I finally acquired my holy grail bike, the Bianchi Pista Concept 2004. After getting it built up in my garage, I met up with Pizza and Deacon to ride to the beach and get a little flat ground session in and break in the build. 2009 me would be proud! Full res photos of the build to come soon. Enjoy!
Johnathan Ball
PRIVILEGED BREAD 14 – RUFF IN AUSTIN
The Ruff team recently took a trip to Austin to film for an upcoming full length. Here are the in betweens / warm ups on the bread cam!
Reading Your Fixed Gear HOT TAKES
Some of the worst things I’ve ever read. Today we respond to the community’s Fixie hot takes. Enjoy!
SMC PARK SHMIXTAPE 2025
2025 park shmix with a real camera featuring most of the local squad casually filmed over the last few years!
Squad includes: Marco Marquez, Johnathan Ball, Corey San Agustin, Matt Spencer, Chase Henley, Max Vargas, Kareem Shehab, Deacon Wong, Lucas Petruzzelli, Jonathan Thompson, Jacob Santos, and Kris Sundet!
Farewell Courttek V1 Build
I’ve been riding this exact frame for nearly 3 years now. It’s technically the 2nd Master Courttek prototype and even has a special engraving on the bottom bracket with my name on it, which the production versions didn’t have. It’s time to say goodbye though.
My good friend Paul and I shot some final pics of the bike to commemorate it and put it to rest properly. I’m not usually that sentimental about my own bikes, but I’ve become really close with this one for probably obvious reasons. I never thought I’d have my name on a frame and I’m still blown away by the amount of people that wanted to buy a frame that had my name on it. Seriously big thank you to everyone who snagged one.
Why are we saying goodbye to it though? All that i’ll say for now is that it’s not because the frame is broken. RIP Courttek build, you served me very very well!
Full gallery and bike check after the jump.
Volume Thrasher V1 Revamp + Ride
I recently revamped my Volume Thrasher V1. The old school style build was fun, but it was time to optimize it for better tricks and really deck it out to feel the best it can. After building it up I caught a session with the boys and got hurt pretty bad. Enjoy!
Side note, this is like the 3rd video involving a Thrasher V1 that we’ve thrown on the blog this week, wild coincidence.
PRIVILEGED BREAD 13: SMC 7 WEEKEND
Bread cam coverage of Suck My Comp 7 weekend shenanigans, Formula Fixed, Vegas trip, and everything in between.
Throwback: JBall 3:30 with Locked Cog
Posted up a fun 2013 throwback on the archive of myself! The 3:30 with Locked Cog series used to be one of my favorites. Pros would send in footage to Kris with LC and he’d pump out these fun minute long mini edits for the world to see. I remember being really stoked when he said he was willing to do one with me, since Locked Cog was such a big platform at the time. I’m actually still pretty proud of a lot of these clips. The ender was the first time I’d put the 180 bar to backlash into a proper clip, and I’m pretty sure it was the first that FGFS had seen at the time. Funny to think about how hard that clip felt when it’s a staple in my trick bag now. Fun times. Shoutout my boy Sam for the ender.
CREW DEFENDER 26″ NOW AVAILABLE
Insane to think that there are currently TWO complete FGFS (ish) bikes that are now available on the market! Crew just launched the successor to their wildly popular 700c Defender model, now with 26″ wheels! Deacon and I got the chance to test these. While a more in depth review is pending, what I”l say for now is this:
The bike in my opinion is a perfect stepping stone and price point ($400) for anyone who wants to get into FGFS. The geometry is a little long, but most tricks are still extremely doable on the build. The bike as is is strong enough to handle moderate abuse and with some part swaps, it can be built to last.
Here are the tech specs on the bike:
| Frame: | CR-MO Defender 26” Frame |
|---|---|
| Fork: | CR-MO 26”, 1-1/8” Threadless |
| Headset: | 1-1/8” Integrated Cartridge Bearing |
| Handlebar: | CR-MO Riser Style 22.2mm clamp, 700mm width |
| Stem: | Alloy 48mm ext., 22.2mm Clamp |
| Grips: | 130mm Flanged Grip |
| Crankset: | CR-MO 170mm, 36T Sprocket |
| Bottom Bracket: | 8T Splined, Sealed Bearing |
| Chain: | KMC B1H 1/2” x 1/8” |
| Pedals: | 9/16” Platform |
|---|---|
| Brakes: | Alloy Caliper Brakes, 2-Finger Levers |
| Tires: | 26” x 2.5”, 30TPI |
| Wheelset: | 26” Double Wall, 32H, Sealed Bearing Hubs, CR-MO Axle |
| Sprocket/Freewheel: | 16T Freewheel, 16T Fixed Gear |
| Saddle: | Crew Steel Railed |
| Seatpost: | Alloy 27.2mm x 300mm |
| Seatpost Clamp: | Alloy 29.8mm |
Deacon and I had a blast ripping these things around the park shooting some fun content for it. Grab the new 26″ Crew Defender from the City Grounds site here!
Ruff Eurotrip Phone Gallery
Now that the PB episode of our Eurotrip is out, it’s time to start dropping some more of the pics from the trip!
In case you’re in the dark, myself, Lucas, Matt, Corey, Jackson, and Kris travelled out to the Netherlands and Germany in August to film clips and attend the Fixated Competition. It was the best time of our lives and there were so many memorable moments from the experience.
Quick recap: Corey had a broken neck and still came on the trip. Crispy came with us last minute to Germany. Krisler was in full effect. Matt was the ultimate tour guide. Pizza got clips. Hank got an SMC tattoo. We found spotmandude. Chu papi muneno. Shoutout Till. Fixated comp was fun. Over a month later and I still have injuries from the trip. Whopper Doritos are weird.
Here’s some fun BTS photos straight from my shitty phone (photos from my proper camera will be slow dripped in the coming weeks).
Suck My Cog 