FATBMX Your Online BMX News Resource Since 1998

Man, this issue is bringing back some more good memories. One of my favorite contests of all time was the World's in Budapest, Hungary. I could go on an on about it but you just check out issue #25 and read the party-part about it.

Sheps actually gets the contents page doing a nosepick with front brake. Only poor bastards that could not afford a front brake did toe jams at that time (Jon Taylor?).

When we went to the USA and there were no jams anywhere, we organized one ourselves. At Mission Trails. The Boost jam was born. We went to the KOC in Markus' van and had a blast.

From there I got a ride with Kay Clauberg in his VW Golf (4 people, 4 bikes) and we visited Tim Ruck's area (raced at Exeter's BMX track) and then went to the Rider Cup in London. More good times. Also did a trip to Malaga after the World's. Man, no worry in the world at that time.

What else can you expect this week? A Mat Hoffman interview. We are talking 1992 so keep that in mind when you read it.

Kai Uwe Lohff got an interview, we went to the Münster Monster Masterships in Germany, there's a report about a GT show in the USA, we went to a freestyle contest in Belgium, and wrapped up issue 25

Stuart King discovered BMX at its lowest point in popularity, we pin it down to around 1990. How the carcass of a 80's kids boom held any interest to a young teen back then is quite intriguing.

If there is one issue that stands out to me it's issue number 24. It basically got me a job in the BMX industry, or at least the first steps were made. I showed this very issue to GT Bicycles president Richard Long at a trade show in Germany and asked if he (GT Bicycles) wanted to advertise. When he saw the cover of his team rider Dave Voelker flipping off the camera and not wearing a helmet he was not amuzed.

When Richard Long turned over the page he started reading the contents page. He noted the following: "He hates GT, but still rides 4 'em" and turned to the Jon Peacy interview on page 65.

The discussion was long but he got to hear what was wrong with the GT brand at the time. I felt strong about it because I had spent some serious time with the GT riders over in California.

When I left the meeting GT was advertising in FAT, they provided stickers for the free sticker page, I was offered a new Dyno Slammer and it was okay for me to get a temporay job at GT's headquarters in the USA. I seriously wasn't expecting all that.

Anyway, back to the content of issue #24: -Jesse Puente interview
-Jay Miron interview
-Jon Peacy interview

Celebrating 40 Years of Freestyle Radness is the Bob Haro Lineage Master Freestyler. Only 400 to be made! Bob's first bike that revolutionized the sport of Freestyle BMX - The Haro Master has become one of the most iconic bikes in BMX history today.

The new typewriter is doing its job making it possible to read the text in issue 23 which has Geoff Martin on the cover while doing some flatland riding in front of Hamel's in Mission Beach.

This issue has a lot of USA stuff in it. We visited the first Bicycle Stunt contest in Texas with the GT team, we also made it to the next round in Glendale, Arizona. Sheep Hills looked different in 1991 and we also checked out a Todd Anderson/Eddie Fiola trick show.

Jimbob reports about the East coast of the USA in two stories and we also covered several European events like the King Of Concrete, the Tourcoing France contest from March 1992, and we had a pictorial of the 1991 World's in Denmark.

We were pretty international back then with a Barrow in Furness jam report (UK), Axel Reichertz' roadtrip to Spain, European team championships in Abbeville, France, an international contest in Eindhoven (NL), and a skatehouse report from Essen, Germany.

I wonder how we did it all but somehow it worked out. Mario Schepers, Alan Peterson, Barker Barrett and Effraim Catlow got the interviews. Flip through the pages and check if you got a photo in this issue.

BdJ

Zach has done more in BMX than we could ever fit in to multiple 3 hour conversations.

Did you ever have a cover of a magazine? Yes I did, FAT-'zine issue 9 right here. Putting yourself on the cover is pretty lame but what the heck, make your own (maga)zine and you have that control too. The photo was taken at an event in the Rai, Amsterdam and "street riding" was a new thing. We got plenty of cool artwork again from our friends at school. Somehow they never got caught. The StokeBros sent over a few pages and again we brought the news in the Believe it, or not!? pages.

It's 1989 and a photo caption says that Paul is back on the freestyle scene. A comeback in 1989! Paul also went to see Suicidal Tendencies twice and reports about it.

Issue #9 has 'Zine reviews (Sketchy, Fractured and Zenith) and Lars from Mars also wrote a story that you can find on page 18. We did a lot in 1988 and have 7 pages covering the places we went.

The free sticker page was filled with a terrible Airwalk freestyle team sticker but hey, it was free.

We went to a BDP concert in Eindhoven (P. 29-30) and went back to the University of Duesseldorf to ride the brick banks. The year was 1989.

Jeroen Hoogaerts (RIP) and Ron Wilkerson both got interviews. We did Another RAD-LAME list, Matt Pingel contributed more stuff and we went to the EnergieHal in Rotterdam for a session.

We made a lot of them 'zines back then. There was no plan really but this was issue number 7 and the year is 1988. It's the issue that covers the first FAT-JAM. Riding street in 1988 was a new thing.

Having a car on the course was exciting for the street guys, and thrashing it afterwards was a good time. Check the sequence at the end of the issue.

Joachim Mulkens came through with more incredible artwork that he finished during regular school lessons. So good. He's a cop now but could have easily made his money doing comics or whatever.

Issue 7 has an interview with Sander Nieuwenhuis who still is our best Dutch vert rider. Pat Wirz contributes a report about the AFA Masters round 6 in Ohio where Joe Johnson did a tailwhip on a quarterpipe 4 feet out!

Matt Pingel went to London and visited Southbank. We got a free General Bicycles sticker this time. Jeff Hedges gets a BIO, we visited a MC Marvellous and DJ Cash Money concert and made a trip to Cologne for a contest.

It must have been our first time as it took one hour to get from the train station to the Jugendpark. 

The 'zines are starting to get interesting......

USA BMX Olympic Stadium in Tulsa & BMX museum. Ribbon cutting day, the official opening is next month.

It was 1988, the year after the Tizer World Championships in England and the IFN had called for the Tizer World Cup. My plan was to get a ride from Robert Moeller after the Trier contest but while over there they told me there was no space for me in their car. I bought a single train ticket to England from Trier, Germany and had 10 pounds left for food. Luckily I got the leftover bag of bread from the contest so I did not starve. My sleeping bag was the bike bag again so I wouldn't have to pay for my bike on the train. 14 hours later I arrived in Manchester. Read the contest report in issue 5 of FAT-'zine.

We have interviews too with street pioneer Dave Slade, Carlo Griggs, Steve Giberson, Chris Potts and Jeff Cotter. They've got some funny things to say.

The 'Zines scene was getting big and we have reviews from Euthanasia (Jamie Cameron), COW (Mike Rose), Crucial Mania, Totally Intense (Effy), The 'Zine (Pat Wirz), Damage (Dave Slade) and Decade 'zine (Thomas Fritscher, Bresie, Thrasher and Geisser).

The free sticker was provided by FAT-'zine. Yes we had stickers back then.

Joachim Mulkens, Speed and Ollie took care of some great art again. Paul writes about his freestyle activities in 1982. We did a contest report on the Kenn/Trier event. Check this. I went by train to Duesseldorf first. We shredded the city there all afternoon and then took a train to Trier.