Mei Wenti

Mei wenti translates to "No problem!" I'm currently in Taiwan, the first day here I spent at the Taipei International Cycle Show ogling some of the most heinous bicycles (and other wheeled contraptions) ever assembled by mankind. I can only imagine someone posed the question "Can you make me the shittiest looking "fixie" ever?" Mei wenti!

Sometimes I think I have a heart and a little compassion for hapless people. Some poor bastard put a decent amount of money, time and effort into the above turd that will fail miserably, leaving in its wake a path of financial ruin. In the end, it's just too idiotic to feel those things.

Taipei was hit and run. I spent a full day at the show after a grueling 26 hour door to door journey, and too be honest, that was about all I could handle. Now I'm down in Taichung, as you can sort of make out from this pic, the air quality right now is piss poor.


Scooters, or motorcycles as they call them here, are everywhere. In Taipei they run the streets with absolute reckless abandon, Taichung riders have a bit more reserve. It's not uncommon to witness an entire family on one scooter. Yesterday I saw an elderly grandma with an infant strapped to her back hop on a scooter piloted by her daughter who had her toddler standing between her legs on the platform, frightening. Neither of those kids were long for this world. My goal is to document at least one absurdly freighted scooter.

I think I have finally discovered my million dollar idea, importing canopies for personal mobility devices, or Rascals as I prefer to call them. When the weather breaks in Binghamton I will be able to document the huge Rascal scene. It's really an epidemic. I've never seen a canopied Rascal in the States, and I'm positive those poor bastards have no idea what they are missing. I will change their lives for the better.

This appears to be a very unhappy ending massage if you ask me. Enough about Taiwan, there's an abundance of extremely weird shit to get into here, but I haven't partaken in any of it the four times I've been over so far. Maybe one of these days.


England's very own Paul Roberts aka Grotbags shot these two gems. I think this girl's name was Nicole, and the dude, obviously Nasty. These accompanied an interview and a bit of controversy. If you saw Nasty Dawg's Defgrip interview you know he's prone to make some off the cuff remarks during interviews. I wasn't involved in the process whatsoever, but I gathered after Nasty's agent called me, maybe him and Grotbags puffed on a few too many bad boys and Nasty was a bit too loose lipped.

So this agent of his called me late one night yelling at me telling me I had to pull the magazine off the newsstands. I don't think I used the term fuck off specifically, but that was my tone. She wasn't impressed with this response or being called lady. I hung up after the entertainment value wore off and never heard from her again.

Evidently, Nicole was on a modeling show while dating Nasty and spent most of her time on the phone with him balling. Apparently she was a front runner, but constant emotional break downs over Cory sabotaged her chances. Imagine the trim this dude has pulled?

I got word that Kevin Porter wasn't happy about my reporting that he has (or had, I haven't seen the guy in years) a severe case of diarrhea of the mouth. I like how he does supermans, that's a positive statement. I have no recollection why I was shooting photos of him at the Hidden Valley trails in SoCal.

This is another one that I have no idea why this occasion occurred. Vic Murphy, Home Ave. ditch San Diego. What an amazing combo, I'm totally into it. Amurrica and Jesus, he lost me there.

I like this photo because you can tell he didn't launch exactly how he wanted, but still boosted massively. Josh Heino on a very, very weird 411 Video BMX trip. What a failure that attempt was. Myself, Heino, Bobo Morales, Josh Stricker and Ian Morris headed from SoCal to Texas and back. The 411 dudes name was Anthony Moreschi, former Ten Yard Fight member, nice guy, absolutely weird to travel with. You'd think 411 would have a bit of money to throw around, of course they did, was any of it spent on this trip? Ah, hell no. I can only handle so many blood stained sheets and cock roach infested hotels in a row.

Fun was definitely had despite the low budget atmosphere. It would be impossible not to get into a decent amount of shadyness with this particular crew. I remember stopping at a random porn store/ jack shack and walking in on a drug deal going down, and Bobo dropping a ten through the peep show slot accidentally and demanding change. The highlight of the trip didn't revolve around the usually debauchery. It came in the form of Jimmy Buchans' infamous tail tap run at a contest in Austin. I've never seen a crowd of BMXers so visibly confused. Still to this day I can't believe that guy tried a tail tap for 3 straight minutes and never pulled it. I know it seems less memorable than pleasuring yourself to nude women, but it was one of the most surreal riding moments ever.

F-L-O-R-I-D-A.

It's 6am and I've been up for three hours and have a full day of work ahead. I don't feel like proofreading this mess for crappy spelling and poor grammar, I wouldn't know it if I saw it anyway. I'm going to an outdoor market/ freak show with Mcgoo on Sunday...I will finally witness the underbelly of Taiwan weirdness.