a little more from Interbike

Here are some random goodness from IB.

That bike has been ridden around the world..Amazing.

The Epic Stealth cam looked pretty good and is not as bulky as the Gopro box on top of your head camera

SDG's collaboration with Geekhouse = a pretty sweet looking saddle

About as close as I will every get to an Olympic medal, this was Mellisa Buhls Bronze medal from China for ladies BMX

Finally Michelin brings out some new DH tires. I thought the day would never come

Solid Gold and more

Phil Wood always has pretty eye candy for your bike and the gold edition is no exception

we're the Flying Elvis's

You know Vegas has a lot of them!

New bikes to consider

My Friend Jan Karpiel made some of the best DH bikes back in the late 90's and my favorite bike to this day is the Disco Volante. It is great to see Jan making bikes again and the new Disco looks great, this was in the Elka suspension booth and I did drool a little bit..

Rocky Mountain did a little retool of the Flatline with the help of team Maxxis. This is a world cup winner right here!

Morewood bikes really wasn't on my radar when I came down to Vegas but after looking at the Makulu and seeing that they come with a BOS rear shock, I think I found my new bike! everything seem pretty tight on the bike and the price will be just right from what I hear!

The Kalula is the freeride version of the Makulu and looked pretty sweet as well

The Intense 951 was the bike I had on my mind when I came down and when I saw this beauty I thought I had found my bike. The bike is a freakin Ferrari in bike form.

I hate Vegas but I love Interbike

Las Vegas is a strange place, lots of people come here to play the odds and more than often than not they leave here with nothing. Or they come to find a job or who knows what other reasons. This is the place the bicycle industry chooses to hold its annual gathering, and for this reason only I make an annual trip to sin city. The loathing I have for Vegas ends the minute I step onto the floor of the show and see all the booths and banners that are waiting for me to explore. I have taken a lot of pics of different things from the show and so here we go.....

hangers made of old rims and spokes which I thought was pretty cool

A very large Sram XX cassette

a very big wheeled penny farthing bike

Me and Steffan at the video premiere of Bones & Dust

views from the plane to Vegas...

Mountain bike oregon

Best use for a Giro helmet

they make good chew toys! lol

Fluidride cup #3

So it looks like JD swanguen won the DH today. here are a few pics from the day. My buddy Phil Wiering was 3rd!

For Ryan who is moving to Japan

The Vapors - Turning Japanese
Uploaded by mg217. - Watch original web videos.

ODI boys ripping it up!

I had a chance to meet up with Brad and JD at the Fluidride race last month and they are good kids who kill it on a bike! here is their story.

Adventures of J.D. Swanguen & Brad Oien from J.D. Swanguen on Vimeo.

Follow the Tour here

ProGRT race #1

Well I am at the Fluidride cup race #2 and so far so good. Curtis Keene has the best quailifier run and Katie Holden has the ladies best time, the JuniorX rider had a time that would put him in second place in Pro men.

My new bike!

I am contemplating getting one of the following bikes for DH racing, can you help me choose please

Funny funny

Some great old school propaganda!

Fluidride cup action

more pics rom Port Angeles

here are a few more to wet your whistle!

FR Cup #1, Port Angeles

If you were not there this weekend you missed not only a great race but an absolutely beautiful weekend to boot! The sun was out (which has been a rarity here in the NW) and was warm all weekend, the trails were in tip top shape and over 400 riders were there to throw down. I was racing the new Firebird that I got just last week and was stoked on how great it was riding. Although I didn't do so hot on my race run I couldn't complain because the riding was just perfect all weekend. I was riding most of the weekend with my friends Jason, JR and his kid Joe. I also did some riding with my buddy Mike Estes (no explanation needed for Mike if you were at the race you heard his voice somewhere on the mountain all weekend!) and Ted from Recycled Cycles in Seattle. I have a full race report going up on www.sicklines.com shortly as well so head over there for a full report. but do enjoy some of these pics that I took.

Be There or be square

Next weekend is the 1st race of the year for us folks here in the NW, are you going? have you been training at all? I know I haven't!!! but I will be there regardless

Real Old School DH

this is my rig from '97, I raced for Dirtworks that year and this was the build. The zzyzzx forks (pronouced zie zix) looked impressive but were the biggest piece of shit you have ever ridden. I had to put those big boots on the stanchions because the first race I did on this at Plattekill they completely locked up. You see when the seals got wet they caused a pnuematic lockout of the fork because of the pressure that built up inside the huge legs. the brilliant fix was drilling holes in the bottom of the forks so air and water could escape. I worked on these forks all the time because they were always breaking down. Jan Karpiel made some sweet wet bath seals for them that helped out a lot but they still sucked big time. I remember that I could have bought a Marzocchi bomber fork with 4 inches of travel that would have been better than the Zzyzzx fork with 6 inches of travel. The bike on the other hand was awesome it was light and stiff and I wish I had that frame still because it would be an awesome trail bike today with it's 5 inches of travel. (BTW the alligator on the bars was the DH mascot! I had that thing on my bike from '91 to '98 when finally decided to retire the guy, he was broken and fixed so many times that his squeker didn't work anymore!) The build went like this

Dirt Works Monster Frame 5" of travel with a Fox Vanilla shock

Bullit bros Zzyzzx fork 6" of shitty travel

crappy red stem

Club Roost bars with cross bar

Magura HS33 brakes, blue

Curve cranks

Shimano 105 rear derailluer with Bullitbros tensioner

Ringle fron hub with Rhyno rim

Hugi rear hub with Rhynolite rim

I still have those wheels!!

Shimano 646 pedals (the best clipless pedal ever until the Crankbros mallet and Acids)

oury grips

IRC Missle Tires( some of the best ever)

Knappa Trails and bicycle destruction!

went riding at the Knappa trails a few weeks back and had a great time. Eric Loney did an amazing job on the trails along with some other great trail builders. I would have taken some sweet riding shots but half way down my 4th run I had total carnage! took a turn a little wide and an angry stick jumped out and attacked my bike. the ensueing carnage was 1 destroyed XO derailleur, 1 deastroyed 991 cassette, 1 destroyed hollow pin chain, 5 broken spokes! all in all a fun day followed by an expensive mishap.