Tyrant BMX is really getting the season rolling. He regularly rents out Haven Skatepark and invites along the fixed-gear hooligans. He just threw down a BMX Jam at the Stratford Skatepark, and now he's got another one coming up on April 18th in Newington. As is the norm with the Tyrant crew, fixed gear/700CMX/tarck riders are welcome, and Tony's holding both a skid and bunny hop comp for the fixed riders. He's scored a ton of stuff from some great area sponsors.
From Tony: Come out and ride! The Newington Park has a bunch of wedges and mellow ramps, perfect for fixie freestyle. I'm going to do a bunch of contests including a skid contest as well as the bunnyhop. I'm awaiting feedback from a bunch of potential "free swag" sponsors, but I'm sure there will be lots of free merch. to go around!
In other Tyrant news, they're blowing out the rest of his Graffiti logo T's at a rock-bottom $10. Hit up the Tyrant site or MySpace to cop one.
Ben's is one of the few companies that has truly kept up with the demands of all types of cyclists, especially the urban ilk. Their mission is to bring you the highest quality products at the lowest possible prices. Their inventory rivals many wholesale suppliers. After perusing their site, give 'em a call as the site lists only a fraction of their total inventory. As the fixed cyclista blogosphere will tell you, the new Milwaukee Bruiser is one of the most coveted items available in the world of 700CMX/Trick Riding/Tarck right now, and it ain't even out yet. We recently had the opportunity to test ride the beast.
We're not going to let the cat out of the bag just yet, but let's just say their support will be HUGE.
Tony over at Tyrant has a write-up on his blog about the event, as well as a sneak peek into next weekend's plans. He posted a photoset to his flickr as well.
Thanks to Tony Tyrant, the Scorchers were invited to another night of private skatepark action at Haven in North Haven. This time Sean and Justin showed up to represent, and a bunch of the Tyrant crew reminded us that track bikes look silly next to BMXers at the 'park. This ain't no "The Come Up" crew, a bunch of Tyrant's guys also ride fixed in their daily lives. 32-18 makes for a terrible commute. Ghostship Matt was in attendance, as was TJ from the Hartford Bicycle Messenger Association, rocking his BMX. TJ's been hitting the streets on a geared road-bike for the last few, presumably because fixed became hip, and TJ is uber-anti-hip. Whatever, he's hella fast on anything with two wheels, so Austin, you better watch out!
As usual, Milnes was killing it. He nailed, several times, a 4-stair set. This was, however, a "4-stair" in skateboard parlance -- each stair being about 14" long...
Alternate view, without the pyramid run...
He also attempted some X-ups over the pyramid...
...as well as some wall rides down the "jersey barrier" angled wall...
Of course, all of this goes for nil when you've got crazy BMX kids hangin' as well. This one's Don Pavelka...
Then Tony Tyrant got out the broom and swept the not-quite-open full pipe...
Can't believe you pressed play on that one!
We got a few runs of Sean...
...as well as TJ ->
Ryan Schmidt in the full pipe...
I even attempted the pipe on the ol' clown bike...
...it wasn't so successful.
We even got Rick Craft, Haven's owner, out on the track bike...
Rick was known as Crazy Rick back in college, where he would routinely free climb 4 stories of brick wall to visit our dorm room rather than use the front door.
Great night. Thanks, Tony!
p.s. if you're in the 203 or the 860 (fark, if you're in the NY and can make it out and back on yer own) get in touch, as Tony's been fronting his own duckets for these events and running short in the end. We're psyched that he's willing to lose a little to make this happen, but would be even more excited if he could break even. If he makes extra cash, you get some back, so it's all good. Added bonus: some of the rules get a li'l relaxed after-hours. If you travel up from NY, or down from BOS for one of these events, the Scorchers will guarantee you go home with a little somethin' somethin', even if it is just a hangover.
Prolly's got this photo up of Zach from OPEN right in the middle of a no-handed nose manual. The pic's from Keena, so you know Zach had to pull this off like seventeen times in a row so Justin could get the "lighting" right. Can't wait 'til the shop opens in two weeks, so I can take a closer look at Zach's palms. There's gotta be some road rash.
Tyrant BMX is sponsoring a BMX Jam/Throwdown/Ho-down/Bro-down at the Short Beach Park Skatepark this Saturday in Stratford, CT. You'll need a waiver, which you can copy from Tyrant's flickr. There'll be product giveaways as well as some impromptu contests. There's also gonna be a ton of Tyrant gear for sale at rock-bottom pricing.
Directions to the Stratford Park from Central CT area: - 91 South to 95 South - 95 South to Exit 31 - Left at the bottom of the exit ramp onto South Ave. - Follow South Ave. to Main Street - Turn right on Main and follow for 1.6 miles - Turn left into South Beach Park / Dorne Drive - Park the car and get on your bike!
Get more info at Tyrant. Fixed/700CMX riders welcome!
Chris Wielk, friend to Print Brigade, regular at Prolly's Peel Sessions, and old school rollerblader extraordinaire hopped the Metro North from NYC Friday to get some riding time in New Haven. Chris brought with him one of the very few Milwaukee prototype bicycles in existence. Both Chris and his sexy bicycle are welcome in New Haven anytime!
Chris was a great time and we hope to have him up again. There'll be more photos as soon as we get the clearance to post 'em as there be some top secret parts on that whip. quick! zoom those pix!!. Also, be sure to check Justin Keena's flickr as he made both Chris and Sean do the same runs over and over and over and over again to "get the right lighting" or the "right angles" or "without that building". I feel bad for the skaters in abandoned Portland, ME warehouses he's usually shooting.
Not to be outdone Velocity is getting ready to drop new rims that will be 1mm deeper than H Plus Son's Formation Face and SL42 rims.
The lowdown from Velocity's President John Black:
"If all goes as planned, they should be readily available this spring....I hope. It is called the B43, because it is 43mm tall, making it 1mm taller than our very worthy and formidable competition. We were thinking of calling it the Brisbane 43, but decided that was too much so we shortened it to the B43. Then we discovered that was a nuke that was in the US arsenal, so I guess the name has a bit of a dual meaning." Courtesy of TrickTrack.
Tony Tyrant hipped me to this. Some BMXers with a blog post the Tom Mosher Hubba Ledge photo and unleash the hate. Total BMX vs. Fixed thing that I wasn't even aware of. In New Haven, the fixed and bmx crews often cross-over -- we even throw in prizes for first BMX in our alleycats. Oh well. Check it out here ---> thecomeupbmx. He then follows it up with another eloquent post.
