Showing posts with label #BMXstreet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label #BMXstreet. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 19, 2019
Odyssey Tourism Bureau: Australian BMX street, park, and kangaroos
Here's some guys from Odyssey tearing it up in Australia. Zen minimalist blog post today, that's it.
Oh, and this blog, barely 10 weeks old, just hit 5,000 page views last night, thanks to Slash and Fergie, you know, long time BMX icons. Cool beans.
Monday, June 10, 2019
The Fit Bikes crew at Street Fighter 6
Over the weekend I felt the need for speed, and showed some haulin' butt bicycling in three different flavors. It's Monday morning (here on the West Coast), time to get the blood flowing with some New School street riding. A few months ago the Fit Bikes posses loaded up the van for a long ride east to Phoenix. They joined the roving BMX bandit brigade for the Street Fighter 6 Jam, on a tour of AZ street spots to see who could step up and throw down. Big drops to flat, and big hops off a little ramp. Good stuff.
You guys all know where to find your Fit Bikes and components, right? Yep, that link below will get it done for ya, and have cool stuff showing up at your door...
Monday, June 3, 2019
How to buy your kid the best BMX bike
Your kid wants a BMX bike. You'd like to him or her set the controller and phone down and get outside and ride. It's be great for them to get some exercise and some sun. Now what?
BMX stands for "bicycle motocross," a sport that started in 1970 in Southern California. Kids back then took their banana seat equipped Schwinn Stingrays and started racing on dirt tracks, mimicking the motocross riders of the time period. Back then, BMX bikes all had 20 inch wheels, the standard size for children's bikes. As BMX racing grew, BMX "cruisers," bikes with 24 inch and 26 inch wheels joined the party. These days, BMX bikes come in a wide variety of sizes, styles, makes, and price ranges. How do you pick the right bike? That's what this article will help you figure out.
To get started, let's find the answer to these basic questions:
1. How old is your child?
2. How big is your child?
3. How much are you looking to spend. BMX bikes range from low quality, $50 balance bikes for toddlers, to over $1,100 for high end, pro rider, signature model bikes. Well made, solidly built bikes, start from 4130 chromoly (higher grade steel), start at about the $325 to $400 range.
4. How much will your child actually ride the bike?
5. How hard will your child ride the bike?
6. Does your child have a favorite rider or favorite bike company?
Let's go down that list, beginning with age and size:
Toddlers, age 2-4, who can't pedal yet- Balance bikes are today's tiny version of the original "hobby horse" bikes, that go back to at least 1818. Here's what they looked like. Actual pedal powered bikes were invented around 1875.
Balance bikes are tiny bikes with handlebars, a seat, usually with 12 inch wheels, but no pedals. They're for toddlers ages 2 to 4, maybe slightly older for really small children or kids who may still be learning to balance. On these bikes, kids sit down, hang on to the bars, and "walk" to push themselves along. According to Dan, manager here at the Block Bikes shop (in Lancaster, CA), balance bikes really help today's toddlers learn the basic balancing necessary on a bike, and most kids are pedaling by ages 3 or 4, never using training wheels at all. There are a lot to choose from,the seats can be adjusted to the child's height on most bikes. Prices range from $50 to $225. We carry the high quality Kink BMX balance bikes here at Block BikesOnline BMX Store.
Toddlers age 2 to 4 who can pedal- For the smaller kids, a 12 inch bike will get them going. For kids a bit larger and taller, a 14 inch bike will be a better fit. Click the links to see the Kink BMX bikes we carry here a Block Bikes.
Small children ages 5 to 9- The next size up, for the small children to pedal around, is the 16 inch bike. If your child wants a BMX bike, it's likely they know who BMX Caiden is. He's 8 (maybe 9 now), has 129,000 followers on YouTube, and routinely jumps huge jumps. the kid's amazing. Caiden rides a custom made 16 inch bike by Fit Bikes. Here at Block Bikes, the Kink BMX Carve is our most popular 16 inch bike. It's durable, and should handle all types of riding for the average child. If your kid starts jumping like Caiden, 1) Start a YouTube channel for them, and 2)get a custom made, 4130 chromoly bike. That's pretty unlikely, because Caiden's off the charts of the 8-year-old riding spectrum, but are great young riders popping out of the woodwork.
Larger kids ages 7-9 and smaller kids 10 to 12- Back in the olden days, when I was a kid, a few 5-year-olds got 16 inch bikes. I actually learned to ride without training wheels on one (remember training wheels?). But we actually started riding on 20 inch bikes when we were 5 or 6, and the bikes were huge for us. Today's balance bikes and wide range of bike sizes have largely removed the need for training wheels, and kids have 4 bike sizes to choose from before they hit the standard 20 inch wheel BMX bike.
For the kids who really like riding, be it around the neighborhood, maybe competitive BMX racing, riding skateparks, pump tracks, or even dirt jumps, but just aren't quite big enough to really handle a 20 inch, there's the 18 inch bike. Kink BMX has a great model in this category, the 18 inch Kink Kicker. Again, 18 inches is the size of the wheels, and each of these bikes is proportioned around the wheel sizes. This size is the interim bike for a serious rider who needs to grow a bit before they can really throw around and manhandle (or womanhandle) a full size 20 inch bike.
Teen riders- From age 10 or 12, most kids can ride a standard, 20 inch bike. So the question of "which bike is best?" becomes one of riding habits, quality, and price, more than anything else.
Why bike shops, and all serious riders, hate bargain store bikes. Yes, you can save a few bucks by buying your child a bike at one of the big discount stores. As serious riders and a worker at a bike business, we hate those bikes, because they're the lowest common denominator bikes. They're made as cheap as possible, they're heavier, they're not as strong and prone to breaking with any kind of jumping or skatepark riding, and the components (wheels, cranks, brakes, etc) are of poor quality. I once had my handlebars snap mid air, not realizing they were not chromoly. It did not feel good. I only rode full chromoly bikes after that. Trust me, that's not a surprise anyone wants.
In addition to that, bargain bikes are pretty close to worthless if you try to resell them later. Higher quality bikes hold a big chunk of their value for many years. There's a saying among riders, "Friends don't let friends buy bargain store bikes." Yes, some people are on a super tight budget, and their kid needs a bike to ride down the block now and then, and that's who bargain store bikes are for. If you're reading this post, you're probably not in that category.
Is your child going to just use the bike for ride around the neighborhood, or maybe to a nearby school? If they don't plan on any kind of jumping, skatepark, or ramp riding, a bike from a good quality company, in the $275 to $350 range is your best bet. These bikes will handle "normal" riding, and jumping off the curb now and then. The Kink BMX Curb model (around $289), and the Kink BMX Launch model (around $319) are two good bikes in this range. These bikes have hi-tensile steel frames, chromoly forks, and hi-tensile steel handlebars. Hi-tensile steel is used widely for many purposes in many industries. In the bike industry, 4130 chromoly steel, a lighter, stronger (and more expensive) alloy has long been favored for BMX and other bikes that are jumped or ridden really hard. It simply holds up much better under extreme riding. For normal riding that most young people do, hi-tensile steel if fine, and saves you $50 or $100 or more. But once you start jumping, riding ramps, or the local skatepark, chromoly is a much better choice.
Does your kid want to ride the local skatepark, pump track, dirt jumps, ramps, do street riding, or maybe start racing at a BMX track? Then you want to step up to a complete 4130 chromoly frame, forks, and handlebars. These bikes start in at around $380 these days, and you can get a great bike for $400 to $500. The Kink BMX Whip model is right smack in this sweet spot. It has 4130 chromoly frame, fork and bars, good quality components (wheels, cranks, pedals, brakes, etc), and runs around $429 at the time of this writing. If I had a kid who planned to ride quite a bit, this would be my pick. Yes, there are models that go up in price, but this is a very good quality bike for the money.
Higher priced bikes are usually based around the same quality of bike frame, forks, and handlebars, but the components, the other parts on the bike go up in quality. Yes, I work for a bike retailer, we'd love to have you put a $750 Kink BMX Williams model on your credit card today. That's the signature bike for their top pro rider Nathan Williams. But I'm going to be straight with you, a bike like the Kink Whip would be just fine for nearly any serious rider. Rather than spending the extra $330 up front, buy the Whip, or a similar bike in the $425 to $475 price range, and see what parts of it, if any, your child damages. If your kid tacos the back wheel, put the money you saved into stronger wheels. If your kid bends or snaps the pedals, buy higher quality pedals. That's a much more sensible approach for the majority of parents buying bikes for your kids who plan to ride often and ride hard.
Is your kid a serious rider, AND over about 5' 9"? Most of the bike models, like the Whip I mentioned, have an XL, or slightly longer version. Here's the Kink BMX Whip XL. It's got a frame that's a half inch longer up front. That doesn't sound like much, but it makes a world of difference when you're riding. That helps the taller kids not bang their knees, while pedaling or in other maneuvers. In some cases, short kids just prefer a longer bike, as well.
So there's an in depth look at how to find the perfect BMX bike for your child, whether they're 2 or 17. There are larger bikes, with wheel sizes of 22," 24," and 26" wheels. Most of those are aimed at adult riders, like BMX dads who rode in their youth, though there are kids who are into the large bikes. But that's outside the scope of this blog post. In the urban Bike Life Movement , (NSFW- language, narrated by my old friend Todd Lyons) for example, doing wheelies on 26 inch BMX cruisers is the thing, but that's a subject for another time.
Here at the Block Bikes Online BMX Store, we carry Kink BMX, Subrosa, S&M Bikes, and Fit Bikes, in the BMX world, and in our physical shop, here in Lancaster, CA (North of L.A.), we carry a full line of mountain bikes and everything else you need, as well. I focused on linking to the Kink BMX bikes in this post because the 2020 models just came out right before I wrote this. Have fun, and go ride your bike.
-Steve the Blogger
Matt Ray scorching the hot streets of Arizona
As an old, mediocre street rider, from way back in the Dark Ages of BMX, I have the urge to just fill this blog with one amazing street, park, and trails BMX clip after another. But the whole point of the Block Bikes Blog is to show a wide variety of bike riding adventures. Yeah, I know, I'm lagging on road bike videos here, but that's because of my old school BMX, anti-spandex prejudice. I'll work on that.
In any case, I looked through the last several posts, and decided it's a good time for a solid BMX street video. As luck would have it, this Shadow Conspiracy edit of Matt Ray popped right up when I went looking for one. This clip is only 4 days old, it still has that new video smell. This is a smokin' good street part, too, so enjoy it. And you know we can hook you up with all your Shadow Conspiracy goods online, right? I thought so...
Saturday, May 18, 2019
X-Games Real BMX 2019: Simone Barraco
Simone's riding is a little more tech, a little less huge. Good use of front wheel tricks, to mix things up a bit. A great video clip all around. But I'm going to stay with Brad Simms as my overall favorite of these six videos. Again, that's just me, an old blogger who doesn't ride seriously these days.
I don't know how the X-Games crew picks which riders to include, and that's always an issue, because there are so many good riders out there. But these six were a good mix of different types and styles of street riding.
As a video producer from way back in the olden days, some of the editing decisions baffle me these days. If I was making a 90 second video for a competition, like this, I would not show any trick more than once. Get one good angle and move on. I would use very little, if any, slo-mo. My cutaway shots would be about 12 to 20 frames long, super quick. I would have almost no pedaling up to tricks, unless it was a mega gap where it helped to show the speed going in. The first thing I learned from my video mentor, Dave Alvarez, was "keep it tight." By that he meant, don't have a single frame of garbage that you don't need to make the piece work. There's a lot of unneeded footage in most of today's videos.
Anyhow, there it is, the six videos submitted in this year's X-Games Real BMX 2019. It just occurred to me that I don't know who actually won. My pick is Brad Simms, for the best overall video. What do you guys think?
X-Games Real BMX 2019: Brad Simms
Wow. OK, we have a new leader in my personal picks from this year's X-Games Real BMX. Brad Simms just took the lead, edging out Corey Martinez and Greg Illingworth. Fast paced clip, great use of urban landscape, and great riding. Man, I'm going to have to go back and watch all of these again when I'm done blogging.
X-Games Real BMX 2019: Greg Illingworth
Yes! This is why I tune into street videos. Fast-paced, jumping, airs, using urban spots well. I've watched four of these videos so far, and this is my favorite. Or maybe a tie with Corey Martinez. Close call. Hey, this is just one old guy's opinion, but this edit rocks.
X-Games Real BMX 2019: Dan Coller
Rails. This one is all about rails. Yes, big, long, gnarly rails and several variations. Maybe it's just 'cause I'm old, but I like to see some actual bike riding mixed in the the rail variations. Not my favorite of the 2019 Real BMX. Super burly stuff, not my favorite video section, though.
X-Games Real BMX 2019: Jordan Hango
Jordan Hango. New name to me, I know nothing about him. The first 15 seconds or so I was thinking, "What's this guy doing in this contest. Then the tricks just start stepping up. The editing's not exceptional, but not awful either. But there's major commitment in those last few tricks. Gotta remember his name...
Wednesday, May 15, 2019
Skeletons and Muscles? Is that what S&M stands for now? That poor dominatrix is out of work, I guess. Anyhow, pretty cool video, the editing gets a tiny bit annoying, but not too bad. Dude, the guy who picks up the marble sphere then collapses, that made me cringe.
Anyhow, we're planning to shoot some original footage today, so that is something to look forward to.
Friday, April 26, 2019
Go Fast, Pull Up: The Jimmy Levan Story...
I still haven't seen this yet. I don't have a DVD player at my house, mostly because I don't have a house. But you probably do. Jimmy Levan is one crazy cat. He's funny, he's cool to hang out with, he goes fast, and he goes BIG. This video/book set about his life is available, right now, on DVD or Blu-Ray at the Block Bikes Online Store, right here. Or you can read this post, and then buy it .
I met Jimmy way back in the dark ages of the early 1990's. It was 1991, and Chris Moeller, the pro racer, crazy jumper, S&M Bikes owner, tapped me to make the first S&M Bikes video. Young Jimmy rode for them back then. On one trip down to Chris' tiny apartment, for a weekend of shooting video, I met these two kids, Jimmy Levan and his friend Barstow. Barstow probably had a real name, but I never heard it all weekend. So we crashed on the floor of the long, narrow, "Winnebago" apartment, drank a few beers at night, and went riding and shooting video during the day. S&M Bikes was run out of a single car garage then, and money was damn near non-existent. The sessions were fun, cheap, and gritty. But who cares?
We hit a ditch in Westminster, near the infamous P.O.W. House, we rode in the back of Chris' pick-up truck, and we hit the Santa Ana Civic Center, one of our favorite street spots in those days. Then we hit Magnolia in Huntington Beach, a sometimes soggy trails area in the wetlands by the H.B. power plant. That whole video, S&M Bikes Feel My Leg Muscles, I'm a Racer, had a total budget of about $250, including beer money. And it looks like it:
It was a fun weekend, and I'm the guy who shot all the footage in this section, which I'm pretty sure is Jimmy Levan's first ever video segment. That's another reason I need to see this video. Anyhow, in a taste of things to come, Jimmy jumps the Civic Center pyramid at 2:00 in the clip above, which is about 30 to 35 feet across, off of a really mellow bank. It takes some serious racer speed to jump that, and Chris Moeller, himself, was the only other person I saw do it back then. Even as a young buck, Jimmy let us know that he would rack up a bunch of frequent flyer miles on his bike in the years ahead. So enjoy this clip, and click the link below to grab your copy of Go Fast Pull Up.
It's Friday... B.Y.O.B.
In addition to the alcohol reference, "B.Y.O.B." is the opening song of this 1989 Vision skate video I worked on, Barge at Will.* The song is by Ohio punk band The Stain. I always liked that song it just has that street riding kind of energy and attitude. Yeah, this is a bike blog, but a lot of riders skate some as well. If that's the case, Bring Your Own Board. Its Friday, there are sessions to be had. Who knows, this could be the The Ultimate Weekend.
* If you pause this video at 46:04, you'll see Chris Miller and Ken Park both boardsliding the pool section of Tony Hawk's Fallbrook ramp. I'm the guy in white sitting on the rail in the background. -Steve
Saturday, April 20, 2019
Not beef jerky
Beef jerky is something that keeps a long, long time, and is good to eat on camping trips. It's also something you should taunt a sasquatch with. Bjarki, on the other hand, is a new Subrosa am rider who is freakin' amazing. And you know where to buy a Subrosa, right?
Wednesday, April 17, 2019
This is why you became a fan of Chris Doyle
Chris Doyle. Nearly every rider I know, which is mostly old dudes like me, and guys from the 90's era, has a high opinion of Chris Doyle. But since I was outside the industry from the mid-90's until now, working as a taxi driver much of that time, there are a ton of great riders I just haven't seen videos of.
In my mind, Chris Doyle has been a amazing and super smooth trails rider. That's most of what I've heard of him, without watching full video segments. Talking with Rich (Bartlett-Block Bikes owner) yesterday, about riders to feature in this blog in the near future, Chris' name came up quick. But for some reason, I have just never seen much video of him. I checked out one amazing video yesterday, and realized just how good of a street rider Doyle is along with the trails riding I expected. But I decided hop in the Way Back machine (old guy reference) and watch an early segment of Chris, and remind all of you why Chris Doyle is given legend status by people these days. This clip was uploaded in 2006, you know back when YouTube was a little over one year old. Think about that. You watch this clip, to remind you why you're a big fan of Chris Doyle, and I'm going to go watch more of his videos to catch up on all I've missed while I was sitting in a taxi getting fat for 6 years.
One more thing everyone, Rich and I are both totally stoked about how many people have checked out this new blog. It's had over well over 500 page views in less than the first week. I'm a long time blogger at this point, and that's freakin' amazing. We just want to say "Thanks" to everyone for the interest and for checking it out. This blog is brought to you buy Block Bikes, who is expanding with the new online store. So keep that in mind as you check things out, and I'll keep looking for great stuff to share. The Blog's BMX heavy, but "all things bike" is the idea, so I'll mix it up as we go along with a wide variety of stuff about two wheel life.
Friday, April 12, 2019
It's all about having fun on bikes... First 2-Hip Meet the Street in 1988
It's funny how things work out. This contest was in the spring of 1988, behind a shopping center, in Santee, California. The location was chosen because it was one of Dave Voelker's favorite street riding spots. Nearly every major rider was there, and many of us every day California BMX freestylers, industry people, and street riders, as well. NorCal Curb Dog and street pioneer Dave Vanderspek, BMX Action trick team entrepreneur and 1988 "Old School" rider, R.L. Osborn, mid-80's street legend Eddie Roman were all there. Then a new breed took the day, San Diego local Dave Voelker, and English bloke Craig Campbell blew everyone's minds. BMX riding completely changed because of this contest. Street riding, as a genre of bike riding, exploded that day.
Street riding, on BMX bikes and mountain bikes is world wide today, there are contests, highly paid pros, and high caliber videos. But more than anything, there are just a lot of people out there, all around the world, having fun on their bikes in all kinds of different ways. And that's what it's all about.
I'm rode to this contest in the back of a VW bus, driven by Unreel Productions cameraman Pat Wallace. He shot this footage. I later edited this clip for the 1988 2-Hip video, the very first 2-Hip video, put out by Haro pro freestyler, trick team owner, and contest promoter, Ron Wilkerson. At 3:07 you see me ghost ride my bike into the wall. I wasn't used to riding that big of a lip into a wall, and couldn't do a decent wall ride that day. Then at 3:13 you see pro racer, hardcore jumper, vert and street rider, Rich Bartlett bust a cool line over the box jump. Rich does a big wall ride earlier, and then tries to pull down the big General banner from the wall later. This new blog, the Block Bikes Blog, is the product of Rich and me connecting and working together again after 31 years.
Rich has been hardcore in the bike industry this whole time. He owns Block Bikes, an actual bricks and mortar shop, in Lancaster, CA, north of L.A.. He put out the Block Bikes brand, he's been riding hard all these years, and rides road bikes, MTB's, and BMX still.
As for myself (Steve Emig), I've worked in the BMX and skateboard industry, then got into TV production, and then burned out in 1995. I went off on my weird philosophical journey to figure life out. I read hundreds of books, and worked lame jobs, like being a furniture mover. As a philosophical type, I, of course, became a taxi driver. There's nothing like dealing with crazy drunk people nightly to put life in perspective. Then I became homeless as that industry collapsed because of new technology. I began blogging, worked to figure out how to be a functional writer in today's world, and wound up a blogging Sharpie artist somehow.
So Rich and I connected online recently, started throwing ideas around, and I'll now be doing this blog and some online marketing and social media work for Block Bikes Online Shop, as it grows. We're both really stoked on this, it seems like a great fit, and we want to help keep BMXers, and everyone who rides bikes of some kind, hyped on riding itself.
For those of you who follow my personal blog, I'll keep it going, sharing my Sharpie art, and tossing out my ideas on the economy, the importance of small business in America these days, and stuff like that It will have an old BMX story now and then, still. But I'll be sharing a lot of my old school stories in this blog, as well as covering many other aspects of bike riding. This is all being brought to you by Block Bikes online store, so it'll help if you all click over and buy 8 or 9 bikes right now. Buy them for the whole neighborhood, get them kids away from Fortnite. Get the kids back outside and riding.
Stay tuned, there's a lot more coming...
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