Brain Tunney over at ESPN hit up Nuno Oliveira about the new Mint Brake kit we posted the other day. The mini-interview touches on things like why we’re still doing limited edition colorways for brakes and who on our team is still running them. Click HERE to read it!

We have a bunch of Mint parts in stock (as seen on the Aaron Ross Triple Shot). You can now get our Evo 2 brakes and our Monolever in mint!

Click around the flipbook above for the full parts list. Available now in Mint Green are Vandero 2 hubs, Hazard Lite rims, Evo II brakes, Monolever and the Aaron Ross Veteran Saddle in Herringbone!

If you haven’t seen the Triple Shot video series yet, clicking here would be a good start.

Adam Banton just put together a new whip. It’s all white with some black/chrome accents and it’s looking slick. You can check out the full bike check over at the Eastern site!

Vital BMX just put up a video bike check with Adam Banton!

Gary Young has a bike check up over at the Sunday site. We noticed some kids happened to spy that he’s not running his own grips right now and that’s mainly because he’s in the process of updating his signature grip so he’s trying out some other ones to see what changes he wants. Also, the Gary Young bar will also be getting a fresh update soon so keep an eye out for that as well!

Check out the pics above and then play Pong when you’re done!
Oh and you might as well watch his Tunnel edit again, too.

Our most complete parts kit ever is here and available now. Hit up your local shops and mail-orders to turn your bike red. Check out the Fire Engine Red flipbook for a complete parts list and more pics!

Click around the flipbook above to get fresh.
Keep up with Adam via twitter.com/adambanton!

Oh and if you want to learn how to Luc-E grind, watch Adam’s how-to video.

Sunday posted some pics of Aaron’s Watermelon bike the other day and if you’re interested in what parts he’s running, here’s the list. Also, in case you guys are wondering, matching Watermelon Spacebars and Director Forks are scheduled to come sometime in May!

FRAME: Sunday, Funday
FORKS: Director
BARS: Aaron Ross Spacebars
STEM: Elementary
GRIPS: Aaron Ross Grips
CRANKS: Twombolt
SPROCKET: Vermont, 30t
PEDALS: JCPC
RIMS: G-Sport Rollcages
HUB (F): Vandero
HUB (R): G-Sport Ratchet w/Hub Guard
TIRE (F): Aitken, P-Lyte, 2.125″
TIRE (R): Path, P-Lyte, 2.1″
POST: Intac
SEAT: Aaron Ross Veteran
LEVER: Monolever, Small
CABLE: Linear Slic Kable
BRAKE: Evo 2

Mike Aitken has a bike check and mini Q&A up on the Fit site!

Although brakeless riding has taken off to epic proportions, we know there are still plenty of people out there who enjoy the irreplaceable feeling of a stalled out abubaca or a properly executed skid. To celebrate and show our appreciation to those who love to lock ‘em up, we’re holding a Brake Dance Contest.

The rules are simple, submit visual proof (photo or video) of a brake related move and the raddest one wins a pair of chrome Hazard Lite rims and a full Odyssey brake kit which includes Evo 2 brakes, a Monolever and a Linear Slic Kable. We’ll even let you choose the color you want from what we have in stock.

Though just about any brake related move qualifies, we will NOT accept feathering and speed checks. However, if you want to do something like gap 30 feet and have to skid to a stop in order to avoid slamming into a wall, we’ll count that.

To enter, you can send it to us through any of our many accounts: YouTube, Vimeo, Flickr, Facebook, Vital, or just email it to us.

The deadline is March 29th! Have fun!

Oh and follow him on Twitter if you haven’t done so already!

Is there anything you’re very particular about as far as setup goes?
Naw, not really. I like my frame, The Lost Dutchman, to be a pretty stock frame as far as geometry and lengths are concerned. Normal standover height, it’s not a razor scooter bike. 13.75″ rear end, not loop out short, not limo long, right in the middle. Head-tube angle is 74.5 so you can still haul ass and not get loose.

Do you do any special mods to your bike or is it fairly stock?
I was lucky enough enough to get to design my frame and bars exactly how I like them. When I put a new one together, I dont have to do any sort of suping up. It comes perfect to me, but doesn’t mean that you can’t supe it up if you need to.

How do you feel about being the cover boy in the new Dig photo issue?
I think it’s pretty awesome. I mean the photo is ironic in so many ways. One being the running joke of laziest pro in bmx and I get a cover sitting down on my bike. Two being “the dicks” sign because Pat, Kyle and hopefully myself are probably 3 of the least jerks in bmx. But I feel honored to grace the cover of that magazine, especially a non riding photo. (That’s an elite cast! Enns, Bestwick, etc. It’s a priveledge being on that list!) And lastly, it’s always a treat to get to hang out w/Sandy Carson, who shot the photo. Just riding and laughing w/him that whole day was amazing. The cover coming from that is just icing on the cake! Thanks guys!

Where are you at these days and what have you been up to?
I’m back in Tempe, AZ. I lasted about 6 months in Seattle and although I loved it there, AZ is and will always be my home. It has everything I need; good concrete, some trails, good street if i get a wild hair up my ass, endless ditches, pools, but most importantly, good friends and family. Lately I’ve just been riding, drawing a bit, hanging out w/the crew here and working a few jobs. I’m saving money to kidnap my girlfriend from Seattle and move her back to AZ with me.

If Godzilla was to attack San Diego, what front brake related trick would you want to do on his face in order to save the city? Either an ET nosepick dremel to the groin or a top side cancan nosepick karate kick to the dome.

Do you and Dirt Ron have front brake battles? We actually unite our powers like wonder twins, but it’s more of a holy experience, like that scene in karate kid (pick any one of them).

You put together a video for us a while ago, how’s the editing board been treating you? It was super fun to play around with Final Cut. That was my first stab at it on my own, with some scrap clips i had from the past few months of riding… I’m looking forward to working with it again, but that requires more clips to be filmed and logged… in progress!

What parts do you go through the most? Grips and pedals for sure, though I’ve eased up on the pedal grinders and these Olastic grips seem to be staying in shape.

Is there anything you’re particular about on your bike as far as setup? Basically everything, but I really like to experiment with different setups (2 pegs, 1 peg, 1 brake front, 1 brake back, stem lengths, seat heights, etc). My bike is basically a transformer with an identity crisis, but in the end, I always seem to come back to a brakeless ballerina bike.

I’ve been told your alias is Ohio, which leads me to believe you’re from there. When did you move to sunny SD? Do your friends back home call you Diego? I’ve lived in San Diego for a few months shy of 2 years now and it’s been an adventure. I am originally from Cincinnati OH where a number of people call me a number of things, but I don’t think I’m spanish looking enough to have heard Diego.

Tell us a little more about Awkward Words. A few years ago I started a blog that was essentially an outlet for me to doodle and share my weirdness with whoever might be curious or bored, so of course I put it on the Internet. Speaking of which, it could use some more attention these days, too busy riding!

What’s going on here: tumblr_kv6d1gEQH91qaaocio1_500.jpg This is actually pretty out of character for me, since i usually draw more basic, cute stuff, but this is one of Ron’s monsters that I drew my own version of because I thought it was so insane and I was extremely hung over after a night at his place and in need of a distraction for my bruised brain. As for what is actually going on, it’s a magician monster stranded on an island puking all over his own eyeball while solving a rubics cube and conjuring a rain storm

If the Red Power Ranger walked up to you and asked, “Yo Tom, how you do them manual lines so well?” How would you respond? I would probably slap him in the face and ask him where the green ranger was. The green ranger was Tommy, definitely the most badass. He had his own power zord, which was a dinosaur. Plus he was the mysterious loner, so bonus wolf points… or i would just give him some spare change: 1h9jxd.jpg

Are there any projects that we should keep an eye out for? San Diego BMX is reuniting in a furious blaze of glory so watch out for revival of America’s finest city in the bmx scene… other than that I’ve been getting more into shooting photos lately, so hit up tomisthinking.tumblr.com if you’re ever bored online. That and awkwardwords.tumblr.com are my two blogs at the moment, so I’ll have to get that stuff some more updates soon. Peace, love and 69.

Also, keep checking back ’cause there’ll be a new video of Jimmy popping up soon!

While a lot of kids these days are going out and trying on the tallest, largest bars, you actually trim yours down. What’s the width on your bars and have they gotten wider at all throughout the years or are they still partying like it’s 1999?
My bars are cut down about an inch on each side. So yeah, they are narrow for the N.W. However, I must admit, they are wider than they were when I moved here 5 years ago.

Aside from trimming the bars, are there any other things about your setup that you’re particular about?
Just that it’s running solid. I’ve been riding too long to have a slapping chain or loose… anything running shitty.

You’re known to have done some of the biggest gaps in BMX. When it comes to jumping long distances and dropping from great heights, is there a specific geometry you’ve grown to prefer?
I’ve always been a 74% or 74.5% head tube guy. My rear end is 13.75″ and works great. I think landing those gaps you mentioned is just knowing the balance of your rig. You have to know when to drop your back wheel to land, as well as a steady trust on your frame and parts knowing that nothing is going to explode.

Greyboy and Truly have a bike check up on the Ride site, along with an interview about Impakt Sidehacks and an online version of their Sidehack Love article from earlier this year. Constantly carrying 315lbs plus the force of landings and grinds, these 3 wheeled cousins can take and handle a lot of abuse. Check out the bike check to see what type of parts they’re running on it!

1.) Do you do any custom modifications to your bike? A little bit. I cut a pinkies width off my bars. Took a grind wheel to the JC/PC’s to trim the pins down and took half out on one of my left sides. I replaced the stock axle in the Rachet Hub with the aluminum 3/8″ [kit]. That’s it. Small stuff, everything comes so dialed stock. I don’t touch the frame. It’s perfect.

2.) As far as the setup goes, what are some key things you’re particular about? You guys have told me I’m pretty particular, I never realized it. The flagpole seat post of mine has about a fist full of post. BARS: I run them even with my head tube (74.5), maybe a tad forward of that. BRAKES: They have to work good. If they don’t, what’s the point of having them? So I uasually have those dialed; absolute minimal tension on the springs, with Tri-flow marinated housing. Chain has got to be tight for whips. Tire pressure around 95psi.

3.) With the front brake missing in action, what type of tricks have you found yourself doing more of lately? Turndowns and trying to learn nothings. I’m playing around with some footjam stuff too. Barspins are more fun without the lever there to smash your fingers.

4.) We have you listed as a nomad in the catalog. Where are you at these days? Ah man, that was funny when I saw that! I guess it’s true, everywhere is the answer. What I do own has been in storage in SLC for the last 6 months. Since then, I did some shows in Cleveland, went to Signapore for a week, went back to Clevo & recorded a new song for my part in Eastern’s “Death of Fun,” spent more than a week in NC, VA, DE, OH, went on Mega Tour through the midwest, then finally was driving back to UT with intensions of a 1 week stop in Clevo. Well, it was too fun for one week, so it ended up being 3 weeks. I’m here now going to Ray’s MT bike park grand opening this weekend and THEN packing up and driving to UT. I’ve honestly been enjoying floating around, def been keeping busy. Really looking forward to Utah though.

5.) With fall coming to a close and winter around the corner, what’s your plan for the months to follow?
Move out of my storage unit. Haha. Move into the my friends house, Kenny Sanders, first and foremost. Snowboarding, can not wait for that. Going on Eastern’s “Inside Out” trips. For a year I’ve had an open invite to record with my buddy Jelly in San Diego and having Ray Barbee sit in on some of my new material and dance on the fret board (lead guitar). Haha. So I wanna take Ray and Jelly up on that offer soon. I plan on taking an AZ & Vegas trip for some VitalBMX stuff too, maybe even film a web vid.

Ride BMX just dropped a bike check with Matt Beringer. In case you missed his latest ad, you can view it and download the wallpaper here.

Jim Cielencki has a Bike Check up on the Ride site. After going brakeless for a bit, he’s back to running stoppies again. Find out what else is on his bike and why by clicking the photo above!

Gary Young picked up a new frame sponsor pretty quickly and he’s now officially on Sunday Bikes! JC put up a bike check for Gary so head over there and check it out.

A huge thanks goes out to Rob at CM Speed for doing the welding for us!

AARON ROSS BIKE CHECK FROM SUNDAYBIKES.COM

The parts kit on his Fluorange bike-check are available too!

What’s Dirt Ron up to these days? Trying to get another job so I don’t have to borrow money to pay rent, spinning signs on the weekends, riding bikes with the buds, hanging out with my babe, beaching since its summer time, maybe going to oregon in a few days.

If your candy bars were literal, edible candy bars, which brand of candy bar would they be and why? I don’t really like sweets but I use to like Twix when I was a kid.

You have a front stoppie on your bike. What are some of your favorite things to do with the front wheel stopping action? I did my first candy bar nose manual the other day. Uh… It always feel cool to do a fakie nosepick and look at the tire on the coping.

What’s that sharpie drawing on your down tube? That’s one of my characters, Duty Wham Shit! I got some others like Doo Doo Brown and Handi Man Swazi Stan. I like to draw.

There’s a part on your bike that’s a bit of rarity these days… it appears to be a post-like product that’s attached to your seat. What’s it doing there? Haahaa. TO THE SKY!!!! Kids these days don’t even know about sitting down. It’s good to have the post up there for no footed nose picks and not landing Twhips to the pedals, stuff like that.

I’m not sure if this has been addressed before but how’d you get the nickname Dirt Ron? I usually just get brutally gross on road trips. I think Hoangs got dibs on the nick name. I like getting things clean and then dirtying them the hell up. I usually don’t stay clean for too long. I don’t smell… I’m just a little dirty.

Other than riding bikes, what else does Dirt Ron consider fun? Drawing, Beaching, Adventures, Drinksies and random events that can’t ever be prepared for.

If somebody was a Dirt Ron groupie, are there any online social networks they could stalk you through? I suppose the MySpace. If someone were to stalk me of all people they’d have to be a little twakked out.

Anything else? I like you guys.