Inspired by this post from Taj Mihelich, I figured that as I have quite a few photos of various bikes I’ve owned over the years I’d do something similar. This list is far from comprehensive (I guess it helps when you’re in the media as much as he was / is) but there’s still a fair few on here and I definitely miss most of them.
This seems to be the earliest picture I have of me on a bike. Never mind the shoes, check out how stoked I am. Little do I know about the pain that is to come over the subsequent years. And I wish I still had that hair.
This was my pride and joy for quite a while until it snapped around the headtube. It’s a GT Pro Freestyle Tour Team (to give it its full title) with some pretty cool parts for the day. GT 3-piece cranks (rebranded Profiles basically) and Peregrine Super Pro rims. Obviously this is back when chrome was popular. Other details of note are of course the Garfield dust caps and the Sheep Store sticker on the downtube.
This frame was next after the GT snapped and started a trend for a number of years – it’s an S&M Dirt Bike. Not the first one I’d owned, I did once have Scott Walker’s old frame (that was then sold onto Wes), but I remember getting back on this after that super short and flexy GT and being able to ride a hell of a lot better. I can’t remember what happened to this frame though.
The third picture is of me spinning a 360 at the old jump at the back of Burnden Park on this bike. If you’ve got a pretty keen eye you’ll spot the S&M Heavy As Fuck on the right hand side. That piece of shit was Wes’s ride with a set of *massive* OG S&M Slam Bars. And check that pony tail…
Next up is another Dirt Bike, this time the Aheadset version. I loved this setup – Slam Bars cut to just the right size, simple weight saving measures of the day like just running two pegs, and so on. Almost all chrome, except for the black Slams as I was copying the POW house trend at that time having watched Dirty Deeds etc. Still mainly chrome though and with the obligatory Profile 3-piece cranks and Super Pro wheels. Awesome stuff. The next owner of this frame was Fletch who I believe still has it, but is too lazy to do anything.
Bit of a gap here as after the Dirt Bike(s) I had a Standard STA for a while. For some reason I bought the 20″ version as I used to dislike long frames. Anyway, I had a hard time riding it properly on anything except mini-ramps, so I ended up trading it in at a bike shop in Manchester for this Taiwanese-built Hoffman Deebo. I think this had a 20.75″ top tube, but if there’s one thing I do remember for sure it was that it weighed a fucking ton. It lasted a good while though and was pretty rad to ride once you were used to it. The picture on the right is of me riding a legendary pool in the San Diego area sometime around 2002, and was taken by Chris ‘Carve’ Hardy.
Now we’re talking. This is, hands down, the best bike I’ve ever had. It’s a T1 Barcode with a 21″ top tube. I bought this frame just before I came back to the UK after my first stay in San Diego and it was so dialled. I was obviously copying Taj pretty heavily at this point, from the T1 Small handlebars to the gearing (36/13) right down to the anodized front wheel. Sadly this bike was stolen from Revolt HQ in SD one day just as me and Ben were due to meet Paul Kintner at the newly opened Woodward West for a free stay. Talk about shitty timing.
Anyway, the insurance money bought me the next bike:
As I loved the Barcode so much I went and bought another one, only this wasn’t in quite such a cool colour. It’s basically the same setup, except I’m copying Taj’s changes again at the time with a Tree sprocket, 36h rims, Wellgo MG-1 pedals, and a few other things. The picture on the right is of me blasting that mini at Bones Bolton (RIP) in 2004. This ride lasted me a while until I was sucked in to the whole weight-weenie thing and fancied a change. I sold it to a local RADS legend (Lynden) who still had it last time I checked.
Now that’s a good looking bike. It was pretty fucking light at the time as I’d gone for various bits of Ti wherever possible. I didn’t really get on with this thing though, the frame was a bit shorter (20.8) and I just felt really squirrely riding it. I swapped it with another RADS local (Sensible Sam!) for a Barcode which lasted for a while until this happend.
After that I bought a Take Ivy in 21″ and that’s been my frame since. Bizarrely I’ve no pictures of it, but to be honest given how my life has panned out over the last couple of years I haven’t really been riding much anyway. That’ll change soon though I hope.
MIA: Mongoose Californian, Dyno Slammer (with built-in bashguard), Redline RL240, Scotty’s old Dirt Bike, Standard STA, Take Ivy.
Updates to follow, maybe.