Photos from Nor Cal road trip

my turn… photo: Devin Schmitt
Devin catches Jim Tharp in the midst of something stylish.
Lisa hits the 2nd set at Cob’s before railing the roller berm at mach 2.
photo: Devin Schmitt
Ryan let’s it whip.
Sage takes a break from behind the lens to go play in the dirt.
CANNONBALL!!!!
Tyler McCaul is a ripper in his own right and a factory GT ride…
Aaron Chase shows a bit of style in Mike Honisch’s yard, just another local Nor Cal spot that has popped up in recent months.

I finally have photoshop again and I’m very happy about that… here’s a bunch of pics from our trip to Aptos last week filming for Adam’s new webedit.

More Pablo Tafoya…

Ian makes you look good!!!

Pablo looking way too pro for BlkMrkt…

Pablo raced out at Bootleg Canyon a couple of weeks ago finishing 13th in Pro DH… Here’s a few Photos of him putting his 1.5″ BadaBoom’s thru their paces aboard his personal Corsair Crown. Photos courtesy of Ian Hylands.

Cartel… Construido esto con su corazón

Chema Rodriguez construido esto con su corazon en Spain

Low & Wide…

Sergio Acosta bombs the S.F. streets.

I don’t remember where I got this wild pink ride but I like it… more & more brakeless whips on the street too. I just found out this Mob belongs to Dave Holzer from NYC…

This is Taylor Wright’s 2nd paint scheme and the photos are getting better.

Larry Winston likes purple and narrow bars.

The guys from Zona Bike’s in Mexico sent in the Saint equipped Mob.
Here’s few more nice builds sent in from far and wide…

Nor Cal trippin’ So Cal

Larry boosts a 1 legger…
Lil’ Larry goin’ very big… brakeless no less.

Ryan Howard not buzzing his shoulder

Kyle J spins the last set in Perris

carter spine boost with the new Kyle Strait light stand in effect…

so hot right now…

style cat euro nac back attack

Ladies…. allow me to introduce… JimDizzile

Sick low rider Cadillac at the Perris Fair Grounds.

Fernando Sabat blast a hip at Gavilan

Cob inverts a hip at Da Compound

Aptos rippers Ryan Howard, Jim Tharp, Kyle Jaminson and Cob roadtripped from Aptos to the OC for some fresh spots to ride. It was good to hang with the boys and show them around a few of our spots. We rode Skelton, the Westminster park, SheepHills, Gavilan, and Da Compound in 2 days… Lots of miles and lost of good pics, enjoy… BTW Little Larry is a maniac!!!!

What’s your style??? Does it matter???

& mine

Mondo’s personal ride…

This one belongs to Mondo’s girl Kelly

Keith leads the way in 35-39 cruiser at a recent NBL National.

Keith Miller is a local at Ray’s and an NBL racer who has decided he likes the rigid 26″ for BMX nationals and its been paying off.  
Couple of late additions:

Jim Tharp’s personal tech9 equipped whip… 

This Rigid Riot belongs to Dan Kaslow.

these look similar but very different…

I have to tell you the truth… when I first got into 26″ I wasn’t down with rigid forks, “what’s the point… just ride a 20″!” Right??? I don’t think that way any longer. I’m really starting to appreciate the many different ways to ride a bike as are a lot of folks… 

Well, I’m starting to think there is a place for rigid forks after all isn’t that what was on the first mountain bikes? For the last 3 weeks Jim Tharp and I have been testing our new prototype rigid fork to replace the S&M built fork and I’m loving it… I like it for park/ street more than dirt… well big fast dirt anyway. I prefer the X-Fusion cut down to 60mm to take the edge of the speed and impact… plus I like the predictability of suspension at high speeds. The tech9 has an axle to crown of 415 mm which steepens my Mob’s headangle to 73* which is great for the park making moves like footjams ( so hot right now… ), barspins and tailwhips easier. 
On the other side of the coin is dirt. I’ve only ridden our spot “Gavilan” where its downhill fast big and technical with turns and highspeed rollers making the steeper headangle a little bit much considering how much faster the roll is with a rigid fork. It definitely takes getting used too and a bit of commitment but I think if you’re a park rider or just tired of breaking $500 engineering nightmares, look into a rigid fork… you might be pleasantly surprised and save some cash on replacing forks until you’re smooth enough to preserve it.  More info on the tech9 soon. 
 I guess the moral of the story is try different things and ride your style and no one else’s… not even Taylor Sage’s just yours. Stop practicing the perfect Kyle Strait shoulder buzz… I’ll bet he doesn’t even enjoy it any more…
p.s. if you know who owns these other 2 builds please send me their info.

Pablo Tafoya wins in Chile!!!

Pablo Tafoya

Pablo taking BlkMrkt bar & stem to their 1st pro podium, thanks Pablo!

Pablo’s personal Crown…  

Designer and co-founder of Corsair Bikes Pablo Tafoya rides his Crown to Victory in Chile. Pablo had this to say:

“Here is my Crown I used for the Valapariso (18th) and La Parva (1st). Got a new set of Saint brakes with 180mm rotors F/R before I left so they aren’t in the pic. Running the new Black Market Bada Boom 30″ dh bars & Underboss stem from Carter Holland… perfect bends! The Elka shock from Patrick was so fun to test and was dynoed(sp) for this design specifically. All the rest of the Shimano Saint group was from Mr. Chad roberts (Thanks man). No second shock was needed so I ran the Elka 10.5” 3.5 stroke in the 200mm position for both races with the idler pulley in the highest antisquat position. First time on Kenda excavators 2.35 and were very easy to get used to and didnt think about them ever in all situations!

To start Corsairbikes with Doug Stuart and design, make and win on this very frame in Chile is just too awesome to throw words at! Hardest thing I have ever done and want to thank every one of my friends for helping this happen. Can’t wait for the next ride!”

Pablo Tafoya