Many people were concerned that Metal Bikes might be no more in light of Sean Burns leaving the team, but two posts on the Metal site with pictures of their new product seem to tell a different story. Check out some of the stuff here and then more of it here.
As for Sean Burns, word on the streets is that he has a new frame company in the works through an established distributor… not sure what it will be called but it sounds like a good move on his part, if it is in fact true.
With Sean Burns leaving Metal I was wondering if any of his friends would be leaving as well. Seems Alex Liiv has decided to as he wrote earlier today on the Metal site:
“today marks the last day i declare that i am riding for metal bikes, yes it is true i am leaving many friends and fun filled times, i have been in on the metal program 1187 days. and i feel it is time to turn over a new leaf and move on with new projects. i love jimmy and the whole metal bikes team. so no bad beef, no bad reflections on any of the dudes i have met and hung with.
times change, people change. metal was my first frame/parts sponsor and will all ways have a place in my heart. thanks to all the blokes for the good times and most of all jimmy for looking after my sorry ass for this long. thank you to all and good luck and good bye to metal bikes.”
In The Gnar has been posting BMX stuff again and today they got a Jimmy Levan interview where he speaks for the first time on Sean Burns leaving Metal:
“I know your going to get asked this for probably the next year but was Sean Burns leaving personal or was there some miscommunication, and are you guys still cool?
Communication for the most part I think. I wish he would have told me when I was sucking to wake the fuck up and slap me in the face. As for the site, he told me he was down to do it and he and Jeff blasted it great! I was so stoked on it that I didn’t want to jump in and fuck it up. apparently this is when I was doing nothing sitting on my ass. Think for a second about when you get an injury that just takes you out for maybe 1 or 2 months, It sucks. You sit around and watch videos or whatever and get stoked to ride. After awhile, they start to bum you out because you can’t ride. Now put yourself in my shoes. A head injury that takes you out for 7 1/2 months, then back to riding for 3 months. After 3 months you get plowed over by a car and loose your left Femur bone and blow your knee out. This takes you out for another year and 3 months. I gets hard to pay attention to our sport because it just pisses you off. I had my favorite rider in the world next to Mat Hoffman running the show, so why get in front of him. Let him steer the boat right?…. However, I didn’t realize the new captain was bummed because he was not only steering the boat, he was busy filming these amazing sections breaking himself off as well. We are still friends and I will hang with him in a week, but our only communication since the split has been over friendly texting. He says he doesn’t really feel like talking about it to me yet. Bummer, but he’s a friend before a work partner so what eves. Thanks a million for the decade Sean, you’re like a brother.”
Class. The rest of the interview is pretty good too. Go watch the Metal Northwest roadtrip if you wanna remember simpler times with Jimmy and Burns killing it side by side.
Wow. To be honest, I was kind of waiting for this to happen. Burns keeps getting bigger and bigger and it seems like Metal has pretty much totally stalled out. I’m sure Sean’s friendship with Jimmy and the rest of the team made this a hard decision regardless of what his reasons for leaving are. Knowing him, I bet he’s got something good in the works though.
“This will be my last metal post. After 9 1/2 years on metal bikes, i have decided to part ways. I am no longer working nor riding for metal bikes. since 2001 jimmy, seth, joe carnell, and the team over the years involved have been nothing but wild times and good memories. I thank everyone from this past decade involved with metal a big party booger high five and to all the metal bikes contributors and fans. Im sure Jimmy will carry out the metal name for years to come. thanks and stay gold- 1 million bra sales- with much love and appreciation— sean burns”
UPDATE: Had a good talk with Burns. He doesn’t have any new sponsor plans, just wasn’t feeling how Metal was going from a business perspective. When there are friendship’s involved in a business, sometimes it’s better to walk away before feelings get hurt. You gotta respect someone who follows their heart. Go buy Bone Deth.
Classic Metal roadtrip from 2008 including Sean Burns’ legendary “Bum Bash” and the Jeff Allen/Albie Bennett camera smash:
“Oh this is… this is broken?”
New Metal edit of Burns killing it as usual. This guy must be sitting on an insane amount of footage right now since we know his Bone Deth part is done and his Anthem 2 part has been either done or 95% done for months now. Also interestingly Burns does some stuff I don’t think we’ve ever seen him do on film before like a manual 180 and a double peg 180. I’m an unabashed Burns fan so I’m real excited to see his video parts this year.
This part is real good. But I really can’t wait til Albie’s Off The Map 2 part shows up online so you can all see his epic Prudential set 3, followed by the most hilarious/brutal pedestrian crash you’ll see this year.
This part rules and produced “that clip” of the black guy getting his head smacked by Burns’ back wheel. Before you go calling him a dick, read his side of the story and realize that he and the guy are on totally good terms now and hang out all the time.
New Eastern Trailer.
The Primo Scrap-O-licious Edit
Peg Leg/Dig Exclusive Fall Edit.
Troy Merkle - NOS
Lee Dennis In BMXFU's "FUTU".
