Bart de Jong
If you look at the bikes of sponsored pro riders you will notice parts that you have never seen before. We noticed these pedals on Mike Spinner's bike when he was over in Germany. Mike said they were prototype pedals, have a titanium axle and are super light. They've got a low profile and have a knurled central surface. They will come in two versions; The Black Label M3 Gas pedal (with ti axle) and the regular M3 which has a 9/16" crmo axle. Colours: Raw and black. Available in a few weeks (fall 2007). 
Union Cycliste International is pleased to announce that for the season 2007/2008, the UCI will introduce and adopt the UCI random start gate for all UCI events including the UCI BMX Supercross World Cup, the 2008 UCI BMX World Championships and the 2008 Olympic Games. After years of development, and a very successful test event held on the Olympic BMX track in Beijing China in early August 2007, the UCI has taken the decision to introduce the random gate system without further delays. 
Martti Kuoppa is in thailand for three months coaching the Thai National flatland team. It's five hours of coaching per day and Martti is getting his riders ready for the Macau Indoor Games at the end of October. The KGB Flat co-owner is also organizing a competition in Thailand on 6 October. "Flatstyles Bangkok edit" is the name. Martti Kuoppa: "Flatstyles is going worldwide now. 4 years I organized the jam in Helsinki and we will continue to do so. This is the 1st intl´ Flatstyles KGB is organizing and some time later there will be "Flatstyles Tokyo homies", 1 in Mexico, 1 in Chile, Singapore, Malaysia and so on. Concept is simple and we keep it real and keep it freestyle.." 
It's been a while since we have done an update but there has been so much going on in the background. Although we are in daily contact with Melissa regarding Stephen's condition, its better to do an update when one of the family is visiting Stephen as all of Melissa's time is taken up with looking after Stephen's physical care and flying back and forth to California to see Mason and Seth. I have been busy with Stephen's benefit jam here in the UK and so this update is from our Mam, Cynthia. Hi, After being away from Stephen for 5 weeks, I had expectation of this visit being more relaxing than when I was here in Denver the last time. How wrong can you be! I arrived late on Friday evening and Stephen was in good spirits although he had just started having some issues with secretions from his lungs.
As many of you may already know, Tara Llanes crashed racing at the Jeep King of the Mountain finale in Beaver Creek (Vail area), Colorado. Tara was airlifted to Denver Health Hospital where she underwent 7 hours of surgery to correct massive trauma in her lower back. In addition, Tara also has a C-7 fracture, but was deemed stable prior going into surgery. Tara once again made it through another surgery and is now breathing on her own and able to communicate with friends and family. Unfortunately at this time she has no feeling below her waist, a symptom she suffered as a result of her crash. 
The 2007 Nokia Fise was a good one. The organization has confirmed the 2008 date already and reserved a spot at the "Berges du Lez". The location made it so much better, now let's work on the partying, the only thing that sucked. No more over priced Australian gay bar for us. Look at the plans for the 2008 street course. It's looking good. The Braun Spine ramp will be there (can't be missed) and also the Red Bull vert ramp will be set up on the water. Riders, reserve this date for 2008: If you think you're new school with your spray painted gold frame, bars, sproket, pedals and rims, you gotta take a look at this photo. It has a lady on it too. We've landed at the FATBMX pin up section. 16+ today? I'm in!!
If you weren't at the jam you missed out! This was seriously one of the best jams to date. Especially when you consider the registered turnout of 46 riders when hardly any of these riders even ride dirt. There was also the full mix of entertainment, from riding, semi-naked girls, a naked guy, good music and fire, to the inflammable, car and wrist wrecking paramedic Moo-Poo. The whole idea behind the jams is in creating fun events for kids. That's why we only had a beginner and am class.
Past weekend there was a artshow at SLB in Los Angeles (Pro skater Sal Barbier's shop) and it was fairly interesting to see what the possibilities are decorating a Skyway Tuff Wheel II. I personally like the wheel the way it is, but nevertheless that didn't stop anyone from doing their "art" version on the legendary Tuff Wheel. Realize it is about 100 F (37 C)in the shade, while this was the last holiday weekend in the US (Labor day). The vibes were good, sun was out and the DJ was cranking it up a notch. Oh and you can't go wrong with free beer either... All and all I thought it was a cool concept, but I wish the presentation was done slightly different, since standing around a "Tuff Wheel Xmas tree" with a bunch of people, almost felt like you were spooning each other at one point. 
After doing a BMX 'zine for ten years (1987 - 1996) FATBMX made it on the internet. The year was 1998. Here to stay.