Get back to Wisconsin maybe once a year. This time teaming up with Active bike shop and Profile to throw a Pizza party at Telulah skatepark in Appleton. With a delayed flight the night before and just so happened to be in Minneapolis taking the train to chill with the X games crew was a sweet layover. The next day, off to Green Bay to ride my grade school, high school and in front of my parent's old family restaurant. And lastly Lambeau field. Good times, great memories...good to see my friends, fellow riders, brother, and my dad along the way. -Chad D @chaddegroot
"In 1994, I learned how to do barspins. I've never been able to bus-driver them, instead, I've used the ol' pinch your knees on the seat, sling em' and hold your breath.
This was also at a time where my seat post was at least four fists high, and the seat itself was usually an extra fat, $15 railed seat (bought from the local bike shop after being taken off a complete MTB).
Over the past 24 years, my seat post has gotten lower and lower (now, to one fist high), and my seats have alternated from fat, to slim, back to fat and now, to this Deco TA (Terry Adams) hybrid that sits somewhere in the middle.
As I rarely sit and pedal, my seat only serves two purposes:
1. A balance point, centering my rig if I'm doing something that pulls my bike either too far to the left, or too far to the right. As an example, while doing a smith grind over a hip, my back end fish tails out quite a bit until my seat catches my right knee, pulling it back to center. You don't necessarily need a padded seat to do this BUT, when you do 100 in a row, that extra padding saves you from a rash and knee bruising. The Deco TA seat checks out here perfectly.
2. The second and most import aspect as described in the intro: offering clamping area for my knees when spinning the bars.
Here's why the TA seat works granted its size:
--Firstly, as opposed to my old fat seat, the TA seat is ALL Kevlar. There's absolutely no sliding at all on any vinyl. So, where ever my pants catch during a knee pinch (the sides, lower, higher, etc..), it never fails.
--The more contoured yet still heavily padded design allows for the seat to sit comfortably right underneath my knee cap during a knee pinch. Basically, it mimics the contours of your legs. This allows for a smaller seat profile, and a barspin that takes less effort (I never consciously know that I'm pinching my knees with the TA).
--The most important thing (though it's much more of an indirect side effect of the seats design): IT IS INCREDIBLY LIGHT.
My bike has to sit around 19lbs. The Deco TA seat is a perfect compliment to that.
Overall, my complete rig builds never change. They've been fairly the same over the past decade, and any modifications are almost a leap of faith for me. I hesitantly switched to the Deco TA seat...now I'm fearing the day I won't have one." -Matt Coplon @matt_coplon
Favorite pics
In to the summer.?
Tokyo is super hot this year..,
But riding is the best thing. ? @jason_halayko
InstaVids for this week:
