Holy Fit!

So to not have heard this news already you would have to be living in a non-wi-fi enabled cave or something. That is, the super-team is no more – Fit have split.

Tunney is well and truly on the ball and has already posted up a Fit obituary. Yeah OK, so it’s not really an obituary, since Fit ain’t dead and they’ve still got a legendary team, but it's pretty obvious that it's the new breed riders that keep the new breed dollars rolling in and it seems like all that is going to change. Moeller is going to have to pull a big, gold plated rabbit out of somewhere to keep Fit’s momentum going.

And then there's the rumours of a cult… at least of a new brand headed by Robbie called “Cult”. Really, if that is the name, you’ve got to give it to him for piss-take value, especially since the irony of it would be lost on the majority of kids that flock straight to it. And born-agains are usually pretty quick to renounce their bad old ways, so you gotta wonder what the hell is going to happen to all that old Fit stuff once the kids start worshipping the new Cult? Ebay glut.

Alright, so that was a bit of bullshit, but now for some semi, halfway, tenuously, somewhat related news. Lotek have a look at some new pair of samples up on their page:



Yep, looking nice, and you can also check Rich and Hoder talking the talk on some of the new Lotek stuff here.

BUT, while we're talking shoes, here's a little something from InterBike:



There is a new BMX specific brand of footwear called Almond that's about to drop. It was launched at Interbike and apparently the money behind it is from a "German brand of BMX frames" and the designers behind it are FBDesign who do work for Etnies, Es, Emerica, IPATH and Burton. So the credentials are there, looks like the colourways are there, hopefully there's some quality to match.

Zen Minimalism, Metal and Death

Well InterBike's out of the way and I managed to get through about 1/100th of stuff that was on show, but you can bet your titanium Ratchet axle that there'll be a flood of re-caps and reviews, reminders and re-launches coming up - so it ain't over yet.

I never did get round to saying anything about the morsels on offer at the Fly booth at InterBike and they've already posted up their re-cap. So you could check that here, or bear with me while I pick out the tasty bits:



So that's basically how it all looked - flat colours on white, simple graphics. Translated, the names of the frames and forks are Moon, Lakes, Mountains, Earth and Water. All very minimal and zen. But then, of course, there's the Pantera, which is more metal and death, but hey, you gotta stick with the classics.

That said, the Pantera forks are no more. And neither are the Tierras. Instead Fly'll only be making the Agua forks - the ones with the investment cast dropouts. And speaking of discontinued models, there was no sign of the Campillo frame on their stand either. I'm not sure whether or not this means my current ride is now officially an antique, but since it was one of the lighter frames going around (4.3 lbs) it'd be interesting in that it would be another manufacturer joining WeThePeople in moving away from lighter weight frames. Yeah, sounds doubtful.

Another fairly doubtful scenario is the mass re-emergence of brakes and that's just not going to happen until Fit's street kids put 'em back on. Regardless, Fly just keep pumping out brake related stuff - which is admirably untrendy:



Just a bunch of brake pads? Yeah, I suppose so, but apparently they're a different compound and are a bit fatter so you've got more rubber on rim, and they use a female bolt system to keep them looking tidy. Also the curved adjustment surfaces are integrated into the bolt and the pad so you've got a couple of less washers to faff about with. Incidentally Odyssey have just posted up some new pads and cables and are saying that the clear pads work the best for painted rims. So there you go.



Rigid straddle cable = less flex and easier set up.



Possibly the most boring photo I have ever posted, but anyway, it's a close up of their Spanish removable mount set up that Sergio explained in a web vid not long ago.



They dropped a new sprocket at InterBike as well - The Circulo. What did I tell you ... Zen.



The red stem pictured is a new topload stem. And like superstar they seem to be suggesting that you should run it upside down. Bottom load stems are officially hot right now.



And lastly, but definitely not least, a chance to have a decent look at the PC Ruben pedals. Fly are pretty much the last to jump on board with PCs, but at least they're not just hijacking a Wellgo and calling it Sliced Bread.

So in homage to the pedal, to the man, to the middle name of my first born, to no-footer to flatty wall rides (@1:11) and to Built to Spill:

That's Low Bro!

A few days ago Obama became the first US president to chair the UN security council and try to ban the bomb, then Stay Fit premiered and just blew that news out of the water (ahem). Now Diamondback in a selfish attempt to take out the controversial Low Top Tube 2010 award have dropped their own bombshell. They are now mass-producing bmx frames with co-linear top tube / seat stay geometry. That's right, a straight line between the head tube and rear drop out! Do I need to spell out the gravity of this? It's like we're standing on the edge of cliff - one more step and we'll all be riding trials bikes.



So this little rocker is Nicholi Rogatkin, he's 13, he's sponsored by Diamondback and that's his bike. And bro... it's low.

I've got to say that I had never heard of this guy, but something tells me that you're going to have to learn to pronounce his name properly, cause in a few years time he'll be everywhere and you'll have to see stuff like this. If you don't know what I'm talking about, here's where he was at when he was 12 (warning: mute it)



Ahh, kids these days and their 360 backflips. I remember when I was a boy we were just happy to hop a curb. Progress eh? I suppose if it's going to help him with his 360 flip-whips he can keep his co-linear, 180 degree, straight line, as-low-as-you-can-go geometry (what would you call that?), just as long as he doesn't start hopping around on stuff.

Edit: This just got posted up today. The kid is definitely not hopping around!

Odyssey / GSport: Get Frugal

Yeah, yeah fire engine red everything, but did you see that little flash of the new Odyssey Quadrant rim in there? There is a little more information out about this rim now. Specifically that it's pinned rather than welded, making it an economical alternative to the other Odyssey / GSport models. But, it's a pinned rim with a difference. The name Quadrant comes from the fact that it uses 4 pins rather than the standard 2 that hold most cheap rims together. This means that you wont get that annoying little step in the braking surface caused by the mis-alignment of the outer most edge of the rim wall. Simple ideas are often the best + everyone loves a bargain = winner.

There's also a new Ratchet hubguard that is forged rather than machined, so it's also going to save you some cash as well. It looks like this:



And apparently Odyssey have a new sprocket. They may or not save you money:

S&M WTF... what the fuck?

I'm sorry to do this to you, but I'm going to embed this. You have my sincere apologies for any skating or skaters that you might see, but this is something:



The S&M WTF. Being over here on the other side of the world I don't have that patriotic little piece of DNA that genetically pre-disposes me to loving everything that S&M do. But I like this. Sure all these ideas aren't going to work. Maybe even none of them will end up as practical, but it's a whole lot of radically different ideas packed into one bike. It'd be cool to ride the thing and see how it feels.

In case you didn't watch the video, here's the run down: The S&M WTF is a complete bike that weighs in at 20lbs without a piece of titanium in sight (and at a guess I'd say without any post-weld heat treatment either). The fork legs are shorter by 1/2". Wtf? To save weight. And the head tube is 5/8" shorter than a standard frame. That's got to really change the geometry of the frame - have they adjusted the BB height and head angle to compensate? Don't know.

Then there's the shorter pitch chain and the sprocket with little miniature teeth to fit the chain! Wtf? Apparently this allows for even smaller drive trains than what's around now. Read: 7 tooth rear driver. It's an interesting idea, but it's going to have to do some serious self-promotion before everyone rushes out for new sprockets, drivers and chains.

Next: The Black hole dropouts on fork and frame. Clearly it'll work on the fork, though I think people will need a little convincing as to the point of it, but on the back end? Wtf? How's that going to work? Really small drive trains with no chain adjustment sounds like chain slap hell to me.

And just for the record, not only does the hub have brass bushings replacing the driver bearings, but there are also little holes drilled in each of the driver teeth. It's all getting very cute.

Sunday @ InterBike

A closer look at some more of the Sunday stuff with Jim C videos shot by BMX feed.

This one's got the 3rd wave tubing, new removable mounts and cable guide system:



This one takes a pretty good look at the new completes that are looking damn nice:



This is kind of a Sunday product. It's Kink's rip of Sundays hollow drop outs and who better to introduce them than Jim himself with some words taken from his Facebook:

"Here it is! Bootleg hollow dropouts by my own distributor and former sponsor Kink! Wow!"

Animal @ InterBike 09

Animal were keeping it in the gutter at Interbike with a bit of a street stall:



Though the hardcore would be questioning whether a plastic peg was keeping it street, but really steel pegs? You're living in 2007. Who goes to InterBike in 2009 and drops a steel peg. Not Animal. The new Butcher peg has an aluminium inner and plastic outer sleeve, similar to the Demolition numbers. It's light and it slides good. Oh, and it has approximately 1/100th the lifespan of a steel peg. But don't be too hard on 'em, they've still got the OG 2.0's and Light 2.0's if you like steel. Check 'em here.

They were showing a multi-tool as well:



Go deaf watching the video here.