Hippy hop v2.0?

Interbike

Another Interbike has passed and I was not there — again. I probably didn’t miss too much, judging from the pics that have been posted. One thing though… was there only one dude there with a camera? I seem to almost exclusively have seen the photos Kurt from BMXunion has on his site re-posted everywhere.

Rainy day

Some of the Focalpoint guys avoided the rain yesterday by hitting up some of their undercover spots. Here’s the edit to show that they didn’t just sit on their asses like I did, although I did go shopping for some shoes, so I’m not entirely lazy.

Top Fives

Cooper put up a new “top fives” on the Focalpoint site this morning. This time it was my turn to talk about what I think are the top five product innovation over the past few years. Previous top fives are by Mike Davies who runs zombiebmx.com and Clint Millar fron Colony BMX Co.

Re-stating the obvious

Jamie over at Proper Bikes posted this on their blog earlier this month. Reading through it, I have to say that I found it very accurate and to the point. That’s why I decided it is worth spreading the message some more.
This was posted as some do’s and don’ts for their stems hat are about to hit the market, but seeing that 100% of stems have bolts and threads in some form, this goes for all stems.

• Make sure there is steerer tube under both of the rear allen bolts. If you cut your steerer too short then don’t crank the top allen bolt up as hard as you can and wonder why your new stem doesn’t like it.
• Tighten the bolts evenly. That’s right, you need to clamp the bolts (the four front ones and the two rear) with a similar amount of torque. Don’t try to achieve this by cranking one allen bolt after the other as hard as you can.
• Don’t use a 6ft extension bar to tighten the allen bolts. A 10cm long allen key will supply enough torque to keep your stem tight.
• Don’t spray your stem (or bars) and wonder why either slips.
• If your stem starts to distort in any way you are doing something wrong. Do not continue to tighten your stem at this point.
• Once your stem is plenty tight enough to grip your bars and steerer tube (whilst a hippopotamus performs a footjam whip or gaps to flat from numerous storeys) there is no need to put in a few extra cranks ‘for good luck’.

ISP woes

As mentioned in the previous post I’ve had some problems with my ISP. The way internet works here in Australia (FYI to all you who are not familiar with Aussie internet) is that most of the time the connection is not very fast and you also have a download quota — which means that if you’re on the net too much you either get charged more, or they cut your speed right down. It’s not like back home in Sweden where you just pay for the connection and leech away.

Anyway, the deal we got was not for the fastest connection, but it had unlimited downloads. It was also supposed to be the best value for money as it was an exclusive deal to the building where we live, so we decided to go for it. Then the problems start…

First I notice that the speed is way lower than advertised (not too fast to begin with) and I examine the modem. Turns out they’ve provided me with one that is not even capable of delivering the speed we pay for. Not an excellent start. After a few lame excuses they replace it. Next thing that happens is that they double charge the account. I tell them about it and they give me a credit for the next month. Fair enough, mistakes happen. A few months later, they contact me to let me know the I will get more credit. Because the double charging had continued for 3 months!

During all the time I was with this ISP there was always a speed problem, it was good for a few days, then it went down. I contacted tech support about it a few times and the speed magically increased right after, only to slow down a few days later. There must have been some problem with their hardware or software, or maybe they just did it on purpose, hoping that people are too lazy to complain.

Next thing that happens is that the connection just starts cutting out intermittently. Of course the tech guys refuse to admit that it’s a problem on their part and blames it on my router. Mind you that I have a high end router that cost a fair bit of money, and the modem provided is some unkown $20 piece of plastic. I discussed the issue with a friend of mine, who happens to be a network expert at a university, and he told me that the problems I experienced are in no way router related. After some more contact with the ISP, they finally tell me that they will come over and have a look at it and we make an appointment for them to come a coule of days later. But surprise, surprise! The service tech (who also just happens to be the director of the company) never showed up! Giving them the benefit of the doubt I wait until next week. In case there was a misunderstanding of the date, but nope. No service tech that week either.

At this point I decide to cancel the service and the notice I get from the tech support/director that “we never made an appointment”, when in fact I have the e-mail to prove it as they did confirm the appointment, but apparently just decided that it wasn’t their problem after all. Great service for $79 / month. Fucking waste of money I say.

Now I’m using my iPhone as a modem. Got an extended data plan via Optus and it has so far worked better than the so called “broadband” I had before.

So a word of warning. If you ever come across Evolve Integration or want to sign up for a contract with Evolve iNet. Don’t do it. Stay away.

DUBSTEP/BMX CHRONICLES — Adrian Malmberg

It’s been a little quiet on here for a while and I know this video was posted an eternity ago in internet time (Sun, Sep 13, 2009 4:35pm EST), but since I have not had an ISP for a while (more on that later) I do feel that I’m excused.

So… this is Adrian Malmbergs part in the Dubstep/BMX Chronicles. This kid is awesome, he’s also on Rockstar Energy Drinks as of recently. Congrats!

iPhone Compatibility

I just found, and installed it here on the blog, this plugin called WPtouch in the WordPress plugin directory. What it does is that it make the page recognize if you’re on a mobile phone, such as the iPhone, and swithces the theme to something that looks more like an iPhone interface. Making it a lot easier to navigate while using the handheld device. See screenshots below:

[Note: If you’re on a normal computer you won’t see this change.]

Trails Friday

Here is a collection of recent (and some maybe not so recent) trails edits I’ve spotted around the net.

Stoneys Wood:

Wingham Woods:

Geoff Slattery — Save the Woods

Willow St. Trails

Beury Patch Trails

More will follow sometime later.

090909 Playlist

Since everyone is obsessed with the fact that the date 09/09/09 has come and passed I decided to do something special for this day. Since I listened to music (iPhone on shuffle) for a large portion of the day I thought it would be a fun thing to publish a track list of what was flowing through those earbuds.