FATBMX Your Online BMX News Resource Since 1998

Name: Jason Teraoka
Hometown: Kapaa, Hawaii
Started riding BMX in: 1976
Number of bikes in the collection: 7

Do you remember the moment that you decided to start collecting BMX memorabilia?
Jason Teraoka: The seed was definitey planted around 2006 when I pulled a complete 1978 Motomag JAG from a bulk trash pile at the curb. I had that bike stashed for years. It wasn’t until 2015 that I finally gave it a soft restoration and got it into rideable shape and because of that, acquiring parts and collecting sparked. Soon after, a friend gave me two of his childhood bikes (1978 LRV and Team Mongoose) and another bike was pulled from a bulk trash pile (another 1978 Team Mongoose). It was then that the bug fully bit. Collecting went into hyperspace once I moved to California from Hawaii and started going to swaps and shows and meeting some great people in the community here.

At this moment, do you wish you had started collecting earlier?
Jason Teraoka:For sure! I’ve heard so many stories about the glory days from the established collecting

Name: Frank Lukas
Hometown: Koblenz, Germany
Bike: Morales 2nd Generation

Home come you decided to build up a Morales bike from scratch?
Frank Lukas: I think this frame is the most iconic Flatland frame ever designed and produced. It changed everything. Don’t quote me here, but I think it was the very first “Flatland specific frame”. I also think that the riders who rode the frame had the biggest impact on Flatland besides Kevin and Chase. I was so into Westcoast Flatland- Richard, Jesse, Edgar and many more...

Name: Darren Chan
Hometown: Oakland, CA, USA
Bike: Favorite would be Patterson or Schwerma Champion BMX

What's your earliest memory of BMX?
Darren Chan: Going to the local bike shop Hank and Frank and seeing all the BMX bikes that were in the magazines. Saw Brent Patterson there with his orange BMW.

Who were some of the BMX riders that you admired back in the day?
Darren Chan: Frank Post, Patterson brothers, Anderson brothers, Stu, RL Osborn, Bob Haro, Dave Vanderspek.

Do you feel there is a need for BMX products to survive for history's sake?

Name: Johan Janssens
Hometown: Boechout, Belgium
Started riding BMX in: 1982 my first season in competition racing.
Website: www.jjrbmx.com (Hutch BMX, JJR BMX, old school Pro Winner and more)
Bike: Quiet Resistant/JJR, Denver Special 24”

What's your earliest memory of BMX?
Johan Janssens: Around 1981 when I saw a kid riding his BMX bike on the other side of the street and wished I had one too. Later I got a Raleigh Ultra Burner.

Jumping forward a decade or so from our last episode. I first met Owain in the 90's, he was a tiny chatty kid ripping around the boneyard in Chester and the surrounding skateparks of the time. Fast forward many years and this dude has never dropped off. Rode for a bunch of big companies, won contests, flew around the world, scoring multiple magazine covers, video parts, road trips and done all there is to do in the game of BMX. We get in to the start of his BMX journey, trips to Woodward as a kid, growing up around the Chester BMX scene. Changing up riding styles, and the in-depth street riding phase and why, riding all terrain, his involvement with BMX now, the obsession with collecting old BMX media, recent barn edit and the open loop. And even some UKBMX hall of fame talk in here.

Name: William LaRoque aka Larock
Hometown: Long Beach, CA

What's your earliest memory of BMX?
Larock: Seeing On Any Sunday for the first time and wanting an MX kit for my hand me down Lime Green StingRay.

Who were some of the BMX riders that you admired back in the day?
Larock: That’s a tough one! I was kind of Partial to the SE Factory Boys because they had such close ties to Long Beach, BUMS track was less than a mile away from where I grew up. Scot, Thomsen & PK of course. But who could deny the Panther, Dain, Utterback, King, Atherton and all of the others that graced the pages of our favorite magazines.

Name: Jon Western
Hometown: Birmingham, UK

What's your current Bike?
Jon Western: My current race bike is a Meybo BMX, Custom gold over raw finish done by SuperBike Dan, with jmcbmx.com decals as I raced for JMC in the UK national series a few years ago. Carla Jansan (Jim Melton's daughter) runs jmcbmx.com and when I started racing JMC we discussed the idea of designing a modern version of the old JMC kit. Ian MacArthur helped with the kit design which was then signed off by Carla. A number of versions of it were made for me in white, black, gold and yellow. If anyone has ever wondered why "Once we were" is on the back of the race shirt, it's Ian's business and there to recognise his help with the design. I'll call him a sponsor as it sounds more factory (lol).

What's your earliest memory of BMX?
Jon Western: When I was about 9 years old, a friend got a Piranha BMX so I asked my dad for a BMX, he got me one called an ALPINA from a local discount centre, at the time I was really into a motorbike trials show called Junior Kick Start, I used to try and emulate what I saw, I soon snapped the frame.

Name: Paul de Jong
Hometown: Aarle-Rixtel
Started riding BMX in: 1971 but real BMX Bike in 1979
Number of bikes in the collection: Don’t have a clue, at least 15 nice ones

Do you have any bikes from the '50-s when the first people started racing BMX in The Netherlands?
Paul de Jong: Yes I have a 1950 Schwinn girls beachcruiser from Mom, who was jumping doubles in the 50’s when BMX was popular in the Netherlands. Before you “Americans” are going to reply on this: Ignaz Schwinn is from Europe fyi.

What makes you decide to start a certain bike building project?

BMX Texas Take Over: Riding into the Lone Star State!

Name: Steve Strong
Hometown: Dagenham, UK.
Started riding BMX in: 1981.
Number of bikes in the collection: 3 at the moment, built around 25 decent ones I was happy with.

What was the first project bike that got you into collecting BMX bikes?
Steve Strong: 1981 Team Murray 'Track Certified'.

How difficult was it to find parts for it in the beginning?
Steve Strong: When I first started, I knew nothing of the UK scene. I was (and still am) a member of BMX Society and BMXMuseum. Primarily all of my parts came from Ebay.com and the Museum pages.