Starting from issue two we had a little theme going. We had regular sections such as the Believe it, or not!? page where we could make up news and leave it up to the reader if they believed it, or not. We actually still have that going today just to cover our asses in case someone is coming after us with an axe. We also had the RAD/LAME list which was liked and feared at the same time. The free sticker of issue two came from Lageja skateshop in Eindhoven. A shop that supported us though thick and thin. The rap concert report this time was from the Just-Ice & DMX concert in Den Bosch. Good times, good times. More and more English text so by now you should be able to read most of the FAT-'zines (if you don't know how to read Dutch). There's a report from the skate contest in Belgium which was also a good time. Scooters were still hot (in our eyes). Remember, we were living in the year 1988. There's a German scene report by Robert Moeller and a report from the UK by Dave Beveridge. Paul writes about his last contest in Hampton, Virginia and of course there is some grafitti art by Speed this time.

After the first "Try-mag" the feedback was so good that we decided to continue with the FAT-'zine project. Paul had just got back from the USA where he stayed for a few months and visited the 2-Hip KOV in Washington, Mount Thrashmore skatepark and the Powerhouse Bike Shop in Hampton, VA. Issue 01 had three stickers, one FF sticker, one Powerhouse Bike Shop sticker and one Skeletor sticker that Paul found on a roll in the $ 1 dollar shop. Mike Loveridge got interviewed and street riding is starting to take off. Paul and I used to do BMX freestyle demos and placed a full page ad in the FAT-'zine. Or maybe it was just a filler, who knows. Some things that made it on the RAD list were: Town & Country wear, Club Homeboy, Fingerboards and Centerpull brakes. Yes, these were the eighties (1988). Things that made it on the Lame list were: The Del Mar killers, Grabber seats, Dyno shoes and Lee Chi brakes. Some of this makes me laugh. Scooters were still hot (in our eyes) and we even had a page on Snowboarding (the next cool

The official start of FAT was in 1987. It's 2012 now. That makes it 25 years of covering the BMX scene trying to make it bigger and better for everyone to enjoy. Find the info on issue 00 below and then flip through every page by hitting the link at the very bottom.

It just had to happen. The old FAT-'zines online. We're starting off with issue zero here which was fueled by the fact that a Dutch BMX magazine (Trickx) started putting more racing and international freestyle riders in their magazine instead of the Dutch riders.

That's actually where the name comes from: Freestylers Against Trickx (FAT). It wasn't a goal or plan to make a total of 34 issues but after issue 00 came out the Dutch scene wanted more. Anyway, the "Try-MAG!!!" is mostly in Dutch but that will change soon in the issues to come.

It wasn't meant to be the last issue of FAT-'zine but it sure was. Since picking up a job at the European GT marketing offices in Belgium I was too busy with work. In fact, it was my first real job and one I liked a lot so screwing around wasn't an option. The Condor made the last cover and I'm glad it's him who got the last FAT-'zine love. Since these 'zines didn't come out every few weeks any longer the content list just got bigger and bigger. We'll rush through it and leave it up to you to flip through all the pages here online. -Ruben Castillo interview, -BMX race Schijndel, -Schwinn show Atlanta, Georgia, -Volkel BMX race, -Burnside Oregon session, - Telebel show, bunny hopping ten bodybuilders, - BMX Wo Venezuela, - Bo's trails, - Basic Boys House in Vancouver, - Crimetime with KOP, - BMX Race Doetinchem, - Hard Volume (Music section), - Jamie Staff interview, - Video reviews, - Best and Worst with Todd Lyons, Lawan Cunningham, Robbie Morales, Darrin Mitchell, Neil Wood and Mike Hammond. And free stickers from Powerlite, GT, 360-Grad, Pantera and an anti smoking campaign.

The cover of issue 33 is one I remember well. Jay Miron, Mark Losey and I made a trip from Huntington Beach to Vancouver. We stopped in San Jose where we visited the Garcia family, had a tour at the Skyway factory in Redding, rode Burnside early in the morning and then cruised on to "the Basic house" in Vancouver. We had nothing but rain all week long and did not much else than drink and play fuSball. Every time we got back from a club Andrew Faris was still riding his bike in the garage downstairs. He was working on a new trick and I promised him the cover of FAT if he pulled it. Well, he's on the cover isn't he? 12 years later he turned up at the Nora Cup party in Vegas. It was good to see you Andrew. Anyway, back to the content. Taj on vert on the contents page. This was 1996. Bicycle Stunt finals report (Florida), Andrew Faris interview, ABA Grands report + KOD, DIG sticker, VIDEO reviews, Brad Blanchard interview, 10 memorable places where I spent the night, Bartman comic, Dave "Hot Guy" Osato interview. Play sticker, Christmas Classic KOD,

We are almost nearing the end here of the FAT-'zines that were made between 1987 and 1996 before we got involved with that WWW. John Parker got the cover of issue number 32. Again GT hooked it up with a free sticker on the inside cover. The computer was doing its job and made it easier to read the text. No more fading typewriter ribbon. The BON section has always been a big part of the FAT-'zine. Read it, it will make you go: Oh yeah, I forgot about that.  The Beerfelden comp is one to remember. We bring it up every time we run into Alex Reinke and Detlef Richter. Good times. Read about it on page 12. A terrible accident on the way to the KOC in Kalle's dad's car did not stop us from getting there as planned. It was a close call but we survived. The car was a write-off though.We had a Rob "Ninja" Sigaty interview before people started calling him Sarge. BS Comp OKC report by PdJ who also provided a free Paul's Boutique sticker. Iwan and Choq went on a trip in a 2CV. Read all about it in FAT-32. Free Vans sticker; check. A4 trails report, Sprocket Jockey tour report, 

Mark Losey has shot many covershots in his life. This time he makes the cover himself, mouthguard and all. Brian Foster had just discovered the freestyle scene and puts his aluminium Schwinn to the test by doing a 300 X-up in Chicago. Third rider ont he cover is Trevor Meyer. Has anybody heard of him lately? The year is 1995 and I just got my first computer and played around with Coreldraw a bunch for this issue. For once FAT had different fonts, different font sizes and more of that stuff that did not work on a typewriter. The news section was big again. We went straight into the S&M warehouse ramp followed by a Robo interview. Megafestatie report, free Haro sticker, and a report about the Chicago BS comp followed. The Sjappi Jam in Maarssenbroek was always fun. Dirt , Vert and Lake jumping this time. KHE provided a sticker and then we went on the Jinx-tour. One of the best trips ever. We had to smuggle Jay Miron across the Spanish border in order to do a show. Read all about it in issue 31. We had a session in RL Osborn's backyard. Rode some pools in the USA. Went to the ABA Grands. Had a free Webco sticker and visited

Cheesy Hundertmark is in the business somewhere. I got an e-mail from him some time ago and he sure does remember getting the cover of FAT-'zine issue 30. Also on the cover in small video grab pics is Ian Morris doing a humonguous rail in our hometown back in 1994. It was a good year. Ice Money popped up in Cologne and later in Munich, Germany and England. Even in the Lageja ad! The Editorial is still accurate. I do have a car now though. Free stickers this time from KDL, BigBoy, Busy P and GT. Huge new section. I hope to see some of these guys in Vegas next week at the Nora Cup. At the Trierer Cup we almost got blown away by Hurrican Ike. The tent took off but the Chevy stayed on the floor. Paul Osicka got an interview that starts on page 22. AK Helmond race report. Freestyle World's in Cologne. The real world's, none of that LG fake World Championships stuff. VANS Cup in Amsterdam. Dam right! Wateringen trails report by Petrik de Heus. Bartman comic by Deamer. Magazine interviews with Marco Massei, and Freedom BMX. The 1994 FAT-JAM was one of the best ones.

Issue 29 came with a bunch of free stickers; Mutation, BMX PARTY (Mental Jimmy'z), Forbidden Planet, VANS Off the Wall and a Gatorade postcard featuring Mat Hoffman doing a backflip. These little items were nice extra's that came free with the 'zine. Webmaster Jos sent me a copy of page 4 a few weeks ago. Read it and smile. 8 pages of BMX news followed. Then the report about the trip to Copenhagen for the X-Mas jam followed by a Solingen miniramp session report.
Woody Itson gets interviewed and we went to the Phoenix Winternationals in the back of Chris Moeller's pick up truck. Back to Holland for the first NK of the year. Also covered in issue 29 is tthe BS contest in Moreno Valley, California. Those comps were fun. Thomas "Tarzan" Hansen gets interviewed, Axel Reichertz and Jay Miron get sequences. We posted the I-punkt BMX comp results, did an interview with Mike Daily and Cruzin' Chris, went to another race in SoCal, and also Markus Wilke gets an interview. Just read it.

The cover of issue 28 shows what we were all about in 1993. In fact, it hasn't changed much. Road trips are the best. We brought you the BMX news in 1993 and we are still doing it now. 7 pages of BON in issue 27 and you were up to date of all the BMX news. We received Huphter and Rabbit stickers for the free sticker page. Achim Kujawski received an interview and then we're moving on to oiur annual Mission Trails jam. When noone was putting on a jam at SoCal's best dirt jump spot we took things in our own hands (again) and had a good time. I missed the 1993 world's in Limoges, France but got some pics from Ralle and printed the results. Your pro champs? Retey, Hoffman and Wilke. A 6-page Paul Roberts interview follows. He must have said something funny in this. Hope you can read it as the text is small. The UCI BMX race world's took place 30 minutes from our place. We went there and even organized a KOD on the first straight. We also had a Las Vegas session at "The Pits". The 1993 FAT-JAM can be looked up for the record books. Will Smyth 

Matt Pingel was a big contributor of FAT and to show our love to him we gave him the cover of number 27. You must have heard of Jerry Galley too. He's on page 2 shredding the ramp in Dennis' backyard. We got a free STD foundation sticker on page 4. Six pages of BMX news and another freesticker (Big Boy). Thomas and Moni Stellwag get an interview. Greg Higgins contributed some art. Wow, another sticker: Mutation. We did a report on some SoCal trails: Honda Hills, Mission Trails, 6th Street, Hoover and Dover. RAD-LAME. Did you make it on the list? Backyard Jam 1993: Tom Lunch, Keith Treanor, Aju, Steve Geall, Grotbags, Congo, Grace and the Maddog. The mag interviews were with Brad McDonald (sitting in his "office"), a flatlanding Mark Losey, seatless Hal Brindley and going backwards James Hudson.  The Lord (Dave Voelker) gets an interview on page 45. Nico Does gets the Bizznizz interview that starts on page 50. I went to China for some demos. Crazy but good times. Read the report. Freedom BMX Magazine provided another free sticker.

Ronnie Farmer on the cover, yeehaaw. While in San Diego we rode Mission Trails on a daily basis with the Dirt Brothers. Ronnie Farmer was one of them. He was born in East SD and the Dirtbrothers house was on the edge of that shady area. We have not heard from Ronnie in a while an really hope he is doing well. He sure knew how to stretch them no-footed cancans. Internet sites did not bring the news back in the day, FAT-'zine did. The Believe it, or Not!? section is huge, full of news. We traveled to Phoenix for a Bicycle Stunt contest in our 1970 Buick Estate Wagon which had a 454 engine and was hella fast. We made it over there too.
Ronnie Farmer gets a full on interview in FAT-'zine. Maybe the only interview he has ever had. Read it. We were doing Magazine reviews in issue 26 with Matt Pingel (BMX Freestyle magazine-Germany), Mark Noble (RIDE BMX magazine) and Vincent Ranchoux of Tracks BMX Power mag (France). 

Man, this issue is bringing back some more good memories. One of my favorite contests of all time was the World's in Budapest, Hungary. I could go on an on about it but you just check out issue #25 and read the party-part about it. Sheps actually gets the contents page doing a nosepick with front brake. Only poor bastards that could not afford a front brake did toe jams at that time (Jon Taylor?). When we went to the USA and there were no jams anywhere, we organized one ourselves. At Mission Trails. The Boost jam was born. We went to the KOC in Markus' van and had a blast. From there I got a ride with Kay Clauberg in his VW Golf (4 people, 4 bikes) and we visited Tim Ruck's area (raced at Exeter's BMX track) and then went to the Rider Cup in London. More good times. Also did a trip to Malaga after the World's. Man, no worry in the world at that time. What else can you expect this week? A Mat Hoffman interview. We are talking 1992 so keep that in mind when you read it. Kai Uwe Lohff got an interview, we went to the Muenster Monster Masterships in Germany,

If there is one issue that stands out to me it's issue number 24. It basically got me a job in the BMX industry, or at least the first steps were made. I showed this very issue to GT Bicycles president Richard Long at a trade show in Germany and asked if he (GT Bicycles) wanted to advertise. When he saw the cover of his team rider Dave Voelker flipping off the camera and not wearing a helmet he was not amuzed. When Richard Long turned over the page he started reading the contents page. He noted the following: "He hates GT, but still rides 4 'em" and turned to the Jon Peacy interview on page 65. The discussion was long but he got to hear what was wrong with the GT brand at the time. I felt strong about it because I had spent some serious time with the GT riders over in California. When I left the meeting GT was advertising in FAT, they provided stickers for the free sticker page, I was offered a new Dyno Slammer and it was okay for me to get a temporay job at GT's headquarters in the USA. I seriously wasn't expecting all that. Anyway, back to the content:

The new typewriter is doing its job making it possible to read the text in issue 23 which has Geoff Martin on the cover while doing some flatland riding in front of Hamel's in Mission Beach. This issue has a lot of USA stuff in it. We visited the first Bicycle Stunt contest in Texas with the GT team, we also made it to the next round in Glendale, Arizona. Sheep Hills looked different in 1991 and we also checked out a Todd Anderson/Eddie Fiola trick show. Jimbob reports about the East coast of the USA in two stories and we also covered several European events like the King Of Concrete, the Tourcoing France contest from March 1992, and we had a pictorial of the 1991 World's in Denmark. We were pretty international back then with a Barrow in Furness jam report (UK), Axel Reichertz' roadtrip to Spain, European team championships in Abbeville, France, an international contest in Eindhoven (NL), and a skatehouse report from Essen, Germany. I wonder how we did it all but somehow it worked out. Mario Schepers, Alan Peterson, Barker Barrett and Effraim Catlow got the interviews.