you can see the ridiculous additions Digger's done with the heron ponds.

New Old School from Mountain Goat on Vimeo.

And to finish, something not exactly local, but a good example of what can be done with a cheap camera and some DIY rigging.

Kodiak Alaska mountain biking mashup from Philip Tschersich on Vimeo.

LOCAL TOONIE RACE SERIES!!!!!

WHAT'S YOUR EXCUSE?

Indoor 4x

Woot! this event looks like 11 storeys of super fun.
Not nearly as big of a crowd as most redbull events however...

On the topic of Tall Bikes...

Shortly after I finished my Time Trial Tall, I was riding it around Manhattan like a hoon.


Out in Harlem I would get Hollered at. In Midtown I would get hollered at. .. and on the Lower East Side.... well I got hated on. I was at Neighburrito when a bike dude on Rivington was clearly unimpressed with my feat of engineering. He was pissed because he thought I bought it that way from a store. I don't even know if he had a tall bike or not, but he was a purist.

Sure, you're 'supposed' to make tall bikes from junk. But that doesn't mean you don't have to take pride in your craftsmanship. Who wants to ride a deathtrap that is constantly falling apart?

I think the last couple of years have really shown me what level of stuff people can come up with in their own back yards.

Check out this absolute BEAST from Zoobomb's RandomMayhem:



This probably isn't the BEST example, but here we see a custom Geekhouse tall bike ( I know, he's a bike builder anyways!)


Alan's Minitalls are looking so classy you'd think they would be available on bikesdirect!





..But they're not available online. You actually have to go to Alan's house and BBQ with him in order to get one of your own.

Well folks.. I think we all new the day was coming. Production tall bikes ARE available to the masses, available at the click of a mouse.



ORDER YOURS NOW

And how about this one?



BUY 2 SO YOU AND YOUR GIRL CAN RIDE TOGETHER

I guess there is nothing wrong with these bikes, but they do lack SOMETHING that I cannot pinpoint. (cue bike culture is not for sale jpg)

So what is it?
Am I a purist?
Does it have to be broken before its welded into a tall?
Does it have to be 100% Freegan?
Does it have to be just a little bit scary?

Like most posts on here, I'm now not sure what my point is/was. I sort of feel that its the most fun if you're riding a bike that came from your imagination. I've currently got the itch to build something again, but I don't know what direction to go. For me, a bike has to be rideable, which limits just how 'crazy' I can get with it. I'm sure I'll come up with something though.

Shralp the Tall

I saw Cody last week at the Gastown Sprints. He suggested that he was still interested in finishing his tall bike project. The Fiorshiki. Lyle, let's do this. Norcopollo. Let's riding high.

From Steel

Handmade steel hardtail? Yes please!

Kneejam Nosepicker

Another ripper BMX video to clear the air... note he can spin flairs both ways.

Late to the party. aka. This is art.

Well.. I didn't see this thing until the other day. I guess the owner of PDW bought it, and maybe will set it up in their cafeteria or something. Kind of cool, kind of lame. The art speak makes me want to murder.

Circulus from machine project on Vimeo.