FATBMX Your Online BMX News Resource Since 1998

Name: Bill Kaczor
Hometown: Bowie, MD, USA
Number of bikes in the collection: 17 currently down from 27

Have you saved your first BMX bike all this time?
Jah Witness: I have held onto my 1984 GT Pro "L" stamp since I've had it. I will never let that go!

Was your first bike the starting point of collecting more?
Jah Witness: No, I was given a GT from the mid '90s by my friend's parents after he passed away. I was clearing out my basement and sold it to a local collector. When he came over to pick it up he saw my '84, and pointed me to the BMX Museum and it opened up a can of worms.

Name: Bob Medrano
Hometown: Concord, California, USA
Started riding BMX in: 1973
Number of bikes in the collection: 10

It looks like you were one of the NorCal BMX pioneers in the '70s. Did you realize what was being developed at the time?
Bob Medrano: No I would have never thought it would be an Olympic sport.

Did a lot of it come from imitating motocross?
Bob Medrano: Yes for sure. I just wanted to ride (motocross) bicycles or motorcycles & be around the riding spots in the area & there were a lot of MX & BMX spots in the '70s.

What were the early tracks like and how did the bikes hold up on the BMX tracks that were created?

Name: Travis Hess
Hometown: Martinsburg WV
Started riding BMX in: 1986
Number of bikes in the collection: 21 (11 BMX bikes, 10 Schwinns)

Being into cars, hot rods, drag racing, what made you decide to look into BMX bikes too?
Travis Hess: I think for me it was the early racing innovation that made me attracted to the early BMX era..like I love how Redline, Champion, Gary Turner etc were building flat track bikes, drag cars and stuff and then their kids wanted to race BMX.

Did you run into BMX bikes while looking for car stuff?
Travis Hess: No, I went down this deep rabbit hole from Schwinns. I got my first Stingray in like 1995/6 and my Dad and me were way into them In mid 2000s. Then you know how it goes, you drift into other

Name: Brian Malmquist
Hometown: Valparaiso, Indiana but I currently reside in Charlotte, North Carolina
Started riding BMX in: Approximately 1985 so I would have been 11 years old
Number of bikes in the collection: 18 completes and 22 framesets waiting to be built

Next to working on cars as a hobby, do you find it easier to work on BMX bikes?
Brian Malmquist: Of course there are far fewer parts to a bike, but it's surprising how complicated they can be to put together properly sometimes. Different headset stack heights, tight bottom brackets, chains that go tight and loose, wobbly sprockets, dialing in brakes. I am a very detailed person, so I don't just throw a bike together for show. I build every bike to ride smoothly.