You can sort of see the shadows starting to take shape today. I feel like I need to spend a whole day up there to really knock this out.

The Empire folks found this old photo of me from 12 years ago in a German BMX mag. Always likes this picture because I never really knew what trick it was. One-footed X? Some kind of vertical Nac Nac Xup? Or almost sort of 1 footed look down?

Well, to be honest I didn’t accomplish a whole lot on the Empire mural today… or at least it doesn’t really look any different. So here instead is a picture of Monty getting ready to head home from last night.

We rode the bike path home along Lady Bird Lake in downtown Austin and saw this pretty sweet moon lit skyline.

Today at Empire I pretty much just sketched in the details of the dudes.

Tomorrow I’ll get to start putting in some shading and lead up to the final outlining.

Today I showed up to empire and just started drawing on the wall. Didn’t really have too much of a plan but knew I needed to fit 19 people on there (Empire team and Empire family).

Don’t think I’ll be able to make it up there again until tuesday so I’ll have a few days to think about how to handle the next phase.

Spent a little bit of time up at Empire and got to this point on day 2.

I guess if we take my sketch a little further its heading for something like this…

Going to basically paint the Empire family hanging out. I’ll keep the updates coming…-Taj

Over the next few days (or maybe weeks) I’m going to be spending some spare time up at Empire BMX working on a mural over the upstairs mini ramp. Should be lots of fun. Today was my first day and the results are pretty boring.

I arrived to the above blank wall armed only with this small pencil sketch. It was raining on the way up there so my sketch got soaked and is almost illegible. It still makes sense to me though so we’ll see where this ends up.

At the end of today’s short day this is all I have for you… a poorly primed wall. How exciting right? From grey to grey-ish white. This was not worth your time to read, sucker! Such is the internet I guess… tons of wasted time, we should all be out pedaling bikes somewhere… or eating pizza. However, from here things can only get more interesting right? More on this project soon hopefully.

Still sketching… need to make some dam Fairdale T-shirts! Like these here!

I’ve been trying to think of a tag line for Fairdale… something like above… or “Every Pedal Moves You Closer”

… or every pedal makes you stronger… that kind of thing.

And I’ve been thinking about tacos.

Thanks to the internet being on vacation yesterday I spent some time doodling and trying to get my creative juices flowing. Fairdale needs some new t-shirt designs and I’m trying to get something going.

I figure cat butts are always pretty cool.

As well as nonsense.

Also got this picture of a sweet Fairdale Express frame and fork kit build. My buddy Chris is a mechanic over at Ozone Bikes in Austin and built his ride up with rad ole’ Dura-Ace center pull brakes.

Long time friend and all around great guy Sandy Carson is now a part of Fairdale’s team. It’s true that we don’t really have a team but starting right now we are going to begin putting together a small group of awesome folks who like to ride bikes.

Here is Sandy receiving his Fairdale kit. You guys didn’t even know we made those because I never told anyone.

Sandy signed his contract with me as witness. Unlike other companies who don’t want you to know the details of their rider’s contracts we at Fairdale believe in full disclosure. Take a look at what our legal team came up with above.

Next I started building up Sandy’s old parts into a Fairdale frame. I didn’t have one of those stupid “star-fangled-nut” things for the forks so I couldn’t really finish it.

Also, Sandy couldn’t figure out what bars he wanted on it so instead we went and rode mountain bikes.

Not many dudes can ride a Giant STP single speed dirt jumper on a long ass cross country ride, then shred the pump track at the end of the ride.

Check out Sandy all over the web:

Sandy Carson on: Facebook, Sandy Carson on: Twitter, Sandy Carson: Photo website , Sandy Carson onTumblr, and Sandy_Carson on Instagram (I can’t figure out how to link to Instagram).

Keep the watts pumping folks and have a good day!

Found this beauty on the internet. Carbon fiber bikes with leather seats and carbon fiber couches with leather seats. You’re life could be complete! Actually pretty interesting construction techniques if you find this kind of thing interesting like I do : http://cncrouting.co.uk/projects/carbon-fibre-sofa/

Here’s a Fairdale ad from our distributor in Japan. It ran in Pedal Speed magazine. No idea what it says but stoked on it nonetheless.

Need a Fairdale in Japan? Hit up Motocross International at Ride2Rock.jp

There are essentially two types of bicycles. Use the above drawings to determine which kind of bike you have. A MOUNTIAIN BIKE or A 10-SPEED.

I either heard, or thought I heard, someone say this in a bar. Seems like it would be a good T-shirt.

We better hurry up and put this bike out right? Geared Fairdale we are calling the “Weekender” is coming in early 2012!

ESPN’s write up here.

Leif Valin wrote a very entertaining story about his daily commute. Leif is surely one our most favorite riders and now he has become one of our favorite writers as well. He puts into words what we see on our daily commute. If it’s by car the best you can hope for is to get home without being more stressed out by terrible drivers. When we make the trip by bike at least you feel like you did something and usually it’s pretty fun.

I wrote a article for Complex on how to fix a flat on your bicycle. Hopefully it will be educational for some people.

Check it out here: Complex How To FIx A Flat.

Today I swung by the Peddler Bike Shop and had to pick up this new Kuat bottle lock just ’cause it’s so cool.

Obviously cable locks are not the most secure but they are appropriate and convenient sometimes. For instance, when we run to lunch from the office here at OTX there can be anywhere from 3-5 of us going. Having a cable lock is perfect. We usually can see the bike from where we are eating and a cable is perfect for locking up a bunch of bikes at once.

This bottle lock by Kuat is so clever. Cable unravels out of a standard sized water bottle and winds back in by turning the top. Little secret compartment on the bottom holds the keys or a patch kit or something. Super easy to carry on your bike as it simply fits into any water bottle holder. Stoked on this!

BONUS, I got another lock too!

Although this looks at first glance like one of Kryptonite’s mini U-locks it’s actually a piece of crap!

Why am I excited about this you ask? Well, it’s actually a cheapo Palmy lock like the one below.

This lock is a super light and made from aluminum. I reckon I could cut through it in a few minutes with a hack saw. BUT, it’s super light weight. Would be great for riding BMX with… not all heavy like a “real” u-lock. Dressing it up in Kyrptonite’s color skins is a sneaky way to make it look a little less generic (and the it fits perfectly) Might get you through if you actually had to leave your bike somewhere sketchy.

Find the Palmy lock just about anywhere online or bike shops can get it from BTI-USA.com.

I’m making fun of it calling it low quality but it’s still way more secure then a cable lock. Inexpensive too. A handy little lock if you are in a low security situation.

Fairdale has now taken over Brazil. Reminds me of my Irish friends band who I helped release their CD in the USA a few years ago called “I Am Brazil“.

They are currently touring Japan.

The Redneck Manifresto Japan dates:

Got sent this sweet bit of Corgi action from Prollyisnotprobably. Thanks Mr. Prolly!

Designing and spec-ing all the parts on a bike can be a lot of fun. It’s also a constant trade off where you battle with cost vs. quality. You want to use the best quality parts available, but you don’t want to design a bike that is too expensive.

Luckily we remembered to spec the same size wheels on our bikes.

One of the things we really wanted for our Parser model was to use the legendary Selle Italia Turbo saddle. Aside from being comfortable it’s got so much awesome history. 5 time Tour De France winner Bernard Hinault rode one forever and 5 time consecutive Tour De France winner Miguel Indurain famously carried his Turbo saddle with him in a  briefcase…

“Pros often have stronger feelings regarding saddles. Miguel Indurain was religious about his Selle Italia Turbo saddle. He carried it on his person wherever he travelled. When Selle Italia asked him to try their newest model, he opened a briefcase he’d taken to the meeting. Inside was his well-worn Turbo saddle. He firmly denied their request. Of course, as a multiple Tour de France champion, he could.” -Nick Legan

Getting ahold of Selle Italia and having them hand make us custom Turbo seats in Italy for our Fairdale’s was a big deal. We are super proud to offer this quality and comfortable classic seat on the Fairdale Parser model.

Check out the Fairdale Messenger Bike Bag (MSRP $69.99).
We’ve taken the traditional messenger bag to the next level. Now you can actually carry your messenger bike with you everywhere you go. Let’s face it, riding a fixed gear is hard. Now you can have the style of messenger without having to actually ride the bike.

Also, we are introducing the Fairdale Skateboard Training Leash (MSRP $49.99).

Got a skateboard that won’t flip the right way or won’t land on the wheels when you want it to? Attach the Fairdale Training Leash and let the board learn on its own. Eventually it will land on its wheels and learn to stay that way.

Look for these two new Fairdale products hitting stores soon.

I got sent some really cool Fairdale art from my buddy and legendary BMX innovator Afro Pat. Pretty stoked!

Bonus: I did a Google image search for Pat Schreader to find a picture of him and it auto corrected my search to Fat Shredder. Hmmmmm….

Fairdale got a little write up over at Bicycle Retailer and we appreciate it very much! Thanks guys.  I want to know why I have to get up so early for work if I’m retired.

Check out the story here.