Big Mishka box

I have to say, there's nothing better than getting home from work and finding a big box on your doorstep. Mishka sent me a pile of goodies that made my jaw drop. Of course I love the Bike Chain Bear Mop, but the Panzer Hoodie may have stolen my heart. So much detail...! Thanks guys!

SuperTed in GQ Magazine!

SuperTed? More like Superstar! This is pretty nuts. The London crew definitely knows how to get things done. Very impressive.




Spotted at Tracko.

Milwaukee bar ends

Prolly just got these samples from the guys at Milwaukee...



Nice.

Fixed Mag 3!

The third issue of Fixed Magazine is one the way...!

All-City Plastic Doubles

All-City is putting out some new plastic double toe-clips (available in colors of course), and the interesting part is the fact that they're using a softer, more flexible plastic in an effort to make them more durable. Gotta love how people are working so hard right now to make better parts for us...

More info here.

Tanner Monmaney

Tanner Monmaney from Hawaii/AlohaFixed. More from him in Bootleg Sessions v.3...

Bootleg Sessions v.3 test copy

Few more tweaks and it's ready.

Kinfolk Bicycles is open for business

I was fortunate enough to meet the mind behind the Kinfolk project during NAHBS earlier this year, and I got to see some of Kusaka's work first hand. Gorgeous bikes being put out by some great guys. Love this box too... nice touch.

Texas madness

A.J. from the Ravenfeeders crew sent me a couple of photos...




Apparently they were killing some wall rides against this house at night until the Unibomber came out and chased them off...? Craziness as always down in TX...

Also from TX...

VIMBY - Fast Folks & Macaframa

You can see our man Justin from San Marcos in there. Spotted first at Tracko.

Fat Tire

Prolly was telling me the other day how much he loves amber beer, so I decided to pick up a bottle of Fat Tire Amber Ale today...



Bottoms up, John!

Hugeblocks '09

I've been a fan of the Hugeblocks line for awhile now, but they've really killed it with their latest offerings. Available in Japan of course, and hopefully in other countries (like the U.S.!) sometime soon...?

7th Friderday - Taiwan

Chek from Nabiis sent me a link to some pics of the 7th edition of the Friderday event. Taiwan is getting serious! It's always great to see photos of happenings like this...






More photos here.

JAN crew plus two...

A pair of new guys, haruo and taichi, are now riding with the JAN crew...




I'm sure we'll be seeing more of them very shortly...!

3BANCHO.

Dork Magazine

Ran across the website for Dork Magazine today... interesting stuff. Includes a review of Medicine for Melancholy and an interview with Brendt Barbur from the Bicycle Film Festival.

Geekhouse

Boston is like a second home to me, so it's great to see so much stuff blowing up there right now. And don't forget about the NACCCs being there this year!

Mishka Bike Chain Mop

Loving this...!

Zlog stickers

Got a fistful of stickers from Zach/Zlog recently. Thanks Zach!

The Schwinntonations

Went to see a huge benefit show for a place called the Earth House last night, and one of the groups performing there was an outfit called The Schwinntonations. They played an entire show using a pair of old Schwinns for instruments and a pile of echoplexes to loop the sounds into rhythms. Amazing stuff.

Check out their stuff here.

The Revival

Got a notice from Duncan Lewis about a new project that will be ramping up this summer, one that will include several Bootleg Sessions alums...

In the name of good times, great spots and progressive riding, we are proud to announce that we’re packing our bags and hitting the road. Armed with HD cameras we’ll be heading out in search of some of the best riding North America has to offer.
Beginning on May 16th, 2009 we will be touring eastern cities, starting in Toronto then heading to Montreal and finally arriving in the Big Apple. We aim to reveal the riding and culture that exists within each one of these amazing cities. Filming is also underway in Vancouver where the locals have been pushing hard to lay down some of the best lines ever seen on a fixed gear. Along for the ride are some of the most progressive riders on bikes today, including but not limited to:
Tom Briggs
Duncan Lewis
Sam Miller
Tom Mosher
Ryan Nariata
Eiichiro "TenTen" Temmyo
Torey “HFwido” Thorton
Wonka
Wayne Morehart
and Many More.

Water Street Sessions

Yo Philly! Thursday is trick night. See you in South Philly. Bring beers, bikes and bad news.

Bootleg Sessions v.3 update...

So here's where we stand on the production of BSv.3... as of right now, all of the footage we are going to use is in, and we have completed all but 2 of the segments for the main video. We have gone through so much stuff... it's hard to believe we were originally worried about whether we would get enough usable material to do a complete DVD. It's looking like there is going to be a pretty huge "bonus session" filled with all of the material that we couldn't fit into the main part, which I think is great.

I went back and watched v.2 a few days ago, and I have to say that I am really blown away by how much everything has progressed in the past year. More importantly, there is a significant amount of stuff that will be in BSv.3 that I personally hadn't seen anyone do before. Guys really brought their "A" game for this project in my opinion, and I've had a great time going through everything and putting the edits together.

The full trailer (yes, it will be much more like the trailers for v.1 and v.2 than the mini-trailers) will be released around May 1st, at which time we will open up the pre-order page. We are still planning to have a prize giveaway for those who pre-order, but we're still confirming what the prizes will be, so stay tuned on that. As of right now the street date for the DVD is June 1st.

Bootleg Sessions buttons

I recently ran across this local kid who runs a joint called Decaying Youth Buttons that makes some killer buttons for punk/hardcore bands on the supercheap, so I had him whip up a batch based on the cover of BSv.3. They turned out pretty good, so just for the hell of it we're going to pop one in the package for the first 100 or so people who pre-order a DVD...

New

I received my prize from last years bicycle film festival today. I can't wait to get this all built. Thanks Brendt Barbur and Cinelli.



This bike will never ever see a set of riser bars.

Very Masa Jordan 5 panel cap

I'm pretty much always wearing a hat... don't have any 5 panels though. The lids created by fixed gear enthusiast Very Masa have always intrigued me though, and I like the colors on the latest offering...



More here.

FUMIKIRI is here!

The FUMIKIRI DVD featuring the JAN crew (many of whom were in the Tokyo section of Bootleg Sessions v.2) officially dropped today. Not sure how you can order one at this point, but as soon as I find out I'll be sure to post it.

Here's a clip from the release party that Kyoichi put together for everyone's amusement...

Villains & Co. Birthday Sale

Today (April 10th) is Jay's birthday, so he decided to put everything on sale for one day only... here.

Open grand opening

Bikes are so yesterday...

This is the new what's up!



The P.U.M.A. "urban vehicle" by General Motors X Segway. It runs on a battery, turns on a dime, and will probably cost about $400,000 if it ever manages to hit the market (which it most likely won't). Nice to know that the $25 billion GM received from the government as a bailout is being used to develop these things...

More here.

130BCD All-City chainrings

All-City, still dropping new components on a seemingly daily basis...



More info here.

The Inspiration for Bootleg Sessions

Occasionally I get asked about where the idea for the Bootleg Sessions Project came from. Well, the truth is, it was inspired by this...




Captain Eo. The. Greatest. Film. Of. All. Time.

Written/Directed by George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola. Starring Tony Fast as "Hooter"!

Fixed Fight 3 + HorroH

Fixed Fight 3 is going down on April 18th in St. Pete, FL. This thing is always massive... One of these years I'm going to make it down there for this...



Also, HorroH crew sent me a few new stickers recently...



(Sorry about the crappy phone pic.)

Villains & Co. - April

Villains & Co. have put up their April offerings... here.

Congrats...

...to my comrade Andy Cooper for taking 3rd place in Pro Flatland at the JoMoPro BMX comp in Joplin, Missouri tonight!

Rickshaw

Spotted this on my ride today...

Open is open!

The new pride of Cambridge, Mass... cannot wait to check this place out!

New York City... denied!

After spending all day at the airport (and part of it actually sitting on the plane on the runway), my flight to New York was canceled due to crap weather in the Northeast. So, no NYC for me this weekend. Good news is, I can use the same ticket to get another flight in May hopefully, which means we should be able to include a proper premiere of Bootleg Sessions v.3 as part of my trip itinerary...!

I am Batman

About a year ago I crashed and busted my hip pretty good. It got better after awhile, but since then I've been having loads of lower back problems. About once every 4 to 6 months my back freaks out and seizes up so bad that I can't even stand up for a couple of days, and it usually takes a couple of weeks before it settles back to what I now consider to be normal.

The freak out thing happened again last weekend, and I'm supposed to be flying to NYC this Friday to film some crap for Empire and hang out with everybody. Not good. So, in a move of absolute desperation, I went out and bought one of these...



...an inversion table. For the past few days I've been hanging upside-down Batman style in hopes that it will stretch my shit out enough that I can actually ride a bike by the end of the week. Not sure if it's helping my back yet, but the head rush I get from it is pretty fun...!

Milwaukee Bruiser pre-order

Milwaukee's new S700 Bruiser is now available for pre-order. If you want one, do *not* sleep on this. As always, Milwaukee's site is very detailed and will help you easily get exactly what you need...




And speaking of Milwaukee, there was a nice write-up about them and their parent shop Ben's Cycles on the Urban Velo site a few days ago. Check it out here.