Shane Badman sent me email from Egypt… read on below.

Everything is going really well down here in Egypt. I’m living in a resort city called Hurghada about 4-5 hours south from Cairo on the Red Sea. The city is known mostly for it’s local diving scene and crystal clear water, but is also a popular destination for the super-rich and wealthy luxury boat owners as it’s central to a bunch of other places around the Middle East & Africa.

Living in England I heard through the grapevine that a local company in Egypt were looking for a rider to do demos for a few months. After a few phone calls followed by sending some footage, they were happy to ask if i’d come down for a few months to work with them. Admittedly, the lure of white sandy beaches, 40degree weather, no rain for months and months on end and the fact that all i’d be doing is endless riding was too good to pass up.

So for the next few months or so I’m here doing daily flatland demos in the newly opened Marina for tourists and the like. The lifestyle is good, the locals are friendly and I’ve got a bunch of good spots to ride at. I have a bunch of other trips planned around Egypt over the coming weeks so stay tuned for updates and photos!

The life of a pro flatlander hey?

Yo yo !!

Shane Badman’s signature flatland frame is getting closer to reality. Here is one that my friend Ross Lavender, is in the process of building up. It wont come in this colour but it looks pretty fresh. Ross did the powder coating himself at Lewis & Sons Powder Coating.

In Shane news… he is about to make the move to Egypt to live & will have a job doing shows on a daily basis on some luxury resort. Sounds pretty good to me.

Yo yo !!

Here are some sneak peaks of the final sample 2009 Cube frame straight off the production lines. This picture was taken before the frame was sent over for it’s full post heat treatment. Expect these to be available in August this year in either 18.0″ or 18.85″ top tube lengths.

Word has it that the mastermind behind the Cube, Shane Badman, is headed for Egypt to live for 6 months or so. Should be a welcome change in weather conditions from the cold winter he has endured in Europe.

Yo yo !!

There is a cool interview with Shane Badman in the latest issue of the online magazine, Love BMX from the Czech Republic. Check it out here.

Yo yo !! 

Press release from Shane Badman on the Global Flat website… also check out Flatland Australia’s website too.

I joined the Colony team in October 2007 and was given the honour and opportunity to design my own frame. I put together all the things that have worked for me over the years into a design and with help from Clint Millar at Colony, “The Cube” was born. I´ve been testing it since October to now and it has been perfect in every way. It´s light, strong and fully functional. I´m riding the 18.85″TT model, but other options will be available come mid 2008. With Simon having just joined the team, together we will be designing pegs, sprocket, 2 piece cranks, stem and a flatland specific pivotal seat & post combo along with Simon´s signature bars.

A short promo video for my frame, “The Cube” can be found here

Yo yo !!

Yes, Simon has joined the team !! We here at Colony are very excited to see Simon join Shane in our very exclusive flatland team. Welcome to the team Simon !!

Our flatland program is starting to take shape exactly how I wanted it. Both Simon O’Brien & Shane Badman will have a huge input into what our products look like & the specs they have. Expect to see Shane’s, The Cube frame, that you already know about & some bars from Simon. Also from Colony a sprocket, freecoaster hub, some 2 piece cranks, pegs, stem & Pivotal seat & seat post combo. All these will be available around July/August this year depending where you live in the planet.

Yo yo !!

Here is an update that Shane sent me & what he has been up too…

What’s up guys? I have just got back from spending the past 9 days in Sweden for Christmas and New Years. I went over there with my girlfriend to spend it with her family and see how the Swedes do things.

Christmas is totally different. They celebrate on Christmas eve with all the presents handed out. It’s a big event with a huge Christmas dinner prepared and all the family invited.

New Years was huge. We spent it in a small city called Lund in the south of Sweden, not far from Copenhagen in Denmark. At midnight we climbed to the top of this massive hill with a 360degree view of all the fireworks. It was unreal seeing fireworks in every direction as far as you could see.

Sweden is an amazing country with a very high quality of life, consistent in all the Scandinavian countries. Sweden is ranked in the top 5 countries to live in the World (with Australia being number 3!). Nearly everyone speaks fluent English and getting around the country is easy.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get to see any riders while I was out there. Being the middle of winter didn’t help and with temperatures being around 0 with the coldest about -4 (when I got the riding photos done!) and it made riding pretty difficult. After a while it gets to a point where you lose feeling in your feet and hands and it’s nearly impossible to ride.

Hope everyone had an awesome New Years and see you all at the BMX Games in Sydney January 26-28th.

Yo yo !!

Shane just dropped me a report from his recent trip…

Hey Clint,

Just got back from the Remax Fieldcontrol contest in Portugal. It was held in Portimao in the far south of the country where the worlds and other big contests have been over the years. The guys put a lot of effort into the weekend constructing a massive tent over the riding area and putting down about 30m2 of ply floor. Picked up and dropped off at the airport, crazy parties and good friends and that’s not to mention how awesome the beaches are…

I got The Cube built just a day before leaving for the contest and didn’t really get a chance to ride it properly until the day of the qualifiers. Rode it like crazy and got used to it really quick. The frame is sharp and responsive, but also really stiff and with plenty of room in all the right places. Being light-weight, it’s super easy to move around and takes little effort to get this bad boy moving. It got a lot of really positive comments from the other riders and people were really stoked on its simplicity and function.

Qualifiers went well. Pulled most of my stuff during my run and even some new stuff that I’ve just learnt. I wasn’t around for the results, but Frank Lucas told me I got third – stoked!

Results were only scored down to 5th place so I’m not sure where I placed. Despite all this, had a really good time, got to ride at an awesome spot hung out with friends and made some new ones. The Cube did it’s job super well, people were psyched on it and now it’s time to go think up some new tricks to learn.

Shane.

Yep, it’s official. The flatland frame that I released some news about a few weeks ago is Shane Badman’s signature ride. I had wanted to do something with Shane when he told me he hated all the frames out there today & couldn’t get something that was exactly like he wanted. Something that would also stand up to his riding. Enter ‘The Cube’ by Shane Badman & Colony.

Shane & I have known each other for almost as long as I can remember. We were penpals before emails even existed writing actual hand writen letters to each other for years… crazy to think actually. Welcome to the team Shane !!

Shane in Austria last year.

The frame will not be out yet for at least 6-8 months as we need to test it first. But should be worth the wait. Details I can release right now are…

Top Tube : 18.85′
Rear End : 13.0′
HT angle : 74.5
ST angle : 72.0
Top/Down Tube : diameter : 31.8mm
Rear Stays diameter : 19.0mm
Features : Built-in seat clamp, Spanish BB, Internal H/set & we will trial some removable rear brake mounts. The frame will also be full post heat treated as are all our 2008 frames.
Weight : TBA but expect it to be light.

Yo yo !!

We have been working together with a prominant Australian flatlander for a while now on our first flatland product. Here are some sneak peaks of the frame which will be out early next year. I just thought I would give you all a little teaser. Also to let your minds wander as to who the Australian flatlander is… Let’s just say all will be revealed in good time.

Yo yo !!