Schwinn: American Muscle
35 minutes
American Muscle was a disappointment. I had expected so much more — maybe not the best video I'd even seen, but definitely more interesting than this. You'd guess that the Schwinn riders — which includes Jay Miron, Dave Osato, Sean Peters, and Joey Garcia — coupled with Props production would result in a can't-miss video. The review in Ride would make you think so, but the whole feeling of American Muscle is rushed. It seems like they wanted a video done quickly, so they filmed like mad for a two weeks and scrounged together some other footage — the end result is a video with a lack of heart. Almost all the ramp footage was shot at Woodward (a good place to ride, indeed), and the dirt sections seem like they're all at the same trails.
Which brings me to my next complaint: there's too much dirt jumping. Hey, dirt's cool as shit and I have total respect for those riders, but exactly how many tables, turndowns and rhythm sections do I need to see in a single videos? (And by EVERY rider, for that matter.) You dirt jumpers will love it, but I'd rather have seen more variety. Another thing you jumpers will love: the flatland section in American Muscle is minuscule. I was watching the video and thought "Here we go" when Sean Peters' section started. Three tricks later, it was over. No lie: THREE tricks! Yee-ha! Luckily, Sean does a few more strings at the end of the video. And speaking of the end of the video, the last half seemed like total filler. The first 20 minutes featured individual sections for each rider. After that, it seemed like someone said "This isn't long enough to justify charging $25 — toss in some more stuff." So they tacked on basically more of what you've already seen. Music-wise, the soundtrack's okay, but whoever made the decision to use "Hotel California" should be have their testicles put in a vise.
Now that I've totally trashed American Muscle (oh yeah, two of the best riders in this video are Canadian), let me make sure you know that it really is a good video. Although the filming seems rushed, the editing is very well done. Some of the jumping is amazing (Joey Garcia's section — which also includes most of the street stuff in the video — is great), the few tricks by Sean are cool (especially his spastic forward karl kruzer on the pedal), and Dave Osato is helping to bring lip tricks to a new level. And of course Jay Miron's section (which starts off with a song from the movie Rad — hilarious!) has some of the most amazing riding ever done: everything he does is SO high, stretched and fast! From technical lip tricks (fakie whip nosepick, decade tailtap) to HUGE airs on vert (540 turndown tailwhips, boomerang air, 900). And the stuff he does on Woodward's "safe landing" jump is insane, including a 360 with a tailwhip, 720 with a barspin, and a double backflip!
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