FATBMX Your Online BMX News Resource Since 1998

8am breakfast meeting at Eat Chow with BMX Sales guru Pete Garski. We always try to get together for a coffee, lunch, dinner or a breakfast. Pete used to do International sales for GT Bicycles and then moved on to Haro Bikes where he recently lost his position and is now in the hunt for something new. Whoever scoops him up is lucky. The plan was for our posse to go ride YT mountain bikes in San Clemente on Wednesday but because of the recent rain these kinds of activities are put on hold for a week or so. One of the crew members would be Dutchman Fred van Schie who runs the etnies BMX program. Fred was in the office on Tuesday morning and showed the new BMX/MTB shoes that are about to hit the market including some DIG magazine shoes, T's and hats. Stay tuned for that drop.

Name: Brayden Mcpharlin
Age: 23
Hometown: Woodside South Australia, but born in Darwin 
Hook-ups/Sponsors: I ride for Tempered and T6 Distro Southcoast Cycles 

The FAT favorites list:

-Spot to ride: Anything tyres probably shouldn’t go on. Walls/rails 
-BMX video: Closing time
-Website: temperedgoods
-Food: Bacon and egg roll with cheese never fails me 
-Person on Instagram: Zack Gerber
-Travel destination: Adelaide 
-Riders to ride with: The 1836 crew and friends
-Car: Hyundai accent 

Name: Mark McCorkle
Hometown: Beaverton, OR
Started riding BMX in: 1978 in Littleton, CO
Number of bikes in the collection: 14. 11 vintage/old-school.

Do you remember the moment that you decided to start collecting BMX memorabilia?
Mark McCorkle: It was 2008. I still had my original race bike from 1979. I had been hauling around, place to place for nearly 30 years. One day I just sort of realized I didn't feel I'd ever really use it. I figured if I could get $1000 for it, I'd let it go. After digging around on eBay, BMXMuseum and OS-BMX (now BMXSociety) websites, I generally found it was probably a $500-600 bike. So I decided not to part with it.

Being in the heart of the (B)MX industry gives you plenty of opportunity to visit multiple places in one day. Monday morning we pointed the Ford Escape rental to 3-Brothers racing first, a dealership in Costa Mesa. Philip had managed to spend two weeks of his HGS internship in the USA to do market research and collect content for their social media. Visiting MX shops and the two AMA Monster Energy Supercross was part of the program. After checking the parts shop and complete bike section we were off to FOX Racing, just 10 minutes down the road, to see what's new there. When the employees start talking moto for 30 minutes, you know they're at the right place and not just selling whatever product. Fox had their speed suit on display also and we got the ins and outs on that project. 

We checked our Google Maps flags and drove to CultCrew right before lunch. We were welcomed by the one and only Rob-O (on his B-day) and sat down for some chatting. The current state of the BMX industry, SX season, Palace, and old BMX trips were brought up. The energy always flows with this man.

In 'n Out lunch? Why not?! It might feel weird to a few, but not to us, as we're on good grounds

Name: Daniel Purcell aka Superbikedan
Hometown: Essex, England
Started riding BMX in: 1980

When was the first time you rode at Romford skatepark?
Daniel Purcell: On a skateboard in '78 when it opened then on my first BMX in 1980.

When was the last time?
Daniel Purcell: 2004 when after a lot of pressure from my son and Rom old school to see me ride again I lasted a couple of hours before I broke my leg and that was the end of my come back, many said that was the best few hours they saw, haha.

Obviously you've been involved in BMX for a long time and have seen the bikes come and go. What bike (brand) has always been a favourite to you?