Thanks to Stephane Bar for sending this in, tight lil link….
Monthly Archives: January 2010
Light White Friday
DIY – Lightbike.
I can’t help it I just Love a light bike. It’s not for everyone I know, some people actually like a bit of weight (Weridos!) but today I thought I’d share some of the secrets for those looking to lighten your loads. Those who aren’t. Go and have another pie and come back when E’S done his next post.
I’ve done some ridiculous things in the hunt to make my bike lighter, it become an obsession, scouring the internet for alternative lightweight parts. Staying up all night bidding on EBay for that all important titanium nut. At the height of my obsession my bike weighed around 15 pound! But I never actually weighed it! That’s the sign of a true addict; it had to stop before my whole bike turned into mush. I’ve been in rehab now for many months and they say I’m doing well… Okay my bike still is stupid light but it is a little more sensible these days. In my experimentation I’ve basically looked at every part and made it lighter in some way. You can spend a lot of money getting your bike light but I found the best way is purchase an angle grinder and a decent drill and just attack it. Used wisely I recon you could shift a good few pounds in less than half an hour. Before we start just a quick disclaimer I do not recommend any of the following modifications to be used in conjunction with trick cycling! Thank You!!
Here we go weight weenies:
Brakes:Just take them off!There not needed! There just something the manufacturer puts on to pass some sort of regulations.
Cranks: Loads of weight can be shaved off your crank arms. Drill them shave them do whatever you want with them as long as you don’t do a lot of pedal to pedal whoppers and the like, your get away with it! I’m still waiting for plastic crank arms to be made..whos gonna be first?
Pedals:If you run st martin cranks or similar you’ll notice the pedals axles protrude through the arms a little bit doing nothing but keeping you from your lightweight dream. Cut them down for Pete’s sake.
Axles:same as the pedals. stick your finger down your pegs and see how much spare axle you have sticking out from your axle nut. Take your pegs off and cut those suckers down. X4….that’s some serious weight loss baby.
Tyres: Do lots of riding and wear the rubber down.
Stem:chop a mil or two off two of your stem bolts. I’m sure your bars will still hold just fine, the stem it’s self could always do with aluminum shave here and there.
Forks:There’s always some extra that can be shaved off the dropouts. Get rid of your head tube spacers and cut your fork head tube down to size. Do you know how thick and heavy that tubing is?? Get rid of as much as you can!!
Seat and post: This is my latest creation: a Khe seat shaved down, rails cut out and fused onto a pivotal seat post. A little bit crude but this gives me a seat that is lovely to grab and isn’t the size of armchair. The best bit is the seat weighs no more than a small bit of plastic…oh wait it is a small bit of plastic!!
Handlebars: Drill holes under your grips along your cross bar and even at the clamping area just don’t go to mad and drill near the bends.
Pegs:Doesn’t matter if you own a set of pegs already with holes in them, if you want your bike light drill some more!!
Spokes:stay clear of titanium they may work with road bikes but it’s not for us. Get some double butted and aluminium nipples.
Grips:get some nice thin ones or just wrap a bit of tape around if you’re really hardcore!
I can’t help it I just Love a light bike. It’s not for everyone I know, some people actually like a bit of weight (Weridos!) but today I thought I’d share some of the secrets for those looking to lighten your loads. Those who aren’t. Go and have another pie and come back when E’S done his next post.
I’ve done some ridiculous things in the hunt to make my bike lighter, it become an obsession, scouring the internet for alternative lightweight parts. Staying up all night bidding on EBay for that all important titanium nut. At the height of my obsession my bike weighed around 15 pound! But I never actually weighed it! That’s the sign of a true addict; it had to stop before my whole bike turned into mush. I’ve been in rehab now for many months and they say I’m doing well… Okay my bike still is stupid light but it is a little more sensible these days. In my experimentation I’ve basically looked at every part and made it lighter in some way. You can spend a lot of money getting your bike light but I found the best way is purchase an angle grinder and a decent drill and just attack it. Used wisely I recon you could shift a good few pounds in less than half an hour. Before we start just a quick disclaimer I do not recommend any of the following modifications to be used in conjunction with trick cycling! Thank You!!
Here we go weight weenies:
Brakes:Just take them off!There not needed! There just something the manufacturer puts on to pass some sort of regulations.
Cranks: Loads of weight can be shaved off your crank arms. Drill them shave them do whatever you want with them as long as you don’t do a lot of pedal to pedal whoppers and the like, your get away with it! I’m still waiting for plastic crank arms to be made..whos gonna be first?
Pedals:If you run st martin cranks or similar you’ll notice the pedals axles protrude through the arms a little bit doing nothing but keeping you from your lightweight dream. Cut them down for Pete’s sake.
Axles:same as the pedals. stick your finger down your pegs and see how much spare axle you have sticking out from your axle nut. Take your pegs off and cut those suckers down. X4….that’s some serious weight loss baby.
Tyres: Do lots of riding and wear the rubber down.
Stem:chop a mil or two off two of your stem bolts. I’m sure your bars will still hold just fine, the stem it’s self could always do with aluminum shave here and there.
Forks:There’s always some extra that can be shaved off the dropouts. Get rid of your head tube spacers and cut your fork head tube down to size. Do you know how thick and heavy that tubing is?? Get rid of as much as you can!!
Seat and post: This is my latest creation: a Khe seat shaved down, rails cut out and fused onto a pivotal seat post. A little bit crude but this gives me a seat that is lovely to grab and isn’t the size of armchair. The best bit is the seat weighs no more than a small bit of plastic…oh wait it is a small bit of plastic!!
Handlebars: Drill holes under your grips along your cross bar and even at the clamping area just don’t go to mad and drill near the bends.
Pegs:Doesn’t matter if you own a set of pegs already with holes in them, if you want your bike light drill some more!!
Spokes:stay clear of titanium they may work with road bikes but it’s not for us. Get some double butted and aluminium nipples.
Grips:get some nice thin ones or just wrap a bit of tape around if you’re really hardcore!
Frame: Wooah!! Where do I start? Here we have my favourite frame of all time I chopped the heck out of this already light frame and it’s still going strong. Cut slots in the head tube,bottom bracket, Dropouts where shaved, large slots cut out in the seat tube and cut about an inch off the seat clamp area and made a new pinch slot. As a shameless plug, this piece of light weight history is up for grabs on Ebay,check it out and bid silly amounts and make me rich!!
Later Lightweights!!
Later Lightweights!!
Top five Videos of the week
I’ve wanted to do this top five video recap for a while, but kinda made no sense being that I was doing flatfriday for global flat, most of you will know that I have quit doing flatfriday to concerntrate on this blog, and free up a bit of time, which has been great, here’s my new friday column, “top five videos of the week”….
Martti came back from holiday and smacked this out with jetlag, argueably the best trick of the year already dropped in january, until the next edit…..
Untitled from Ground Tactics on Vimeo.
Matt Wilhelm came back with a bang this week, awesome video!!! Last times with Matt coming soon, that spinning death truck combo is banging!!!
Tom at sevisual showcases the lifestyle as well as the tricks, these carhartt edits are a welcome edition to the sport.
Carhartt Flatland Tour 2009 – part 2 from sevisual on Vimeo.
It’s always nice to get surprise edits, and this was one of those, Bobby carter sent this in, and im stoked on this, looks like the editor Ahmed Johnson took lot of time and energy on this, awesome!!
LA Flatland Metropolitan from Ahmed Johnson on Vimeo.
Steve Mulder dropped this promo for the Fight with flight contest next weekend, and confirmed what many have known for years, Mulder is the man!!! Dont sleep on this…
Last times with Michael Sommer
Today is Michael’s 34th birthday so what better way to celebrate than posting his “last times” today….
Last track you did under the Amtrak name:-Pirates feat. Klumzy Tung …but watch out for the newmusic project “a_i”!
Last track you downloaded: despina vandi -GIA (nherz remix) free download though 🙂
Last trick you learned: cross foot cross hand nuadavarial.
Last injury you had: bruised spine.
Last time you danced: last week in my appartment, new years eve in a club.
Last bike product you designed: felt – darchor frame
Last contest you competed in: church fight / chech republic
Last time you round outside: 2nd of january! awesome whiplash time!
Last time you kissed a girl: yesterday!
Last time you travelled anywhere: czech republic for church fight comp..
Last time you threw your bike: cant remember… i dont like to throw my bike. its always my fault anyways 😉
Last trick you pulled first try: iron lotus
Last time you rode in underground car park: 2 weeks ago. air was too bad for a time.
Last time you went snowboarding: never 🙂
Last trick you invented: theory or praxis? my trickbook is way to full and unfulfilled.
Last time flatland made you stoked: martti’s “back from holidays vid” a disqualified rider doing the combo of the year and an awesome funny end sequence with glasses and chewing gum!
Last time you screamed outloud when you saw a trick: underground carpark watching sebastian grubinger and markus redlberger.
Last time you checked flatmatters: last night.
Last trick you did on the opposite side: whiplash.
Last time Amtrak played in public: Frank Lukas´ comp in Koblenz.
Last time you were drunk: new years eve! thanx vincent! 🙂
Last time you filmed with Sevisual: october 2009.
Last film you watched: Avatar (imax 3d)
Last video you downloaded: sevisual carhartt roadtrip
Last person you rode with: Markus Redlberger
Last time you rode around Vienna: yesterday
Last backwheel trick you did: bikevarial
Last time you saw Senad Grosic: somewhere in a club… but can´t remeber ´cos we had a blast 🙂
Winter hits everyone, even Long beach california!!!!
It seems this winter has hit everyone hard, rain in cali?? Unheard of….Chad J sent this in also…
Fat snapped these shots of the Long Beach Flatland Jam Spot from yesterday. He wants to share them.
I know you all think the weather is perfect here all the time, here’s a little example of Cali weather:
Take care
Chad
riders helping haitians….
Chad Johnston at Intrikat sent this in tonight…
Thanks for taking the time to read this:
I’m sure you have heard of the devastation in Haiti. Fellow rider Jose Polanco lives in the Dominican Republic which is a neighboring country and is selling off his old bikes to raise funds for the victims of these crazy earthquakes. I was hoping you guys could help spread the word, thanks a million.
Here is a couple pics of Jose Polanco:
Here’s links to a thread were you can go to see the items he’s selling:
He is also accepting donations through paypal, if you go through the pages on the first link you’ll find pics of the water and underwear he’s already bought and delivered to Haiti.
Here’s his paypal address: jrpolancoabreu@gmail.com
New Shintaro Misawa edit
Shintaro has to be one of the most productive riders on the scene, enjoy!
Last times with Pete Olsen
photos all by Trevor Oleniuk.
Pete Olsen has on the scene for many years, some riders just dont have a platform from which to excel, recently he shot to worldwide fame with his ‘groundtactics entry’, the internet has most definitely had it’s good and bad points with regard to flatland, getting to know Pete Olsen has without a doubt been a good point…
Last trick you learned: Haha, I’ll show you soon!
Last time you rode in your basement: 5 minutes ago.
Last time you filmed a combo: Yesterday.
Last time you threw your bike: Just about never out of anger, but recently on purpose.
Last video you watched: Cory Strat’s 97-99, timeless footage from the master of smooth.
Last time you saw Andrew Faris: I saw him at the bar a few weeks ago, we both exchanged our “what’s up”‘s and that was that.
Last time you rode with Cory Strat: November? December???
Last time you rode outside: December
Last time you got drunk: Been awhile…
Last time you checked flatmatters: One hour ago, I think
Last time you cried: Last thursday from laughing too hard with my friends
Last time you kissed a girl: Boxing day morning!
Last time you danced: December 12th, I did the Polka with my sister at a wedding. The polka was extended for like 12 minutes, which was awesome and horrible at the same time.
Last song you listened to: “Lemmingmania” by Amon Duul
Last video you downloaded: Natas Kaupas in “A history of Street Skating”.
Last trick you invented: Have I ever invented a trick?? Haha.
Last time you smiled: I smiled a little bit at my last response there.
Last time you wore your strawhat: In the autumn, but perhaps I could wear it all winter too. thanks for the reminder.
Last time flatland got you stoked: Today.
Last person you rode with: Brandon Derbowka and Trevor Oleniuk, my boys.
Last bike part you brought: Grips.
Last bikepart you broke: Backwheel spokes.
Last time you said “Eh”: Oh probably in conversation within the past few hours. It’s natural.
Last time you went riding: About 5 minutes before filling this out.
Last trick you landed first go: Xfooted megaspin 360 pivot to Xfooted megaspin thing.
Last good film you watched: “Radio-Television” done by Slave Skateboarding
Last trick that scared the crap out of you: I did this crossarmed whiplash pivot thing the other day and popped my shoulder in scary fashion.
Last injury: Rolled ankles from whopper stuff.
Last time you did backwards halfpacker juggler: Few days ago.
New Matt Wilhelm video + Interview
Great new Matt Wilhelm video on the transworld site, http://bmx.transworld.net/features/exclusive-new-matt-wilhelm-video-interview, enjoy!!!
LA Flatland Metropolitan by Ahmed Johnson
Some bad ass action from the LA crew, feeling this “city” edit, great riding from Jesse P, Chad J, Bobby C, and all the LA crew featured, thanks to Bobby Carter for sending this in, top stuff…
LA Flatland Metropolitan from Ahmed Johnson on Vimeo.