Author: Ben

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Pi4dYS7OB4

Check the YouTube clip of the “1st Annual ”Over The Bars’ Downhill BMX Jam”.. Mate, I love it. I’m so going to rip off the concept and run a BnC version of the ‘Over The Bars’ Jam next time I’m down south. Grab a heap of tip shop beaters (and hopefully at least one sidehack equipped bike) and rip up some fire trails near Hobart. I can think of at least a dozen suitable hills. Fk yeah.

On another note, found a potential hack manufacturer in Sydney. Matty made this filthy whip in his backshed and has been thrashing it on the race track with his brother. It’s a bolt on rig, so would suit the current BnC stable of BMX’s. Matt’s flat stick at the mo.. so no hack just yet. In the meantime I’ll keep hunting for hack…

Yo. Bottles and Chains sticker packs now availible.  If you want one here is what’cha gotta do.. Send $5 and a self addressed, stamped envelope to:

El Presidente

Bottles and Chains

127 Waterworks Road

Dynnyrne  TAS  7005

Easy. Trick up your pony.

Twelve months have come and gone since my last post on bicycle advocacy (albeit the painting of guerrilla bike lanes in London), so I thought it high time to muse on the subject again. Healthy Transport Hobart has been the driving force behind the revised Critical Mass format, ‘Courteous Mass’, which has seems to be far more sucessfull than the former with numbers of around 150 cyclists joining in. Even the State’s Pollies have jumped on board with the Premier rocking up more than once. I know Timmy and the boys from Bike Tas have done alot to improve cycleways and rider awareness in Hobart (eg: new bike lanes across the Tasman Brigde and the vast improvements on the Channel Highway between the City and Kingston) but the situation for southern riders is still far from perfect. Kingston has just gone through a major redevelopment of the CBD and cyclists were consulted about their needs on the to be revised roads. Cyclists had a small win with lanes being put in where before there were none, but.. where they are needed most the lanes are still absent. Try it, ride through Kingston CBD and see what happens.. Where the road is wide and straight, yep, there is a bike lane but hit the first intersection and, whoa, it’s gone? Same goes for the round-a-bout and where the road narrows, no bike lanes. The Kingborough Council were close, but no cigar. It’s in all our best interest to throw some weight behind groups such as Bike Tas to make sure things do go our way into the future otherwise it could a dark future, similar to that faced by cyclists in Toronto.

A bit of searching unearthed Patriot Bicycles, perhaps the only contemporary manufacturer of BMX Sidehacks. Their frames have a very ‘agricultural’ look, and judging by the tubeset are probably heavy as fk but given their intended use and abuse, justifiably so. The $599.99US price tag (frame only) is probably out of sync with the B’n’C coffers and I reckon building one from scratch or doing a resto job is more up our alley anyway. The search goes on…

Sifting through a box of my Dad’s old photos I came across a 16mm Newsreel that he had shot back in 1983 (The Old Bloke used to be a Cinecameraman for ABC Television).  We pulled the reel out of the box and held it up to the light in the window to see if we could ascertain what the subject of the film was.. Shit, it’s the old BMX track that used to stand where Rugby Park is today. Suddenly very interested, we peered closer to see if we could make out any of the bikes captured on film.. SIDEHACKS?! Whoa, awesome. Looking further down the reel there I was, 5 years old and watching avidly from the sidelines. Suddenly a light went on in my head and it all came flooding back.. I’d gone to work with Dad on a saturday and we’d gone out to the track to film a National BMX event. I remembered watching the Sidehack riders and their ‘monkeys’ whipping around the track and clearing the doubles. Hadn’t thought about this in years.. and being the bike-ho I am, these re-found memories planted another bike seed in my mind.

Scroll forward two weeks and I’ve decided that Bottles and Chains needs one or maybe two BMX Sidehacks in the gang stable. How could you go wrong with one of these bikes? Ultimate pub-run machine.. run ya pissed mate home, carry multiple cartons at once.. Alleycat utility machine, run a navigator or someone to hit the checkpoint whilst you keep the vehicle idling outside.. For the family man, no dorky kidseat or child-trailer and it would get ya kid off on the right path in life.. and imagine a BnC Sidehack race! Hunners on the pedals, Nic as the monkey beer in hand VS Grundy stomping the pedals and a light MP swinging out the side of the cockpit!! Fk, it soooo needs to happen. And the quest begins……….. THE HUNT FOR HACK. They are out there and we will find them.

If you can help us in our quest, please shoot us an email or fire one to me (benjamarn@hotmail.com).

Strap down your helmets and stay to the far left, Grundy has thrown in the bike towel and taken up the L-plates… Oh man, the road will never be safe again……

Saturday dawned with an air of expectancy.. Who would claim the B’n’C ‘fit-as-fk’ title at this years Tahune Marathon? Hmmn, not an easy one to punt on with Bucks, Damo, Turner Burner and Simon Edwards all lining up in the 100k and Mischa, Pete Crocker and Michael Eastwood in the 50k.. Some serious fkn punters there yo!

Being Tasmania, it rained.. alot. The boys in the 100 all jumped at the gun and chased Sid Taberlays wheel for the first 20k.. “Look Ma, I’m keeping up with Sid!”.. yeah right, the next time I saw Sid (30k mark) the nearest punter was a good 2minutes back. Bucks and Damo smashed it up early in the race keeping in touch with the leading riders but then Bucklys tight arsed ways caught up with him and he flatted twice.. mighta been something to do with the bald tyres eh Bucks? Damo, like everyone else, ran out of brake pads at the 35k mark and had to ghetto style brake by placing his foot on the rear wheel.. This may have slown him up just a tad. I heard a rumour he ran down most of the hills? The weather was truely appalling. Hosing down is a good description.  The entire Uncle Rays team (who had looked so resplendant in their new team kit at the start) pulled out at the 60k mark leaving only the Turner Burner on course.. I think the only reason Clint kept riding was because he had sooo much mud in his eyes he didn’t see the other guys stop. I’m not going to guess at the results but Damo finished close to the front (5th?) and Bucks, Simon and Turner finished mid field.. champion effort given the conditions.

In the 50 Mischa smashed it up and finished without any dramas.. as did Pete but Michael again pulled one out of the bag riding in 5th. If you are keen to see some pics of the event take a squiz at http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/photo_search.php?oid=5896591318&view=all