The Pull-Up Bar
I believe in freestyle in the truest sense but with that being said I think pull up bars are kind of goofy. A lot of it comes down to the fact it’s less treated as something legitimate and more of an inside joke at this point, like ‘Look how unserious I am, I do pull up bars’. It has some type of style aesthetic too but then only the people who were really about it since the conception can pull it off otherwise it comes off as another guy jumping on another bandwagon... but hey it’s BMX and it’s a sport populated by young adult males so that’s nothing new.
In this recent Feeble Talk with Trey Jones by Ride BMX, Trey claims that SImone Barraco originated it. I’m pretty sure that’s not true. Not 100% but I wanna give that credit to UK street legend and bad boy, Jam’bul. It was this section where I truly first noticed it. It’s definitely not a new trick and was always seen as way to progress into throwing real hop bars but with this Strangeways section, Jam’Bul definitely legitimized it into something else. What I like about it is that it’s not treated like a gimmick which other riders more commonly do. Jam’bul uses it on setup like that railride and gives it a certain danger element and puts real skill to it. Even the one he does on flat for his run, he’s pedaling full force. It makes it more daring, like a real trick. Simone was definitely an earlier adopter and used it in similar ways where it’s more purposeful. I can’t recall where but Simone did the pull up bar right before another trick making it into some type of combo but Jam’Bul to me will always have the best one done in this section.
It’s kind of that less is more mentality here. Jam’bul is not nearly as well varied as someone like Simone. Simone has a literally almost every other trick under his belt but with that he loses value in certain things he does cause it’s just another trick he can do. With someone Jam’bul he can’t do all that but there’s greater emphasis on the things he does different. Imagine if someone like Hamilton could do nollie whips and double trucks down stairs back then, would his nosemanuels have the same effect? Definitely not. He’d just be really good like someone like Ratboy which is exactly the type of rider Simone is.
I really like that underdog mentality of a rider a lot. Where they don’t have that much and their skills aren’t the greatest so they’re forced to be creative to compensate. That kind of mentality is true any art form. Same reason why a lot of these underbudget movies feel much more alive and real than something like CGI-fest, less distractions and more in tune with the core. A lot of the most memorable riders were precisely that; Hamilton, Tom White, pretty much every other Animal rider, Ian Schwartz and in this section Jam’bul. Even outside the pull up bar how he does his 3 hops and the railride to manuel down to are all really distinct and just as memorable. Clarky filmed this and edited it amazingly too and really brought out the bad boy persona Jam’bul has with this Strangeway Volume 2 section.
Jam’Bul
Shaolin Vs. Wutang by Raekwon
Strangeways Vol 2 (2014)
Edited by Clarky