Thursday, February 23, 2012

TEAM DUMPED! 7th edition.

The inventor of the modern trail bike.

Richard Cunningham.
This is the guy that tells you Ellsworth bikes are badass,29er's will rule the world,and that the Kenda Nevegal is the tire of tires.
This picture proves why he proclaims such outrageous things...

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Ah,shirts.

A few possible shirt ideas for the good ol' Sea Otter.



















Tuesday, February 21, 2012

A gift.

http://vimeo.com/37046610

This is how the authors of this fine webular establishment spent last Friday afternoon.
Come join us as we shred all around our local XC trails and hit some ghetto booters at the bike park with some of our fellow TEAM DUMPED! members.

You can thank Cam for bringing the Go-Pro and getting pretty much all of the shots.

Speechless.

http://www.bikerumor.com/2012/02/17/found-bamboo-carbon-fiber-fat-bike-with-gates-belt-drive-lefty-fork/#more-40148
I...I'm lost for words right now.
Fat bike?-Check.
Lefty?-Check.
Belt drive?-Check.
Bamboo?-Check.
Drop bars?-Check.
Alfine 8-speed rear hub?-Check.

I firmly believe i've lost all hope in humanity.
May God help us all...

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

TEAM DUMPED! 6th edition.

Shirts are being worked on.Stickers will be produced after I afford a downhill bike.I promise.

Blacx out.

http://www.bikerumor.com/2012/02/13/blacx-2012-jewel-magnetic-air-dropper-seatpost-gets-stronger-lighter-better/

Another hat gets thrown into the dropper post ring.
Now this piece of shit runs on magnents and air.How it works the article doesn't say because it's written by the fine folks at Bike Rumor and all they care about is the latest in knee warmer technology and who makes the best bamboo fenders for your commuter bike.So after reading their vague description of what's inside this post I assume a cable,which is attached to something magnetic,pulls off of something else that's magnetic and lets the slide-y part of the post go up and down.Technically speaking.This post also seems to fill every bike nerd who has no clue's need for high end brand name parts and tech talk.Igus and Quadrant bushings,SKF and SIMRIT seals,PTFE infused polymers,and Kluber silicone oil.Whew,this motherfucker has more buzz words than a carbon Cannondale Scalpel 29er.Bike Rumor also talks up their lever set up by saying it's "under the bar" lever makes too much sense and is awesome and simple that why didn't other companies think of it?Well,they did.It's called take your front shifter off,run a 1x10 set up like you should,order a right handed Gravity Dropper lever,and run it upside down in place of your front shifter.I've had that revolutionary lever set up for 2 years.I don't even have to take my grip and brake lever off to put it on!

I also have 2 other little squabbles with the makers of this finely crafted dog turd...
1.-The fact they make a DH version.Who is running a dropper post on their DH bike?I mean what the fuck,why wouldn't you just run a fists worth of Thomson like a sane person.
2.-Don't name the positions that you have on your seatpost.Attack and Downhill? Why not like,"a little bit down" and "all the way down."?Also,don't say your XC post is "specially reccomended for 29ers."Any fucking post is "specially reccomended for" any fucking bike.

Basically,Blacx.Stay the hell in Europe because we already have a little group of folks in Montana that make the most bad-ass dropper post money can buy.

Gnarly

As ive mentioned before and everyone should agree with, Graham Agassiz is hands down one of my favorite riders.  He just flat out shreds it if its a bike, and with enough style to make anything look way to easy.  pinkbike recently put up an article about "Aggy" and this video was attached and made the dude atleast twice as awesome.


http://vimeo.com/36748808

"Mountain bikes belong in the mountains"

Saturday, February 11, 2012

Totally inverted.

http://www.pinkbike.com/news/fox-dh-fork-inverted-prototype-2012.html
So there it is.Out in the open.The fork that caused quite the stir among us DH bike nerd folk.Now,I don't know about you but I get un-reasonably psyched when I get to see all,or atleast,most of the details on stuff like this.Just the weird,one off,home made looking,super prototype shit.I mean look at that thing,it probably took some designer at Fox months to come up with the computer renderings,another month or so for them to machine all the major pieces and all the little bits and bobs,and then someone in the race shop had to assemble it and then cart it around with them to watch the upper classmen of our sport beat the living piss out of it.And for what?So Fox could drop some ungodly amount of money(that fucker cost atleast $10,000 in time and parts) just so they could go "huh...well,it sucks."and banish it to a shelf in some room at Fox HQ.Seems like a fair bit of an undertaking for a failure,but I guess that's what keeps cool shit comming out from companies that already have cool shit.A small part of me is saddened by the fact I will more then likely never get to push up and down on it in a parking lot.

http://www.pinkbike.com/news/marzocchi-suspension-2012.html
And then we have this.Now,if you want,you can read the whole article for yourself.It's mainly about the new Roco replacement(thank God) and is also filled with pictures of very pretty and shiny 'Zoke stuff like those 888's for team CRC.I'm going to touch on the one subject that is mentioned in this write-up that actually made me giddy.The motherfucking Shiver is comming back.All of you youngsters are probably saying "Who gives a shit?It looks like a heavy shitty Dorado."And to that I say,you fuckers never had a chance to ride the original,but guess who did...me.That upside down son-of-a bitch was,and in my opinion,is still one of the best feeling forks ever.Sure she is portly by today's standards(I think she was like 9 pounds?) and lacks the adjustments of the benchmark forks of now.You didn't need adjustments on the Shiver,though.You got the right spring weight,dialed in your rebound,and fucking plowed anything in front of you all the while wondering why a fork can feel this good under heavy attacking rock traffic.Mark my words,if this fork hits 2013 production and doesn't cost twice as much as a 40,she will be firmly bolted to the front of my bicycle.So thank you Marzocchi for bringing back a piece of my childhood.Now if GT could update the DHi (and don't tell me the Fury is that,because it isn't.) or Balfa could come back and re-introduce the BB7 and Mavic promises to keep the Dee Max's yellow,and if MRP could remake the System 2,orange rollers and all,I could possibly build an up to date dream bike from when I was 12.
A man can dream...



TEAM DUMPED! approved.


Monday, February 6, 2012

TEAM DUMPED! 4th edition.

And now back to our regularly scheduled program...

Encouragement.

It's funny how other peoples words can create thoughts in your own head.

I left work today,near minutes after jamming a chainring tooth into my knuckle,drove my sleepy one hour commute home only to open the door to a grey,plastic coated issue of UK mountain bike goodness.My issue Dirt was finally here.I was particularly excited to recieve said copy of Dirt due to the fact there was an interview with one of my favorite riders splattered in the pages this month.Adam Brayton.Ever since I saw his section in Earthed 5 I was pretty psyched on the guy.Going flat-fucking-out down some pretty raw shit got me pumped.Dirt ran a bike check with him last year too,another memorable item stuck in my head mainly caused by the fact that in the bike check his bike was covered in shit and had a flat rear tire.I just have a soft spot for seeing bikes that get ridden,rather then see a bike check with Greg Minnarr and his nicely prepped and polished V-10.

Anyway,the reason for the first line of this drooling essay of shit is because the more I read his interview the more I relized how fucking bad-ass this dude is.He's a total working class hero,spends his winters being an electrician Monday through Friday and uses his weekends to go out and shred his downhill bike.No time in the gym,no sunny Southren California trails.Just work and mucky,cold England.In the summer he then takes all of that money he earns and puts it towards a season of World Cup racing.All his travel,food and any other expenses come straight from his pocket.Just to chase the dream of getting a factory ride and making money riding your bike.Why this makes me think is because i've always wanted to do something along those lines,minus the factory ride and racing.Just save a shit ton of money and move out of this country to go ride my bike and have a never ending summer down in Kiwi land or somewhere similar.He also thrwos out some pretty good lines about his moto style and just smashing your bike around without a care in the world.And that tugged at my brain strings once again and made me want to go out and ride my downhill bike (whenever it shows up to the shop) to the fullest fucking extent I can.Now I know actions speak louder than words and anybody that knows me will probably call bullshit on my claim,but I truly want to.This comming season I want to eat shit,shred some corners,blow some rear wheels to bits,and have a constant smile and a carefree mind.

So thanks Mr.Brayton.
These next grip of months should be some of the best i've ever had.





Brayton doing what he does best.Hammering.