I should have bought a BMX

Ok, I admit it, I have never owned a BMX. Even with a starring role in ET and whilst my school chum Simon had an awesome Silver Mongoose, I was still riding a trusty Grifter. Then, what seemed like years later, my other school chum, Tim, got a Puch Mountain Bike ( one of the first in the UK and yes made by the company who make those little moped things ) and any interest I had in BMXs went out the window.

The Mighty Raleigh Grifter

From the Grifter, I followed Tim ( yes, one of the original 'Tims'), into the world of Mountain bikes with a Peugeot 'Safari' and then through a succession of Marin's, British Eagles, Treks and other stuff. I used them to ride the trails along with commuting 10 miles to work ( remember when one bike did it all? ). I never really missed not having a BMX.

The Marin Hawk Hill - My first bike with Front Suspension

Many years later I started work at Afour ( which became Sole Technology UK ) and I was once again exposed to the world of BMX with the brand Etnies. But even with being involved in the UK premier of the mighty 'Grounded' BMX film ( as a side note this introduced me to the Black Keys, so I will always be grateful for that ), I stuck to Mountain Bikes, whilst Etnies, at the time, focused on it's skateboarding portfolio.

Grounded -find it on some download site?

Roll on a few years and I found myself a couple of weeks back at Manchester BMX track riding for the first time a small wheeled beast. Yes I am now 35. This I now realise was far too late. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but instead of hanging around New Deal Skates trying to be good at skateboarding through osmosis, I reckon I would have been better off learning to jump a BMX. Call it heresy, but I have never been that good on four wheels.

So why write about this now when clearly I am all about two wheeled action these days? Well last night on my little Blackberry screen I watched this video.


  Just check out the entry at the 2min mark. THAT IS INSANE!
Now I am not saying that I would ever have been able to ride like this, but I might at least have been able to learn how to bunny hop properly without SPDs!

So what can I do? I'm never going to be able to jump a big like these guys but with Sprog No.1 now riding her first pedal bike and Sprog No.2 not that far behind, I am going to make ruddy sure that both of them spend some time on BMXs....

....now I wonder if I can buy a Grifter on eBay?

Bikes + Boards + NZ = Roadtrip

Inspired NZ roadtrip on bikes with some skating thrown in for good measure.

As a side note I hung out with Silas Baxter Neil and Rick McCrank on an éS Tour many years ago and I have to say they were probably the nicest pro skaters I ever met.

All five episodes here:

Riding the Long White Cloud Part 1 from predatory bird on Vimeo.

Riding the Long White Cloud part 2 from predatory bird on Vimeo.

Riding the Long White Cloud part 3 from predatory bird on Vimeo.

Riding the Long White Cloud part 4 from predatory bird on Vimeo.

Riding the Long White Cloud part 5 from predatory bird on Vimeo.

I'm going to be a Fix Pusher...

Vic-Tim Photos as Art?

I vaguely remember this chap asking if he could use some of my skateboarding shots for his paintings. Didn't think much to it at the time, but rather impressed by the result!




Before you ask, no, I don't get any commision, just credit. ( though I might start asking if he gets bigger! )

The guys name is Kevin Simpson and you can check out the rest of his work here.

You can check out the rest of my shots by clicking the 'images' tab at the top or clicking here.