williamkirk.com

Transition Bikes - Trans Am - Review

2009-09-28T07:30:00.001-07:00

AM Goodness

Transition Link

Ok so I wanted to write up a real honest review of my new Transition Trans AM biked I picked up a few months back. I have been working with transition on builds for quite some time and don’t have enough good things to say about the company.

Let me start this off with a bit of a discussion about wheels size. I built up a single speed 29’er this past winter as a simple bike I could just grab and ride. I was new to single speed, 29” wheels and a rigid fork. In the end I loved the bike it was simple and maintenance free but it just didn’t do it for me. My riding style does not fit that of a 29’er they just aren’t flick’able to me. I am 5’10 tops, ride standing up so I can hop over, on or around anything that comes my way.

I landed on the Trans AM because the general spirit of this bike was exactly what I was looking for, simple, clean, and reliable. Transition’s website puts it out there on the description of the bike ‘The TransAM hard tail brings back the basics of what true all mountain trail riding is all about.’ – where do I sign? When I pulled it out of the box it was so clean, the internal headset is a great hint taken from bmx that adds a level of smooth to the frame that is best appreciated in person.

I chose a pretty solid build for this bike with a fox 36 talas fork, all Thompson, XTR Cranks, large but light casing tires, and some trick Brown i9 Wheels Converted to singlespeed (brown is an ew colorway for them)The whole thing took me about 2 hours to build if you don’t count the chain setup issues I had. The bmx half link chain at 88 half links was to short for my build so I had to work up a solution, but I ordered a second chain and it is all good now.

On the trail the bike is ridiculous, it is COMPLETELY silent. I hate any noise, clunk, chatter, thump whatever it just makes me feel like I am going slower and drives me mentally insane. So to have such a silent machine is a god send, the steel really deadens trail noise and makes for a solid platform in any situation. With a 70mm Thompson stem and the overbuilt fork, the bike descends amazingly, the minute I jumped on it there was the feeling of ‘my bike’, it was just that comfortable. On the climbs it does damn well, I am running a 32t/18t combo, which is a good setup for the quick ups and downs of our east coast terrain.

Ahhhh...my fox 36 talas, I bought this fork about 3 years ago for a build I was doing on a Transition BottleRocket and in that time it has been on numerous bikes. An EVIL Soveirgn, Transition Bottlerocket, Transition Blindside, Tonic Fabrications Howie, and a Santa Cruz Heckler. With only 1 rebuild in that time frame it is an incredible testimate to fox and why they are the best. It hasn’t let me down from east coast xc races, to trail rides in Moab and even on the greasy steeps of Vancouver’s North Shore. It is right at home on this bike sitting nice and low at 110 mm.

In technical situations I couldn’t ask for more I can jump in and out of turns with ease making quick work of my old 29’er. I am running a set of Titec Flat tracker bars which are aimed at the single speed crowd, but turn them upwards for a trials like feel and a slight rise which makes the bike that much more stable in the techy stuff.

In conclusion, I am going to make the statement that this is the most fun mountain bike I have owned (and that is a long list). Every time I ride this bike it reminds me of exactly why I love riding mountain bikes. The bike disappears under me and lets me do what I like doing and that is ripping trails. Thanks to the guys at Scholl’s Bicycle Centers, Cam @ Transition Bikes, and Brandi @ i9 for the strange wheel configuration.

Complete Spec:
Frame: Transition Trans-AM (white) 16.5
Fork: 2004 Fox 36 Talas 110mm Travel
Headset: Eastern Internal
Hubs: Industry Nine
Rims: Industry Nine
Chain: KHE Hollow Pin Half Link 3/32"
Tires: F/Maxxis Advantage 2.4 Kevlar R/Kenda Small Block 8 2.3
Cranks: Shimano XTR 175mm 32t ti-carbon ring
Pedals: Crank Brother Candy SL
Seat post: Thompson elite
Seat: WTB Silverado
Brakes: Avid BB7 160mm rotors
Levers: XTR
Stem: Thompson 70mm
Bars: Titec Flat Tracker-sweep turned up
Grips: ODI Ruffian (dremeled for extra sticky & soft)
Weight: don’t have it yet.

Little northwest canada jaunt…

2009-08-31T10:51:00.001-07:00

Went back to Whistler for Crankworx again this year, I think quite a few people shy away from the resort during the big show but I think if you stay out of the village it’s a pretty pleasant place to be. Big thanks to my buddy Judd for hooking us up with his condo, more than enough space, bike storage, huge deck with a view of the valley trails and a sweet shower!

We spent a ton of time riding the bike park this year but had major intentions of hitting some loam up in the hills surrounding the park. You cant go to the whistler area and not do that right? I think we spent the first day riding in pouring down rain which was greatly needed to put out the fires that were burning all over BC. If you have been to whistler you know it takes a few runs to get flowing, the riding there is pretty different from what we have on the east coast but once you got it, it’s all grins.

O-Sin > In Deep > Fatcrobat > To Tight > Joyride > Heart Of Darkness makes me feel funny in the pants.

After 3 days of getting beat to death on the mountain we headed over to talk with guys at Cromag who were headquartered about 1 block from where we were staying in function junction. Thanks to Ian & Julian at Cromag we got the inside line, Little did we know some of the better whistler valley trails were sitting right in front of our faces. Literally across the street was a drop in on a single-track that lead us up the mountain that overlooks function. The guys there gave us a little tour of where they make it all happen which was great to see, any company that is rider owned is good by me. They make some solid stuff, it’s no wonder you see their bars and other components on almost every local’s bike in the lift line.

The climb was pretty brutal in rain jackets, about an hour and a half hike on the big bikes but great views along the way up. We started in on a killer trail named ‘cheap thrills’ that put us on classic steep rock faces, with moss and loam for days. It was extremely refreshing to be hitting some soft dirt that got along well with my maxis minion sticky tires. I don’t think I have ever had as much fun on a bike as I did up on that hill. We even ran into a couple moto trials guys that were riding the same lines as us. It’s awesome how dark the forest get’s up there just completely wet, slimy, and treacherous but fun as hell at the same time. I forget our exact line off the hill but I think it was cheap thrills > 99’er > danimal > industrial disease and finally finished on Moose Knuckle (why not right?).

So the last night was pretty amazing and by amazing I mean horrible…so we stuck around up in Whistler to watch some slopestyle and by the time we began heading back down to Vancouver it was around 4 pm. We stopped in Vancouver to check out some totem poles (don’t ask but they were cool)…which put us at about 6 ish…Well we had a flight out of Seattle around 6 am.

Here is what we ended up doing, cleaning the van, putting the seats back in (it’s now around 12 am) so why get a hotel, stupid right? We ended up at some gnarly rock n roll bar called ‘The 9 lb Hammer’, guys with tattoos on their faces were staring us down, we were drunk and tired. Then we end up at some diner next to Boeing’s headquarters drunk, tired, angry and god else knows what. After the food we decided we needed sleep at about 3 am, so 5 guys, 5 bikes, and 5 guys worth of gear settled down in the van for some shut eye…hilarious.

Vintage Grand Prix Pittsburgh 09’

2009-07-21T12:15:00.000-07:00

Every year Pittsburgh pulls off the vintage grand prix locally at the Schenley Park Golf Course. Basically it’s a high brow event where everyone comes out to show off their cars, drink wine, and eat grapes in a true Roman Debauchery fashion. I am not one for vintage cars (at least most) but some of them do it for me. I was particularly drawn to the old Range Rovers, Porsche’s and Ferarri’s.

I stopped by during the actual car show to see what all the commotion was about. It was pretty cool how they have it set up. Each brand had it’s own section, the Porsche guys were turning there noses up at everyone, there was a huge representation by BMW this year being the ‘Marquis’ manufacturer, and the Italian section made me feel like a 5 year old in a toy store. If I hit the lottery tomorrow the following would be in my garage:

-Ferrari F-430 Scuderia (Red)
-Lamborghini Gallardo Nera edition (Triple Black)
-Audi S6

All of which were present in this years event (except for the Nera edition) which made me beyond happy. Here are a few photo’s I took but I was concentrating on talking to
owners and getting my fill rather than snapping off thousands of shots.

2009-06-25T14:49:00.000-07:00

So, I finally got mobilized on my blog, first iPhone app I actually paid for but $2.99 isn't bad. This post is just a test to see how this little guy worked while I drink a bit of over proof rum I bought in Jamaica this past winter.

what better way to test the app than do a photo dump from my favorite photos in my lib.

-- WNKV via iPhone

it's summer and time to chill out...got a CHUB

2009-06-21T19:32:00.001-07:00

Yep it's summer out there everyone, bikes, beer and long weekends...Here are a couple great chill tracks which are perfect for mojito sip'n...

WEEN - Your Party (Natasha & Nicole props on this)

Low vs. Diamond (ditto on the props)

Got my CHUB hubs in the mail the other day with ti hardware, cant wait to get these guys built up...

Double Dead Guy

2009-06-01T15:12:00.000-07:00

Been wanting to try this forever and finally found some here in Pittsburgh the other day, the bottle is rad, the logo is even radder (is that a word), and the taste is serious business.

Give'er here...

I had to take a shot of my 2 favorite things today.

Neil Peart - Ghost Rider - Ducati

2009-05-30T16:15:00.000-07:00

So way back when i was a little kid, my first ever exposure to music was the band RUSH, my Dad was a huge fan because of the drummer...this guy Niel Peart. I can remember being a little kid sitting in the passenger side of his SAAB 9000, listening to Rush records....Some of the best memories being a little kid...

Well in life you are very influenced in those first few years and RUSH became one of my favorite bands. I am not really sure why though, I don't really listen to that much classic rock but something draws me to them. Neil Peart is one unique individual his drumming is controversially the best on earth, but it doesn't stop there. The guy is a legitimate bad ass and not the 'I'll punch in your face type'. He rides his BMW motorcycle from gig to gig all over the world, talented cyclist, lives in a cabin in Ontario, and overcame some serious adversity in his life. How he dealt with it was even more legit...

Neil wrote a book a few years back titled 'Ghost Rider' lost his wife and daughter in a 6 month span, and decided instead of curling up in a ball that he would attack the mess he was in, how he would do this was via motorcycle...I really believe how you handle a bad situations defines you as a human being. The way I look at it you have 2 choices, curl up in a ball and feel sorry for yourself or give it hell doing whatever you do. Option 2 will always come out on top...I have to applaud the guy, getting me to read a book is an impossible feat, and I did read his book. Actually finished it on the beach in Malibu a few weeks after graduating college. None the less, the guy dealt with some serious shit, and did so via interstate highways, I am a true believer in therapy by road. There is something about driving that makes you figure out life...

So here I stand, at yet another cross roads, thinking about taking a bit of inspiration for Sir Peart. Experiencing a similar situation to he, I think it is about time to step it up a notch...I have been looking at Ducati's and think it is time to purchase a monster, something about the raw spirit of this bike draws me to it, i have the time to get to the west coast and back this summer (Matt you gonna be home?). Wish me luck lets see how this goes.

quick vid of the man himself, just watch it, i think you will appreciate...he is a magician.

aluminum sex!

2009-05-28T15:19:00.000-07:00

This bike has been a long time coming, Matt has been campaigning the covert for a while but transition stepped it up a notch in launching this new iteration of the bike. I don't understand why the rest of the bike industry does not take a hint from the great folks at transition bikes, they are consistently putting out exactly what people want in a great mountain bike...clean lines, durable goods, and great customer service service. Not to mention they were gracious enough to invite us out to Belingham Washington this summer to hang out at the factory and ride the local stuff.

the other day i received a comment on my face book account that was something to the effect of 'man you love transition don't you'...I do, and I could be on any bike i want at this point in life, i choose to ride them because they are a rider owned company that knows how to build a fucking awesome mountain bike. I will be ordering this bike in the next few days.

See what people are saying about this bike here

moab - fruita - junction

2009-05-20T12:13:00.000-07:00

Quite a few mountain bikers travel to both Utah and Colorado each year to ride Moab and Fruita simply because the riding in both states is world class. What most people miss when they get to into either town are the true gems spending most of their time on the over hyped, overridden, and least interesting trails. Each of us made the same mistakes when we were rookies riding in the west but we have learned…This past week was the absolute best I have had on a mountain bike in the past 12 years. 6 rides in 3 days with no rest except for food and beer.

We flew into SLC where Justin picked us up and we immediately headed into the Wasatch with a full moon. Got into Fruita at about 3 am mountain time where Matt and his buddy Richard were waiting with some serious IPA’s. The next morning we got up and hit some of the favorites in Fruita which were pretty good but the wind was blowing us off the ridges. ‘Moore Fun’ is pretty rad and advertised as the ‘most technical trail in Fruita’, well it’s pretty technical but we smoked it, worked out the cob webs and got ready for the next day.

The second day was spent in Grand Junction which is littered with great trails with big exposures and some pretty epic steeps. After calling some buds who had run the trail system out here before we found the trails and took off. Matt, Justin, and I found some great steeps that were a blast I felt like I was in the original Kranked movie when ‘skiing’ your bike down cinder steeps was cool.

After finishing up our loop at junction we jumped in the car and headed west for Moab. Getting into town rather late we decided it was a ‘good idea’ to sprint to the top of amasa back (about a 3 mile climb) so we could hit one of our Moab favorites ‘Jackson’s’. I had serious reservations about the amount of light we had getting on the trail at about 6:30 but in matt’s cool and collect manner he said ‘dude we are fine’. Well with dark looming I stepped up the pace and got us to the top at about 7:15 when we started heading down. If you haven’t ridden Jackson’s you need to it is one of the best trails in Moab but you need to be on your game. It contains some technical and exposed sections that are only feet from a 500 ft plummet into the Colorado river below. That said we finished the trail brail style with the last half mile in complete darkness. Jackson’s is best ridden at sun down with the low light reflecting off of the red walls of the canyons that line the Colorado can only be described as ‘epic’.

Once we got back to the car, my gimmick ‘glow in the dark’ pedals were actually glowing, never thought I would get to use that feature but hey whatever. Justin powered up his stereo with a metal band called ‘the sword’, Bob proceeded to throw running start metal fists at the silhouettes of the giant cliffs above Cane Creek road, you would have had to have been there.

The next day we woke up, fired down some pancakes and headed up to porcupine rim. Probably one of the most ridden trails in Moab, the best portion lies above the normal drop point. Due to heavy rain and snow pack we couldn’t ride the descent into porcy proper. It’s pretty funny to think back to our first time on porcupine rim, we all almost died due to exhaustion which im sure the 30 hour drive the day before didn’t have anything to do with but regardless it’s a great ride. Back to town for pizza and beer and a quick rest, then back to the bikes.

I really wish I could talk about the final trail we rode in Utah but I can’t. Started out riding high desert bermed corners with ledge drops scattered through out. It was the kind of trail that had me laughing while carving turns and roosting desert dust. Took a break halfway down with a few PBR’s which was probably a mistake. The remaining few miles were some of the most technical of the entire trip. Massive rock step downs, exposures, and drops.

Each year we seem to find more to ride and push the envelope in Moab. Is it North Shore style gnar? Absolutely not but make no mistake there is some challenging stuff in Moab that forces you to be on it. I guess I’ll have to wait until the fall to get my next Utah fill. Justin, see you then.

worlds most perfect automobile...

2009-04-29T09:28:00.000-07:00

I am a huge Audi fan been one for years, I finally got to the point where i could purchase one of my favorites this year the s4. That said Audi's latest gem, the R8 has gotta be one of the cleanest vehicles on the road and this guy took it to another level. Total storm trooper look but oh so clean...

Audizine is a great forum check out the feature from GR8 Ghost HERE

Kick out the jams…

2009-04-28T06:07:00.000-07:00

So the reverend talked me into going to see the Kings of Leon the other night here in Pittsburgh. I was a bit skeptical for a few reasons:

1. It was a big arena show which I haven’t been to in 10 years
2. Tickets were pretty pricey (more than $25 is to much)
3. I just wasn’t sure they were my gig to see live.

Well they exceeded all expectations, the show was awesome the stand out tracks were the first 2…They started off with ‘crawl’ and went directly into ‘my party’ which are my 2 favorites. One note, there was to many college kids with hollister shirts and fedoras, standing their with their chicks sporting miserable faces doing this stupid sway. This is rock n roll kids not maroon 5, get with it.

Oh and another song that I absolutely loving right now THE BRONX – Inveigh, one of the best full lunged yells I have heard in a while right around the 2:22 mark. Check it:

It made the river taste like whiskey!!!

2009-04-18T06:27:00.000-07:00

I have been living out of a laptop and a backpack for the past few months it's been nuts, so when I landed in Pittsburgh yesterday from a trip NYC for business i wasn't surprised when I got a txt to get to the HE IS LEGEND show in Pittsburgh at a spot called the moose lodge.

I love he is legend and despite wearing a neatly pressed oxford shirt and a blazer i had to make it. Luckily i had a black t shirt in my bag. Talk about contrast Manhattan to a grungy metal show in a super blue collar spot in Pittsburgh, i don't know what end is up anymore.

spring is good...and so is Iggy Pop

2009-03-30T16:21:00.000-07:00

So fresh off a trip to europe I got back to the US and immediate gathered my life together (my life being my bike) and shipped it to Salt Lake City. 1 Week from today the gang and I are meeting in SLC, driving over to Colorado to ride Fruita, then heading back to Moab.

It seems like every year I am taking a new bike out west positive it is 'the bike' for the job. This year is no exception, but i think i nailed it this time my 05 heckler frame with some juicy bits. I pretty much have it exactly where i want it, it can climb all day and haul ass in the rough stuff with no complaints. Here she is:

Frame: 05 Santa Cruz Heckler (found this in the back room at the shop)
Fork: Fox 36 Talas
Wheelset: Mix of chris king and dt hugi laced to velocity rims with atom lab white spokes
Tires: An old favorite tioga 2.3 yellow kirin - sadly they dont make them anymore but i stock piled them
Cranks: XTR
Drivetrain: x.0 x.9
tubes: yes
Chain: some German gold thing (this is about as loud as i get)
Pedals: odyssey purple plastic they glow in the dark, seriously.

I associate everything to music, and right now Iggy Pop - I Wanna Be Your Dog is getting the nod, i was watching Transporter 3 the other night and fell in love with this song.

word cannot describe this

2009-03-28T15:06:00.000-07:00

please please please take the time to watch this...

'I can tell you keep yourself in good shape'

copenhagen...bike vids...rock n' roll

2009-03-17T18:16:00.000-07:00

I am off to Copenhagen and Sweden for a few days with my twin bro's and LG, it should be pretty ridiculous and i will update my blog while i'm there (i think) but who really knows...i gave up beer and pretty much drinking for a while to healthy out but i anticipate getting into some weird stuff over there.

so check out this new Barred For Life teaser, i am so excited about this video, it's so new school its old:

Barred For Life Teaser 2 from Bjorn Aunet on Vimeo.

And one more item here, this band crashdiet (there is a German umlaut in there somewhere).They were doing this revamped hair metal sound that was pretty fresh until the lead singer hung himself. buzkill

Springs Slopestyle Footage

2009-02-24T10:30:00.000-08:00

Check out this video Don Hampton put together of the slope style demo late summer this years. Came out really good they really captured some of the great light that we had in the late days. The shot of Spangler getting loose with the paintball gun his hilarious. It is pretty cool to see those lips my brothers and built getting some coverage…we broke our backs for about 2 days shaping and packing…Brunger came up big with the atv water hookup.
'that was crazy, ok white flag'

While I’m talking about springs, it was in the last decline issue here is a quick shot of the spread. It was a good time riding and shooting with those guys that weekend (minus the rib i broke). 7 Springs has some serious management issues let’s hope the guys running the program this year pull their head out of there asses and realize the great potential they are sitting on if they would just commit to it. Hopefully we will be building there again this summer.

I found some crazy unreleased cky tracks last night…Songs like ‘Tunnel’, ‘Drag Me Down’, and ‘no one hears you’. I have been a long time fan since basically high school and never heard these songs until last night, awesome.

There new album Carver City comes out May 19th 2009 apparently it’s amazing we will see.

josh pekich

2009-01-22T17:50:00.000-08:00

so back in high school when i was building bikes for a living this annoying kid used to always stop by the shop and ask for tools, his name was josh pekich. well josh and i ended up being close buds and he is one of the most dedicated trail builders and riders i have ever met, creative style, great eye and smooth. he just got a full page spread in dig and deserves some props. congrats bro.

it's funny because everything josh was mentioning was pretty much our life growing up in the neighborhood

Check out the last quote, i have been trying to figure out how to say the same thing for years and josh nailed it. 'I would like to be the only art director in town that goes home and cruises around on a little kids bike after work'...words to live by, there isn't a damn thing wrong with having a real job and being a killer when the 9-5 is over, it will keep you real, i promise.

gorillapod!

2009-01-19T17:44:00.000-08:00

So after a few to many red stripes in jamaica i clicked the 'buy it now' option on a gorillapod (been wanting one forever). After a 3 week transit time from japan i got it and started playing around with it. The thing is awesome, allows you to put your digi slr in some crazy places (in my case top of a door and pull up bar). It's great because you can shoot super low iso speed and slow shutter to get some great results...here are my first attempts at glory.
The Device

Livingroom

shoes! my sb's

doing work aka acting like it

being an idiot all snowed in

romantic

old school lust

2009-01-06T07:10:00.000-08:00

So I walk into the shop yesterday and there it is my old school object of lust a 1997 Trek Y Five-0, I remember sitting in my room listening to Jethro Tull when I was about 13 just staring at this bike in the catalogue pissed off because I would never own one. It's so funny how your tastes change over the years...It was cool as hell to see this just sitting around though...

throwback brothers

2009-01-01T14:28:00.000-08:00

my brothers good buddy dan posted this pic of them and the rest of their crew back when they were knee high but working at woodward camp and building better lines than most 18 year old guys around here.

here is the hilarious facebook screener

this makes me feel funny in the pants

2008-12-29T19:15:00.003-08:00

gallardo playing in the snow, do me a favor and just listen

christmas, jamaica, land slides, and more punk bike

2008-12-24T09:54:00.001-08:00

merry christmas managed only 1 mall trip this season, i say i win, favorite shot from last years

i am off to jamaica on saturday for a week of nothing but cliff diving and snorkeling no bikes, computers, or cell phones

looks like global warming if you believe in it is taking a toll on our favorite technical singletrack here in pa

one of the most miserable points of punk bike

norcal legend Mark Weir

brunger's efficient pedaling bike, custom fab disk tabs and sticky dh tires

then it all went sideways

2008-12-17T14:55:00.001-08:00

here is the video of me getting broken off at the punk bike...

Utah '09

2008-12-17T08:56:00.001-08:00

initial discussions and ridiculous emails have begun:
Matt' Must do's
- Jacksons at the end of the day.
- Porc from the top.
- Portal (not to self: get legs in shape for Poisen Spider climb).
- Clear the big dj line and act like we just won a Crankworx slopestyle.
- throw some hate around the jeep crew.
- breakfast at Jailhouse Pancakes w/ Torque.
- Gold Lion chorus
- flipwhip, you won't

Found this over on the life of loam blog, http://coastalcrew.blogspot.com/...im definately not cool enough to rock a purple derailure but it would be cool if these hit production

living the dream, or so they say

2008-12-15T13:10:00.001-08:00

The good old punk bike enduro, an annual north east favorite that brings out every freak that likes to ride gnarly terrain on 2 wheels. This year was probably the most fun I have had in my 5 years of doing the event. Western PA received about 2 inches of snow on the already soaking wet ground a few days before, the weather for the event was about 47 degrees at 11:00 am when the bell rang. You do the math there and that makes for some soggy nasty terrain. Every year you plan for serious mud but this year I put some extra time into preparation, digging out old spike dh tires from ’98, extreme conditions chain lube, some mud off substance I found in the back room at the shop from 1989, and even a trendy dh mud flap made out of an old tube.

my heckler acting as a can coozie for a hip PBR

The first DH is one of my favorite, if you don’t get out to the front fast on the first stage you get jammed up behind all the xc guys that ‘think’ it’s a good idea to ride a rigid bike bike. It’s a blast watching the end of the pack pile up in the crank high slop that covers the steep chute into the creek known as ‘endless valley’. Maybe it was the massive amounts of sun and little creatures ale I took in down in Australia or my chronic asthma that was killing me but whatever the case I was hurting on this ride. The 6 PBR’s I tossed in my camelback didn’t help either. Each stop pretty much had a quarter barrel of beer waiting for us thanks to Troeggs brewing, who really does a bang up job sponsoring MTB events.

Brunger, oh Dave Brunger…long time buddy of mine calls me up a few days before saying ‘wait until you see my bike and costume’…I ask ‘well does it have gears?’ he responds ‘I think’ what the hell kind of answer is that. Well he didn’t let anyone down, controversially he had the best costume there a giant pink care bear, riding around on a 1990 pink and teal cruiser that he welded disk tabs on, rolling on sticky rubber maxxis minion dh tires. We got a bit ahead of the pack and ended up on our own riding the last 2 stages of the race out, the absolute funniest part of punk bike was Spurk and I watching Dave walk his rainbow cruiser up a major route (9-10) in a stuffed care bear outfit covered in mud with no one around him. I can’t imagine what all the church goers and overly tanned teenage girls were thinking driving by.

I managed to sort of end my day about half way through, there is a second huge downhill that puts you out in a church parking lot. Hanging back a bit in the pack on one stage to talk with some buds out riding moto I came into the last dh riding alone and fast. With about 150 screaming people watching it’s sorta hard not to let it all hang out, and lets face it I jaw a lot about riding dh…Anyways, something went sideways in my run which put me into an oak tree at full speed, Oak Tree 1 – Me 0. My blingy wtb seat didn’t survive, my bars bent, I think I destroyed the internals on my fox 36 TALAS, and I got my bell rung pretty hard.

This is yours truly seconds before the tree in the foreground got even

One really cool note was WTB and Santa Cruz legend Mark Weir showed up for the event, I should have noticed the giant fumanchu facial hair and $6,000 nomad but I didn’t until post ride. Guy’s an animal.

Here are some pictures that I thieved from the inter-web mainly from dirtrag so check out www.dirtragmag.com, I didn’t bother with a camera I had to make room for beer.

massive pumpkin fail

2008-12-12T07:51:00.000-08:00

This is what happens when you go to another continent and forget about the pumpkins on your back porch from the halloween party, they make for a great photo.

Sunday is the punk bike enduro, it's big news here in PA, we were hoping for cold weather but not so much. Good ol' weather.com is calling for 45 and sunny, with a fresh snow pack eager to melt it is going to be a gongshow of mud and fried bearings. Can't wait to get my weak legs back on the bike and kill myself

cheers

goodthings

2008-12-08T19:36:00.000-08:00

its been a hellish few days here in the north east, i got a case of frost bite on my feet yesterday trying to pedal in some snow but it's all good. western PA is starting to see the light when it comes to gravity induced mtb trails, our local clubs and governments are beginning to sign onto the notion, welcome to 2008 PA.

taking advantage of the junkstyle weather to get all of my bikes running to status quo, i plan on riding each of them equally this winter which is a departure from years past.

took a solo walk the other day for about 2 hours to scout this sweet little zone about 5 minutes from my pad, definitely looking up for the dh track.

one from 'the room'

palilla oregon

2008-12-07T15:23:00.000-08:00

matt just sent me these photos from a solo epic he did with mt. hood as the backdrop in oregon. beautiful terrain the trail is Surveyer's Ridge and beautiful bike to boot. im jealous

snow?

2008-12-05T15:34:00.000-08:00

it's snowing here, all the fun lines at the local hills are burried for the winter so i guess this video is appropriate. i have pretty much told myself i would let my skis get dusty this winter but vids like that put the bug back in me. pretty sick little edit to 'Of Montreal' which helps me keep my street cred with the indie kids, my girl jeans dont fit anymore i gotta keep up somehow...crap

viiiiiiiiideooooz

2008-12-04T13:25:00.001-08:00

Best mtb flick this year, you heard it here first.

Barred For Life Teaser from Bjorn Aunet on Vimeo.

and a straight up mental clip of Garrett Reynolds riding bmx from the nike 6.0 site

and a dude doing a 353 foot drop on skis, yeah read that again

throw another shrimp...you know the rest

2008-12-03T17:11:00.000-08:00

so many great photos from austrailia...and not the facebook 'here is my girls and i partying kind'...

couple from the weekend w/ bike check

2008-12-02T17:11:00.000-08:00

i have been basically keeping the camera in the car because i get irritated when i dont have it. took a few photos while driving around this weekend.

continuously impressed with the level of no nonsense my heckler is, no complicated pivots, no creaking...just never fails me and at 28 lbs with winter tires and 5+ inches of travel im stoked.

a year ago first ride out

glamor shot on thanksgiving after slogging through crap

2002 bmw 330xi all wheel drive, another tank that lets me go anywhere this is the heckler of the car world <3

Punk Bike Enduro PA Pride Dec 14th

2008-12-02T06:17:00.000-08:00

its that time of year again, time for the sloppiest nastiest race you can ever imagine. This will be my 6th ish punk bike race and every year it goes off better than the year before. Last year was awesome because I fried a $900 set of ultra bling-blau i9 wheels hopefully my equipment fairs better this year.

for those of you unfamiliar with the race, Pittsburgh based publication DIRT RAG puts the event on. It is a multi staged race with barrels of tasty brew hidden throughout the hills. It is with almost certainty that I say this is the most fun and miserable bike ride/race you will ever do.

here are a bunch of photos I stole from John Pratt’s gallery, he is a superior lens man.

you get the idea

brunger & i circa 06

soda

dan spurk, we used to ride bikes with him...

sick whistler teaser

2008-12-01T06:43:00.000-08:00

makes me wish it wasnt winter...

On The Line - Trailer from Goldstein Productions on Vimeo.

gluteus maximus

2008-11-29T06:12:00.000-08:00

i am back state side trying to get into the swing of things, but i figured this would be a pretty funny post...anyone that asks how austrailia was i give the same answer, amazing until the last day

maybe it was karma because i joked about how many things can kill you in that country but both dr's and myself are about 95% sure i got bit by a poisonous spider and the internet tells me it was this guy. where? right on my ass try flying for 24 hours with a worsening wound right on the sweet spot, it sucks...

my favorite alice cooper song of all time was one which opened with a monolouge from vincent price which went as follows...not so fond of this song anymore.

'Leaving lepidoptera - please, don't touch the display,
little boy, aha cute! Moving to the next aisle we have
arachnida, the spiders, our.. finest collection.
This friendly little devil is the heptothilidi,
unfortunately harmless. Next to him, the nasty licosa
raptoria, his tiny fangs cause creeping ulcerations of
the skin *laugh*. And here, my prize, the Black
Widow. Isn't she lovely?.. and so deadly. Her kiss is
fifteen times as poisonous as that of the rattlesnake.
You see her venom is highly neurotoxic, which is to say
that it attacks the central nervous system causing
intense pain, profuse sweating, difficulty in
breathing, loss of consciousness, violent convulsions
and, finally.. death. You know what I think I love the
most about her is her inborn need to dominate,
possess. In fact, immediately after the consummation
of her marriage to the smaller and weaker male of the
species she kills and eats him - *laugh* oh, she is
delicious.. and I hope he was! Such power and dignity
- unhampered by sentiment. If I may put forward a
slice of personal philosophy, I feel that man has ruled
this world as a stumbling dimented child-king long
enough! And as his empire crumbles, my precious Black
Widow shall rise as his most fitting successor!'

stolen facebook photos

2008-11-28T10:07:00.000-08:00

A bunch of photos i stole off my brothers facebook page from british columbia, this is out on some shifty road in the middle of nowhere in BC...we probably should have been eaten out here...

Cool shot of the truck in the plains all loaded up.

All the maps spread out on the hood of the bee-em-dub-ya prior to departure, gotta love it

HAHAHAHAHHA...

2008-11-25T17:47:00.000-08:00

this is hilarious...alpine stars moto dude goon ride, check out the erratic whip, im crying...listen for gratuitous throttle...

we are north American scum

2008-11-22T04:25:00.000-08:00

wed night we jumped in the car and made a game time decision to go north instead of south...well, probably the best decision we ever made.

I have tons of pictures from the road trip that I will post later but i have to say i went to one of the most amazing places i have ever been today. i think that the beach was 7 mile but could be wrong. we had to drive this sketchy dirt windy road out to the coast but ended up at a white sand beach with no one on it. here are a couple of pictures but this is the type of place that changes you, truly amazing.

do me a favor click on each of these, they are some of the best photos we have taken, matt gets credit for a few, incredible work.

this is a postcard

splash

i see hawaii!

ben, sports illustrated swimsuit

sex

katoomba

2008-11-17T22:13:00.000-08:00

So the strategy on this trip was basically to see the city side of Australian on the first leg then get out in the outback on the second. As i sit here writing this we are packing for a road trip into nowhere ville Australia on the southern coast.

Matt and i drove up to 'Katoomba' in the blue mountains, and asked a guy in a local gear shop what was the best 'bush walk' to take in the town. I dont think either of us realized how sketch the hike was. It covered about 10 miles of this insane cliff infested mountain side with ladders, if you made the wrong move on the ladders you were dead...not kidding. That said it was some of the most beautiful terrain i have ever seen.

The town was sorta nuts once the clouds rolled in at night reminded me of an old horror movie.

pictures!

check out the map

View Larger Map

chinese democracy

2008-11-16T11:59:00.000-08:00

it always seems like the best days are the ones you don't plan, well yesterday was no exception. The previous night we had planned and planned to go out but all ended up passing out watching re runs of 'it's always sunny in Philadelphia'...

We woke with great intentions to go surfing but the weather and break wasn't cooperating so we ended up at Manly beach eating unreal food and drinking great beer. Here are some pictures.

Matt and I are hours away from 'hiring' a car (Australians don't use the word 'rent') takes some getting used to...and heading to the blue mountains to camp for the night. Guns n Roses finally came out with their long awaited new album, hell froze over yesterday as well...I hope it's good.

the devil's in the details

2008-11-15T17:10:00.000-08:00

yesterday was pretty good, checked out some more of the coast and recovered from a proper hangover.

our finest scotch whiskey...

2008-11-14T14:05:00.000-08:00

the exchange rate is pretty powerful here in Australian, $1 usd = $1.65 au, so we decided to get a bottle of johnny walker blue because it was a steal at $250 AU. I don't know what happened in the past year but we have all become scotch connoisseur's i guess it's age...

matt and I hit up the grocery store and made some pretty fantastic artichoke dip and cheese plates for the happy hour get together ben architected.

we went surfing again at bondi yesterday, the water was actually pretty cold...i think we are going to head out into the 'outback' here in the next day or so to get a taste of the real austrailia, pretty psyched and should come back with a ton of good photos.

until then, out <3

started recreational, ended kinda medical...

2008-11-12T19:59:00.000-08:00

wow, crazy couple of days surfing like crazy at bondi beach, eating kangaroos and dodging bat droppings from the trees above...
more opera house

opening 'the' bottle of blue, more on this later.

Matt getting religious

flat white Aussie style

surfing at bondi

salmon eggs Benedict

bats hanging out in the trees

kangaroo pizza, delicious

kangaroo, seafood, and, goat cheese pizza

Sydney Skyline

illegal redbull

2008-11-10T21:47:00.000-08:00

So today we ran around downtown sydney eating good food then hit the beach. i am sort of a red bull junkie so was pretty stoked to see this bottled red bull that has some ingredient that us state side cant get...my heart didnt blow up so that is a good thing.

we have run into a bunch of crazy people here in sydney cab drivers, millionaires and just random folks at bondi beach. all seem to be very interested in talking to us about the election of obama. i have to say i am impressed with their level of interest in American politics which i could personally care less about. that said the world community seems to be pretty psyched on the election of obama, draw your own conclusions.

we ate like kings today, sun burned a bit but it was a really good day, i can officially call myself a surfer finally got up on a surf board at bondi today...

Sydney!

2008-11-09T23:57:00.000-08:00

ok so after 24+ hours, 4 cities, 1 hotel, countless delays and a lost bag I arrived in Sydney Australia with nothing but a cheap white t shirt, jeans and a backpack. But i am stoked because i really need nothing. Vibe is great here, palilla got in this am and we walked down to the opera house, spent majority of the day at Bond beach.

summer photos

2008-11-07T11:20:00.000-08:00

i never posted any photos from our whistler british columbia trip back in mid august, sitting here waiting for a flight bored so here you go. my brothers drove straight from pittsburgh to vancouver international to pick me up, they are madmen.

respect the fish...carcharodon calcarius

2008-11-06T11:48:00.001-08:00

i have great friends that send me emails like this when i am about to go on a surfing trip in austrailia...thanks dan, im sure i wont post up that wrestling psycho outfit of you when i get back.

wnkv

Dan's Email Retort:

Crap…..no not the wrestling picture.
Sending someone a shark picture before they go to Australia is like telling an actor to break a leg before a show. It is good luck.
Out of all the people I know that have gone to Australia, none of them have been eaten or bitten by a shark after getting an “air jaws” photo.

shred

2008-11-05T15:44:00.000-08:00

found this while reading some boards, aiken, best trails section i have ever seen...

Mike Aitken from Fitbikeco. on Vimeo.

take off to the land down under in 2 days, gonna be rad. When i return we are scoping a tight little zone not far from my new residence that should prove to be a great dh training ground over the winter, stoked for austrailia, stoked to come home as well. good stuff.

out

society

2008-11-03T15:43:00.001-08:00

society has gone downhill in a flaming glory. went to the 'mall' this weekend to see what all the hoopla was about, and found the below rack. If you are a guy and have bought a shirt or hat that looks like this you should just call it quits because you lose...

funniest you tube video to date

2008-11-03T11:56:00.000-08:00

i know above is a very bold statement, but nothing has made me laugh this hard in a long time. fast fwd to about 2:38 in the video grab a beer, sit back and prepare to rewind...over and over...

diablo

2008-11-01T14:27:00.000-07:00

so 3 yahoos from pittsburgh decide to take a trip to diablo out in jersey for a little fall riding and only come back with 2 horrible road trip photos of the drive out. diablo was running fast and perfect, i got conquered by a wall ride and piled up pretty hard, whatever.

mountain bikes

2008-10-29T18:08:00.001-07:00

Built my brother Jay a blindside...He put blind faith in me to spec it, i think it turned out well. This is a mountain bike made for riding in the mountains, leave your skinny jeans and techno colored sunglasses in the truck homeboy.

Short Spec:
Frame: Transition Blindside Small
Shock: Fox DHX 5.0
Fork: B0xxer
Thompson all over the place
Tubes: yes
Cranks: gravity light 165's for schralping rocks
Wheels: Transition
Headset: spins
Brakes: code
you know the rest...

apple bottom jeans

Our dog pissed off because he cant ride...

clouds

2008-10-27T19:17:00.001-07:00

cell phone shot of western pa clouds...rad

WHY SO SERIOUS!!!!!!!!!!

2008-10-27T06:11:00.001-07:00

I had a party and put on some make up.

Quick Mention Pittsburgh Jam For Aitken

2008-10-16T10:25:00.000-07:00

My buddy josh was riding with Aitken when he went down a few weeks ago in PA. He sent me this flyer to post up for a Jam they are having to raise funds for him in PA. Below is the info:

Music: Surf Rock n Roll

2008-10-14T17:38:00.000-07:00

I have such a soft spot for full blown rock n roll, and this is punk/rock/whatever stupid genre you want to pigeon hole it into but Rise Against is rad. Enjoy

Check them out here:

www.myspace.com/riseagainst

Maine - NH

2008-10-13T05:57:00.001-07:00

Had some down time waiting for a flight back to Pittsburgh so I checked out the maine coast and a bit of new hampshire. The more time i spend in new england the more i love it.

maine fall style

guess they dont like 'massholes' in maine

main coast thanks to the trusy iPhone

salmon popover

sha'-me-Leon, it's french

2008-10-12T07:35:00.000-07:00

PDX Matt just sent me these pics of MY bike that I bought back in high school I almost cried when i saw the abomination he created. No really the old school chameleon USA made was one of the best hardtail frames ever created. Long Live SID blue.

bored out of my skull

2008-10-09T15:52:00.000-07:00

sitting in Boston with a delayed flight...So here a couple of iPhone pictures from crankworx 08 up in British Columbia canada...all scenic stock style, but hey it's something...

you would be hard pressed to find a more beautiful city than vancouver to fly into

sea to sky on the way to whistler, main route for the 2010 winter games. there are whales in that rubish.

white fang belonged to the art gallery downstairs

Salem MA

2008-10-08T17:31:00.001-07:00

Went to Salem tonight, and I have to say that there probably isnt a better town in the US to be on a cool october evening. So much history here i could get lost in this place for days.

Below are some iPhone shots from the witch memorial downtown. Drove me nuts i almost never leave home without my digital slr but this trip i did, had to pack light.

Witches and Pilgrims from the mayflower burried in the same spot now that is diversity which was an old wooden ship...

Finished off my walk with some tasty lobster claws...

sad day

2008-10-07T18:13:00.000-07:00

Just got word from my buddy Josh out in eastern PA he was riding with Mike Aitken and he went down hard going large. He is in bad shape and needs some support from the riding community.

Healing vibes to he and his family, please click this link to help:

Redbull Rampage - Evolution

2008-10-07T03:09:00.001-07:00

I know this stuff is posted on every site known to man but I had to do my part. The 2008 Redbull Rampage had so much speculation around it because of the wood build up but this weekend took the sport of mountain biking to a new level. Looking back at what used to be 'big' is almost laughable, The no footed can off the drop was the highlight of this vid for me.

Watch It
http://freecaster.tv/1000006_1006059

Picture Credit Goes to NSMB.com

hucking is back

2008-10-02T10:20:00.000-07:00

i guess it never went away but it isnt fashion these days, tight jeans and piles of stickers on your heat tube are...I'm def not a hucker but i have serious respect for those guys who are. dan just sent me this vid of the 'toonie' drop up in bc, with the rampage happening today out in utah thought this fits nicely in the mix.

7 Springs Slopestyle

2008-10-02T08:30:00.001-07:00

Way overdue post of some of the bangers from the slopestyle course we helped build and shot a few weeks ago up at springs. The line was really well built, joe did all the wood and we did the dirt. Went like this...rollin off the lift hill, long and low stepdown, boner air or quarter, trick stepup, then a big finisher kicker...
I want his autograph

spangler again

McCaul Superman

syler again superman that hoe

VanDine

Randy boosting the rollin

dump 3 what?

VanDine ripping his signature move

Joe throwing some style, shortly after he did a huge tuck backflip on the big step up, landed and started yelling 'i broke my leg!', spiral fracture of his tibia sucks man...

Tyler again with a nothing

West Virginia Chrome

2008-10-01T20:23:00.001-07:00

This is what happens when you want to do an xc ride with the wed night crew and you realize that you forgot your helmet with a light mount. Further evidence that duct tape does in fact save lives.

Honorable mention when i pulled up to ride helmetless with nothing but a hat on Hubert mumbled 'im sure that will do fine'...darwinism

Box Jellyfish & Vegemite

2008-10-01T06:20:00.000-07:00

this morning I made the move and purchased my ticket to austrailia, spending the better part of november in the land down under. Sorta dreading the flight.

Lover boi aka 'palilla' and I are going to try to jam our 26" street bikes in duffle bags so we can do some schralping at some local street spots. This is going to be amazing, tonic fabrications represent.

Trials is not dead

2008-09-30T10:03:00.000-07:00

This video is rad...trials is awesome, so is hucking but love this:

Danny Macaskill : Next level street trials

Music: CKY

2008-09-30T08:13:00.000-07:00

More great fall music, low budget cky video produced about 5 few years back.

sculptin lipz

2008-09-29T10:43:00.000-07:00

My brother and I sculpting for the slopesteez demo at springs a while back.

Sean

2008-09-29T07:00:00.000-07:00

My close friend Sean sent me some pics of him blasting out in Gunnison CO, dude used to live here and was always the guy ready to guinea the burliest line we could find. Props Sean…that tuck is gangster…

Music: Lacrimas Profundere

2008-09-23T15:02:00.000-07:00

Something about fall just screams this band, fall beer is out and the music just fits the mood. Check out Lacrimas Profundere (bet you cant say that name correctly your first stab). I think they sound like vampires, but hey oct is approaching it works...

A Pearl

Ave End

Music: Hollywood Undead

2008-09-19T15:05:00.000-07:00

So my brothers buddy Carl turned me onto this band hollywood undead, they are sorta rad in a horrid way. Bunch of scene kids from LA that started pulling of this hardcore mall metal sound in a suprisingly good way.

Check them out, 'Undead' has this Ice T cop killer meets rise against feel. I'm into it...
http://www.myspace.com/hollywoodundead

Baaahhhston and l0bster

2008-09-17T17:06:00.001-07:00

So after an incredible day of steaming hot xc riding in western PA

I flew into Boston for work and filled my stomach full of fresh lobster claws at this swanky roof party for a software company we work with. This city is incredible.

My hotel sucks though

No Really I'm Online

2008-09-12T10:02:00.000-07:00

And back to adding content...my brothers and I were up at 7 Springs last weekend building sculpting dirt for the slope style demo they put on. Really cool event that came about thanks to Alpine Design. Super short notice rider list was:

Randy Spangler
Tyler McCaul
Eric Porter
Chris VanDine
George Ryan
Joe Prisel

Joe went down really hard doing a LARGE and in charge tuck back flip. He yelled down for me to get the shot, boosted off the big trick step up and over-rotated spiral fracturing his tibia and tearing some ligaments. Get better soon Joe.

So check out this video i just found searching the intrawebs, some of the absolute best footage of whistler trickage i have seen yet:

ENJOI

schralp

2008-09-12T08:24:00.000-07:00

Fired up the blog spot so i dont have to worry about writing html on the site...I have tons of photo's and cool stuff to post up so get ready.

Going to Sydney to visit ben very soon, box jellyfish sashimi will be in order

Beards <3