My most memorable bikes have always been dirt jumpers. I’ve never been very confident riding trails, aka dirt jumping, but the sensation of flowing through even a small set is something that quickly gets me frothing. There’s a feeling I just can’t replicate anywhere else on a bike.
This style of bike has always interested me most, thanks to its simplicity, durability and lack of necessary ‘extras’ to make it tick. I loved my last PBJ and, to be honest, didn’t want to get rid of it. But after my mountain bike grew in size, the change back to my old PBJ was uncomfortable.
So when I heard my friends at Transition had made their largest PBJ—my previous dirt jump bike—bigger again, I bit the bullet and ordered a frame. I’d also always wanted a raw steel DJ/BMX frame, and one of the two options for 2021 was a raw finish. Unfortunately, the supply chain issues brought on by the global pandemic changed that, as well as a few other parts.
It was heaps of fun to work on a personal project again. It had me revisit wheel building and many other skills I don’t often use with regular mountain bikes anymore. So to round the project off, I pushed on with a photoshoot, hoping the results were worthy of my portfolio.
And here we are. I’m psyched with the results, and I learnt some new skills while continuing to push old ones during this shoot. Enjoy the selection.
