August in Europe, 2009

Shane Badman put together an edit from his recent travelling through Europe.

The guys over at Newcircle have posted it up, you can check it out by clicking here now.

Newcircle Down Underground round 1 writeup on Global!

For those of you who missed it, Shane Badman wrote a review for Global-Flat earlier this week.

Check it out now by clicking here.

2010 Flatland Calendar

For the second year in a row Fat Tony and Flatland Fuel are proud to present an exclusive Flatland BMX Calendar. The 12-month 2010 wall calendar features 15 original flatland photos of riders from six countries shot all around the world. Each month features a different rider in a unique location including Japan, Monaco, France, Australia, Czech Republic, Panama, and the U.S. In addition to the twelve months, there is also a bonus poster so you can keep flatland on your wall even after '10 has passed. As the only calendar of its kind the 2010 Flatland BMX Calendar is a must-have for flatland riders worldwide, but the only way to get one is to place an order with Flatlandfuel.

The best part about the '09 Flatland Calendar is that the calendars are absolutely FREE when you place an order with Flatlandfuel (while supplies last)!

For a preview of the calendar, click here & for an interesting interview on how it all came about click here.

Riders Include: Dominik Nekolny, Terry Adams, Chase Gouin, Moto Sasaki, Adam Kun, Kotaro Tanaka, Max Roth, Denes Katona, Matt Wilhelm, Dane Beardsley, Chad Johnston, York Uno, Shane Badman, Matthias Dandois, and Bobby Carter.

The 2009 Flatland BMX Calendar is proudly sponsored by Flatland Fuel, Cream, Flatware, Suelo, KHE, Fourthirty Clothing, Quamen, OG Bike Co., Hoffman Bikes, DK, S&M, Ares Bykes, and Colony. A huge thanks goes out to each company who helped make the calendar possible. It is support from companies like them that keeps flatland growing!

Attila Godi from Hungary!

Ok, so this isn't directly involved with flatland but Shane Badman was recently over in Hungary for the OG Summer Camp & Contest & while over there he spent a day with fellow Colony rider Attila Godi in his hometown of Pecs.

While there he put together the following edit...

Attila Godi - Hungary - One Day in Summer 2009 from Colony BMX on Vimeo.

Australia & beyond news roundup!

The KOG finals will be going down in Japan over the weekend of October 17-18. Colony rider, Shintaro Misawa will be there along with a bunch of Australians: Brett Dighton, Ronnie Rampton & 4 other Brisbane riders will be making the trip over. Brett will be going over for his wedding & luckily the KOG was around the same time. Good luck to all the competitors, i'm sure there'll be some good vids coming out of this!

Simon O'Brien recently had a few pics up on the Colony site of him on his new Colony Deja Vu ride. Check it out by clicking here & if you're looking to sort yourself out with Simon's signature Colony parts then click here!

Kit McKenna has been working & riding over in the UK for the best part of what must be coming up to a year now. Having just finished in the UK, he's currently dodging bad traffic, over enthusiastic street vendors & cold, Northern European weather by spending time in Egypt before coming back to Aus in the next month or so.

Spotted this awesome photo of Andrew McDermott throwing down in front of his new baby on the Freestyle Now! site.

The new Colony catalogue is also out now carrying their whole range including the complete flatland line. Also has a great photo taken by Cooper Brownlee of Focalpoint of Shane Badman doing a blender on top of a mountain in Queensland. Check out the catalogue by clicking here!

Speaking of Focalpoint, Issue 18 is out now so get along to your nearest bike shop & pick a copy up - they're free to a good home! Click here for more info.

Shane Badman's new ride!

Colony & newcircle rider Shane Badman recently put together his new 2010 ride featuring his signature Colony Cube frame & bars along with a whole list of Colony parts to round it out.

Superman provided the inspiration for the colour scheme... ;)

Frame: Colony 2010 Cube 18.85"
Fork: Colony Cube Fork
Handlebars: Colony Cube bars
Grips: Macneil
Barends: Colony Konka
Brake levers: Colony Transformer x 2
Cables: Odyssey Slic
Brake: Suelo Front
Headset: Colony
Spacers: Carbon Fibre
Stem: Colony T.L.D
Seat: Colony Pivotal Flatland
Seatpost: Colony 330mm
Cranks: Colony Colonial 160mm
Bottom Bracket: Colony Spanish 19mm
Sprocket: Colony Jam Circle 22t
Pedals: Colony Fantastic Plastic
Chain: YBN half-link lite
Pegs: Colony Jam Circle
Front Wheel: Colony Clone wheel (Clone rim & rub laced with stainless steel spokes)
Rear Wheel: Alienation Deviant rim laced to a KHE Geisha lite coaster with 36 double butted spokes
Chain Tensioner: KHE Dubz
Front tire: Odyssey Frequency G P-Lyte Kevlar 1.75"
Rear tire: Primo Comet 1.5" (rides the same as a 1.75")
Tubes: KHE Twiggy x 2

Mods: Back to double front brakes, trimmed 1/2 inch of either side of the bars
Weight: lite!

News from here, there & everywhere...

newcircle have an interview on the Rebelyell website - you can check it by clicking here. Also in Rebelyell news, don't forget that Issue #4, the Flatland issue, is still available - contact Chris Polack for more info...

Stewart Munro is currently over in the U.S for the next month & a bit. He has a few pics up on TheHGB.com from his US trip so far..

Paul Chamberlain got really psyched on this clip of Sean Parker. Click here, then click on Visual (works best on Internet Explorer) to check it out. Progression. Paul is still currently in the UK, but is heading to Asia in under a month for their next stage of travel before (hopefully!) coming back to live in Aus.

Melbourne's own Karl Hughes, famous for his work on The World Bike Projects, has an interview in an upcoming edition of Cream magazine. Karl was very humble about the whole thing, but expect it to be a great read into one of flatlands biggest assets.

In other Cream magazine news Shane Badman also has an article from the OG Summer Camp that recently went down in Hungary.

Badman in the UK - part 2!

With only a week & a bit in the UK, I had to make the most of the time I had. After traveling through the South West, hitting up Bristol, Southampton & Portsmouth I made my way up to London for a few days chilling & riding with the TGM crew.

TGM, or The Green Mile, is the infamous spot in south London. It's the size of a standard soccer pitch & is perfect for any style of riding, but especially good if you're into rolling tricks as past videos of Phil Dolan will prove. You can find it by clicking here.

Always good times, it was great to see Paul Chamberlain who's been busy traveling with his wife through the Americas for most of this year. Luckily the English weather came through with the goods & it was bright sunshine for most of the time I was there. Big thanks has to go out to Jason Forde, his girlfriend Penny, Paul Chamberlain, Mario, Trevor, Marcello, Griff & the rest of the TGM crew.

Marcelo Nardi

Griff

Mario

Paul Chamberlain

Paul Chamberlain

TGM's newest rider, Yinke

Trevor Lacey

Rasta Dave

Trevor Lacey

The Green Mile

Flatland Brotherhood - UK, Australia & Brazil represent!

Griff

Gabor Szmetanko

New OG video out!

OG Bike Co. from Hungary have just put out a new web video! Featuring Denes Katona, Matthias Dandois, Shane Badman, Michael Sommer, Camilo Gutierrez & more.

To download the video click here or check below.

OG Bike: Project "B" from Denes Katona on Vimeo.

Badman checks in - Part 1...

Shane Badman has been clocking up a few travel miles recently. After leaving Sweden he spent a month in Hungary riding & travelling a bunch. From Hungary, he's in the UK at the moment, riding on the south coast with a stop off in Cornwall, Bristol, Southampton, Portsmouth & this weekend off to London to ride & hang out with the Jason Forde & the TGM crew.

Here's a few snaps from along the way...

Hanging out with Tom @ SEVisual in Szeged, Hungary

Riding at SEVisual Tom's home spot (photo: SEVisual Tom)

At the wake boarding cable park with Peter Sarlos

Riding at the Gypsy Spot in Budapest (photo: Peter Sarlos)

Sessions at Southsea Skatepark (UK) (Photo: Chris Hall)

Effraim Catlow - riding dialled as ever at his home spot, Southsea Skatepark (Photo: Chris Hall)

Part 2 coming soon!

2009 OG Summer Camp & Contest

The OG guys sure know how to put on a good event. They've had a lot of experience in the past with running the Gypsy Games for many years & it long had the reputation as possibly the most laid back, fun event you could hit on the contest calendar anywhere in the world. Long may the Gypsy Games RIP.

But with the passing of the GG, the demand for a chilled out event was still there so the OG guys again stepped up & put together the OG Summer Camp & Contest. Where previously the GG was held in the small city of Ajka, the Summer Camp was given a new location in the beautiful city of Szombathely. As a much larger city meant more things to do & for the first time all the riders where able to ride together in the same place.

Running from the 12 - 16th of August it gave everyone a chance to ride hard, get used to the surface & catch up with friends from around the world you don't get to see too often.

I arrived with the OG guys, Andras & OG Marton on Tuesday to get some riding in & help setup. Denes Katona (who is pulling the craziest nose-wheelie, whiplash variation combos you can imagine) & Zoltan "Buri" Barta who runs the Hungarian BMX website where already there having arrived the Saturday earlier. Not a lot of people had arrived yet, but many were expected in the coming days.

The format for the camp was simple. Wednesday to Friday was riding & chilling with a lot of people visiting the water park & down town in Szombathely. The weekend were also practice days but Saturday also held the qualifiers for the Expert, Master & Pro class with the finals for each to be held on Sunday.

By Friday the 2,500 square metre mega-court was getting packed. The Czech Republic had the biggest turnout with some 30 riders showing up - awesome! As always, the turnout was global with riders coming from Slovakia, Brazil, Chile, Croatia, Russia, Germany, Austria, France & Australia & of course the Hungarian scene was well represented.

The contest placings can be found here so I won't go into any detail on those & i'm sure there'll be many vids coming online in the next few weeks too.

What I will talk about is highlights from the week.

• Denes Katona currently owns rolling tricks. Any & all whiplash variations from the pedal, the rear peg - you name it he's combo'ing it some way. Oh, & he's also rolling cross-handed nose-wheelies as long as he wants....
• The Czech guys have a really healthy scene. So many riders, everyone is really motivated & they were out there everyday pushing each other & smiling the whole time.
• Speaking of Czech guys, Dominik Nekolny is dialled. I mean really dialled - he's got the hardest switches on lock & is also one of the nicest guys you could meet.
• The Deep crew know how to have a good time. With Frank Lukas & Matti Rose at the helm they were always on a mission to get something done: photos/video/riding/partying - in any order at any time.
• When it comes to putting on a top notch event the OG guys have it sorted. The fact that roughly 100 riders came from many countries & everyone had a good time is testament to this.

Here's a bunch of random photos from the week....

Waldemar Fatkin

Denes Katona

Dominik Nekolny

Alexis Desolneux

All photos courtesy of Andras Pentek at OG Bikes. For more photos click here.

A huge thanks goes out to Andras, OG Marton & all the OG crew for putting on another great event. As it was the first time run in Szombathely on the mega-court & with the hostel, things all went surprisingly well. Bigger & better things are planned for next year so hope to see everyone there again!

Badman.

OG Summer Camp - Hungary

Badman recently left Sweden after nearly a year spent there. Next stop is Hungary for a month riding, hanging out with the OG guys & checking out the OG Summer Camp held in Szombathely.

First week in Hungary was pretty chill. Local street riding legend Ben Shenker had his bucks party that got pretty loose including go-karting, BMX street racing & long board diving at some huge swimming complex. Good times by all.

I'm currently at Szombathely riding on the mega-court. It's crazy hot for the past few days that we've been here but a lot of riding is still going down. Along with the Hungarian riders, there are a heap of riders from the Czech Republic, Germany, Croatia, Austria, Ireland/Brazil & Australia!

Such a laid back event, it's cool to see everyone again, hang-out & ride. There is a chill contest this weekend that the OG guys are putting on... stay tuned for more updates soon!

Badman.

Has Shane Badman found the world's best summer spot??

Badman was living in Sweden for the past year or so. As is always the way, only a few weeks before he was due to leave, this AWESOME spot was found. Perfect surface (marble), right on the beach & when the when the sun is shining is maybe one of the best riding locations anywhere in the world??

Best riding spot in the world?? from Shane Badman on Vimeo.

Wireless Headphone reviews

Nearly every rider out there runs some type of personal music setup. Whether it's a stereo next to their practice spot or headphones running off an MP3 player, there's many ways to get the job done. Here we take a look at the Monster iFreeplay Shuffle wireless headphone & Sony's NWZ -W202 model.

Ben (Ginny) McGinnes & Shane Badman have put together reviews on both models....

NWZ-W202 Cordless Walkman review

Who's a fan of riding bikes here?

Cool.., I thought so!

And who else is a fan of listening to their favourite tunes while throwing down some wicked turbines?

Excellent...

So then, is it safe to assume that all of us here at some point have had our earphones ripped from our ears, and felt the blinding, white-hot rage that comes along with it?

Sony, having heard everyone's girlish tantrums have nailed it here with their new release 'wearable and cordless' Walkman.

Having worn these pretty much every day since getting them over 3months ago, I can honestly say it's been the best $120AUD I've spent... I've been whinging my arse off for ages now (to no-one inparticular) longing for a nice set uncomplicated all-in-one mp3 player/earbuds... I've rooted around with every conceivable set up... From shuffles clipped to short corded cans and even the phallusy of hi tech/ hi annoyance bluetooth headphones.

So to start off, these are an all in one (albeit screen-less) earbud/mp3 player that simply sits over your ears.. and well, plays your selected beats. The added convenience of not having to install any extra programs as well as boasting a fairly decent memory of 2GB is always a bonus.. It will automatically sync straight up with Windows Media Player, but if you're an itunes fan... Do the work around... Make some mad playlist in itunes (or select an existing one), select it all, copy it to a new folder on your desktop, then simply drag that folder over to the 'music' folder on the Walkman... Piece-a-piss. Yeah it even plays AAC apple files.

The usual over packaged headphone jive is continued here, including a huge plastic blow mould retail blister pack, three pairs of different sized rubber ear pieces.. (awesome!), a neat little charging/data transfer stand with attached lead... along with all the usual standard, pointless paperwork. So far available in 5 different colours: white, barbie pink, green, purple and 'best in black'.

Mac-o-philes.., I can't personally tell you if these will work with Apple operating systems. I've read some reviews that they will, but I don't want to be burned at the stake for misguidance. So don't quote me on this.

The best part is that you can actually bend the connecting wire to suit your ill-shaped melon - this is where the player really dictates it's authority. It might take a few minutes, or maybe hours of subtly tweaking it to sit perfectly in your ears while staying still and efficiently executing it's job of pounding the sides of your brain... But if done right, the difference is astounding in terms of comfort, sound reproduction... and well, staying where you put them. This will give you the most advantage of it's huge 13.5mm speakers, (trust me, that's a massive driver when it actually lives inside your ear).. It really has a wicked amount of bass when seated properly.

The controls all sit on the right side.. volume, play/pause, even the always open (therefore slightly worrying) USB port... It is a standard 'mini' USB connector, so I suppose that's a muffled hurrah. Another handy point is that there is no on/off button.. Weird hey?

For automatic power-off just connect both earpieces together via the inbuilt magnet. Disconnect the two earpieces (to put it on and,) power it on. Wow, leave it to the Japanese.

A new and bizarrely useful feature I've yet to see on any other DAP (digital audio player), is the ZAPPIN function... Instead of constantly hitting the fast foward clicker to find a suitable 'flat-esque' rythm. You simply hold the play/pause button in for just over a second and let go, then a sultry English... Yes, a sexy, brunette, blue eyed, female voice, informs you that she is 'zappin in' with a 3 second sample of random tracks, when you hear the track you want to roll with, press the clicker again.. Even if just to hear her voice one more time... 'zappin out'...

She'll be back...

In a perfect world I wouldn't hesitate in giving this Walkman 5 skyward thumbs.. But I'm not perfect, I sweat.. Alot. I just find the open USB connector a worrying point. Electrical power ports and moisture weren't meant to co-exist peacefully, but the silent war rages on with my imitation sideburn acting as some sort passive buffer.

Just wipe it over after a good ride, It's lasted me this long, so that's a start. I'm happy, and I really hope this player battles on.. I love it.

Hit it up here.

Ginny.


Monster iFreeplay Cordless Headphones for iPod Shuffle

iPod Shuffles are a popular MP3 player. Their clip on design, decent memory (available in 1GB & 2GB) & ability to take hard crashes all give them strong appeal to any flatlander. And not to mention they also have the marketing juggernaut of Apple behind them & a legion of devotees that would make Osama proud & you have a product that is hot on anyones wish list regardless of whether they know how to work iTunes or not.

Yet even using a Shuffle, there has still been the age old problem of wires. They're annoying, distracting & often waaay to long. If you're a person you rides shirtless then they tend to get even more distracting always flinging about & getting caught on things.

Monster have taken care of this little dilemma by creating a headphone that allows the Shuffle to sit in the left earpiece. Ingenious concept with much potential, but does it actually work?

In short, yes. The Shuffle sits neatly in its little dock that is cleverly moulded to allow total access to all the switches & buttons. My initial concern was the Shuffle would jump out of the dock with all the constant movement, but the design has provided an incredibly snug fit that sees it sit firmly in place until you choose to remove it.


The pin that the Shuffle docks to is gold meaning the best possible conductor for sound. The headphone unit is sturdily built & folds down to a convenient travelling piece when necessary. Weather proof to some degree the speakers have are covered in a soft fabric liner common to all street-style headphones.

The Monster comes in a one-size-fits-all model but found to fit better if you have a larger head. It sits comfortably over your ears with the thin piece bridging the two speakers going unobtrusively behind your noggin & unfortunately like the Sony model reviewed, there is no adjustability. One concern I had before buying it was that the headphone would become heavy on the left earpiece (where the Shuffle sits). While noticeable, I personally didn't find it unbearable even after several hours of constant wearing.

Photos thanks to Andras @ OG Bikes

Though it has some great points, there are also a few negatives. I found the sound quality to be ok – it wasn't bad, just wasn't great was all. I guess when you're used to using ear buds then move to speakers you'll notice the difference. Also being a lad who tends to sweat a hell of a lot, I often had to squeeze the fabric covering the ear pieces dry. I've had these headphones roughly a month & no problems from sweat so far, but I'm sure that much moisture so close to electronics can't be good? Also the left ear piece with the Shuffle can jump about on your ear if your riding style is a little energetic. Not a problem per se, but annoying when you're mid-combo & your wondering if the headphone is going to jump off (which it hasn't so far).

You can find the headphones here.

I would give these a 3/5 rating.

Badman.

Shane Badman & Simon O'brien bars & forks update!

Simon O'brien & Shane Badman have their signature bars available through Colony. While Simon's is already available, Shane's will be dropping September & available somewhere near you.

Simon's Deja Vu bar...

*Flatland specific 4 piece design.
*6.8” rise with 23.25” width.
*6º back sweep.
*1º up sweep.
*Weight: TBA.
*Available in Black, White and Assorted Limited Edition Colours.


Shane's Cube bar


*Flatland specific.
*7.9" rise.
*24.4" wide.
*2.5 degrees up sweep.
*2.5 degrees back sweep.
*Weight: TBA.
*Available in Matt Black, White, Candy Red & Candy Blue.


And here's a sneak peak at the new forks available shortly....

Deja Vu fork (offset)



Cube fork (zero offset)

Shane Badman featured in major Swedish newspaper!

Colony rider Shane Badman has been living the life in Sweden for a while now. While flatland is not huge in the country, the interest for it is definitely there. Recently Shane got asked to do an interview for one of the major Swedish newspapers, Sydsvenskan (South Sweden). Here's how it came about....

I was riding at my local spot in a small village called Staffanstorp in the far south of Sweden. Randomly a couple of people came up to talk, interested in what I was doing. One was a journalist, the other a photographer: they had seen me here practising regularly & were curious to know more about the sport & myself.

So we sat down & went through some details about myself, my riding history & flatland followed by a quick photo shoot. Their plan was to do a full page spread in the Sydsvenskan paper that would be released over the next few days.

A few days go by & I get a message to give the journalist a call. After a short conversion, the word is they would like to do a little more than just a paper interview - but do something for the web too. Great! We scheduled to meet the following the following Monday at their studios in Malmo.

10am Monday arrived quickly. I was welcomed & introduced to the "video guy" & "another photographer" saying they would be with me for the next few hours. The plan was to get a few clips riding & few photos on site.

Riding outdoors in Sweden can be tricky business. I love the country, the people & everything about it, but the weather can make life tough. Even in the middle of summer it can be sunny one moment & raining the next. And the wind.... whoa - if you own a wind farm I imagine you'd be doing pretty well. So we headed down to a place I'd been a few weeks earlier & though thankfully it wasn't raining, the wind was making up for it. We filmed a few things, talked a little bit & headed back to get the photos done.

So after a few short hours since walking through their door I was thanked for my time & advised the final product would be available in the next 24 hours.

And here it is:

You can read the translated article by clicking here.

The short web vid is found here.

And the article was also printed in the daily newspaper - full page no less!!

So a massive thank you to everyone who has made my stay in Sweden an amazing experience. Though I'm leaving in less than a week I'll always remember my time here & the close friends that I've made.

See you all soon!!!

Shane Badman Winter 2008/9 edit

It was a long, cold winter in Sweden & I was lucky enough to have a short break to Australia mid way. Along the way I got a few things filmed that I wanted to share with everyone...

Shane Badman Winter 2008/9 from Shane Badman on Vimeo.

New Colony website launched!!!

That's right - the whole site has been completely re-done & re-vamped. Find information on the whole Colony line of products, regular news updates & contact info. All the team pages are now also complete with bios & pics to brighten your day.

Check it out by clicking here.