FATBMX Your Online BMX News Resource Since 1998

Hunter at Infantry5 finished editing the footage from the BMX KOD finals in Hunington Beach, California and decided to share it with the visitors of FATBMX.com. The following link will take you there: click here for the KOD movie

Our friends at Wethepeople have started a sub brand with the name FUSE Protection Systems. Yes, you guessed it, it's a safety gear company that makes kneeguards, elbow pads, wrist guards, shinguards and knee pads. All specifically designed with BMX in mind. The list of team riders will be announced shortly. Their website is up at www.fuseprotection.de

BMX takes you to the strangest places. Tallinn, Estonia would not be on my list of places to visit when I have a weekend off but actually, it wouldn't be a bad idea. Where the hell is it you might ask? To give you an idea I would say former Russia but organizer Risto Kalmre corrected me on that: "We don't think of us as former Russia:). Native Estonians have no relations with Russians and not even with Latvians or Lithuanians. We and our language are related to Finland and Hungary but stands as its own. But of course the fact that many Russians have been living here after the Soviet Union came here in Second World War cannot be denied. In Tallinn there is quite big populations of Russians."

When you're on the road in France or you have to wait for the train, it makes sense to peek into a Presse shop. France has 4 BMX magazines. Soul, Cream, BMX-up and BMX-Air and most likely you can flip through these mags at a Newsstand as their circulation is quite good. On a recent trip to France I picked up the latest Cream, Soul and a special Product edition of Soul BMX Experience. If you're one of those non-French speaking dudes, spend 5 of your Euros on Cream, it has some English text too. Good food for the road.

Both American adidas and SPLIT USA have pulled their sponsorship effort in BMX. This leaves riders such as Josh Harrington (adidas-Split) and Ryan Nyquist (adidas-Split) without the extra pay-check. Split rider Josh Heino also lost his ride at Wethepeople and Aussie Colin McKay had to deal with sponsor problems with Huffy and Osiris. On brighter sponsorship news, Adam Banton is riding for Eastern Bikes, Bob Scerbo is riding Lotek shoes and Nina Buitrago and Stacey Mulligan are getting kicks from Etnies.

The ABA season traditionally starts with the race in Reno. It's a bit of a drive from So-Cal. I did the trip twice. Once with Pete Delewski in the WD-40 GT box van (1996). We stopped at some trails on the way up and after the Silver Nationals we went snowboarding with Gary Ellis where Pete broke his wrist and still drove all the way back to Santa Ana. The other time was in the S&M van (1995) with 9 people in a white van driving through a snow storm with no windshield wipers. Both adventurous trips with good memories. Todd Lyons was leading the ABA double A Pro standings after the race in Reno in 1995. Let's see who's leading now.

We're going to let you know whatever comes in here at FATBMX.com. We appreciate you sending the magazines, products and DVD's to our mailbox. The March issue of RIDE BMX has the following to offer: a shoe buyer's guide, Roadtrips in the Las Vegas, Michigan and Hawaii area, a Rich Hirsch interview, BMX-ers on the move in the Transplants article (Murray, Doyle, Cooke, Sher, Darden, Nussbaum), a Federal test, product reviews, Napolitan bio, letter section and off course the photo part at the end of the mag. Pick it up at the newsstand or at your local bike shop. With the new staff added to RIDE (from Transworld BMX) we are hoping the number of pages with content will grow from here. The March issue is 132 pages total with 54 pages of ads. Let's aim for 200 pages this time next year.

Press Release BMXMasters 2005 in Cologne The worldwide biggest BMX freestyle event at the Cologne Youth Park (Kölner Jugendpark). Duesseldorf/Cologne, January 12, 2005 From June 23rd to June 26th nearly 2,000 international BMX riders will meet again in Cologne. After successful and exciting world championchips in the years 1994, 1996, 2000, 2002 and 2004 Cologne will be the place for the start of the "BMXMasters", the new international major event in BMX sports.

We've always ran a pretty complete list of BMX events on FATBMX. With the new format you have the possibility to enter your own contest information. It might take a little effort to add the jam to the FATBMX calendar but this way loads of BMX-ers can check it out. It will also prevent local events to clash. Make good use of this feature and let us know if you spot any mistakes. The three upcoming BMX events will be shown at the bottom of the right column. You can click any of them for detailed information on directions, sponsors, entry fees, classes, disciplines and contact info. The event schedule-link in the left column will provide a monthly calendar that gives you a good overview. If someone is asking you where to go to for BMX competition info, send them to www.FATBMX.com

Mission Skatepark is turning into Mesh Skatepark. Chad DeGroot and his crew have upgraded to a 25,000 sq ft indoor and 20,000 sq ft outdoor facility. Stay tuned. We run Florida. Chad DeGroot