Always nice to see Brian Tunney’s smooth as glass riding styles here on Flatmattersonline. A d his descriptions, are really engaging too. So let’s roll with his breakdown on his January 2020 clips edit.

Over to Brian:

“I had zero intentions of keeping this monthly thing going, especially in January when I’m usually buried in work, away for a week and a half in Aspen and adjusting to a new bike. But a few weekends with the sole focus of keeping it mellow produced more than a few clips for me. So what the heck?

I can explain.

New bike motivation: I didn’t exactly get an entire new bike (in fact I still have my black “traditional” bike fully set up), but I did get a deal on a used Heresy frame in December and built it up a bit differently to kinda push myself in a new direction. Did it work? Hell no, I’m still doing the same shit, but it’s lighter, more responsive and a bit of a change up from what I’ve been riding the past few years. Also, looking at the bike, it reminds me of a flatland version of Taj Mihelich’s tan T1 Barcode from years ago, which I’d argue was one of the best looking bikes to grace the mid-school. Also, I broke my own cardinal rule and got slightly bigger bars, then put on Haro 48s with a cassette that collecting dust in my garage. The bars still feel huge, but there’s a slightly higher degree of leverage on front wheel tricks, and the 48s feel really stiff on front wheel tricks. (There’s a difference for me between 36s and 48s. It’s ever so slight, but it’s there.) The long and short of the different bike is, it makes me think and react differently to my riding, which, 30 years in, is a good thing.

Location: I made a pact to myself to not ride the garage near my house this month. If I had the time, I was going to ride the park next to my house and make good with uneven pavement on an unused basketball court. The reason for this, I really just got tired of the noise inside the garage, which is essentially the equivalent of an indoor East Coast skatepark on amateur skate night. Skateboards are loud, kickflip attempts, over and over again, even louder. Am I whining? Hell yes I am. But I’m also really sensitive to outside noises messing with my riding unless Converge is playing a live show specifically for me or the neighborhood dads are playing a friendly game of one-on-one.

So there you go, another month of riding, rambling and whining from me. Thanks to Empire BMX, Leah and Pablo for keeping me rolling into my old age.”