Its rich past has seen several different editors and many other members of staff, all working toward putting their own unique spin on BMX. Over this time, content has been coming in many different formats, from fax to text messages, emails to carrier pigeon and the output of these has had to reflect and change with the times too. In the beginning, Ride UK had the lion’s share of the BMX community’s attention, with little competition to distract from its content; it was free to do as it pleased. This however, is a very different ball game today.
The Internet beast has opened up the world of opportunity for companies to advertise, sell and promote themselves and many want to see their products in front of the eyes of BMXers, or for want of a better word ‘customers’ at a faster rate than ever and the restrictions of print deadlines unfortunately do not fit with this model. Even with these significant changes to media Ride has continued to evolve and we have always managed to change our approach to suit the market needs and the results are always a success. This however, does not change the fact that print media has been a declining business for a number of years; people have become less prepared to spend money on monthly publications with the plethora of BMX media to consume at the click of a button or flick of a screen, we are all a part of this change, yet I still consider myself to be fairly ‘oldschool’, I mean, even my nan has a laptop and regularly voices her opinions on what Ride UK are posting up. 
This shift in media consumption has left the very heritage of Ride UK, its magazine, in a compromising position. It’s time once again to move on and evolve. Over recent years Ride staff have worked endlessly to grow our online community through the website and social media channels, whilst the majority of our time and resources have been ploughing into producing a monthly magazine. The endless hours building this online community has been a huge success and we now boast the most engaged global BMX audience through our channels and it’s time to continue onwards up this path. With this focus in mind, Factory Media has announced that it will be stepping out of the print media market for all of its magazine titles.
It’s both with sadness and excitement that I heard and consequently make this announcement. I can’t help but feel nostalgic to a magazine that has helped shape so many lives and bring so many people together into one large BMX community, but this community, with the birth of the Internet has grown bigger than we could’ve ever imagined and far greater than we ever achieved through a printed publication alone. Now it’s time to turn our attentions to making the most of this growing audience, without the restrictions of timed deadlines, frequency and newsstand size it’s exciting to be able to put the care and attention we gave to the magazine now into the website and social media, and continue providing the very best in unique content for the benefit of both our readers and advertisers.
The content we have spent over 20 years collating will now be made available through our online channels and be there at the click of a button. Now everyone will have access to see the Stuart Dawkins Marina bank to wall or Bas Keep flying out of a reservoir, and a whole new generation can be left questioning what the Japanese writing meant? We will continue to create unique and interesting BMX content with the world’s biggest BMX personalities and translate them into a digital format that can find you faster and keep you up to date quicker.
I would like to take this time to thank everyone that has made Ride UK the absolute beacon that it is today. From the many contributors, designers, artists, writers, editors and even riders that have shaped its existence into something we can all be proud of, it’s now time for an exciting new transition to online and I’m personally looking forward to going through yet more content coming from our contributors and giving it the maximum coverage it deserves.
Finally, I would like to thank the most important people of all, our audience. Whether print, online or social, you have remained loyal and dedicated throughout and we quite literally couldn’t have done it without you. Our dedicated subscribers will soon be contacted by a member of our team. I ask you now to please continue to support us with this exciting change and be rest assured that we will continue to provide you with the very best BMX content and whole host of LOL’s along the way. This is an exciting new era and we plan to take everyone along for the Ride.
Cheers for your support,
Sebastian Hejna
Editor-in-chief
Ride UK BMX Magazine has been delivering the highest quality BMX content for over 20 years now. Over this period Ride has experienced many of the highs and lows of the industry but throughout it has remained at the forefront of global media coverage for our beloved lifestyle. And I call it a lifestyle on purpose, as calling it a sport certainly doesn’t do it justice; it’s so much more to us all than simply a pastime activity. It’s our music, our friends, our fashion, our eating and of course our drinking habits. It has shaped us into what and who we are today and I feel privileged to be able to say that for me, it has even provided me with a career. There’s no way that all those years ago, a spotty, fully padded up, 12 year old me, would’ve ever imagined being the Editor of the magazine I quite literally worshiped, it was my bible.
After doing a BMX 'zine for ten years (1987 - 1996) FATBMX made it on the internet. The year was 1998. Here to stay.