For those of you guys who are Troy Merkle and Tony Cherry fans, I’m sure over the course of the last year or so, you have noticed that these guys have been dropping a lot of real good edits. They were also always mentioning a DVD that they were working on in the description of those edits. A while back there was talk of a video for Giant for a while, but I honestly don’t know what ever happened with that one. I don’t remember seeing it come out. Then, The Daily Grind was launched by their good friend, Jon “Gremlin” Bechtold and it quickly made sense that these guys were all putting in work for their first DVD for the brand.
The other day I had a copy of this new video turn up in the mail, so I figured I’d put together a little review for you guys to check out to see if it’s something you might want to pick up. Let’s get into it!
All right, so starting things off, The Daily Grind is a new brand that officially got its launch earlier in the year. It’s ran by a pretty tight crew that is mainly Ohio based with Gremlin at the front of it. Their primary focus is creating solid products that are going to hold up to some serious street abuse. It’s still a new brand just getting it’s wheels turning, but I think they’re off to a real good start. I really feel like this DVD is the big introduction to the brand as a whole.
Getting into the DVD. This video, which I’m assuming was filmed mainly over the past year features team riders Tony Cherry, Alex Raban, Scott Steele, Jonathan “Gremlin” Bechtold, Ryan Howard and Troy Merkle. The video also features a mix section with some of their friends; Todd Chamberlain, Cody Bowers, Matt Skaggs, Dustin Vogler, Brandon McCoy, Bud Dickman, Kyle Murway, Austin Aughinbaugh, Mojo, Nick Will, Chris Arriaga and Eric Mesta.
When I started the video out, I had a pretty good idea of what to expect just because these guys have all produced a steady stream of footage over the past few years that I’ve always been real stoked on. Scott Steele is the newest name to me from the video which is good because I really didn’t know what this guy was going to bring to the mix and that peeked my interest.
With a brand named The Daily Grind, it’s pretty clear that it’s more of a street focused brand, so as you can imagine, the video also follows suit. This entire is jam packed with some really good street spots. There’s a little bit of everything for any street rider in this from the small jibby spots, to creative and unique “right place, right time” setups that just happened to work out like a well placed construction dumpster or some scrap wood to an endless supply of rails. I should note that there’s really no skatepark footage in this and the closest it gets is a couple of clips from a pool session and a kid bump jumping Troy’s leg out of a bank at a park.
All of these guys definitely bring a unique approach to the spots they came across as well.
Tony Cherry brings some real creative riding while putting full use to his freecoaster and 4 pegs. There’s definitely a little bit of everything in his from jibby stuff to some man sized rails.
Alex Raban has been on fire the past few years and it’s pretty clear why from all the different video parts he has had. This one is no different with some real unique and crazy setups and plenty of peg use.
Scott Steele’s section was definitely a fun part to watch just because I didn’t know what to expect from him. All I’ll say is that this dude beat the shit out of himself for this part and it was earned.
Jon “Gremlin” Bechtold proves that the brand is rider owned by being an absolute rail slaying beast. It’s awesome knowing the guy creating the parts they sell is also testing things properly.
Ryan Howard… Ryan’s section was a personal favorite of mine. Something about his riding has always got me really stoked and I think everyone who checks this out will feel the same. All I know is that I’m pretty sure there was a peg put to use in every single clip in this part.
Troy Merkle has the ender section and he’s got a similar style to Tony Cherry with the freecoaster use (no surprise since these guys are always out riding together. That’s not a bad thing either!). I really liked that he did have a different approach to things. I’ll just say if you are into some gnarly tire rides and rocket manuals you will be pumped on this one.
The riding in the video as a whole was damn good. These guys did an awesome job of going out to find some unique untapped spots and were able to bring a creative approach to what they came across. If I remember right, I believe I saw footage from Ohio, California and Arizona. I’d imagine there was more than that, but I am going off climate and geography based guesses, haha. Either way, any street rider will find something they are into this just because they get into a little bit of everything from jibby manual pad type spots to some gnarly rails with a little bit of everything in between.
The filming was handled by Tony Cherry for the most part with a handful of contributing filmers mixed in. Tony did a great job of coming through with some real crispy and high quality footage. The shots were clean and he didn’t get way too close with the fish eye shots. They put the glide cam to proper use for this one since the moving shots were smooth and in control.
They handed the editing over to Bud Dickman. Bud has been in the filming and editing game for a long time. Some of you guys might remember the old Perspectives BMX website he used to run. With that being said, he did a really good job with putting this video together. The sections flow smoothly together, the music they used went well with the riding and it was kept really clean and simple. There weren’t any overly excessive graphics, film burns or anything like that. I really didn’t have any sort of disagreements with how it was put together at all.
The music in the video features the bands The Kinks, Tame Impala, Outkast, Pelican, Dead to Fall, The Hollies, The New Void, Priestess, Beach Fossils, The Flaming Lips and Roy Orbison. All of which were pretty chill and laid back songs except for one or two. I generally always feel like street videos are all rap and hip hop stuff these days, so it was a good to have this to work with for a change.
The video runs at 32 minutes and 25 seconds from start to finish. No extras like crash sections or b-rolls
Overall, I was real impressed with the video. Obviously with it being an all street video, this isn’t for the trails riders or guys looking for backflip whips and double whips to barspins at the skatepark. But it’s definitely something to get you stoked on going out to find some street spots or pass the winter for those of us covered in snow right now. Do I think it’s worth buying? Yeah, I think if you’re a street rider you will be stoked on this. Plus, you know these guys all produce so I’m sure you already have any idea of what you could expect.
I think the video was a great move as far as getting things really rolling for the brand as a whole and I’m excited to see where these guys take things.
So what’s the price on the video? Well, I didn’t see it listed in their store and I quickly realized it’s because they are giving the video away for FREE with every order. So if you go to their Web Store and pick up a set of hubs, pedals, bar ends, a hub guard or a t-shirt you get the video too. That’s what’s up.
You can find out more about The Daily Grind and their products by visiting their website — DailyGrindBike.co
