FATBMX Your Online BMX News Resource Since 1998

Issue 4 of FAT-'zine is more of a skate issue. BMX Freestyle was at an all time low so we did some fun things next to it. It kept us on the streets and the ramps that we had placed at the end of the street could be used for everything. It was the time when we did shows with the Town & Country crew. Bert, a T&C distributor was a crazy guy who organized demos for us at some of his dealers. We loaded up the ramps, did some demos and received dinner at the local snackbar in return. When one shop did not want to give us the gas money or some decent food, it was time to do some anti-promotion. Charlie Sport sucks! Haha, funny shit.

Vert ramps were hard to find back then but we found one in Rotterdam. The hiphop concert review of issue 4 is from the Stetsasonic concert at De Effenaar in Eindhoven.

A free sticker came from Seaflex again Charlie Sport did make it on the Lame side of the RAD-LAME list (of course).

We had an interview with Dave Vanderspek and mini interviews with Elger Blitz and Dan Archer. Find a photo of Bart doing a cancan on a scooter wearing pink Oakley blades, pink/blue T&C pants and a pink T&C backback and win nothing.

Sniper Frans Swinkels was getting rad on his Zorlac representing Vision Streetwear in 1988 and

I stopped by Rainer's Bike Shop to get my Skyway TA BMX from 1983 back together - I came across the frame, fork and Tuff Wheels last summer by chance through a buddy in my hometown who had the bike since the '80s and kept the frame hanging on the wall for 25 years.

Same thing. Different part of the world. The early days....

Pre-internet Gen-X: Skating, freestyle BMX, and the explosion of goth, industrial, post-punk, and electronic music connect and divide a series of teens exploring sex, drugs, and violence amidst a racially polarized blue-collar bedroom suburb backdrop of Cleveland, Ohio, Dayglow Black is a series of all true tales from 1987–1991.

Craig and Isaac chat with Bill Batchelor about his old school photo collection he took in LA during the peak of the Freestyle movement - at 14 years old.

Shot locally and released in 1986, the movie Rad tells the story of Cru, a young man with a dream of making it big as a BMX racer by racing the “Helltrack” and winning the grand prize of $100,000 (and a sweet Corvette).

Mours saint Eusèbe (26) . Deuxième Championnat d'Europe de BMX en France aprèsDijon en 83.

We've asked Mel Stoutsenberger to pick his favourite photos from back in the day and give us the Who, Where, When, What, and Why. Mel documented BMX first hand. Here's photo number Five.

IMAGE FIVE:

Who: Bruce Bufkin from Canoga Park, California. Bruce and I became friends in 1968 because of our shared interest in motocross. We didn't have motorcycles yet but we had our Schwinn Stingrays which we rode as much as we could in the empty fields and trails around our neighborhood. His older Brother used to help us work on our bikes, gave us tips, customizing and making them better suited for riding in the dirt.

Where: Indian Dunes Motorcycle Park, mini-bike track, Valencia, California.

When: August 1972.

We've asked Mel Stoutsenberger to pick his favourite photos from back in the day and give us the Who, Where, When, What, and Why. Mel documented BMX first hand. His photos tell stories.

Who: My long time friend and fellow bike mechanic, John George. Little did I know when I shot this photo that John would land the NBA National #1 position later in the year. John worked as a mechanic for Canoga Cycle Center and raced for their team exclusively. He raced NBA sanctioned events almost every weekend of the year as well as many week nights. He was fast, hard to beat and had piles of style. Whether he was on a long gnarly downhill course like Malibu Country Club or a Friday night flat track bash at the Van Nuys Teen Center, John always held his own.

We found it! This is the official video for 'BMX Boys' by Danny Owen & The Mongoose team! Released in 1983, this track was everywhere in the early '80s including The Kelloggs BMX Racing series.