Monday, December 22, 2008

What About Rod And Rex?

It's days like today when I realize I should have timeless entries typed up and ready to go. You know, for those days where I don't have much to talk about. Like today. Because there's plenty of timeless stuff—guys who should have gotten to go on Road Fools but never did, the next two parts that will be combined in one (sprocket built into drive-side crank arm?), whether Iro and Pake should get back at Volume and FBM by making BMX frames. Or even something simple. like whether you can tell me what major bike company offers this unique snowflake of a bike:


Here's a hint: It has 25/9 gearing, 74.5/71 angles, 13.8 stays, and it's made of Sanko seamless chromoly.

Give up?

Good, so do I.

For today, at least.

(Here, anonymous, I'll save you the trouble: "DEAD BLOG.")

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OK, well, the bike above is a Mongoose. It's actually called the Fraction, which is funny, since that was the name of the Federal flatland frame that Steven Hamilton rode before he got a signature bike. So let me see if I've got this right: Mongoose dumps longtime team members Steve McCann and Simon Tabron, picks up JJ Palmiere and Miles Rogoish, names their new bike after Steven Hamilton's old one, and releases it in McCann's signature color. Good stuff!

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21 comments:

Anonymous said...

is that really the future of nearly all older pro riders..? get dumped from just about any major sponsors?

Anonymous said...

I wonder if a Pake BMX frame would break just behind the bottom bracket like their fixed road frame does. (it's not a track frame)

Anonymous said...

LOL, good shit as usual NER.

Russ said...

Now is not a good time to be an aging vert rider. Not that any time was ever a good time for that, I guess.

Anonymous said...

escapebmx kid...hahahaha! You must be 12.
All pros (good and bad) must go the way of the dinosaurs at sometime. Just a matter if its done. You've got the dissapearing act; the long faaaaade out; or the humilating type... being dumped by the likes of mongoose in preference for trendy younger riders.

Its your death, choose wisely and don't quite your day job.

Anonymous said...

Duke Best never should have relinquished control of Mongoose.

Anonymous said...

That bike was McCann's signature model before he got dumped. It's existed for like 3 - 4 years. Right around the time Mongoose dumped Fuzzy they de-signatured all the signature models.

Thing is, they all had pretty identical specs anyway. How signature is your bike when it's exactly the same as the other signature bike?

Anonymous said...

Van Homan should have been on EVERY road fools.

Not every pro gets dropped when they get older. I don't see Brian Foster getting dropped. More to it than just being a badass on a bike.

Definitely surprised to see Joe Rich off etnies. I thought he had one of the best parts.

Russ said...

GEJ: Thanks. Maybe I need to start paying closer attention. I think the last Mongoose I remember other than the Fuzz was the...uh...what was the one that Ruben rode called? The Importan?

Russ said...

(Incidentally, my signature color of the moment is red.)

Anonymous said...

did Ruben even ride the Importan? I thought he was just on a Terrible One with Mongoose stickers most of the time. I guess he could have considering he did ride those Huffy frames.

Trevor Meyer rode the hell out of an Important, though.

Anonymous said...

Mongoose is a corporation. Or at least owned by one.

The last time I worked for a corporation a co-worker got a 15k salary bump and a new title on a friday and their new position got eliminated on the following monday.

That's what monsters do. They eat and shit anything and everything and have no clue what day, month or even time it is. Shoot first! Then aim. That is a corporation. Like a cookie monster.

Anonymous said...

Mongoose's top of the line bikes are actually better than a lot of 'rider owned' complete companies' bikes in the same price range.

Anonymous said...

Why isn't there any Isaac Groundchuck McCrea footage on the internet?

Anonymous said...

DEAD BLOG

Anonymous said...

Russ,

It was an Importan, but he rode a T-1 with Mongoose stickers. The original Importan had a tri-moly frame which is what you want for your top of the line signature model bike. After Reuben de-camped for MacNeil the Importan got upgraded to full chromo, which I thought was an odd thing to do.

Even weirder, after the full chromo Importan was released I found original, tri-moly Importans and Fuzzes at a Toys-R-Us for toy bike prices. I guess it was one way to move back inventory.

I know way too much about thoroughly useless things.

Anonymous said...

to bill:
mongoose, schwinn and raliegh are all owned by a parent company called Dorell. thay make bikes in china.

most companies make cranks with ths sprockets attached(or at least a spider system) shimano..sram..sugino..truvativ?..its been around for 50 yers, russ knows this.

rider that never made a road fools:
(haven't seen them all)..uh.........Ice Money

Smitty said...

Steve,
You are getting warmer...Dorel bought Pacific, which owned Schwinn, Mongoose and GT (and Dyno, Powerlite, Robinson and Auburn - though rumors on the VintageBMX boards say that a guy in Iowa now owns the Powerlite, Robinson and Auburn brands - God, I wonder what he paid to acquire these historic BMX brands? Whatever it was he has not yet capitalized on his investment.) Dorel then acquired Cannondale in Feb 2008. They have now reorg'd the bicycle products into a new division called the Cannondale Sports Group, which has a stated goal of becoming the #1 supplier to the Independant Bicycle Dealer (the position currently held by Trek.) They have not acquired Raliegh USA - which is the corporation that also owns DiamondBack.

Anonymous said...

I love industry stuff

Anonymous said...

whats next smitty? the first bank to crumble under reccesion gets lots of money and pumps it into road biking?

NO COMMENTS ABOUT ICE MONEY???
YOU KIDS ARE WAY TO YOUNG!

Anonymous said...

I'll do you one better and tie in an Ice Money AND Mongoose reference from an early 90's ad:

"Yo, I'm no Ice Money, but these new Mongoose freestyle bikes are stupid fresh, Homeboy....know what I'm sayin'?"