TCU posted their top 10 BMX trends of 2013 yesterday, and weed made the cut! It appears every BMXer on the planet walks around with a ‘fatty’ hanging out of their mouth, as they drift through life smelling like Bob Marley’s sock drawer, or so they’d have us believe! In fact it’s simply not true. BMXers on the whole don’t do bath bongs before a sesh, or sit there continuously crafting exotic cigs out of bits of chewed up card and 9p worth of ‘squidgy black’. Today, I’m here to shout for the majority who don’t partake in weed culture, but have this shit thrown down our necks every time we go buy a new part, open a magazine, catalogue or click on the latest edit. Here’s some things of note..

Caffeine

Many BMXers who are studying or working are usually off their heads on a fine blend of Pro Plus, energy drinks and coffee. Most consume so much caffeine in all it’s guises you could rouse a graveyard. I guess we know this from the amount of energy drinks who are commercially involved in BMX! The awesome Monster X Dub Jams brought both stimulants together for the benefit of a really good time and it worked a treat.

Rasta parts and products

When I go to a BMX shop for a new stem, I want to walk into a BMX shop. Not a legal high emporium selling cheap plastic bongs and a frame which looks like a Rastafarians hat. Taiwan must be laughing all the way to the bank right! Are they sat on 50 containers of red, gold and green paint they need to get rid of sharpish? The cynical old man in me would say the Taiwanese invented the “BMX weed” marketing campaign to simply shift a quantity of paint, and quickly. But, I actually think a minority of people obviously do smoke weed, enjoy it and happen to have the loudest voices in BMX, so it’s kind of in our faces, and companies are flapping like a moth to a blue light thinking that producing a product with said colour way or weed logo is actually a smart financial move, when in fact it isn’t. 2014 will be the year we see Rasta products sat on huge chain store websites for cheaper than trade price. Black spray cans at the ready punters..

Alcohol

Max Duff photo, check his work here it’s sick..

Beers, wines and spirits appear to have taken a back seat in the culture of BMX. In fact this is, and will always be the stimulant of choice for most of us looking to let our dreads down for the weekend. Perhaps the days of a leather J, bottle of whisky and X2 metal horns on a dance floor are now over (even though last night I came pretty close to reliving that era). The FBM or Metal Bikes marketing campaigns of the naughties seem a distant memory as we make way for getting blazed, but that is all it is, marketing. Those guys nailed it 10 years ago, and the current crop are doing a good job in making sure we know what they’re all about come close of play in 2013’s BMX world. However, I’m not convinced on the strength of sales, as I’m comfortable in the knowledge that the majority don’t consume weed, nor have any want to buy into it’s culture. BMXers who are into it, buy into it and thats cool, it’s not reflective of the majority, and companies need to have a look at who they alienate before ‘rolling a doobie’ with the cool guys.