Ty's Busted Bike, brings new life to an old Session.

On the first day of summer, Cooper, Ty and I all met up early this morning at the bike park. The morning was bright and sunny as it almost always is in Vermont. Sarcasm sensed here. But really, it was an awesome morning and we were working finding the grove of the day
Our big hit, the main jump we all ride, because you know that at every park there is that one jump everyone likes, needed some repair. We got to shoveling and raking it out and smoothing it very nicely. We moved the landing back about 12 inches se we would stop over shooting. The rollover lip needed moving as well. We all noticed that we were overshooting the roller and not keeping good speed or flow into the jumps so we moved that back about 12 inches as well. We got a chance to warm up the jumps and low and behold as we started to get into a grove for the day, Ty and I trained down the line and just as Ty reached the crest of the Roll over, something jumped up and busted him in the face!



Ty lost his shocks going over the roller! His right shock blew out the cap and spring right into his chest and face, almost knocking him off the bike mid air. Ty did well though and maneuvered out of my way so I didn’t run him down on my way into the jumps. After coming over to check on him, I saw a huge grease mark on his chest with red spring marks that really looked like he just got branded! His lower jaw was greased as well and I noticed his bike shock had a huge hole in the top of it. “OMG, your shock just punched your face out”. Ty was a little dazed, but when he came to realize his brand new KHS DJ300 bike just crapped out on him 36 hours into ownership, he began to turn from dazed to extremely pissed! Throwing his bike down and helmet into the bushes, I advised him to look for the spring and cap to make sure we could get it all back together.



Ty found each piece strewed around the jump and roller. Covered in dirt, his spring looked like left over Chinese food found in the dumpster. Ty tried to put it back in. Cooper and I both said not to do that. We didn’t want to fill the shock tube up with sand and ruin the tube as well. I made the suggestion that we load the bikes and head to Chucks in Mo- ville to see if Hank could help us out.



Upon getting to chucks, we all prayed he would have the time to put this bike back together so we could go home and keep riding. We entered the shop and Hank was very understanding of our situation and began to work immediately on Ty’s bike. We all hung around and gazed at the wonders of chucks bikes. There are relics here that predate Morissville’s chartered settlement dates! There were Transition bikes, Gary Fisher, Specialized, Free Agent and even a couple of banshee’s in the back! There were tricycles, bicycles, unicycles, hats, helmets, t shirts, grips…You name it, and Hank had it somewhere in this awesome country store style bike shop.


We all took a liking to a 24 inch Free Agent bike that was in the back. This bike,brand new, assembled and ready to ride. This thing was light! Lighter than any BMX bike we had seen and certainly a dream ride.



Easy to move, easy to jump, easy to control. So, yours truly, went home with it. Ty’s bike was put back together perfectly. We picked up Sam’s bike we dropped off last week, which now has a new rim, tuned up brakes and operates much better than its previous state. Even for a Next bike, it rides good and is still fun to throw around on the jumps.


We loaded the car up with 3 guys and 5 bikes on a bike rack made for 3 bikes. Hmmm. How were we going to do this?


Well, we made room in the back with Cooper to fit 2 of the smallest bikes and then racked the rest up in the rear. Poor Cooper had to sit with rims in his back and handle bars in his face.


Waterbury. 1:30. We start a new session right from where we left off. The photos below will explain the rest of our afternoon. It was hot, sunny, and dry. We all had, despite the long delay of Ty’s facial with his bike and our trip to Chucks.


Life rules.