Ken "Gymkhana" Block may be best known for his tarmac drifting skills but he's no stranger to a bit of dirt too. He's long been a passionate mountain biker and even starred in an episode of This isPeaty.
For his latest bike he wanted something a little different so when Specialized sent him an S-Works Stumpjumper, he took it to Death Spray customs in England and returned with a black and white livery based on the 1991 Ford Escort RS Cosworth he drove in the Gymkhana 10 video.
Oh, and we forgot to tell you this bike's party trick. It glows in the dark. Take a look through the wax-on, wax-off gallery of his stunning new bike below.
The S-Works Stumpjumper in front of the Hoonigan Ford Focus RS RX from Gymkhana 10 and the Ford Fiesta WRC Ken raced at WRC Spain.
#KillAllTyres - not a bad motto to live by
Ken's race number is featured all over this bike
Even the Specialized Boomslang pedals get a custom touch
A lean, mean and sometimes green machine
'Ain't care' becomes 'Ain't car' on Ken's human powered ride
A ride so nice you almost wouldn't want to get it muddy
This isn't Ken's first custom bike, check out his space themed Demo 8 here.
So I would need to carry a flashlight to ”change it” like the dinosaur shirt that my son has??
I’ve never liked DC and I think it’s a terrible mainstream skate brand... And for the rally / drifting part.. Yeah I like some of it, but come on.. Any WRC driver will do gymkhana with two fingers up their nose.. Ken is nowhere to be seen in WRC....
On the other hand. Yes he’s a huge influencer and probably a cool dude to hang with. I really digged the LA gymkhana, probably because I know all the spots... And yes, I’m liking the bike a lot...!
I appreciate gymkhana and am not so certain that any wrc driver could do it, and further appreciate that Ken block is using it as a more accessible format to introduce people to the joy of ruining tires, but probably the best thing about gymkhana is the parodies Razor made for the little drift cars.
only problem, you needed to drench it with BRIGHT spot lights in order to charge up the glow and the glow lasted only about 10 minutes, if that. not to mention, safety hazard big time, sending a kid out in the dark on a glowing bike:
1. boyees in the hood will steal it...
2. kid would crash looking at the glowing bike while riding
3. men for space will zap your kid with a PC3 Space Modulator
There's so much trojan marketing going on it's not even funny.
But we are where we are and it makes (our) world go around, kind of. No way this money tanker's getting turned around but it's fun to muse over.
#dystopiansaturday
I'm guessing you're in your 20's, struggling with the implications of being enlightened about the pitfalls of capitalism. For perspective, in the 80s and 90s people complained about xmas and valentines day being corporate holidays and how the masses are forced to spend their money. Now with the internet in town, there's someone new to point the finger at.
I'm just an individual that proceeds to become aware of the continuous facade of corporate and government oppression on a spiritual,physical, emotional and mental state. The internet is nothing but a tool and it is very useful but at the same time it's paradoxical because there's so much desensitization to the right informationI think realization is to see clearly that what I perceive, experience, think and feel is ultimately not who I am. One cannot find oneself in all those things which continuously pass away.
#irony
Not having much luck eh
www.pinkbike.com/news/Brett-Tippies-Glow-in-the-Dark-2013-Rocky-Mountain-Flatline.html
Come on, its 2019 now, you don't even have to place LED tapes - there's Lumilor paint that you can use to create a real TRON-style "lightcycle" mtb if you wanted to make one.
I like what Ken does, but these pseudo-custom toys that have no heart put in, no involvement given by collab participants and thus are just as gross as other marketing BS like new standards.