Stick a Fork In It…

Something from the Redline camp. A bike shop with a special sense of form and function sent in their newest shop security upgrade–some Redline chromoly forks, retired from the street scene, and living on as a double-door “club” type device.

Pretty awesome BMX bandit buster.

Redline Bicycles Website

First Ride: Tioga OS20 Tire System

Yesterday, we shared-out a Facebook photo posted by Redline, showing a Flight Carbon frame running the new Tioga OS20 (Oversize 20″) tire system. News first reported on OS20 as part of our Interbike 2012 coverage, and promised an update when the first ride was done. Well, here is the first of what we expect to be many updates on this topic before it hits the market early next year.

For a little on-track reporting, we tapped Redline’s product development dude, Steven Behen, for the first-lap 4-1-1. Here’s what he said:

When putting it together, the rear wheel fit in the frame fine, but with less forward-dropout adjustability due to larger diameter of the tire. We also quickly found the brakes needed to be swapped to something with greater adjustability as the pads missed the rim. (Slapped some Paul’s on and we were good to go). Front wheel fit in the Answer Dagger fork fine, but we will need to research the fit in chromo forks.

At the track, we immediately noticed the stability improvement. It does NOT ride like a cruiser but more like a 20” with the Squirrel factor removed. For part of the experiment, we left stock 44/16 gearing on the bike. This will need to be changed as well, in addition to some small frame modifications. As this was a lunch session we were not able to do gates, look forward to testing this in the near future. We’ll keep you posted!

Doing some math and getting some of our top riders to test the wheels will be our next priority.

Just the tasty teaser we were hoping for. Looking forward to seeing what SW91 has to say about ‘em.

Redline Rolls Out Flight Carbon Kit

Not quite a year ago, we were all in the throes of anticipation at the storied, and masterfully-promoted “Project 79″ by Redline. News reported it on May 5, 2011.

Redline has put together an impressive mid-step between the frame and hub kit, and the full-on, Veyronesque build at $2799. The Flight Carbon “Rolling Chassis” is kitted out with an Answer Dagger fork, Sun Ringlé polished wheel set with black spokes and red nips and headset hardware with “Team” top-cap for the Daggers.

The rig is priced out at $1299, via jrbicycles.com, which is a sweet deal, considering the Frame and hubs were $999 on release date. Even riders not in the employ of the company have sung the Flight Carbon’s praises, calling it a “Godsend” and “carbon confidence” when stopped by News on the way to staging in Oldsmar.

Fully built up, there are very few bikes out there that will get the ooohs and ahhhs that your Flight Carbon will. Smash the piggy, and get on one, Tout de suite!

Check out the full info at J&R Bicycles

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Product Spotlight is Presented by:

Redline’s Lookin For Southeast Swagger

This release came in to the BMX News Control Center just before the holidays kicked in to full swing. So, we decided to hold off til today, when everyone was back to work, and laser-focused on reading the BMX sites again (the “honey-do” list tops the to-do list every time).

Doug Stuart, the new marketing honcho at Redline asked us to help him sniff out a solid team in the Southeast that has talent on board to win races, and look good doing it in the red, white and black. This is all about their “farm team” roster (like the Redline Challenge and Redline Adventure teams, above with the factory stars). Speaking of the factory stars, the chose team should get ready to receive the secret Redline affiliation sign, which can be flashed in the pits for a quick high-five from Denzel, Sam, Alise and Carne$ (and one other possible new addition which must remain nameless for the moment).

We think it could be an awesome fit for the right team…Here is the full release:

If you run a well organized team in the Southeastern US, Team Redline may be looking for you. Currently we are seeking to add a well organized regional team from the South East or Florida to our arsenal of Farm Teams. Key criteria for being selected to represent Redline include; team has good leadership and management structure, active parent participation, participation at local, regional and National events in your region, support of leading riders to participate at Grand Nationals. Participating teams will supply a team photo, individual photo and brief biography for each rider and will report race results through the Redline BMX Team website.

Redline has been winning since 1974 and has supported a Hall of Fame list of past National and World champions that no other brand can match. The Redline brand is all about racing and we support the sport from grassroots programs like yours all the way up to the many Olympians who will be racing to win on Redline bicycles in London this summer.

This opportunity is available to organized and established teams only. Interested team managers should send their team’s dossier to doug@seattlebikesupply.com no later than January 10th.

You know that New Year’s Resolution you made to not let opportunity pass you by in 2012? Well, here’s the chance to kick it off in style.

While you’re at it, check out the latest and greatest happenings on the Redline Race Team Site

2012 Redline Flight Frames

The 2012 Redline Flight frames are all dressed up, with someplace to go…and that is right to the front of your favorite local, Redline Cup, National, or Grands Main Event.

Be the first on your motosheet to gate up with the eye-popping 2012 livery–which reminds us of the reason we started loving Redline in the first place–the 1978 Pro Line. Of course, the oh-twelve model has all the speed-of-flight geometry you have been hearing about in the pits from top stars like Alise Post, Denzel Stein and another guy…what’s his name…oh yeah, the current ABA National Number One Pro, Sam Willoughby.

A dozen sizes guarantee that you can match-up with every member of your family, from 4-64

BMX photogs, the world over never tire of seeing a well-put-together Redline in the viewfinder–usually right up front, where the action is.

And at $269.95 at J&R Bicycles, it is economy class cash, with first class cred.

Get a load of the full sizing matrix and other scoop over on J&R’s site.

Product Spotlight is Presented by:

gOrk To Depart Redline. Destination?…Gilbert, AZ!

Just got word that, tomorrow, Seattle Bike Supply will announce long-time Redline Marketing Director Craig “gOrk” Barrette will be leaving his post of nearly 12 years. “Where to?” you ask? Well, this is why it is such amazing news (even kicking the ABA/NBL merger off the “Top Story” slot).

gOrk will be reporting for duty at a place he has reported to before. Oh, sure, the lunch places may be different than in 1999, and there is more traffic gettin there…but gOrk will be rollin up to Sunrise Boulevard in picturesque Gilbert, AZ. Specifically 1645 Sunrise Bl.

You don’t need Mapquest to tell you where that is. Just look at your ABA Card or the new issue of “Pull” magazine. That’s right! gOrk is heading back to the ABA, this time as their “Chief Communications Office,” a newly-created position. You may remember that, prior to putting on the red, white and black for Redline, gOrk was editor of the BMXer…and before that he was editor of the massively-popular BMX Action Magazine, where he set the standard for hundreds of thousands of BMX racers on what “cool” was (that month…something cooler was always coming next issue).

This news is big enough on its own…but when coupled with yesterday’s news of the likely merger of the ABA and NBL into USA BMX, we can hardly contain our excitement for our friend. In an email to him today, I said “In my opinion, you could not be coming into a better place, with a better job, at a better time, in the history of the sport. The potential for making an impact, and taking your own career to the next level are truly endless.” I would not usually share something written in private correspondence, but it so perfectly sums up how I feel, that I figured it would be a perfect case for breaking my own rule.

At Redline, gOrk has been a tremendous supporter of what we do here at BMX News, Vintage, BMXNOW, and BMX Action Online, and I would like to take this opportunity to publicly thank him for believing in us over the past few years, investing his marketing dollars with us, via advertising, and yes…knowing we love a good scoop to quicken the pulse (my heart is racing as I type this, hoping to get it posted before anyone else can).

Incidentally, this isn’t part of the big ABA/NBL news yesterday. gOrk’s move has been in the works “for months,” and was planned on being announced now, for a July start. We caught a whiff of it in Chula Vista last month, but nobody was talking with any specificity on the subject, which is why we did not report it then.

We asked him to tell us how it all came about, and give us some scoop on how he was feeling about things. here’s what he said:

“This has been in the works for a long time. Really, ever since BA took over as president of the ABA – and probably even some years before that, one of the first things he has said to me whenever we see each other was ‘You ready to come back yet?’ So at Rockford last year, when he asked me that question for about the hundredth time, I finally began thinking about possibilities and what it’d take to make it happen.

Then last November at the Grands we talked about it a little more serious, and they gave me a really good offer that was hard to refuse.

It’s not that I was unhappy at SBS/Redline – in fact, I always figured I would work here until I retire. And I will truly miss the entire SBS staff – just the same as I have missed my friends at the ABA over the past 11 years. SBS has been an incredible company to work for.

I’m just stoked to be going back to concentrating 100% of my effort on BMX racing, and doing whatever I can to increase the exposure for our sport and to help it grow even bigger. And with yesterday’s news and USA BMX becoming the new home for all of BMX racing in North America, the timing of this just couldn’t be any better.”

What more can we say? The guy is a hall of famer, sidehack national champion from the 1970s, as marketing savvy as it gets, and can still mix it up with the best of us slangin’ the Nikons on the infield. I expect we’ll be seeing much more of him out there, and that is a beautiful thing!

Congratulations, gOrk! We’ll miss you in Seattle, but can’t wait for you to get to Gilbert.

—Mike Carruth

Is a Redline Flight School Landing in Your Area?

It’s awesome to see riders young and old walk up to the Redline pit area at any race, and rap with Jason Carnes, like he was a long-lost pal. In a way, he is, since the Redline Flight Schools touch so many local racing scenes every year. “Remember that time, at (insert local track here)” is something you hear a lot. And Carnes, always the ambassador, usually has a story or two for the day to add to the discussion, so they know he’s real about it all.

“You taught me how to balance on the gate when I was a 9 Novie”

“I was afraid to jump the doubles until your clinic”

“After you talked to my mom and dad at the clinic, they were 110% behind my racing”

…All things you would commonly hear if you were a fly on the EZ-up.

And the Facebook Fans love it too, with one saying “I was fortunate enough to get to attend one of these schools in Topeka, KS, last year. Helped me a TON! And ‘Blackjack’ Carnes is a cool cat!”

Well, the 2011 Flight School experience is coming to 20 lucky local tracks between April 7 and July 8 (and an extended remix visit at the Redline Central and West finals in September and October, respectively).

2011 Redline Flight School Schedule
April 7	Desert Downs BMX	El Paso, TX
April 9	Chandler BMX	Chandler, AZ
April 12	Bellflower BMX	Bellflower, CA
May 16	Cabot BMX	Cabot, AR
May 17	Bradley County BMX	Cleveland, TN
June 8	Sand Springs BMX	Sand Springs, OK
June 9	Miami BMX	Miami, OK
June 13	Brighton BMX	Brighton, IL
June 20,	Central Wisconsin BMX	Wisconsin Rapids, WI
June 21	St Cloud BMX	St Cloud, MN
June 22	Aberdeen BMX	Aberdeen, SD
June 23	Box Elder BMX	Rapid City, SD
June 27	Mike Sedar BMX	Casper, WY
June 28	Southwest Wyoming BMX	Rock Springs, WY
July 5	Grand Valley BMX	Grand Junction, CO
July 6	Montrose BMX	Montrose, CO
July 7	Durango BMX	Durango, CO
July 8	Cortez BMX	Cortez, CO
September 8,	RL Cup Central Finals	TBA
October 13	RL Cup West Finals	Boulder, NV

Clinics are completely free to the tracks and beginner/intermediate riders, and are taught by aforementioned Redline vet pro sensation, Jason Carnes. Watch bmxnews.org and Redline’s Facebook Page for more info (including word of any surprise guests from the Redline pro bench), between now and the stop in your area.

And, of course, check out the Redline website for all things Redline, including the 2011 product line, and blog posts from the team.

Global Effort On Redline’s Mysterious “Project-79″

To hear gOrk tell it, Redline’s “Project-79″ is a program befitting the highest security clearance possible. It’s Area 51, meets the secret formula for Coca-Cola, mixed with the blueprints for the next iPhone, combined with the identity of “Charlie” from Charlie’s Angels.

So, what is it? Is it a new-fangled frame-and-fork form-factor? A new mega-innovative downlow drivetrain dealio, or some kind of springloaded, stored-momentum flux capacitor technology?

Well, those of us without “Yankee White” clearance got a dribble of a nibble today, as a teaser video surfaced, along with the above “far-enough-away-so-as-not-to-show-too-much-leg” photo, both shot at Speedworld earlier this month.

The communique tells us “Project-79 (is) being tested by Redline Global riders from four different countries; including the entire Dutch National Team,” and that “Our riders have all been sworn to secrecy and have signed the confidentiality agreements in blood – so you won’t get anything out of them except for the above.”

Watch Project-79 Video, Part 1 Now

FutureWatch: 2011 Peeks Out From Behind the Curtain

You know how certain films are released in NYC or Los Angeles during the otherwise-still week between Christmas and New Year’s? Well, it’s no secret that they do it to get in on that year’s Oscar nominations. A few weeks into the new year, the film “opens wide” and we see it in Peoria.

With 106 days til the annual Interbike Trade Show, we are starting to see hints of 2011 product at the races from some brands. Catalog shoots are still happening…besides, what would a true factory star be without rockin something that nobody else has, provoking whispers and drooling from mere mortals on the way to staging ? At last weekend’s ABA Summer Nationals, people were treated to two such foreshadowing instances.

The “alleged” 2011 Redline livery (above) seems to be going more toward the mysterious, with most of its real estate in the black, and accents of white and red to round out the Redline trademark tones. This specific scoot was under Redline Flight School instructor, and Air Traffic Controller of all things Red & Black at the races, Mr. Jason Carne$ (in case the “99″ on the plate did not tip you off).

Moving on down Factory Row, the Blue and Gold had some new hardware on display. Again, “not available to the public” just yet, and with a disclaimer or two that we may or may not be looking at the 2011 GT Speed Series frame—a favorite dance of anyone displaying that which is “proto ala moto.” With MDay365 riding the sidelines for another 180 or so, displaying the bike he WOULD be riding was treat enough for the fans. We could not help but notice that this thing looked like it was leading a AA semi just sitting there in the bike stand. Sleek and squat, with a “white-hot-from-all-the-speed-friction” headtube, the Speed Series definitely quickened the pulse of any GT fan who laid eyeballs on it.

Just a BMXNEWS appetizer of what may or may not be coming down the pike for the 2011 model year. Keep it right here for more on that, and our full report from Interbike, starting September 22.

Thanks to Shannon Gillette of ABA for the photos, and contributing to this report.

Redline Cup Raffle Goes for the Gold

The caché of saying “yeah, only 60 were ever made” on something is undeniable. Well, you may, very well, get your chance if you hit the right number in the raffle at your local 2010 Redline Cup race. These specially-painted “Flight” frames will draw ooohs and ahhhhs from all corners of the track, and make you the most factory looking guy out there.

Generally, it is the grandma who comes to the race and loads up on tickets who wins these things, so be sure to bring your granny and her bingo team out to the track come Redline Cup day! These babies are going to be contenders for “best in show” at the 2030 VintageBMX.com Rockford show, so you collectors better get in on the fun too!

Check out the list of 2010 Redline Cup dates here on bmxnews.org for the race nearest you.

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