Domo Arigato.

Given this weekend's Monstertrackness and the dollar's craptacular exchange rate, we've had a lot of visitors from Japan swing by the shop to check out and place orders for the both the Gangsta Track and these beauties to the left that we'll be releasing later on this month.


Our friend Tak came by to take a few shots of the 08 lineup, including the new DH prototype that's waiting patiently for the season opening at Diablo.
Gangata Team rider Austin Horse was around to show off his haircut and entertain some fellow competitors from Japan and NYC locals @ DQM. Good times.

Best of luck to our boys Austin and Tom this weekend. If you're in the city, swing by and show your support.

Lil' Jay says...

... everyone better HTFU because Monstertrack is less than a month away.




In it's 9th year, the NYC original is already prepared to greet racers from around the globe with a full schedule of side events, gold sprints, and moderate revelry.




Betting pools have been opened, and the smack talk has been heavy.With the arrival of a few fast 07 newcomers to the mix, the top three could be anyone's game this year.
Brooklyn rider Austin Horse will be there on his custom Gangsta, defending his title as the fastest bike courier in the world.
For all of you that aren't lucky enough to make money by riding your bike, imagine it's like this, but in our fair city a instead of a cubicle:

Three Gs.

As per the requests of all you lanky folk, we've moved forward on the prototype frames for our extra large Gangsta Track. It's desinged to be the longer, taller compliment to our smaller Gangstas, rounding out an impressive threesome.

(like Pavarotti minus the lechery and heart condition)

Check back for the final builds and updates on production.

Thursday Trifecta.

The extended runs of the SR6 came back from paint, and we're offering them as a frameset including drive, floating brake mount, and the Fox DHX 5.0 coil (other shocks availble by request), all with our lifetime warranty.

The three color options this round include Jet Black:Fire Engine Red:

and Battleship Gray:

Complete builds and custom colors are available. Call or Email the shop for pricing and color availability.

In other news, Factory Rider Tom LaMarche emailed us to let us know that the Bootleg Sessions is already accepting submissions for a second complilation. If his spot in the first DVD wasn't sign enough, Tom has been beating parts into submission trying up up the ante.

Proof in proverbial pudding.

Free Flow Fridays : Kowa Suspension

As a new feature here at BROOKLYN, we're devoting a few Fridays every month for in depth, long term reviews of the products that get sent our way.

First up is the Kowa Suspension 160s Air single crown fork (not to be confused with Showa).

We've always been impressed with the manufacturing capabilities of the Japanese, and first impressions of the Kowa didn't dissapoint.

The beefy box section crown is hollow to save weight, and holds in 35mm "sima" hard ano coated sanchions....






...that enter the lowers at a bulged section, providing space for the substantial seals, and probably (we're guessing) some huge bushing of some sort.






In conjunction with a standard bolt on 20mm thru-axle, these features certainly contribute to the incredible torsional stiffness of the fork which , to our surprise, was close to par with that of a 888 triple crown even at it's highest travel setting (more on this later).
Compared to the Fox TALAS 36 we've been riding all season, external adjustments on the Kowa seem sparse, and are limited to 2 stroke adjustments and 1 travel adjustment:



Positive progressive Air via a shrader valve at the bottom of the left leg.










External rebound via an aluminum knob on the bottom of the right leg.




On the top of the left leg is an aluminum knob for travel adjustment, which functions a lot like the older Manitou IT travel adjustment. Turn the knob 180 degrees to the open position, and the travel can be adjusted from Fully Extended:



To Fully Compressed:
...and anywhere between 20 and 160mm of travel. Then you just turn the knob to the closed position and ride.

Some minor complaints are the Boxxer disc mount, which is less of an industry standard in North America and had to be purchased separately. Lack of external compression damping of any kind is a little worrisome, but the lack of bells and whistles doesn't detract from everything else the Kowa has going for it so far, and should appeal to those riders with a K.I.S.S. mentality.
Another gripe is the user manual which is probably well written in the native Japanese, but if you speak English something was lost in translation.

According to the site, the fork is designed for "Downhill, Freeride, Urban, Park", which we'll take to mean that we have liberty to wail on them all season and report back with updates, including a obligatory tear-down and rebuild of all its juicy innards.

For pricing and availability, contact Kowa's US distributor Covic Racing.

Big Jim Davage.

New factory rider Jim Davage has some big moves to share from across the pond...
...the biggest being the addition of another lil' huck monkey, Ezra Louise Davage.

Big congratulations to Jim and Kelly!

We'll post pics and a ride report of Big Jim's custom dirt jumper as soon as it rolls in. Check back for updates.

Let's Go Giants...

Only a day after New Yorkers celebrated their team's NFL upset, our neighbors in Boston mourned a second loss with the passing of iconic cycling curmudgeon, Sheldon Brown.

More old school than Biopace.
1944-2008

From one of the many written eulogies around the world:

This is quite a loss to the world of cycling. Sheldon Brown helped cycling enthusiasts through his sort of ad-hoc online compendium of bicycle information, from the basic to the esoteric. Whether he informed or irritated, Sheldon's verbosity and hideous-but-functional site design have left a broadly-received imprint.
-Malcom

Yo Welli.

With his knee recovering well after last year's surgery, Anson Wellington and crew are planning on shooting a new video next season featuring NYC's hottest riders hitting up the best spots the city has to offer. Of course he'll be rockin' his final version of the ACL street, which will be slated for production later this season.

Check back here for video as it comes in.

The shop is still buzzing along with the current run of the Gangsta; for those of you that pre-odered a 40, here's a shot of Seth's progress on your frames.

Still smokin',,,

Another of the 4 protos for 08......designed, cut, welded, and tested (again and again and again ) right here in Brooklyn.
We'll be releasing new models for production throughout the year once we get the greenlight from our test riders, so check back to see what we've come up with.

Also, we've extended our production run of Gangstas (again...) to cover new orders, so call or Email the shop for options and deposits. For this run we're offering 3 stock color options of Jet Black, Fire Engine Red, and Gowanus Green.
As always, custom flavors are available for an upcharge, so call or Email the shop to discuss your options.

Mo' Stickaz, Mo' Promblemz.

Decal flavors for the start of 08 are (in descending order) :
Red on white, white on red, gray on white, white on gray, black on white, white on black, green on white, white on green, and Cherry Garcia.
Full frame decal kits are available for $15 which includes 2 downtube, 1 headtube, 1 seattube, 1 small chainstay, and 1 large chainstay vinyl die-cut and shipping to the continental US.

They look great on any frame and are a great way to update the look of your Trapper Keeper.You'll probably get a few extras for your support.

In other news, it feels like 14degrees Fahrenheit outside, making us dream of last weekend when it was only 32 and we could hit the trails without having to wear a parka and 6 pairs of wool socks.

Austin suggests peeing on your hands to keep your fingers warm.

Huck Monkey

Late season racing photos have trickled in, including some action shots of the SR6 taking the inside line, showing it's mettle as a short course DH/Super D sled as well as a heavy-duty trailbike.
Visit HuckMonkey in the UK for a bike check. We'll also have a full rundown of our final lineup very soon.
Here is one box of the machined aluminum pieces we sent out to complete everyone's park, SR6, and custom proto frame orders. Once they come back from anodizing, all you'll have to do is pick a frame color and/or shock and pray for safety in the hands of UPS delivery.

In the meantime you can get rad gnar pitted with this flash game someone sent us (note: s/he ain't riding a BROOKLYN!):

On screen.

For everyone that called in yesterday with their 46cm Gangsta order, here is a shot of Seth getting sideways with the TIG welder starting on your front triangles:
For more BROOKLYN action, check out the NYC premiere of the Bootleg Sessions this Sunday at Galapagos right here in the neighborhood. Burd and crew have worked their asses off for this film and we can't wait to see what they've come up with.
In other shop news we've been readying an order for our friends in England, packing up the new SR6 and a custom project 26" for dirt jumper Jim Davage.
Here she is all wrapped with enough foam to insulate a pipeline... ironic considering the beat down it's going receive once she crosses the Atlantic.

Lazy Sunday.

After only a few weeks of editing, the Bootleg Sessions DVD has been wrapped up and released for distribution, begging the question of what took so long for the west coast HASH crew to release their film.
Regardless, the DVD is available online or in select shops throughout the country, so even if you have an excuse to stay inside, you don't have a reason to miss out on this footage. Here's a sneak peek:



On the subject of bootlegs, we got this spy pic of a BKLYN doppelganger from the Giller family in Australia, defaming our good name. Our stance is that trikes are for Shriners and two year olds! Expect a down under cease and desist order soon...

Clean Slate

We started the New Year by dismantling the SR6 jigs and getting set up for everyone's Gangsta pre-orders, yes, that means you if you put your deposit down over the holidays!

Here are your BB shells, pierced, prepped, and ready for welding:
To keep up with winter orders we've queued up a few extra in this run so you should still be able to put an order in for both sizes until the middle of January. Call for details.

Even though the temperatures dipped dropped into the teens over the weekend, the BROOKLYN crew was still out riding. Philly native Tom Lamarche sent us some pics from the first Tussle at the Tressles CX race, which he rocked on his Gangsta Track (check out the new profile cranks).

Here he is out of the holeshot







Neck and neck... is that a duct tape and paper plate race number?

Yea Boyyeee!

It wouldn't be a cross race without a few obstacles, and it wouldn't be Tom if he didn't get a little jiggy on the race course.
So be like Tom and get out and ride....all winter. Even if it's so cold that your taint freezes to your saddle, cancel your manicure, take off your skirt, and take a tip from Choppa and HTFU: