Milnes on MidWest Mayhem

Here is Sean's recap of last weekends MidWest Mayhem Comp...

Midwest Mayhem was f-ing rad! Friday, I landed at the airport and was picked up by Madison Wisconsin transplant Tom O'hara. He received, built, and tuned my bike. Thanks buddy. We went over to Ben's Cycle to meet up with the rest of the guys that had flown in. Street riding went down from there. I was fresh off of injury and completely overwhelmed by the presence of all of these great riders. I learned hop 360's! We went out for some decent mexican food where I was bathed in ice water by the waiter. Thanks Man! After an awkward towel down from another member of the wait staff we took a cold ride back to our home away from home and headed out for some more night riding. We sessioned a nice mellow stair set. All City rider, Mike Carney, threw down some smooth 180s. Volume rider Eric Puckett hit some nice bar spins. AJ Austin of Milwaukee Bikes was doing tuck no handers and I was clicking some decent x-ups. We finished up our riding with a visit to Marquette Universities local dive bar. Amazing! You can still smoke in bars and they play Pantera! Love it.

Saturday was spent sleeping and eating before the comp. We all headed down to the premier of The Revival, ate some dinner and loaded up Ben's Cycles brand new, used, Sun Ringle box truck. We threw all the bikes in and headed out to the comp. Cream City Skatepark is amazing. Smooth trannys, a sick bowl, wall rides for days! Everyone threw down as hard as the could. The highlights include Ed Wonka's ridiculous wallride to flat, easily 9 ft off the ground. Tom Lamarche 360 off a ledge barely wide enough to walk on (on a fixed this aint easy). Puckett barspinned the long ass five stair set, AJ was doing tuck no hander airs on the vert wall. local ripper Antonyo hit fixed ridings first documented footjam nose pick on a quarter. So ridiculous! I threw a wheelie down the 5 stair rail and Torey Thornton immediately followed with a pedal feeble down it. My favorite trick of the night and favorite rider was Mike Schmitt! This kid is 20 from Richmond Virginia. He threw down an acid drop out of the rafters in to the steepest bank at the park. Amazing! I have to say, in my opinion, the smoothest and most consistent rider was John Prolly. The nicest cab 360 ive seen and a beast of a 180 down the stair set.

Sunday was for sleep and hanging out, boxing bikes and saying farewell. Many thanks are in order- Sam Erickson for putting us up and driving our asses aroundDrew at Bens Cycle for being rad and helping make this thing happenShea, Chris, Antonyo for throwing the comp! Cream City for hosting!Josh and Open Bicycle for sponsoring me and helping me out! Thanks for everything! You make it all happen for me! Tony Tyrant for the awesome threads! Cant wait for the new shit! thanks for the support man!and all the new friends I made! AJ, Carney, Tom, Torey, Wonka, Peru, Jesse, Schmitt, Mosher and Puckett! See you all soon! and John Prolly for the support and blog posts!

Boosting!

Haven was off the hook last night! Dudes were going off!

Haven Photos: CLICK HERE

TYRANT Tanning Team

Not really...but check out Hebrank tanning a bear hide rocking the beanie. That dude is the only vegan I know who loves playing with dead animals. Shawn isn't really that morbid, he used to be a bird taxidermist at the Peabody Museum at Yale, so he was right at home with this bear! What does this have to do with bikes? Nothing. It's just a shout out to Hebrank for always being loyal to TYRANT and repping it hard in MinneCRAPolis! Thanks dude!

Morse On Edge

Props to Steve Morse, he'll be the 4th TYRANT dude now riding for the Cutting Edge Team. Ever since Steve moved back to CT from Philly early last year he's been killing it on his heavy, semi-old school bike! Rumor has it he is building up a new, more modern, lighter bike...can't wait to see the stuff he pulls out!

Midwest Mayhem Recap

Sean Milnes is on his way home from Milwaukee right now, I'll have a full recap of the event in the next day or so. Rumors have been flying that Shawn wheelied a 5 stair handrail. Bonkers! All you BMXers should know that fixed gear riders can't manual so they're forced to wheelie. I challenge anybody to wheelie the rail at Haven!!!


















Photo courtesy of Tim Kainu

Random January News

We're half way through January already...damn!
Lots going on...

- New TYRANT tees are in the works...gone American Apparel!
Due mid-February

- Tiny TYRANT is running brakes again...barspin to fuf anyone!

- We've been talking about hitting up Ray's MTB Park and Chenga 57.
March TYRANT road trip!

- rideTYRANT.com got a face lift and the new kick a$$ site will launch this Spring! Full on store with shopping cart, streaming video, crew bios and bike checks, etc. etc.

- Rumors have been circulating about TYRANT sprockets and stems...Hmmm...time will tell...

Go ride your bike!

Haven: 1/21/10

Another fun night at Haven! It started off really slow with literally 8-10 riders then as the night went on it got busier and busier. Steve pulled out a nice icepick on a sub off the faux brick bank that I'd been eying up for a while. I think it's been done already, but I was psyched to see Steve fire it out. Blachura was throwing toboggan airs out of the bowl and his tailwhips are getting pretty dialed. Fun session for sure!

Haven Photos: CLICK HERE

iPhone A No Go!

I'm typically posting fun and upbeat stuff, but this post kinda sucks! The CT Skatepark Guide iPhone app I started work on late last Summer has pretty much fizzled out and won't become a reality anytime in the near future. Things have been too busy and the individual who was going to help me with the programming side of things has too much on his plate at the present time. I'm hoping maybe come Fall we can get the ball rolling again and shoot for a 2011 launch?

You can still get the iPhone wallpaper I created for FREE:
DOWNLOAD HERE

Heavy Sesh. @ Jays

Last night was pretty wild, 6 BMXers and 4 skaters sessioning Jay's ramp. I was pretty impressed by a few of the skaters. It was Tiny TYRANT's first time riding Jay's and of course he has to go off from the get go. His first run included a sweet table, foot jam to vader to drop smith, and a barspin to brakeless tire tap. Dialed! It was a fun session watching dudes feed off one another and just chill and have a good time. No skater vs. biker hostility BS!

Jay's Ramp Photos: CLICK HERE

Cyber TYRANT

Most of the people listed under the "TYRANT Crew" now have a rideTYRANT.com e-mail address', so if you want to contact them on the net ask 'em in person for their address. Due to confidentiality requirements I will not be providing these address' publicly. I'll be phasing out the rideTYRANT@yahoo.com address over the next month and general inquiries, orders, etc. can be sent to TYRANT@rideTYRANT.com This leap into cyberspace is an effort to expand our network of friends, vendors, etc. and spread the good word about TYRANT in 2010 and years to come! A new website is in the works with a full-on shopping cart and should go live not too long after the new shirts come in next month. I told you 2010 is gonna be nuts! Moving on up like the Jeffersons!

New Begin Edit

Web Video 6: Haven Edition from Brandon Begin on Vimeo.

January Thaw

BONKERS! January 16th...50 degrees and sunny! Arnwine, Steve and I met up around noon and headed over to the Wethersfield Skatepark. Just about every park in the state is covered in snow, but thanks to Team Shovel Lovin' lead by Sal Cianci, the Wethersfield park was clear and rideable. The park was pretty crowded but it didn't stop Bry and Steve from getting in their runs and enjoying the gorgeous weather. At around 3 we headed over to the Cromwell park to scope out the situation. It appears somebody cleared off some lines here and there, but it was a def. half a$$ job cause all the surrounding snow melted and flooded the park. FYI...if you're gonna shovel off that park do it all or nothing....cause a clear park that's got flooded flats is a tease! The only clean area was the mini so the guys sessioned that for a bit. Wow, it was great to be outside in the sunshine without a jacket, scarf, and beanie on. Gotta love global warming!

January Thaw Photos: CLICK HERE

Milnes in Milwaukee

So psyched for Sean Milnes, he's headed out to the Midewest Mayhem competition in Milwaukee next weekend to get rad with some of the best fixed freestylers in the nation. A trick contest at the Cream City Skatepark?...all you Sean! Check out all the hype over on Prolly. I'm working on some custom threads for Sean to keep him cozy warm while rocking out TYRANT style in the MKE. Good luck dude, and be sure to get a fresh High Life while in town!

Finally Back at Haven

Wow, it's been a month since I was last at Haven. I got immersed in all the Holiday madness, New Years, etc. and had to take a brief hiatus for some family and friends time. Anyway, Arnwine and I came out of hibernation and we hit up Haven last night and it was a pretty solid session. Tiny TYRANT was throwing his bars and his crew of friends were all going off...damn kids are getting good! Arnwine pulled out a hop whipped into the stair bank which was awesome seeing he hasn't ridden in over a month. Schmidt and Steve were ripping up the bowl and fullpipe getting some pretty serious height in the cradle. We ended up hanging out 45 minutes into the skate session to watch CT skate legend Hammer get rad in the bowl. Nothing like an over 30 dude throwing down hand plants and watching the youngins' bug out! Hammer's still ripping after all these years...and he's gonna be a daddy soon. Congrats dude! All in all, the typical super fun session at Haven!

Haven Photos: CLICK HERE

H-H-H-Hot Bars!

It's been a cold, harsh Winter, but Tiny TYRANT's keeping his garage warm with those hot bars...

Bars, Bars, Bars! from Brandon Begin on Vimeo.

2K10

WOW, we're 2 weeks into the new year and today it finally hit me...it's 2010! The past 10 years have been an absolute blur...so much riding, going so many places, meeting so many new faces. Gotta love it! 10 years ago I was riding a matte black Robinson Ruckus with 14mm 48's, a 44T GT diamond plate sprocket, Torker tubular 3 piece cranks, Primo Super Tenderizer pedals, 4 Primo Stogie pegs, Volume MadDog bars cut to like 20", the original Odyssey Dirt Fork, and a Primo Hemorrhoid seat. That beast topped the scales at around 45 lbs! I'd love to see one of you trendy little chicken leg, girlie pants wearing, brakeless, big bars weiners (We still love you Brandon!) try to pull a hop 360 or hop whip on that bike! Not happening! Here's to the days when baggy pants and cro-moly ruled the BMX world!

Not my exact bike, but that's the stock Ruckus.
Look at those damn drop outs!!!












Over 10 years old!

Primo - Made in Taiwan from Playmobike.com on Vimeo.

Screwed Up!

Ben Church is screwed up, healed up, and back on his bike. After an ankle break in July that required surgery and a screw Ben is shredding again after nearly half a year off his bike! Expect some bars to disaster at a park near you very soon!

2010...it's on!

Lots of rad stuff in the works for the new year!
That's all I gotta say!
Keep posted for details in the near future!















New "No Haters" tees available via: The Store

Where or Where???

I received a random e-mail from a kid in New York asking for directions to the fullpipe I chimped down into and rode back in 2006. Sorry dude, I'm not giving away directions! Gems like that need to be protected...so they don't become hotspots...and get locked down! The fullpipe has been featured in several videos and photo spreads and is every bit as sick as it looks. Damn, I think we'll have to head back there this year!!!

A tease thanks to Google Maps











So sick!!!

Limited Edition Hoodie

Honoring a special request from JC in SC, the tiny TYRANT design will be available on hoodies for a 1 week only. If you're down with staying warm and the tiny TYRANT flattie graphic grab a hoodie while they last. Limited run ends Monday, January 10th. Buy now or buy never...this won't be offered again!

Click on the image to purchase

Missing Summer!

It snowed the past 3 days in a row! Damn, I'm really missing Summer, The Lot, riding with the crew. Cabin fever is setting in!