We’re happy to announce that Chicago based photographer & rider Timothy Burkhart will be joining us here at Defgrip.

We happened to come in contact with Timothy one day, and one thing lead to another. We found that we had similar interests and bringing him on board worked out naturally. Timothy has been a fan of the site for some time, has a BFA in photography/studio art, is currently handling photo duties for The Bakery and carries too many cameras. He knows what we’re about and we look forward to having his posts in the mix.

Follow Timothy on Tumblr and  Instagram.

“We’re making new, useful items that people want to keep for a long time”.

One more great piece from the creator of some of our other favorites.

One of those days.

Vegan? Into Black metal? No, yes, maybe? WHO CARES!!

Get a load of this guy.

via @colonybmxbrand

I LOVE SQUAREBACKS!!!!

Read all about Colony’s Squareback project HERE.

In case you haven’t noticed over the last few weeks, we now have Damian Racut posting on the Grip! We are stoked to have Damian and his point of view on board. Damian is based out of Columbus, Ohio and has been riding BMX for about 10 years and is in school for Industrial Design. He’s been posting some awesome stuff already, so give him a warm welcome and follow him on Instagram!

Be passionate about what you do.

Repurposing products and recycling is becoming more prevalent in today’s society. In years to come recycling and decomposition of materials will become a major issue designers will have to resolve when creating products and packaging. Bicyled is a project created around these ideas by using old car parts and turning them into different bike parts. Check out the video to learn more.

When you start feeling yourself that’s when i stop feeling you. #stayhumble

— chase dehart (@DeHart856) February 5, 2013

Yep. This is happening.

If you follow any well known riders on Instagram, chances are you have noticed them juicing (no, not Lance Armstrong style). Photos of fruits & veggies on countertops have been abundant recently.This is all good in my book. Well… One night, something came over me and I tweeted at some dudes saying “Let’s get some juicing recipes on Defgrip. I’m serious!”, and Ben Hucke came through like greased lightning without much persuasion from me. It was apparent through the information he provided that he was all about this and knew his shit. Read below for Ben’s favorite recipe and its benefits. I’ve dubbed it “The Ben Hucke”.

The Ben Hucke:

Carrots – Known to improve vision, help lower the risk of breast, colon and lung cancer,  prevent heart disease, reduce stroke, nourish skin, anti aging effects and dental health.

Beets – Brain and energy boost, super antioxidant, anti inflammatory, cell detox, improve mental health making you feel more positive, reduces risk of skin and lung cancer. Also known as Natures Viagra! haha.

Celery – Immune system, blood pressure, inflammation and arthritis.

Parsley – Immune system, healthy heart, anti inflammatory, arthritis, antioxidants, lowers stress, anti cancer, inhibits the formation of tumors especially in the lungs, colon and prostate.

Cilantro – Metal cleansing (loosens any metals from tissue), lowers effects of anxiety, improves sleep, antibacterial/anti-fungle activity and strong antioxidant.

Cucumber – B vitamins for a quick pick me up, hydration, joint health, fresh breath, hangover cure, and fights cancers, digestion and weight loss.

Apples – Bone protection, asthma help, antihistamine, alzheimers prevention, lower cholesterol, cancer prevention of several different types.

You can add as little or as much of any of these ingredients and it’s still good. Adding juicing to my normal diet has helped me out a lot as far as feeling better, clearing my mind,  no longer have allergies, acid reflux disease is completely gone and I just have more energy in general. Juicing allows the nutrients to go straight into your blood stream replenishing your cells within five minutes, you can actually feel it happening in that time and feel yourself lift up and ready to go for the day.

In today’s society it’s hard and it’s expensive to live healthy, but slowly adding fresh juices to your diet over time will subconsciously allow you to become more aware of eating healthy and naturally craving healthy foods.

-Ben Hucke

Click below to check out my favorite Hucke edit.

Continue reading The Ben Hucke. →

Smiling in the front, business in the rear. Those of you who enjoyed Harrison’s Singer post last year might be interested in watching my favorite auto journalist Chris Harris having a talk (and a drive) with the people behind Singer. It’s always awesome to get inside the minds of people who have a heartfelt obsession with something and will stop at nothing to get it absolutely right.

These guys celebrate the fact that the beauty of the 911 isn’t just its beauty, it’s also its toughness. I find that the coolest 911s are the old ones that are daily driven, and Singer takes that idea one step further by giving them modern day power, some sound deadening, and an incredible bespoke interior without losing the rawness that was originally intended.

ArchDaily has taken note of the fact that in older movies, only villains lived in cool houses (the American Psycho, Jackie Treehorn, and the bad guy from North by Northwest). Nowadays, thanks to Tony Stark and some others, the good guys get to have good taste too.

ArchDaily article here, including some great photos of legendary modern houses.

Originally seen at YouMightFindYourself. Above pic from MidCenturia.

I’m kind of speechless right now.

This is so wacky that it’s genius. Flame sax? Dude. The people behind this were definitely inhaling too much Old Spice and I’m glad they did. If that’s not enough, this is the first interactive Vimeo player thing I’ve seen. At the end, the player switches into a “record” mode and you can literally record using your keypad with the Vimeo player. It’s fun and just plain amazing. FLEX!

This has been around for a bit, but I just came across it. I found a cool article about this on The Atlantic as well.

This is a good example of how to go viral.

Welcome to a freshened up Defgrip.

It’s been a minute since the site has gotten a makeover, so we are happy to finally have a fresh new design for you guys. While this new version is not drastically different from the previous one, it is cleaner, simpler with a focus on the design and overall user experience in the photogalleries & interviews sections. Check the new Get Sylvester gallery for proof.

Furthermore, it was important to us that our main page not be dictated by advertising anymore, so we stripped it down to the bare bones to showcase the content, but created more space for the brands that have supported us over the years. Nice and clean. We launched the previous version of Defgrip in early 2007 and it was an honor to see our previous layout be “re-appropriated” a few times over the years by other sites, but the time has come to switch shit up.

So what’s up with Defgrip these days?

Defgrip’s lifespan has been interesting. It started out as a simple blog run by a few friends for fun, it gained popularity which led to advertisers, became more “business” like for a bit, and now we feel it’s getting back to being a simple blog run by a few friends for fun again (but on a bigger, more important scale). Defgrip has always been something we simply do on the side and because we love to. The site always had a slower pace than others, but if it gets extra slow (i.e. – dormant), it’s because work is keeping us busy and only leaves us wanting to suplex our computers at the end of the day. The re-blogging rat race is not a top priority for us.

We’re still here though and will continue to fill the niche we’ve created for ourselves. There won’t be a million posts a day, but we will still be bringing you cool original content, choice BMX nuggets, photography, music, art and be writing about whatever the hell we want.

Thanks to everyone who supports and visits the site.

- Defgrip Crew

Happy Halloween.

I laughed.

Follow FBM’s Steve “photoshop master” Crandall on Instagram – @crandallfbm

Here’s a great feature on BBC about a German former airline executive named Gunther Holtorf who took a never ending trip in his Mercedes G Wagen.

He’s gone half a million miles with no sponsorships, no social media, no blog, and no breakdowns. The video shows photos taken with Gunther’s two Leica film cameras, as well as shots by David Lemke.

Click here for the video.

URBAN OUTLAW – THE TRAILER from Tamir Moscovici on Vimeo.

Magnus Walker is a friendly dude with unique fashion sense and a couple of downtown loft spaces full of vintage 911s who attends the LA area Porsche meets, each time with a different car. In case you haven’t seen this yet, it’s the trailer for an upcoming documentary about him.

This is pretty rad.

If you’re in the position of wanting /needing to paint your apartment or house and wish to use a photograph as color inspiration, than Sherwin Williams has you covered (no pun intended).

Chip It! is essentially a clever way to entice you to buy Sherwin Williams paint, but it is pretty cool regardless. Say you come across a photo you like with a cool color palatte/scheme on the web, Chip It! allows you to choose that photo and it will break it down into easy paint “chips” so you can get to painting. Boom!

All you have to do is drag the little “chip it” thing into your toolbar and you are set. I tried it above with one of my photos and it was super easy. I could see myself actually using this in the future.

Check out this rad project from I Have Pop, where pieces of “street furniture” were created, on site, out of found objects and materials. The pallet chair below is one of my favorites — click here to see the rest.

CONGRATS TO DAKOTA GRAFF!!!

Wanna win the headphones you see above? Got a Twitter? Perfect!

The Hunt & Skullcandy will send a pair to one lucky winner (who Justin Kosman will choose at random). All you have to do is leave a comment and your Twitter name below, with your  answer to the following question:

“Who would you like to see put together a Hunt part this year?”

Leave your answer in the comments below along with your Twitter name so we can select and contact the winner. Winner will be picked on Monday.

(Jaws not included)

BMX web edits are a dime a dozen these days. Everyone from little-Johnny-down-the-block to your favorite pros are frequently putting stuff on the web. This leads to potential web edit overkill on a daily basis, and standing out is the name of the game.

As an observer and someone who gets emailed web edits frequently, there are certain things that get my boxer briefs in a bunch. Most notably, the dreaded nondescript mid trick/half roll out “thumbnail” you first see when you lay eyes on an edit. This happens more often than you think and some top brands are guilty of this as well.

If you’re planning to put a web edit online, here are a few tips on how to achieve Ultimate Web Edit Success!!!!

1 – Use Vimeo. YouTube is perfectly fine and has a broader reach, but the Vimeo player just looks better. Simple as that. Upload to both and email the media a Vimeo link. The choice is yours of course, but Vimeo just looks better. Fight me.

2 – Brand your edit. This means your edits “thumbnail” (or the image you first see when you come across an edit when it is embedded) should be dialed. You (or someone) will have to make this.

If you’re a brand, this should include some kind of logo, title, the riders name along with an image pertaining to the edit (or any combination of all that). You will get the most mileage out of your edit by doing this. No half-assed “thumbnails” allowed for you!

If you’re a rider,  do your best to avoid the dreaded nondescript mid trick/half roll out “thumbnail”  that Vimeo/YouTube may provide you with. Find your nearest boy with design skills and bribe him with Chipotle to help you. Worse comes to worse, just use THIS.

To summarize:

Do THIS, THIS, THIS, THIS, THIS, THIS.

NOT THIS, THIS, THIS or THIS. If nothing else, avoid the I-can’t-even-tell-what-the-hell-is-going-on thumbnail.

3 – Don’t Double brand your edit. Disable “portrait”, “title” & “byline” in Vimeo. Don’t even give embedders a chance. I’m pretty sure YouTube always has a title bar on their player, so your fucked there regardless.

4 – Make sure your art clears the play bar.

5 – If you have a dedicated player, that’s fine, but make sure it resembles Vimeo as much as possible.

6 – Make sure the riding and editing is on point. This should be a given, but worth reiterating.

7 – Disable autoplay where possible.

8 – Use Vimeo. It looks better

There you have it.

I Instagram’d this this morning. Classic.