Sad news, learning that
Caleb Ruecker is off Metal. Sadder still, finding out Caleb recently switched to two-piece bars. I think he was the very last pro holding on to four-piecers. With Caleb dies an important bmx legacy. Dave Young, Jeremy Davis, and Lou Rasjich produced three of the most memorable video parts of the late nineties, double-pegging rail after rail on both sides, wrecking themselves on what-were-they-thinking gaps, while sporting a tight-black-pants style that no other rider dared emulate. Except Caleb.
When Brian "B.C." Castillo left
S&M, they continued producing his signature bar, calling it the "A.D." Clever punning.
Volume, in a show of good humor, produced a slightly updated version called the
Mad Dog Bar (Mad Dog being Chris Moeller's ancient nickname). In between S&M and Volume,
Primo created the subtly ugly
Moe's Bar for Castillo. Castillo switched to two-piece bars in 2001, and Volume stopped producing the four-piece soon after. Check out this old
FreedomBMX interview with Castillo himself, where he comments on the various versions of his signature bar (and also takes credit for the
least fashionable stem in bmx). EBCO, honoring the Portland, Oregon Castillo Bar connection, was making a four-piece as late as 2003. S&M returned to calling it the Castillo Bar before quietly handing production over to Sean McKinney's flatland-oriented Revenge Industries sometime in the last couple of years. Here's the
Revenge Bar.
Here are the
./blueprint parts for
Jeremy and
Lou, both of which were posted on
theComeUp in the past six months. Dave's part is nowhere to be found on the internet, and perhaps that's a good thing, but
here he is on the cover of Ride in 1994. Parrick is supposedly working on a dvd re-release of
Nowhere Fast. Until then, no one is throwing away their VCR.
Here is a video from
Caleb's Myspace. Some excellent riding and crashing in true Castillo Bar style.
And, if you didn't know,
"Little" Jeff Landtiser successfully pulled Lou Rasjich's
wrist-breaking roof gap for his excellent
Building the Underground part. Maybe it was the uncut Slams.
Streetriding pros who ran Castillo Bars:
Brian Castillo
Jason Enns
Dave Friemuth
Dave Young
Jeremy Davis
Lou Rasjich
Matt Beringer
Troy McMurray
The Gonz
Ryan Worcester
Scooter (pegless, brakeless, excellent)
Nate Hanson
Sean McKinney
Please let me know if you can think of others.
Mob. [Piff photo]
Dances with wolves: Tony Tuominen... [Caleb Ruecker photo]
...and Nick Morris. [Piff photo]
Ruecker, DBZ.
Ben Piff, proper damn clicked. [Ruecker photo]
Nick, PGE Park. [Piff photo]
DFG rolls in. (Play structure previously noted here).[Ruecker photo]
Richie Johnson jam-whips the worst bank in Portland. [Piff photo]
Brad Barker, wallride from flat to flat. Five minutes later he Wasson wallrode from the bank, over the post, and back into the bank, first try. [Piff photo]
Ruecker, Tony.
The night is young. [Ruecker photo]
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