mysticnegro.com Kranky v3.0

I’ve been in a pretty crap mood for the last couple of weeks and haven’t really felt like writing.  But, since I didn’t go to the King of the Animal House jam, instead putting in extra hours at the job (said my boss after I told him about it, “Man, you should’ve told me.  Hell, *I’D* want to go to that!”) I figure maybe, instead of not writing I should just write, madder.  Since I figure that I’ve shed all my readers now, anyway, I won’t offend anyone.

Local News
DevonSmillie.Com is now up, if lacking in content.  Right now it’s mostly just his Twitter feed (looks, like he’s finally getting his knee fixed) and some random vids.  Chuckles, get on that.  Also, am I interpreting this right, is Devon on DK flow?

There’s a rumor that a new rider owned shop/park is opening in Peachtree City.  Given that it’s hit both the 70s and the 20s this week, a new indoor spot would probably be good for those south of the city.

Cult
Apparently the Cult team is riding prototypes made by Solid and FBM and they’re “loving them.”  Which is surprising, you’d think one thing Solid and FBM couldn’t do would be build bicycles.  The bikes have higher top tubes and weigh more, because the riders were apparently tired of breaking stuff and looking stupid.  Also, half the Cult team still has Fit Signature models being sold.  Seriously, GT at least had the dignity to change the Bestwick model’s name after they shitcanned him.  But, then again, “Castillo Bars.” I wonder if they’re still getting royalties.

In other Cult news the “correct” spelling is apparently “Cvlt” like “Bvlgari” or “Stvpid.”  If people start replacing “s” with “z” again I’m fucking done.  Done with what, I don’t know, but I’m done.  Seriously, I thought “Kranky” was the most dumberest name ever, but I was wrong.

Giant
The biggest bike company in the world has never been able to get BMX right (I mean, they’ve produced quality bikes that have held up fine to the abuse dished out to them, put together great teams and given money to riders, publications and events over the last decade plus, but they’ve never gotten it “right”).  They probably should’ve stayed Mosh, but whatever.  Taj may have to get a real job, that’s all that matters.

Huffing
As I kind of expected, Eastern has spun Nitrous off into its own brand with the idea that they’ll be a budget, high value brand while Eastern becomes a premium brand.  Nitrous will have no team and its marketing budget will be relatively small in an attempt to pass savings on to you, the rider.  As a brand, it’s also very, very, orange.  I give this approach six months.  Not because it’s a bad idea, it’s a great idea…for not BMX.  BMX is extremely fashion conscious and inexpensive + no team = crap (even if its not).  Me, I kind of dig the Nitrous frame because it looks like something a normal human would ride.  It doesn’t, however, make up for the other, Killorado-ized frames in the Eastern llineup, the thought of which makes me want to harm myself and others.

My adidas
adidas finally killed off the last of its BMX program.  But its BMX program existed largely in Europe and consisted mostly of flatlanders and who cares about them anyway?  Whatever, I just bought two new pair of adidas yesterday, I’m old and my buying habits are set in stone.

Picking up the slack the guys over at WTP have decided to launch, Almond, their own shoe brand (because a bike company, two parts brands and a retail store don’t keep them busy enough).  So, we’ve got Orchid, Lotek, Almond, Caste is apparently still a going concern and SCG still exists (despite no one ever actually seeing a pair in real life).  I’ve even heard rumors that Inopia is trying to rise zombie like from the grave.  If my math is right, this means that there are now enough rider owned shoe companies so that every professional BMXer currently living above the poverty level on sponsorship money alone can have one all to themselves.

David Lang
Is the new Defgrip Blogger.  I’ve always liked Defgrip in concept if not in execution (which mostly comes down to the fact that my tastes and the tastes of the guys over there run, if not 180 degrees from each other, easily a good 90 degrees).  In fact, I think that Defgrip is probably a good template for the BMX print media going forward.  Of course, I so rarely buy BMX magazines anymore, it could already be the template.  Still, with this David officially has 94763 blogs, making him the busiest man on the BMX interweb.  Far be it from me to make a joke about Mssr. Lang living up to positive racial stereotypes…but everyone knows that Scots are hard workers.

Flick Trix
I’ve seen a lot of finger bike ads as of late.  While a lot of people look at finger bikes and say, “they’re gay,” I’d like to remind you that being attracted to someone of your own gender is gay, finger bikes are toys.  Judging from how Indy Nowak loves his they’re also good toys for kids on training wheels.  Love ‘em or hate ‘em teh licensing money that brands are pulling in from finger bikes is better than the no licensing money they pulled in without them.  Also, the fact that they’re running TV ads means that someone out there believes that there’s a market, which is a positive sign.

Well, crap, not nearly as pissed off as I am.  Whatever.

Remember kids, no matter where you go, there you are.

So, iPath has launched it’s inaugural BMX team (under the leadership of Mike Aderlean, who’s had luck with skate shoe companies in the past). All I know about iPath is that they now sponsor Bob Burnquist and Doug Wimbush endorsed them for a while.  What I’m saying is, I don’t really have a dog in this fight except that I’m always amused and confused when a non-BMX company starts marketing to BMXers.  You know what happens.  First it’s “they’ll leave when the money’s gone,” yes, because they’re for profit businesses, that’s what they do, they make money.  Even if they were rider owned they’d leave when the money’s gone, nobody’s trying to give you shit for free. (It should be pointed out that this argument is selective.  When Haro announced Allen Cooke as their new brand manager kids younger than Haro stormed the internet to talk about how they’re horrible.)

Which is why in this round of “you suck, leave us alone!!!!” The “they just take and don’t give back,” cries stuck out to me.  Give back what, exactly?  No, seriously, can someone answer me this?  They make a product, that if you like, you buy.  So they’ve given you a consumer good.  They have a team which, I’m assuming, is getting paid either a salary or in free/reduced priced goods.  So, they’re giving riders a way to move out of they mamas’ houses.  They’re probably going to sponsor contests/events, maybe put out a video or two (web or otherwise) so that’s helping out promotors and giving entertainment.

So, what else does any company need to “give” to BMX?  I guess the argument can be made that they take business away from BMX owned brands.  Both of them (oh, let’s be honest, have you ever seen a pair of SCG shoes in real life?  Put your hands down if you actually know Steve Caro).  It’s a valid argument, I guess.  It’s horrible from a consumer choice standpoint, but I can see the argument.  But this “give,” thing.  What is it?  No, seriously, I’m confused and intrigued by what level of giving does a company need to be legit?  Someone enlighten me.