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.
Going right back to the start with this one, the northern start that is in sunny Manchester.
Taj Mihellich. What can anyone say about this guy that hasn’t been said? I'm not even going to try, you know why your here and this is good deep dive into some of the mystery surrounding the Mihellich mystery.
Back in the 80's Lee Reynolds was a charismatic guy on the BMX scene, and still is a charismatic guy today. Lee Reynolds was a name that blew up in the mid 80's as BMX was falling down in the UK, despite the some what lengthy distance between Milton Keynes and London, he became one of the locals of meanwhile quarter pipes crew that would feature regularly in BMX Action bike.
Tim March was the other big name in 80's BMX to Andy Ruffell these guys were legitimate super stars for a couple of years in the BMX boom of
the 80s, Tim goes back to the very start of UK BMX. He scored endless magazine covers, features and TV appearances. Tim moved rapidly through some of the early BMX race teams, then went on to expand his brand MRD from making handlebars, race plates, stickers and brake guards and with the help of Tran Am moved on to making UK made MRD frames with a huge team and a double decker bus to ferry 'em all around. Tim has lived it.
So, we got a slightly different episode this month. The Union tapes was originally going to be a series of shows about different aspects of BMX. Everything that went along with BMX basically.
Eric Steel is a name that started getting known in the quieter times of BMX, although one of the original Rom BMX locals. The media didnt give him full credit until around 85 onward.
After doing a BMX 'zine for ten years (1987 - 1996) FATBMX made it on the internet. The year was 1998. Here to stay.