June 2008

More Nike BMX and Freestylin’ Magazine coverage

June 30, 2008

I thought we might see more coverage from the Nike SB BMX/Freestylin’ launch party today, and indeed, the info keeps getting better and better. Above, there’s a video that just came up on YouTube, from what I believe to be is Mark Lewman’s (Lew for those of you Freestylin’ Magazinephiles like me) design company, Nemo Design. Note that John Martin, Nike’s Director of Action Sports spearheaded the project, and he gives a very emotional introduction to the Nike BMX work. Cool to know his history of BMX as well.

Vital has a photo album and a great introduction by Mark Losey, here:
http://www.vitalbmx.com/features/Freestylin-Retrospective-Launch-Party,3925

Discuss this over at the VitalBMX forums:
VitalBMX Old School Talk Forum

Nike SB BMX Collection

June 28, 2008

Yesterday, Nike released their limited-edition SB BMX pack in honor of the first Olympics to feature BMX - this year in Beijing. This is a continuation of the participation Nike has had, starting with the Lightning Bolts show last month. The SB BMX collection will feature four different shoes, including a limited-run pack that includes the “Trickstar” Dunk Low and Blazer Hi, as well as a couple throwback Hutch-styled jerseys. Only 600 Trickstar packs were made, and were released at DQM in NY and Brooklyn Projects in LA - both shops participated in the design of this collection. The other shoes will be out later in July, though the Trickstars have already hit the ‘bay.

Also, rumor has it that these will coincide with a Freestylin’ book release, more info as I hear it…

Interesting, because though it is great to see Nike giving major support to the BMX effort this year, they’ve never been known as much of a BMX brand. Recently, they have built a BMX team with Nike 6.0, but in the 30+ years since BMX began growing, their participation has been limited. That said, a big brand getting behind the Olympic BMX effort should only help the recognition of the sport.

Also, I’m a bit confused by the fact that they have released the BMX collection under the SB (skateboard) brand, and not the 6.0 moniker. Probably has something to do with distribution, but seemingly minor details like this unfortunately only add to the little-brother status of BMX riders to our skateboarding brethren.

See other shoes in the colleciton:
Michael Lau Chinese BMX Federation
and
Kuwahara ET

Knight Bike Co Retro Stems - v2

June 16, 2008

I’m back. After a long unplanned hiatus (life, work, etc. got crazy for a bit). Enough about that, though…

George at Knight just sent news that he’s got some new inverted Pro-Neck-style stems available, as well as the traditional top-loaders back in stock. Right now, the inverted stems are available in silver and gold, with blue available next week. Check ‘em out and order directly from Knight. So, if you wanna drop your bars a bit, and do so with a clean, simple looking, retro-styled stem, you’re set.

I’m interested to hear what you think of these, compared to the other retro-styled products that are starting to crop up. Drop your opinions over at the Vital BMX Old School Talk forum.