Since the release of Kranked 5 in 2003, Bjorn Enga has been on a bit of a hiatus from making mountain bike films; among other things he made an acclaimed instructional yoga film with Vancouver-based yoga sensation Eoin Finn. FACT!! So its no surprise that Enga and Radical Films decided to hit back with something that is very different from the previous Kranked films. But what did he hit back with? The sound of one hand clapping? Well sort of.

Gone are the crappy digital skeletons riding bone bikes, thrash metal soundtrack and A.D.D.-esque style of editing that defined its predecessors. Instead Enga and his cronies decided to try and set a precedence for film making and mountain biking in general by asking a bunch of top riders to imagine and execute what’s possible to do on a mountain bike, and to think deeply about the directions mountain biking can be pushed.

If whistlerdiaries.com was a commercial enterprise I could end this review right now by saying simply that in many ways this film does achieve this goal and that you should go out and buy it on our on-line store…

…But that wouldn’t really be telling the truth would it? And it certainly wouldn’t be any fun.


The riding in this flick impressed me. The stand out for me were: Ben Boykos whole section is a banger; James Doerfling line which is fast, flowy and full of big air; Kurt Voreis’ Alley-opp 180 gap (even though he shags the stem a little too much), massive wall ride hard way 360, and alley-opp wall ride; Jamie Goldman’s massive flips whether it be over big doubles or off a huge drop; Rennie and Peaty riding so fast and so close that it’s like they are playing kiss chase.

Riding low lights are pretty thin on the ground in this movie but what I didn’t really like was Kurt Voreis putting his foot down on a 360 tire tap and Eric Porter putting his foot down on a hitching post hand plant. These are by no means easy tricks to pull but I just don’t understand why the filmmakers would choose to keep these shots in. Although the idea of the film was to ride one continuous line you know for a fact that it wasn’t filmed in one continuous shot, so why didn’t the director scream at the rider to get his act together and pull the damn trick or they will find themselves walking home. I would.

As far as progression goes the two riders that I think really push the concept of progression in mountain biking is Ryan Leech and Mike Kinrade. They both use this film as an opportunity to showcase where riding can go by lifting the lid off any of the existing definitions and ideas of what mountain biking is.

Although I think Leech should not be allowed to speak because he is so nerdy that I want to give him an atomic wedgie, and his breathing whilst he is riding makes him sound like he about to give birth, his trail is far from nerdy and I almost had a few babies whilst watching it.

I have never really been a fan of Mike Kinrades riding but after his section in Kranked I respect him a lot now. His section is a proper big mountain line in the backcountry with exposure, big gaps, high-speed wide-open alpine sections, booters, and gladed sections. It’s obvious that the inspiration comes from big mountain skiing. His section is an ideal one to end the film with because it makes a bold statement about one direction that mountain biking has been slow to explore and this is exactly what mountain bikes are capable of nowadays.

Unfortunately what let this film down are the editing and the soundtrack. The editing is very poor for the first two thirds of the film. A lot of the cuts seem to be very poorly timed. Some shots are cut too fast and others linger on the screen way too long. Also the tempo of the slow-mo seems a little off on some shots. But the biggest issue I had with the editing was that it seems like the soundtrack was pasted on after all the sections were edited. The editing pays little attention to the musical rhythm or beat. But I don’t blame the editor really because if I was doing the editing I would of placed most of the soundtrack on mute whilst I was cutting the film because it is abmismal. There are a few tracks that I think go well with the ‘feel’ of the section but mostly it is absolute dribble on a compact disc. The most offending track is the one playing on Eric Porters section (same one as the teaser) which sounds like it was recycled from an early 90s neon X-treme movie. Not exactly what I would call progressive. I do like the concept of using one artist to compose the whole soundtrack but I think this was probably to avoid costly music clearance.

Overall, I think these last two criticisms let this film down, and by let it down I mean this film becomes one just to borrow and not buy, It’s definitely a film that I would recommend every mountain biker watch, but its just not quite worth buying, but maybe that’s because I am a salty old cheap skate. See if I care if you blow all your money on such frivolities, just make sure there is money in your pocket to buy a round next time you are at the bar.

Posted by SEBYKINS

Unconfirmed reports are coming in that there have been major sponsorship changes for two big name riders.

First up, Ben Boyko is off Cove. Apparently he was asking for too much money and they told him to piss off. Cove bikes are tight asses hence their next bike to be released will be made of old recycled frames from the 90s and it will be called the Rusty Trombone.

Secondly, I was drunkenly informed last weekend at the Kranked Premier that Steve Romaniuk has been dropped from Specialized. Apparently he partied too much for SBCs liking. Personally I think part-time Whistler resident and newly Specialized sponsored Emily Johnston demanded that a foam pit be built in the back of her truck as part of her contract and space needed to be made on the Specialized roster to accomodate this financial burden.

What does this all to you and me is what you are probably asking yourself. The answer, nothing at all so stop wasting your time reading this crap and get back to surfing for porn.

posted by SEB

You probably didn't notice but last week were holding a competition to win tickets to go see the Whistler premier of Kranked 6 - Progression that just happened last weekend. I know that three people noticed because thats all the answers we recieved. I can deduce from this that no-one really cares what the answer to the question was so instead here is the three answers we recieved...

You can only fit one Robbie Bourdon in race car # 70, as there is barely enough room for his EGO!
I win! - Scuba Steve

Good answer but not the one we are looking for Scuba especially since you already have tickets...

Who cares how many little twats you can fit in your heap of shit. The question should be "how many cunts can fit in a 1988 honda civic?"
One, behind the steering wheel! - Ben Morgan

Thanks for that Ben. You didn't win cause i know you are too busy fiddling kids to attend...

I think u can fit 30 robbie bourdons in car 70. However, my friend informs me that I may be confused with robbie bourbon(see pic attached). I think u can fit 1000 packets of robbie bourbons in car 70. i hope i win.
toodle pip - Goldsie

Genius but still not quite the right answer. Besides Alan is the donor of the competition tickets in the first place which made him exempt.

So no-one won and instead we gave away the tickets to two very hot blondes that asked nicely. We might post a review of the proceedings once we have managed to locate a copy of said movie because no one can remember anything about it due to the booze that was flowing like the contents of an old mans colostomy bag at a curry convention.

Posted by SEB

This has to be up here as my quote of the week, from brianlopes.com :

At 4:30am the event finally was over and Gee Atherton I guess you could say won. The reason I say it like that is because I was winning and he took me out so bad even his brother Dan was like, "man, you have not had too good of luck with being taken out this year". He hit me so hard, straight T-boning me that it was like I got blind sided. I didn't even see him until we were both crashing. My front wheel was so bent it would not spin, so basically Gee got up and just rolled down the rest of the course.

Pretty amazing that he would pulll a move like that, especially in an event like this. I guess I will have to add Gee to my hit list of people that have one coming to them from me. It's not a good list to be on, because when and if I get the chance, there is going to be some damage done. Marossi, and Tsugg are also on this list. The lucky thing for these guys is that 99% of the time they are behind me, making it hard for me make them pay. Keep up the dirty riding you losers! If you can't make a good move, then take the lose like a man, don't be a bitch and try these kamikazi moves.

Lopes

Pure comedy from our squeeky voiced friend, proving that no matter how fast you are you can still be an utter bellend.

Now I want to be on BLs list too, So if I ever see him, I promise you dear listeners that I'll ride straight into him, even if he's not riding a bike(and im in a truck!).

P.S I was thinking of putting some disclaimer here about "only joking" or "we love brian really" but then I thought "If Brian Lopes can be a wanker on the internet then so can I, Yipeee!"

Posted by SAM