This is cool

Nice edit and I like his spins.

Tom Silins / spring '09 from Toms Silins on Vimeo.

Devil's Advocate

I love Toronto's scene. That's why I'm always critical, because I want to see it back at the lofty heights it reached before. If I come off as being overly harsh to Dropmachine or Pinkbike, so be it, I want things to change.

By extension, I want to support Canada's small-time bike scene in any and every way possible. I'm waiting for the day I can proudly say I bought a local frame. As some of you know, all of my life I've been riding Specializeds. I love the feel, and with the most recent iteration, I feel like I'm riding the best street...er....streat frame out there today. But come on, I'm riding a frame designed in California and welded in Taiwan. Hard to be proud of that.

Enter Dobermann bikes. They founded their company on the premise of not being a big guy, like Specialized is. They brought with them the new school of street geo, high BB, tiny back ends, and steep head angles. Really continuing where Norco left off with their Reynolds frames. But front and centre was the idea of customer service. You bust their shit? OK, they'll weld it up. Alain and Gabo prowl Pinkbike, looking for their beloved Dobermann name. They do custom shizz, if you so desire it. This, to be perfectly honest, is the frame I'd like to be riding. Specialized geo made in Canada. Perfect.

Look around online. No, look at Pinkbike. The Dobermann riders are essentiall an army of yes-men, and ANY criticism of the company or frames, no matter how trifling, and you are swarmed with angry Dobermann riders. This is where I come in. It's come to my attention that Alain wants to discuss my Dober-hating. Well then...

I want to see Dobermann progress into more than just "the next .243". I choose to criticize because I want to see them move forward. If no-one lights a fire under their asses, they'll get lazy and stop progressing, only to become stagnant like .243. Are they even still in business? Who knows?! That's my point. Don't want to see another promising Canadian brand go down the tubes. Yes, I am very often hard on them, but someone has to be. Not everyone has the online confidence or online eloquence (if I do say so myself) to speak against them like I do. So obviously I have to be the Devil's Advocate in almost every case.

Alain, ya dig?

Core site is up!

Go click that big-ass link over there!

Regrets

I feel like I owe Specialized an apology. The shop I've been dealing with (they'll remain nameless unless they REALLY fuck up) has been thoroughly incompetent and careless, and made it seem like Specialized's fault. When really, despite their reputation as being a corporate monster (which is definitely deserved), they have an awesome warranty policy.

Dented, cracked bike that's 3 years old, that has been running a fork 40mm longer than stock? Sure, we'll warranty it! Matter of fact we'll give you a brand new, 2008 frame, a P3 instead of a P2! Cracked that one? Alright, we'll give you another one, just wait two months.

And sure enough, they did ship it at the end of February, and it was the most desired, popular frame they've released in the P.line yet. Matter of fact if they released it as frame only, it would sell out in days. Anyway, they got it to me as promised, yet I've been chirping them online and in person. You may think 2 months is a while to wait for a frame that's been out since November (Hell how do you think I feel?), but they got it to me right when promised.

So props, Specialized, for having better customer service than certain companies (ahem Dobermann) who built their brand on having awesome, non-corporate, policies.

Pics soon.

Madness of all kinds

So I dropped by Core bike shop today, while not in class. Still fucked over because of the flood, but Chris still greets with a smile and handshake. Even when the ceiling, floor, and walls are torn up, and the place looks like a biohazard quarantine.

So we're talking, and I mention I am still waiting on a frame from Specialized (Come on, Spez, get it together! You've been shipping 09 frames since November!), so what does Chris do? Grabs his Norco 250, asks me if I want to take it for a spin. Now this isn't just any spin, he tells me to go cruise around for a few hours and get rad, do some long fakies on his freecoaster, hell take the entire afternoon on it. I mention I have class, he asks if I have anywhere safe to put it during class.

Now you're probably missing the full significance of this. Chris lends me his personal bike to someone he KNOWS is hard on wheels (who do you think deals with my wheels? Only the best) at the best of times, who he KNOWS hasn't ridden in a few months, who has no experience with a freecoaster whatsoever. He lends his bike out for a few hours, itending me to ride it like I'd ride my own (but obviously not as well). Amazing or insane, you choose.

I had a blast, rode really fast, rode a new spot (very badly), and when I gave the bike back, my palms were aching for the first time this year. Bam. Can't wait until I've got a bike to ride, and until the Bike show.


Signs the apocalypse is upon us....people are now weighing their clothes. T1's little joke could not have come at a better time.

Back at long last

Speaking of stalled-out...

My favourite website ever, Grindstate, had been down for....a year now? Back at long last.

One way to look at it

First off, let me apologize for the distinct lack of content lately. Winter's ending, I have sweet fuck-all to talk about, mainly because I have no (nice, cool) bike to modify and obsess over. I WILL produce this spring, I promise.

Random thoughts: Right now, the status quo for street/park/jump mountain bikes is singlespeed, rear brake only, hardtail. Any deviance is met with questions and/or admonishments, depending on who sees it.

I started of riding with 2 brakes and gears. No good for for the gears, I rode and still ride a lot of XC and commuting, but I found out I can do both without gears. The front brake, I like doing tricks with. As I broke shit, I eventually reverted to the standard singlespeed, wishing I had gears. I took the rear brake off for a summer, that was really cool. Went brakeless for a week, killed my tires and terrified myself, finally reached the balance point. Despite my best ambitions to the contrary, I ended up with a singlespeed mountain bike with only the rear brake. I dabbled in front brakes, never lasted (because I would fuck it up, I still like using them), and so on.

But things change. Time passed, I got used to it. Kept riding trails and street, even tried brakeless again! The weight bug hit me (that's another blog for another day), and I had other shit to worry about. Now I find myself about to put gears on, from a funny situation. I have a singlespeed hub and BMX cranks (Primo cranks, know how hard it is to make that work?). People are asking me why I'm putting gears on (why not? It's a mountain bike and it'll go faster!), rather than the opposite.

I came to the interesting conclusion the other day; people asked me similiar questions whenever I rode brakeless. Why am I really putting gears on? At risk of another autbiography, my riding this season really went in the wrong direction. Spinning is cool, and I learned a lot of that, but I was going in the direction of tech everything, rather than what I'd like to be doing, fast stuff, gaps, no fakie, just balls-out speed and flowing. I put gears on, instantly I'm going faster, and I can't do fakies anymore. Perfect. Now I have to 360 where I would 180, now I clear 15 feet where I was clearing 10 before. To sum up, it's a new challenge. I have to adapt my style, right down the basic way I approach riding my bike (not tricks, just riding it). Much like going brakeless.

tl;dr brakeless is the same thing as gears.

Think about it. Weird, eh?

Onterrible

A new issue of Onterrible has dropped. I'm all for any Ontario footage, and this is particularly well done.

After watching it, I have to say I'm underwhelmed. It's set in an indoor park (and flatground I guess), that just HAPPENS to be in Toronto. If I didn't recognize the ramps from Wallace Emerson, I would have had no way of knowing at all. The first clip of Chijioke (the only rider I could pick out as being "local" was of him donig a 3-tap to fakie to indian giver. Unimpressed. The first Onterrible....now THAT was a banger.

Custom

What does that even mean? If you buy a bunch of components and slap 'em together, is that a custom bike? The word custom is overused in the bike sense these days....changing your tires does NOT make your bike custom, nor does putting on a different set of handlebars.

Hell on the topic of handlebars, I'd argue that immediately going out and buying a set of 3" rise steel bars (with a dropped stem, go figure) or immediately buying a Deity bar/stem combo is actually counter-custom (not a word, I know)...All you're doing is conforming to the street trends of the day. How do these kids know that they like the angles on Deity bars, that they're going to like having silly amounts of rise? Letting the internet build your bike is NOT custom.

Lacing up some hubs, spokes, and rims of your choice? In the ballpark, not quite custom enough for TS yet. Lowering your fork? Now you're playing the game. But why stop there? Let's look at the Rockshox Pike Air U-Turn. Originally built for AM, it has an optional remote lock-out, which is slickly routed through the crown. It has adjustable travel, 110-140mm, and obviously, brake mounts. Now obviously travel is determined by how you ride, but 110mm is the highest you can run on a modern street frame without ruining the geo. Many people don't run front brakes, and almost no-one runs a remote lock-out. So why bother with all of those mounts? 15 minutes with a file and sandpaper, and they're gone. Crack open that fork and lower it if you don't want 140mm of travel.

Now let's look at frames. This is where it gets dicey, because if you're like me, you want a long warranty and you want to take advantage of it. There goes your chance to modify the frame, right there...But if you're the second owner or just don't care, why run what the factory gave you? For starters, the paint is almost guaranteed to be hideous...and many people don't run gears, which leaves you with unnecessary tabs sticking out of the top tube. Hell some people don't even run brakes.

Look at your drivetrain...chainguide, cassette, cranks, the list goes on. Expect something more concrete this weekend.

Use your imagination!