Hey Ballers! Here’s the first glimpse of this years non-stop Gumball 3000 Rally ‘Coast to Coast’ TV Series starring Danny and The Dingo, Tony Hawk, Dennis Rodman, Matt Pritchard of Dirty Sanchez, The Sheikhs, Gretchen Rossi, Duane Peters and Trigger Gumm, The Fuel Girls, Team Swine Flu, the Ghost of David Hasselhoff, and me of course! Watch it on the Gumball 3000 You Tube channel, embed it on every social network site known to man - and lets hear what you think about it. TV Networks around the world are preparing themselves as we edit this monster into 10 episodes due to air later this year. Enjoy! 

It was great to see and take inspiration from Dave's Quality Meat and Trackstars collab last year - recreating several "classic" old school BMX colour ways on beautiful Bianchi Pista Concept Track frames. This Skyway TA tribute looks sooo clean that you just can't help but be reminded of a more innocent world when learning 360 endo's and bunny hops was where life was at. Uncomplicated.

For non BMXers - this is the frame and forks that this fixed gear was paying homage to. Nice huh. If you were once into BMX and come from a similar era to me then check out the museum in Vintage BMX sometime - you'll get a kick out of seeing that machinery!

And if you're tempted to relive those halcyon days then Colored Tuffs are actually offering for sale several very "limited edition" 25th Anniversary framesets that have been made up from original unwelded (until now) tubing.

My mate Keith Hufnagel has also paid tribute to his passion for "Hutch BMX" with his own fixed wheel "Hutch" styled trackbike...

 based on this 1985 "Hutch Trickstar"...

Hutch products were always the "most desirable" - much like Huf's brand is right now!

Just take a look at these old school films of Hutch freestyle legends Tim Judge and Woody Itson doing a demo back in 1985...and you'll see why!

It doesn't get cooler than this!   

After that blast of 80s style let me show you some of the other 80s BMX inspired DQM X Trackstar Fixed wheel creations...

This GT Pro Performer tribute is just insane!

But the original is EVEN better!

And this Bianchi Pista concept DQM X Trackstar NYC is beautiful...

...but is it cooler than this original SE PK Ripper?

And how about this green machine, styled on a...

....1985 Haro Master Freestyler... the creation of...

...Master Bob - the "inventor" of freestyle. Whilst there's no doubt all of these BMX styled trackbikes are amazing and that fixies in general undoubtedly represent a next generation of free spirited pure two wheeled expressionism - there is no doubt to me that the original BMX's have to win. End of story! 

In saying that... whilst maintaining the same love and loyalty to BMX since I did my first endo back in 1983 (as some of you may know I have one of the most INSANE collections of NOS BMX's and freestyle frames in existence...over 150 of them!) I think its about time I built a trackbike that will pay homage to some of my favourite freestyle bikes. So stay tuned to find out what my creation will end up being as I enter into this new phase of "fixed wheel fascination!" Could it be an homage to my 24 carat gold Trickstar? You'll all just have to wait and see...

(BTW - anyone following my blog from a few weeks back - I am still building my old school original Dyno Compe as my Old School X New School X Gumball 3000 daily ride. It's nearly finished - and looks SICK!)

Yesterday Julie and I (and all 4 children) spent a beautiful day on Karta's Mine Sweeper (Ex HMS Georgeham) on the Thames to celebrate his birthday.

He's one of my oldest and closest friends not to mention the fact he was my "best man" at our wedding back in 2002 and is Lotus' Godfather...

He's also the "only" person other than me to have participated in all 11 Gumball Rally's since 1999 - usually taking part in "something" that can attempt to push and challenge the boundaries of travel and transportation into the future by using either an alternative fuel or an alternative type of vehicle or both. This years battery powered BMW was no exception!

As well as celebrating a glorious birthday together with Lola and all of our friends (seen here modelling the somewhat appropriate "Wise Heads" Gumball 3000 Tee shirt) ...

on the boat...

... this week Karta is also opening up his first shop here in Notting Hill to offer London's cyclists and "fashionistas" a new way of thinking and dressing. And having only yesterday returned from Paris after curating the exhibition 'MeWeCycle" at Colette...

... Karta's life is certainly dedicated to cycling and recycling. It seemed appropriate for Karta to curate such a project at the Parisian trend setting store, featuring a collection of designers’ work, based on their love of the bicycle and creative-recycling, a global movement that reduces landfills and brings waste to life. “There is no recycling without cycling and no cycling without recycling”.

Products available in Colette included furnishings by Andrew Lang made of frames, by Richard Liddle made of recycled plastics...running from June 1st through 20th...

...allowing Karta just enough time to return to London (after spending the past 5 years in Hong Kong and China) to open up "Two and Fro / Hello Velo" at 215 Westbourne Park Road, W11. (Practically around the corner from Gumball HQ).

Having started the brand Two n Fro armed with a new brief: Design everything one needs for inner city cycling. The intelligently constructed range, covers clothing and accessories, from shoes and shirts to head lamps and helmets, and offers “flexible gear for all situations within your day, on and off the bike”. The aesthetic is influenced by his experience in the fashion industry more than the sports industry.

For instance, he uses reflective materials in sophisticated and minimal areas. Such as brogue shoes with reflective material showing though the leather perforations. Or clothing with reflective piping over seams, so a shirt is reflective in some stylised areas, using intelligently integrated safety materials that give the clothes a functional element, but are still wearable around town. 

Driven by sustainability, their pool of materials includes soy fabrics, silk, bamboo fabrics and a recycled sails. From the yacht club where Karta resides in Hong Kong, he collects used sails and turns them into cycling accessories which exploit the material’s weather resistance and durability. One such garment is a cycling cape which wraps over the shoulders, covering your top half, and joins down the front via magnets hidden in the seams.

Small runs and conceptual products make it a premium brand for avent-guard cyclists. And as the eco-brand starts to make its way off the catwalk, into the cycle lanes of China, Paris and now Notting Hill its making cycling safer, and trendier... along with more than a little humour resplendent in a fantastic line of urban face masks!

So go and take a look at what this Gumballer is up to at London's newest and most forward thinking recycling store...

... and if you fancy a ride...every Friday evening this summer there will be mass races and curiosity rides from the new shop open to all levels, departure at 7pm from 215 Westbourne Park Rd W11, prizes and fuel bar (beer) open after return. 

Email or phone for details: 0207 193 0270 215west11@gmail.com

I was walking down Portobello Road this morning and looked up to see this Gumball 3000 decal on the market road sign. As you may know there are now thousands of Gumball stickers stuck up all over the world, but the reason I'm posting this one is that its actually one of our very first batch from back in February 1999 when we used silver and blue as our original colours. I can't believe this has stood the test of time! Pretty cool to see.

Seeing this has made me feel generous and happy today I'm gonna give some cool stuff away for free (for a "limited time only") if you can email me or post images on the Gumball or my own Facebook or Twitter pages of you sticking Gumball stickers in some rad or random places like these ones...

Such as on Johnny Knoxville's hoody!

Or Bam's drag car...

Or on an Oldsmobile in Havana...

Or a random old queen...(thats Shane the Legend don't you know!)

Or Bucky Lasek's deck at the X-Games...

Perhaps on your helmet like Six Killer...

...On the Subway...

...Or on the Bonneville Salt Flats sign in Utah...

...Or the dashboard of your car!

Or a Cheeky one on a Cops arse!

You get the idea??? Anyway... with our Autumn/Winter Apparel range about to start dropping limited edition T's every 2 weeks (these shirts are SICK) I'm prepared to give some of these out to the best placed stickers. Oh by the way... you might have to buy some stickers from our webshop first! Then get branding...!