FATBMX Your Online BMX News Resource Since 1998

Name: Stu Thomsen
Started riding in: 1972 (I Think)
Teams represented: Three Majors: SE, Redline and Huffy.
Some of the smaller and short term teams were: Dirt Master, Webco, DG, FMF, Motobecane (One Weekend), my bike shop (Stu Thomsen’s Family Bicycle Center), Southridge Cycles (on MTB and BMX). A short stent back on Redline and now representing SE again.

What was the first bike you used to ride Bicycle Motocross?
Stu Thomsen: Schwinn Stingray

In 1973, what were people using at the first few races you entered?
Stu Thomsen: Modified Stingray type bikes and a few custom garage builds by ingenious fathers.

You've seen the BMX bike development firsthand. What kind of full suspension bikes did you get to ride?
Stu Thomsen: I had a custom made Monoshock bike I would race now and then at the Corona downhill

In today's video Phu Vu ( / _epicbmx ) gives us some quick tips on how to restore this vintage Redline BMX Bike!

Name: Jason Van Buskirk
Hometown: Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA
Started riding BMX in: 1979
Number of bikes in the collection: 30+

Dutch roots by any chance?
Jason Van Buskirk: Yes, my Heritage is Dutch, however, I am born and raised in the U.S.

Is your focus on BMX bikes from the period you raced in mainly?
Jason van Buskirk: Yes, I tend to collect bikes from the late '70s To mid '80s... Probably 1987 being the latest. I do have a couple '90s bikes, but that's not the era I enjoy collecting the most.

Name: Tommy Yaley
Hometown: Mtn View. California
Started riding BMX in: 1974ish
Number of bikes in the collection: 9

Do you remember the moment that you decided to start collecting BMX memorabilia?
Tommy Yaley: About 7 years ago I decided I wanted to re-create the 1st Gen proline I had when I was a kid. I sold a bunch of my music gear collection and then, like everyone else, it took off from there. Just one more bike...

The Torker MX26 Race Frame | Behind Torker BMX

* Audio now fixed, sorry about that * Another bonus for anyone interested in where the UK scene came back from in the early 90s?

Name: Jim Fisher
Hometown: Gaines, MI... Denver area now.
Started riding BMX in: '79
Number of bikes in the collection: 20 plus

Is your focus on BMX bikes from the period you raced in mainly?
Jim Fisher: Mainly '79-'84, I have to say I’m more a collector today than I was a racer back then. I just had and rode a few of these bikes when I was a kid/teen in small town MI. We didn’t have a track but we had a couple sweet bike shops and lots of places to ride like maniacs and we did. I dreamed of moving to California getting a Toyota 4x4 and racing with the pros back then.

Did you manage to get the bikes that you really wanted when you raced?
Jim Fisher: I was blessed to have some nice bikes... I followed BMX thru the magazines and got to know the guys at the local bike shops so I built up a few really nice bikes back then.

Name: Rod Miles
Hometown: Indy .... Georgia since '84
Started riding BMX in: 1977
Number of bikes in the collection: 20+

Is your focus on BMX bikes from the period you raced in mainly?
Rodney Miles: Yes, I have a thing for the smaller companies and East coast brands MCS, Thruster, J&G Cheetahs and White Lightning.

Being away from California, did you manage to get the bikes that you really wanted when you raced?

This is from the Pro Flatland class at the wolrds in Cologne 1996, both qualifying and the finals. Phil Dolan won.

Name: Sean Stiddard
Hometown: Bristol, England
Started riding BMX in: 1980
Number of bikes in the collection: Now 14, I had 37 at one point. But I scaled back as to leave the bikes that either meant a lot to me (i.e. my original bikes) or ones I just plain loved too much to let go. I remember once a long time ago my wife (who was my girlfriend at the time) asked the dreaded
question “Exactly how many bikes and frames do you have?”, my reply was “You know about the 20 bikes in the loft, well I have 6 frames at work, 2 frames in the back of my car, 4 being chromed, 2 at my parents and 1 in the mail that I purchased yesterday”, I think that is when she realised she had a love rival in the relationship.