I got an email from Dan Arroyo about that jam we sponsored in Puerto Rico. From the looks of the photos I saw on their blog it looks like they had a fun filled day. Bmx jam, free stuff for the riders, grillin and topped off with an afterparty at someones house. Glad we could help out guys. Its great to see people step up and try to help out their scene. Good lookin out to all the other companies that helped out with prizes.

Here is what Dan had to say:
"Yo Darren what's good? First things first;I don't know if Jose sent you a email regarding the jam but more than anything thanks a lot for helping out. Manmade came thru big time and i mean big time enough that every one who entered went back home with something. You sent more prize stuff than any other company that helped out. Actually all the top 3 needed was some new jeans to go with all the shirts they had to have a complete wardrobe for 09. Not but seriously,thanks a lot. It's more than greatly appreciated how you stepped up to help make this possible. There's a website that has some pics of the whole thing at boricuasbmx.blogspot.com/ .Take care and thanks."

NYC got hit with it's first storm of the season today... unfortunately we (Shredder Dan and Myself) aren't up at the mountain this weekend to enjoy the fresh powder. Instead we are stuck watching the live webcam set up at hunter mountain. The city is supposed to get about 4-6 inches but the mountain is set on pace for an inch per hour... they are gettin slammed up there. Lucky bastards get to ride the first real snow of the season tomorrow. Enjoy it fuckers! Thats our friend Worm, James Horan, Myself and Shredder Dan on the lift last weekend (left to right).

My buddies Zee and Nick went on a euro trip in the summer of 2007. They backpacked around europe for 2 months staying in hostels and traveling by foot, train or boat all over the damn place. Anyway, Zee somehow lost one of his memory sticks along the way and somehow over a year and a half later he got it back. From the looks of the photos I have seen so far they seemed to try every beer available and saw some beautiful sights. That bottom one was shot in a bathroom in Koln, Germany. Motha Fuckin FBM was scribbled on the wall along with some NSF tags. I am pretty sure Koln is home to a pretty insane bmx contest once a year (maybe the worlds?)... I guess some friends of ours were drinkin at the same establishment on a previous drunken date.

One Take from Darren Meenan on Vimeo.Watch this.

Keith Terra tabletop at Posh. Prob taken around 2000. I took a photo class in college and printed this out in the darkroom for a project. Think I got a B on it. That teacher was crazy.

This is my boy Zee from Bayside. He's been down with Manmade since day 1. This photo was taken around 96/97 at the Clearview trails on the outskirts of the golf course near the Throgs Neck Bridge. I wouldn't really call them trails since there was only about 6 jumps running at any given time but it was a fun place none the less. It was more of a figure 8 track with a couple turns and small jumps. Old schoolers from the area would pop in on occasion and talk about the old days in the 80's when this was a happening spot. Zee was present for some of the first ever Manmade prints 11 years ago in my basement and still has the first ever sweatshirt in his wardrobe rotation. O.G.

edit: Peep that bike.... TNT Hwa Fong Daddy

This is me straight chillin' back in 1993 on my first "real" freestyle bmx bike. My dad suprised me with this when I was in 8th grade. He was picking me and a couple friends up from one of those high school prep courses... the tests you take to be accepted into a private high school... Dont know if that is just a New York thing... anyway, in the back of his work van was this brand spankin new chrome Gt Performer. I didn't see it since I hopped in shotgun but when my friends got in the back they were freakin' out over my new whip. I was so psyched, not only because I had a new ride to cruise around the hood but because I got a present on a random day that wasn't my birthday or Christmas.

This bike was the shit for back in the day, or at least I thought it was. My friends lived in an apartment complex close by that was doing renovations so we would cruise the dumpster areas for things to build jumps out of. Our best set up was three tires with a door resting on top. So damn sketchy, but we would jump shit like that all day straight to flat. This one dude Jamie Gonzales that we chilled with used to hit the thing full throttle. He had a huffy w/ no brakes that he painted flat black. Let me remind you this was before having no brakes was fashionable. He just had no extra loot for brakes so he said fuck it. I'm pretty sure he hit it with 4 tires underneath and we thought it was the craziest thing we'd ever seen.

We had a solid crew of about 5 that rode back then. We had no idea what was going on outside our general area but once we got to high school we learned about the Shoreham bmx track out east on Long Island and the rest is history.

The FBM site tells me that yesterday was officially Dave King day. Who knew? FBM always has entertaining updates. Go check em out.

"Now thats one juvenile asshole". Thanks to whoever put this together. "Rad" is and will always be one of the best cinematic pieces of all time.

Chapter 2 secret section

manmade chapter 2 secret section from darren meenan on Vimeo.This was on the Chapter 2 VHS tape about a minute or so after the credits. Not many people knew it was even on the tape and when I put the video on the last DVD I left this out. Its basically a mix of hang out footage with my friends from Long Island, Austin Texas and Greenville North Carolina. Some Asbury Park hotel footage and other good times.

Edit of some dudes riding the Giant ramps in Cali. Ian Munro and Chris Arriaga are in there showin' Manmade some love rockin the "Apple" and "Borough of Queens" shirts. Def put that space to good use. Looks like a fun spot.

I saw this photo last night and I thought I was looking at an old image from the 90's. Ends up this is my old Redline frame built up with some scrap parts my buddy Zee had laying around. I had this frame for a hot minute in the mid 90's but I am not really sure how it ended up in the hands of our other boy. Either way it has a sweet ass BASE sticker on the downtube that I'm almost certain noone these days is rockin. OG chrome slams, redline flight cranks, bent forks, no brakes (but lever and cable still intact), old ass DK seat.. this whip screams old school. Glad to see it didnt end up melted down in some scrap yard.

Our boy Soul Khan of the Brown Bag Allstars throwin it down on Brooklyn College Radio. Check em out on the space ... or stop by Fat Beats in the city to get the album.

Sample shots....

Just ran these off the press. The Knuckles T needs a slight tweaking but otherwise I think they came out great.
Lil' tight on me, but shows the size of the print on the chest.
Couple test prints of the Knuckles T.
Fallen Angel Version 2 sample. Nice and large, 2 color and 100% badass. I should have printed it this way the first time around. So psyched on how this came out.