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-Seatpost clamp: 1 euro
-Seatpost: Eclat unity combo
-Seat: Eclat unity combo
-Front tire: Tioga powerblok 2.1
-Front rim: Proper
-Front hub: Proper with ti hardware
-Rear rim: Proper
-Rear tire: KHE Premium Mac2 park foldable tire
-Rear hub: Proper with ti hardware
-Hub Guards: No
-Pegs: When I run them, G Sport
 
Weight: 9,7 Kg

The bike looks beefy but it’s not too heavy. Do you prefer it light?
Albert: I have people come up to me and ask if my bike is very heavy. The kids now are not used to alluminium freestyle frames so they pressume it is steel. I think a light bike makes life a lot easier. Back in the day I was always looking to make my bikes lighter. Nowadays that is a lot easier because frames, forks, bars etc. are light to begin with and you can get a lot of titanium stuff.

What do you think of the bike trends, like slammed seats, big bars, small gearing, riding brakeless, etc?
Albert: I think you use exact the right word; trend. I think evolution is good and natural, even the continents are moving everyday. My own taste lies not at the edge of extreme trends, by that I mean people who will take it too far without it being functional. Slammed seats make it more easy to tailwhip, small gearing looks cool and saves a lot of weight, riding brakeless makes sense when you can do all the tricks you want without the use of a brake (but I think it rises the basic level or riding for starters enormesly)

What are the modifications you made to your bike?
Albert: The biggest one was to take out the original A headset and put in a A headset look-a-like but has hidden internals. I changed a lot of bolts to ti, cut the bars about one inch each side. Had the Proper wheels respoked by Paul de Jong. Put a halflink in my chain to get the wheel were I wanted it to be.

How many bikes do you have right now?
Albert: This is a tricky question because it is possible that my wife reads this article. I have about 6 complete bikes and I think 8 more frame sets. My pride and joy is a NOS 1984 Haro Sport f&f in original box.

Do you think Ron Wilkerson gets to see this Bike Check?
Albert: You know, I really hope so and maybe I have to send him this link. I had this bike first together with a Proper TTL frame but the trend of all the people having the same looking bikes (especially without stickers) I am not a fan of. That made me think about getting the Pork frame. I had ridden one before and it was a light freestyle frame long before light became fashion. I think you have to give credit where credit is due. So a Pork it is and I must tell you that provides some funny conversations at the parks sometimes.

When is your next session on the bike?
Albert: I must tell you Bart, turning 43 with a worn out body I need some extra motivation. About two years ago they kind of told me that my knee was done and they want to replace it with an artificial knee. But being “young” for that kind of operation they wanted me to wait as long as possible. They told me walking would keep hurting and no sports would be possible. I went and had my knee fixed as good as they could and now I am riding again. BUT I can only find motivation when there are more old school guys that will be at the park like yourself and Mirco. So I think I will visit 040 again next weekend.

Thanks to: In my everyday life my wife and my mother. In our sport there are many people, Paul, Gerrit, Stephan Prantl, Carlo Griggs, Gary Laurent, Sander, Jason Ellis, Rene and ofcourse yourself because I asked this as a birthday present because I love bike checks and you immediately told me OK.