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“Those once in a lifetime trips hold more weight than the others, and more weight means more learning. Of course we’ll rip on our bikes when needed, after all it’s what we’re in love with and when that is established toward a craft you’ll do it even if your eyeballs are popping from their sockets, but there’s a substance of life there to be eaten beyond how high you can air a quarter. There’s a point when BMX becomes nothing more than a vehicle of life, a chance to see a world and culture outside of your own bubble, a chance to open your mind so the days and nights can mold you into a more understanding human. Yes BMX is there to rip and sick brag about on Instagram, but more importantly it’s there to crush ignorance, and once that is realized the easier the world will become” - Kris Fox

#diy bmx #bmx #travel #kris fox #dig #dig bmx

Have you watched Brian Hunt's new video part that Stew Johnson put together for Dig BMX yet? www.snakebitebmx.com/brian-hunt-the-good-things-dig-bmx/

#Brian Hunt #Stew Johnson #Dig BMX #Good Things

Blyther in ‘88 getting the chicken air out in the streets in Schenectady, NY by the police station.

The photo is from September 1988, shot by Spike Jonze after a 2-Hip King of Vert comp. Spotted on DIG BMX. Spotted on DIG BMX.

DIG investigated the history of short frames and street riding and Haro has a few mentions.

Flatland frames have a history of being used for street for their steeper geometry and shorter rear-ends. The La Bastille and the CK are our two options for the tech enthusiasts these days.

#brian blyther #dig bmx #bmx #flatland #street

CAPTURED: The Death of Magazine Covers

I think this is one thing that social media effectively killed and didn’t really replace. It was once the most coveted spot for photography. Front and center and always had that esteem that this was the most important piece of BMX in the past month and all the subscribers should definitely know. To pros maybe a bonus on the paycheck but symbolically it was like real confirmation into entering the industry world that BMX really needs.There really is no alternative today. Zines exist but they’re too underground for their covers to feel meaningful. Having a picture posted on a major site is cool but when the internet is all about quantity, it’s hard to take anything seriously when the next hour post that takes your spot is some random’s bike check or an update on someone’s vlog. The cover was something like Christmas where it happens once in a timeframe, it’s limitedness that gave it the mystique and power.

The ease of video definitely helped bring a downfall in BMX photography. In a completely action oriented thing like BMX, it makes sense. Something not action oriented like fashion, photography still thrives cause of the importance to what is being shown, than what is being done but we celebrate movement and video is simply photography in motion. That isn’t to say that photography is inferior in anyway to video as a medium. It’s not really comparable, just that widespread use of video make sense.

What photography can do that video can’t is expand on the notion that a single frame of a moment is more important than everything else. It’s the same mentality behind what makes covers so esteemed. It’s limited nature is the very thing that makes it’s own. In video you watch a trick and it blurs into a beginning, middle and end. All of it for the most part given equal importance. Photography negates all that and has an ability to let a singular moment shine. Something that can easily lost in video form when action in involved, something like a really dialed turndown works. The moment where the trick is completely clicked, photography can emphasize that to it’s entirety. Every single motion stopped. How someone’s head is turned, arms are folded, the small nuances are all given life and time to be completely examined in the watcher’s given time. Video can try to emulate this with slow-mo and what not but in the end, the clips ends in a limited time frame then onto the next. With photography there is a greater sense permanence than even something like DVD’s. It’s everlasting to exist in just one way. That’s why the internet is terrible way to showcase photography beyond the whole pixel thing. The nature of the internet kind of takes the impermeance of away and relegates it to a slideshow reel, something like print is the true presentation for photography in the same way the movie theatre is often thought to be the same for video.

When I was thinking of BMX covers, I immediately thought of this first. It’s kind of strange cause it’s not really that BMX but to me and I know a lot of people it’s iconic. The way his dog’s tongue is flopped around would be something given less impact if it was video. The chill cruise nature of Jason Enns also not given the necessary importance to make it memorable. The close fisheye giving it real importance what’s happening directly in front of us. Even the blues that Jason Enns is wearing matching the sky. This happened cause I had time to really delve into what makes this picture amazing. If it was in a video section mixed in with a bunch of riding clips it’d probably just be relegated into to quirky clip of Jason Enns riding with his dog more than likely, lost in the series of moments that video become. Video has it’s strengths but giving emphasis to a singular time is definitely not one of them. I miss the whole concept of a cover. It was the photography equivalent of having last section for a magazine but instead it’s first.

#bmx #dig bmx #print is dead

“BMX? WHERE’S THAT GOING TO TAKE YOU?”

New DIG Alumni video featuring my good friend Sandy Carson. The opening clips are Danny Shelly, Sandy and I bombing down Mt Tam into Bolinas. The photo above is from that same ride from SF to Bolinas via bmx bikes... Sandy has always been an inspiration with bikes and photography thru the years. These Alumni videos are top notch, and I’m glad that Sandy is featured in it. Well deserved my amigo.

#rob halford cam #doyoustillride #sandy carson #dig bmx #bmx road ride

Take a tour of Profile's dungeon with Dig BMX. www.snakebitebmx.com/profiles-dungeon-dig-bmx/

#Profile #Profile Racing #50 years #Dig BMX #Rob Dolecki

Metal Bikes is always gonna be the best

I think a lot of BMX right now lacks in a certain type of personality that makes a brand more appealing. Like when everyone follows the same corporate formula for maximum profit margin, it all blurs into the same. Start an Instagram, have a catchy hashtag, use emoji and trend word effectively, recruit the smith nose bars. The differences being typeface. It’s really monotonous and we as a consumer more than likely to blame but oh well.

Metal Bikes never had a problem with not being interesting. Even when they weren’t doing anything (which was quite often) just by being them, it felt like they were doing the most. A lot of it has to do with that whole ethos concept. You know what you got out of Metal Bikes and it never bended for anyone or anything. In a time where bikes were starting to lighten up, Metal released the Filo Beddoe which was probably a good 2-3lbs heavier than everything else. Why? Cause it’s Metal Bikes and it don’t follow your damn corporate formula. Even having pink bars when everything was black felt like it was reaffirming that Metal Bikes don’t care and it’ll run the way it runs. Near the end when frames were released sporadically and things were promised but never delivered, I don’t think anyone really felt like they were disserviced by the brand. Metal Bikes was a punk rock band where you never knew if they’d tour again next year. If they did we as BMX were grateful. If they didn’t... well not too surprised.

Look at the team which is a mix of punk rock guys, off the center characters in BMX, a white dude with a fro, Jim Bauer who is about as normal as someone can seems but also does his fair share of heavy gappage. It really felt like something more than a team. People throw around family but with these guys it really felt like they all came from the same tree. It made supporting something like Metal Bikes really easy. You kind of hope Jimmy would make millions so he becomes some crazy rock star type with millions. You see the people that were influenced by single brand and the culture it really put out. It really created a small force of Metal Bikes riders who you knew cause they wore leather jackets, did roof drops, and listened to punk. It’s a type of culture that creates a following that you hardly get in any other brand. It’s a huge risk from a corporate standpoint, you alienate anyone who doesn’t follow that path but even myself who I don’t consider to be a punk rock type or do gaps in the reg wouldn’t mind buying a Metal Frame just cause it seemed like it was doing everything right by espousing rebellion that is ingrained in BMX culture.

Sadly Metal Bikes is gone. There was never, hey this is over. Just a slow end in waiting for the next supposedly coming shipment. Which never came. But still it’s better that it ended the way it did. You know that whole Kurt Cobain quote “it’s better to burn out than fade away”, Metal Bikes ended being Metal Bikes. There was never a reformation or new brand direction. It never compromised the ideals that it once stood for which is admirable in it’s own way. Imagine if Metal Bikes became a shell of itself, it’d be kind of sad. Sure it ended slow but it ended being what it is and there is certain merit in that.

It’s completely understandable why brands are as bland as they are. Be the most unassuming, dont raise any type of real opinions, please the bare minimum, maximize profit. It exists certainly for a reason but in BMX it feels a bit off. I’m sure the amount of industry required to make a BMX brand work is half the reason for the compromise but still. It’s brands like Metal Bikes that makes BMX a really interesting thing. It was interesting just by being itself while a lot of brands will maintain some type of us and them mentality.

Check this link to see what Sean Burns (pivotal member of Metal Bikes) had to say about this time. It’s real cool stuff. The video posted above really espouses the whole Metal Bikes theme. Fast riding, zaniness and craziness, punk rock and the characters who made Metal Bikes memorable. Even old cats like Mike Griffen, Jeremey Davis, Gonz, and Smoker Dave make appearances which is always something. I honestly can’t wait for the Jimmy Levan documentary.

DIG BMX - Metal Bikes Lost Tapes: 1999-2006 (2015)

Edited by Sean Burns

#metal bikes #dig bmx #bmx