When TJ and the boys signed off on America's independence 233 years ago, they probably never dreamed every dumb ass in America would celebrate their genius and bravery by blowing shit up, burning meat and swilling beer. I'm no better than the next dumb ass, so I'm packing my tennis racket and heading to Pebble Beach for a weekend of fun in the Central California sun. My friend Holden from Berkeley is meeting me at Mike McDaniel's house tomorrow afternoon to kick things off with beer and burgers at some high falootin' eatery that overlooks America's most famous golf course. It's a weekend of high-dollar debauchery I could never afford on my own, but Mike's got the sweet hook ups at a tennis court, and our friends Chris and Bev are letting me sleep on their couch. DGAF Dan and Emo Ryan came by the office yesterday to give me the report on Pickle Fork testing, and to get the first production samples of our new Anorexic pedals. I showed both guys about the wonders of grease on pedal spindles, and their world will be better by this wisdom. Grease is your friend, guys. Use it. BTW, Dan thrashed our heat-treated, air-hardened, rifle-butted and tapered 4130 chromoly fork for months, without heartache. At 1 pound, 13.5 ounces for the fork with peg-sized CNC'ed dropouts I was afraid our new superlight fork would be flimsy, but Dan said it worked like a charm. Dave Mirra was eyeballing Dan's prototype at last weekend's Dew Tour, and he was impressed. Relax guys—I've asked Sherry to speed up production on these babies, and to airfreight us a bunch of samples asap.  Hey, speaking of super big news, check this: last week Scott and Mark from Sidewall Distribution visited us at SNAFU HQ, and we spent the day talking about their big ramp-up on SNAFU for the rest of 2009 and beyond. Sidewall sticks Hoffman, SNAFU and several other cool niche BMX brands, so we're psyched to see them raise the stakes on their game with our new products. Mark and Scott have committed to the whole line of 700c and MTB parts as well as our complete range of BMX P&A. While the guys were in town we showed them second generation prototypes of our new Solo seat, the aforementioned Pickle Forks, and the production samples of our Towatay stem. Needless to say, they were stoked. We are too, and if you work at a bike shop, you'll be stoked on doing business with Sidewall, too. It's a great company, and the do a great job of representing our products. Thanks, Mark, and happy Fourth of July to everyone!
When Joe Stakun asked to interview me for an FBM documentary at Steve Crandall's pallet jam last year, I happily obliged, never knowing what a great DIY film the guy had in store for today's BMXers. I stole this trailer off Deliveranting, and I hope Joe will sell me a copy when his FBM opus is in the can. Thanks for including me in your piece of BMX history, Joe. Your trailer looks awesome.
We've installed the Gen II pre-production sample of our new Towatay MTB stem on WErik's Haro Steel Reserve test mule, and in the words of DGAF Dan, "it is glorious." The final weight on this baby is 178 grams with the 25.4mm shims, and a super-svelte 154g when set up for 31.8mm OD bars (6.22 oz. & 5.38 oz, respectively.)
The reach on the Towatay stem is 45mm—super short by anyone's standards. We kept it short to reduce the rudder effect common with longer stems.
As photos show, Erik's revised design is hogged out everywhere possible to reduce bulk and weight. 
The grade-8 hardware features 5mm Allen cap screws so one wrench is all it takes for assembly and adjustment. Colors includes black, blue, bronze and purple ano. SNAFU distributors should have the Towatay stem in stock early this fall.
 Jeremie Infelise is a triple—make that quadruple—threat. Monday through Friday JRI works at Sidewall Distribution. When he isn't talking to shops and helping customers, he's a Hoffman and SNAFU pro. And on weekends, Jeremie does demos with fellow riders at local bike shops for the kids. Now that's what I call earning your keep. Thanks for burning the midnight oil. Jerermie.
 Jorge Jovel is our man on vert, and he sent us these pics from practice at the Dew Tour in Chicago last week. Jorge rocks our UL Race forks, JRI handlebars, Sterly tires, and a couple other trick bits on the U-pipe. Thanks for the love, JJ.
Matt Bischoff went to the Chicago Dew Tour last weekend to bro down with fellow SNAFU pros Jeremiah Smith, Dave Mirra and Morgan Wade. Flow pros Jorge Jovel, Dan Norvell and Big Daddy were also in the house. SNAFU pros rep'ed hard at round one, with three guys in the top ten on parks, and Dave Mirra taking first place. Of course, Big Daddy kept it live with his X Factor Gun Show. Peep Bischoff's snappies in this low-res slide show…
But the old man is awesome. NEVER count Dave Mirra out. Ever. Congratulations to fellow SNAFU park pros Jeremiah Smith (10th) and Morgan Wade (8th), adn SNAFU flow rider Jorge Jovel for his sixth-place finish in vert qualifiers. JJ ended up with an 11th in the vert finals, but our man showed strength and style in the earlier rounds. Good job, guys!
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