FATBMX Your Online BMX News Resource Since 1998

Name: Frans-Lorenz Swinkels
Age: 28
Hometown: Aarle-Rixtel
Sponsors: Paul's Boutique, Analog, Rome

Frame: S&M HOLMES
Fork: S&M Pitchfork
Stem: S&M Redneck
Pedals: Shimano DX
Bars: S&M A.D. (Castillo) Bars 

Last week, Bubba Harris went in for surgery to get “some” floating bone chips removed from his left ankle (leftovers from his foot dislocation last August). He’d told me that his foot specialist, who is a road cyclist, was amazed that he was in contention for Olympic qualification – stating that he technically shouldn’t even be walking; let alone racing. Bubba told me that I wouldn’t believe what they took out … and looking at this photo; it’s amazing that he was able to race this year and do as well as he has done – including a win at the NBL

June 21nd is a date we all want to forget in Holland, we lost the quarter finals in the Eurocup soccer so we all had a hangover on the 22nd but we had to move on to organise the Tour dur Laarbeek #4. This Mini Miniramp tour started 4 years ago when the city of Laarbeek hooked us up with 4 Miniramps. It's only a 10 miles tour but the kids love it and that's the most important thing.

Foundation Welzijn Laarbeek got a new "chief" Koen de Louw

At one point you were the hottest talent in flatland, then you decided to stop doing contests, what happened?
Bram Verhallen: Hehe, well… That’s a long story which seemed to be hard to understand for most people. I cannot really deny that I’m one of the talented riders but hey, do you really think that’s what makes you happy? Contest riding feels like riding for somebody else or for the show. Is that what I am riding for? Yeah, maybe you get more money, clothes, shoes, whatever! But I am not riding for those things.. I am riding for fun! The reason why I started riding street is so that I could start all over again. Riding as a beginner is more fun than riding as a pro!

You even had your own signature frame from KHE, how did that work out?
Bram Verhallen: Actually that worked out great! Lots of people gave me good feedback so I’m happy for them to enjoy their frame. My passion for the past few years has been designing.

A lot of you have heard rumors that the Kingston Bike Festival is happening and that Metro Jam is a part of it. There’s also a super cool new BMX race but no one knows much more. So here’s the rundown. The whole thing is going down in Kingston Ontario. Kingston is a city of about 150,000 people. It’s located in the middle of eastern Canada’s three biggest cities, Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa. It’s two to three hours drive from each, and it’s an hour north of Syracuse, NY. Most Americans flying in for the events should probably fly into Syracuse. It’ll be much cheaper than flying right into Kingston. Racers will know this because Kingston has hosted some pretty big races.

The web sites don’t have a lot of info on them right now but check back often. We’ll be updating them soon, and regularly. The Kingston Bike Festival website is more for general public to view. Riders should go to the Metro and ERA sites.

Getting organized is tough to do, but BMX flatland has their own organization. We checked in with Flatland guru Yasuyuki Takeo who is involved with the BFWC.

There is some structure in flatland in the way of the BMX Flatland world circuit. Can you explain what the BFWC does?
Yasu: BFWC was established to represent Flatland more professional and worldwide.

How many contests have been organized under the BFWC umbrella?
Yasu: Currently BFWC is consist of 3 contests, Voodoo Jam (USA), Suzuki BMX Masters( Germany ) and King of Ground (Japan)

Do riders have to become a member of the BFWC to compete in the BFWC?
Yasu: We don't have membership so far, so anyone can join a

If you are not living in Brazil or have not booked a flight there yet, the following three events might not be on your program. But we're spreading the word on these ABBMX events. One of them is a flatland show, there's a dirt comp and a street event. With a bit of luck we'll have reports about all three of them here on FATBMX.