The Dirtbag Steed

So a few years ago Surly, a most excellent bicycle manufacturer of weird and uncommon bikes of all sorts, retired the frame that launched the company, the 1x1. I was kinda bummed about this, and I do actually regret not getting a pretty pretty princess pepto pink 3rd gen frame. Regardless, I've had the same orange 1x1 for a lot of years, and it's such a terrific bike.

A 1x1. I assure you, I will make all the words about it later. 

So Surly took a couple years, then mashed the 1x1 up with another model, the Instigator. This birthed the Nexus 6 of 26" singlespeed, fuckin' a steel frames. They created...

The Lowside. 

 

And it was... well, not really good. I have been having a lot of teething problems. 

I bought this toward the end of the first production year, because I didn't expect it would make it to a second. I normally would have preferred to start from a frame only, but the wheels are Boost 26+. Super common, right? If you are not a bike person, they are not common. I figured it would be worth it to just buy a complete bike for those wheels alone, and then have extra parts. 

I was not impressed with the stock build, and I think Surly remedied that with later releases. Suprisingly I won't bitch about it now, but I think the wheels and headset are the only pieces left stock. I'm cool with the dropper routing, but really, Surly? A deraileur hangar? I rather would have had proper braze ons for the dropper than violate the sanctity of my singlespeed rage. No gears. No mercy. 

This bike has the great distinction of flat out rocking me twice already. It definitely draws you out and encourages you to push the limits. Or she may just hate me. Much like that dude from the Led Zeppelin albums, I flew too close to the sun, then choked on my own vomit. Hah. Nah, I mean Icarus, and yes, I plummeted back to Earth. 

Victim of a bitched landing. I liked these saddles. A clever bike dork may have noticed a significantly toasted version of this on that arrrrnge 1x1 up top. 

They aren't great stories, which is often the case with the bad crashes. I'm usually festive and jovial about the harsh reality of  embracing sweet lady dirt, but these really hurt. I actually took a day off work for the second one. 

First time I dedicated too late and biffed the landing on a tabletop. I think if I hadn't hesitated I would have been fine. The other one I was just making my second run of the day on a short little section I've ridden at least a hundred times and just went too hard too fast. Brutal. But crashing is cool, and I hear chicks dig scars. 

So a quick breakdown on parts and setup:

Cockpit: 

Deity bars and stem. Cut down about 20mm on each side. High rise, and there is not a lot of stack. It feels perfect after I cut the bars. I tore up my pinkie knuckles more than once with those wide bars. 

Demolition grips in purple swirl. I didn't really ride these til today, and til now I thought the circular pattern may be annoying. Wrong. Way comfy, sick colors, and circa 2003 Hatebreed graphics. Into it. Bmx grips win. Like rawdoggin' your bars without those clamps getting in the way of the feel. 

Paul levers. Smooth. Pretty. My first purple part of the build. 

Drivetrain:

Raceface Atlas cranks. I guess these have a aluminum spindle. I put my trust in steel. 30mm bottom bracket. At least it is threaded.

Blackspire 32t ring. Narrow wide. Thumbs down for singlespeeding, but it's a search to find proper rings these days. 

20t steel Surly cog. Crom. 

Those Deity pedals look snazzy but I'll destroy the hell out of them by October. Kmc chain. I don't know why there are other brands. 

Brakes, dropper, whatever:

Spoon saddle. Poor 66sick seat. It lived such a short life. Fortunately I got it on closeout. 

Fox Transfer dropper in Kashima coat. Raises pinkie high. I may be a dirtbag, but my girls get the best. 

Brakes are mechanical. TRP Spyke with Hope rotors. More bling. 

Maxxis tires. DHR and DHF 26+. The good stuff with light casing, tear protection, 3 tire compounds. Whatever else Maxxis made up to sound more better. The wheels are no name hubs with Alex rims. I'll build a fancy set someday,  but that is expensive. 

Brought to you by Rocky Ridge park in York,PA and Houses of the Holy. 

Genogeist - S/T

I recently saw a post from the label/distro Splattered Records mentioning a Portland area stenchcore band with a killer release. Well, I was sold right there. I love that Pacific Northwest style. Steeped in crusty buds and sludgy suds.

Anyways, check out the label, it's run by a dude from Denver who worked at the record shop Wax Trax and fronted a little band called Speedwolf. They are most excellent, and you should listen to them.  He has good taste and releases some cool shit.

Top right is my mix-masher, an old Yamaha 4 track I use for mix tapes. 

Man, those crusties sure know how to put together a complete album. I didn't listen to this before I bought it, but look at that packaging. Even if I found a couple good tunes but wasn't blown away, I would still say it was worth it. Fortunately that is not the case, and I am pretty stoked on this album. 

I partially attribute the awesome and extravagant packaging to them being artsy fartsy Portlanders (nothing wrong with that), but you can also obviously see (and hear) their love for classic crust albums and art. I really get less stenchcore from Genogeist, which I consider to be Stormcrow/Dystopia type Oakland Bay Area stuff, and more along the lines of Nausea/ Doom apocalypse punk. There is definitely a solid slab of fellow PDxers Hellshock mixed in. I wouldn't be suprised if there was some crossover between the bands, but I don't really give a shit to look it up.

A standout tune is Dataslave, which features a sick Extortion style speedcore riff that pops up throughout the song and blows my mind every time.

This is definitely the kind of music that puts me in the mood to work on some Necromu da or post-apocalyptic style minis.  I just find the music so evocative of a dystopian cyber punk existence. It's funny,  because in my limited research, thats how they describe the album. My first listen I didn't get it, but after I've made it through a few times, Fuckin' a. They nailed it. I imagine hanging out listening to it in my Necromunda gang clubhouse while cleaning my stubber, or going to see it in some Blade Runner-esque rock and roll club. Definitely got some ideas brewing for a Rogue Trader style piece I've been thinking about for a while. 

I highly recommend picking up a copy of this album while it is still available, or giving it a search and listening to it. 

If you can't get it at Splattered,  it is released by Black Water Records. Looking into it, I definitely need to put in an order there sometime, but that's a slippery slope!

RT-era Leman Russ WIPs

I've been trying to keep myself motivated in paint world by finishing up something that's been on my table for a while. It is good  justification to paint or work on something new afterward. Also, I crashed hard and I forsee at least another week of no-go-hard. What do they say? Ride like lightning. Crash like thunder. Well, I did it again, man, and it makes me feel like I'm getting old.

This time back on the bench is a pretty rare Leman Russ mini. I picked up duder years ago, NOS in package with his wolves and backpack. Way stoked to dig into a piece of mint classic lead to make it unique. The axe is a conversion from an old reaper weapons pack, with a plastic wolf tail stuck on. Cork rocks, and a piece of plaster carved to look like a rune stone.

Russ came with a special wolf backpack with a cape, a pelt, and a banner pole. Hat trick. I bet it is probably the valuable piece of the mini in lead-head land. I love me some heraldry and intense nerd flags, so enjoy some doodles from my sketch book.

A pretty solid idea of where I'd like go with the Russ banner. I must have been deep in a Despise You kick at this point. Just kidding. I'm always on a DxYx kick. 

I am going to try to bring in some of that first Chapter Approved style with his banner. Some reference pictures from a copy of that very tome. Pretty cool, huh?

Until next time, keep the rubber side down and do as I say, not as I do. That's pretty solid advice right there given my current condition. 

Klegg Dagrok - Post Apocalyptic Dirtbag

Klegg Dagrok is a typical wasteland dirtbag, spending most of his time burning gas, cruising the slums, and racing in the semi-pro last man standing thrash rash enduros. Pro racers are the post-apocalyptic equivalent of star athletes, and they often travel long distances to perform and race in larger settlements. Lesser known riders often take jobs as escorts for caravans, messengers, or sometimes even traders/traveling mechanics to support their dream of hitting the big time. Klegg is out on a pleasure ride, and his bike is stripped down without any extra gear, saddlebags, or fuel. He has his pistol with him for protection, but in a race he would be armed with his favorite hand to hand weapon.

I got the idea for his pose from a book called "Street Bike Extreme," where dudes wearing Jncos do stoppies on rice rockets and point at the camera a lot. It was a good find for like $2 on the junk table at an auto parts swap meet. Minor conversions include a head swap from a Nercromunda Orlock, arm swap from a Mantic Deadzone Enforcer, a sculpted shoulder pad, skull, and belt.

The Street Machine: '97 Trek 800

Been collecting some trick parts and working on my rides lately, and by now much tinkering has been performed, wrenches have been turned, wheelies and stoppies practiced, and shit is torqued.

My ol' girl, a blue Trek 800 that I got new in 1997, is going through a complete rebuild right now. It was pulling teeth to get my parents to buy me a brand new "real" bike, rather than something from Toys R Us or Walmart. For sure they never expected over 20 years later I would still be riding it. She has been my daily driver, beer bike, errand runner, cruiser, and all around hot roddin' steed since well, I guess my early teenage years. I did my first substantial rebuild of her when I moved back from Colorado in 2012. There's at least 5,000 miles on her since then, but years of use and abuse, even with regular care and maintenance, destroys even the best parts.

A bike like this is like building a really sweet Pinto. Or painting really rad 80's-era miniatures. In my opinion, It's poishing a turd all the way around to the point of being pretty fucking cool. But then again, I like Pintos, and own a substantial stash of classic lead. But back to her style... I'd meet a lady out for a date on this, which is probably part of the reason I don't have a lady. When she told me "We're at different places in our lives," it would be wheelies, jumps, and shenanigans all the way home. I still have the receipt and owners manual, and it was supposed to be matte dark blue. I remember being really into the matte finishes Trek used in the 90's, and was bummed about the delivered color being different. At this point I'm so stoked, cause that shit would be dated as hell, and the glossy royal blue with red and yellow decals is sexy. Seriously, I'd paint aforementioned mythical Pinto, or an early '80s Fox-stang based off the colors on this bike, but that is for sure a rant for a completely seperate post.


A quick breakdown of the build where she sits:

Surly Sunrise bars with Cult/Vans gum grips. Grips were previously different sets of ODI/Vans, but at this point in my life I feel you lose some connection with locking grips, and I'm moving away from them. Paul Love Levers with matching Motolite brakes, and at some point years ago there was a different set of Paul levers.

Reissue 1" quill S&M Redneck stem in what else? Red. 1" quill BMX stems are always a part I cruise ebay, craiglist, and yard sale bikes for in case something interesting comes up. I borrowed a bike from a buddy years ago with a Redneck stem on it, and I remember him making a big deal about it. I had been debating if a red stem would work, and finding out S&M reissued them exactly when I was shopping for a high quality piece sold me. I was considering a Bassett BMX bottom load stem as well, which is a beautiful piece.

I'm impressed so far with the new set of Promax square taper cranks, but eventually I'd like to find some nice vintage polished crank arms. New Shimano bottom bracket. Surly 36t chainring. KMC chain, cause they are the only chains for BMX and singlespeeding.






Vintage Crupi Pro bear trap pedals. Other than some sweet stems, Bassett BMX also makes replacement cages for these and Hutch Pro pedals, and some beautiful looking classic BMX pedals of their own design.

Paul hubs with Sun Rhynolite XL rims. My buddy taught me how to lace wheels with these, so one of these is the first wheel I built. Maxxis skinwall DTH (Drop the Hammer) dirt jump tires. Freewheel is 16 tooth and probably an ACS crossfire.

Kalloy Uno seatpost with WTB Volt saddle. A Chromag Trailmaster LTD leather saddle is on order. Maybe I'll work on tracking down an anodized red seatpost in the future.

Below are also the pictures I dug out of excellent rides and good times in the past!

The Sugino cranks were wore out years ago, and one picture features a beautiful set of Caramba cranks that are now toast. I'm bummed on that one. Also, daaaang... looking back, she looked really good with those old school Ritchey tires and SDG saddle!

Note the massive fucking hoagie, good for singlespeeding 30+ miles.

Studio pics and WIPs

Check out my new painting digs. Pretty stoked on this new arrangement, it's in the same room as my workout equipment, so I'm forced to stare at my shamefully unfinished work regularly. I've been continuing on my efforts of blasting through unstarted or unfinished pieces from the past decade. Man, thats weird to say.

Here's a shot of the cool shit lurking in that case. Most are difficult to find or rare kits and box sets. Take note of that Sony tape deck all ready for a 4-eye fox-body to blast Pantera and go fast in.

Here's a Rackham Mid-Nor King, with a converted crab claw arm I sculpted. I'm pretty much down to building a base for him now. I've been kicking around some ideas of evil puppets/miniature castles/cosmic horror type stuff inspired by some of the other miniatures in the line. There will be a tile floor being torn up by the tentacles on the top, and below I started on the puppet battlements.

This is a Privateer Press Dire Troll Mauler. I thought this was going to be a limited release when it came out, so I picked one up immediately. It's an expensive and hefty piece of pewter, requires a bunch of pins and putty work to assemble, and is totally worth it. There are a lot of hours in here so far, and I'm trying to keep my head up and stay motivated. Basing is still undecided.

Still alive and kickin'

Apologies, it has been a heck of a long time. It looks like 4 years or so since I last graced you nerds with some dumb words about things I have been working on. Posted below are some miniatures I have finished recently. Enjoy. Maybe there will be more sometime soon!