We Dutchies like speed skating, simply because we're good at it. We conquered several (gold) medals at the recent winter Olympics in Torino, Italy. If you take a good look at the speed skaters, you must have noticed the number of Oakley Pro M-frame glasses on the athletes. Well, it's the work of Steve Blick, who next to anything on 2 wheels that has no motor on it, was stuck dealing with the damn speed skaters. All joking aside, Steve has strong NorCal BMX roots that go back to riding with Maurice Meyer and Dave

The world is full of surprises. Brad McDonald is leaving Transworld Media. After starting Ride magazine from his bedroom in the early 90-s McDonald had worked his way to the  top at Transworld media as their Group Publisher. He also had a hand in starting SNAP,  BMX Business News, Transworld Motocross and their latest addition, TW Quad. Now what's McDonald going to do?

"It is with both sadness and excitement that I announce my departure from TransWorld. I am returning to my entrepreneurial roots and am launching a new venture, which will be an online media company." stated McDonald, he continues:

Quality Bike Products distribution had their 18th annual Frostbike show last week. With brands present like Snafu, MacNeil, FBM, KHE, Eastern, Props, Profile, ACS and Primo it starts to look like a little trade show of its own. The open house had over 150 booths with representations from 13 countries. More than 950 dealers showed up at the QBP warehouse despite frosty weather. The QBP retailers followed seminars and checked out the latest products that Davenport, Goering, Corley, Collins, Miron, Massei and Crandall brought to Minnesota.

Over the weekend I was in Indianapolis for the Dealer Expo trade show. It's a show that can be compared to Interbike but is motorcycle related. When I was a kid all I wanted to do is ride motocross. That is until BMX arrived which was the perfect fit. It seems like more people were like that and at the Indy show I ran into several ex-BMX-ers such as Hutch pro BMX-er Toby Henderson (now at VSI) and Torker factory rider from back in the day Dave Marietta. Dave also did Wizard number plates and is now running a 25 employee screening business called Hot Shoppe. Todd Huffman was also present (as was his brother who works in the motorcycle industry). Huffman used to run the marketing department at GT and was a former racer (Auburn/SE) himself. Bob Haro was running the Axio booth with his brother Ron who used to announce GT shows. Bob’s hard shell backpacks are something else. 

February 10, 2006 - Carlsbad, CA. In a joint statement issued today, newly formed Mirraco LLC and Trek Bicycles announced they have entered into an agreement whereby Trek will be granted exclusive worldwide distribution rights to Dave Mirra's new line of BMX bikes, bike components, and accessories.

S&M Bikes, Inc a California corporation has agreed to terms with Marketing Manager John Paul Rogers for fiscal year 2006. Mr Roger's responsibilities will include overseeing all marketing functions with an emphasis on Team Management and corporate branding. Initial projects slated for completion include a short play video and revised advertising strategy. Mr Roger's will focus on increasing shred boners across the board in 06.

In other words, JP is finally working with S&M permanently and not just on special projects. JP has been involved with S&M pretty much since day one and has been responsible for some really cool shit in the last few years, including Props Mega Tour, Transworld BMX's Road To NoWhere trip, helping bring Bob and Wiz to the team and getting Please Kill Me made and promoted. 

January, 2006  - The Dew Action Sports Tour, the first-ever, season-long professional multi-sport tour in action sports, has added MasterCard as the Tour’s official payment brand and ConAgra Foods’ Slim Jim as the official salty snack. MasterCard and Slim Jim join a roster that includes the Tour’s founding partners, all of whom return as sponsors in 2006. As associate partners of the Dew Action Sports Tour, MasterCard and Slim Jim receive Tour-wide category exclusivity and fully integrated marketing benefits, including television ads, print promotion, event signage and branding, online assets, grassroots marketing elements, hospitality, and inclusion in the Tour’s multi-million dollar marketing campaign.

“Our latest partnerships with MasterCard and Slim Jim demonstrate the breadth of the Dew Action Sports Tour’s appeal to the corporate community as a marketing platform,” said Wade Martin, General Manager of the Dew Action Sports Tour. “Our newest partners will support their initiatives with innovative onsite activation that will enhance fans’ experiences and promotional programs through their respective retail channels.” 

Name: Clint Millar
Age: 31
Hometown: Brisbane, Australia

When did you start Colony BMX?
Clint: Well it’s been an idea of mine for quite some time now. But I guess it all started officially around the beginning of 2005. That’s when it started as a registered company.

Are you the sole owner or do you have business partners?
Clint: No, I have Chris Harrison (owner of triplesix distributions) has my 50/50 partner. Chris is great with the business rules side & artwork & I take care of the product design & team side of things. I mean we both all do it together as a partnership should be.

LOS ANGELES, CA - January, 2006 - Supplying nearly 15 years of design, branding and advertising experience to the action sports industry, creative chief and well-known art director Randy Dolowy today launched Voyce Design Consultancy in Ventura County, Calif. The new company, specializing in action sports creative design, advertising, viral marketing and public relations amplified today's launch with the unveiling of a new logo and brand identity for Stolen BMX. The new brand identity, developed by Voyce, was built to further signify the strength of British heritage and the evolution of Stolen as the company announces plans to expand further into the bicycle accessories market, including the manufacture of frames and components. In addition, Stolen believes the new brand identity will help to better differentiate itself within the market.

If you are passionate about skate or BMX, and can demonstrate that you know what makes a skatepark work, you could be just what we are looking for! GBH Engineering Ltd is seeking talented staff to expand a dynamic team providing custom design skateparks to Councils across the UK. Within this demanding role you will get to travel all over the UK, based from our Poole HQ.

To succeed you will need to be an excellent communicator both face to face and on the phone - comfortable relating to people of all ages. 

Name: Andy Zeiss
Age: 32
Hometown: Cologne/Germany

What's the name of your company?
Andy: I don´t really have a company name, so I guess it´s just "Andy Zeiss". 2 1/2 years ago when I decided to be self-employed I didn´t want to think about a company name. People were knowing me by Andy Zeiss and not by a company.

Rumours have been going around in the BMX community about Dave Mirra starting his own company. It's mid-January and we guess the cat is out of the bag:

Read the press release..........

Mike from Odenbikes sent FATBMX some news from Odenbikes out of Sweden:

The Allsta frame will be ready withing the next 2 month's! Here's the specs: Headtube: 75 degrees, machined, Integrated, removable gyrotabs, heattreaded. Toptube: 20.25'' or 20.85'' (more sizes will follow), .035 Downtube: .049, heattreaded. Seattube: 71.5 degrees, machined. Bottombracket: 11.6'', Mid-bb, heattreaded. Seatstays: .039, heattreaded, round cut (surrounds the peg) and welded end-caps. Chainstays: 13.66'', .049, heattreaded, round cut (surrounds the peg) and welded end-caps. Dropouts: 6 mm, micro sized, lasercut then machined on the inside, heattreaded.  Weight: Around 5.2 lbs (20.85'').

For the 06/07 season Andy Zeiss will be the Internationl Eastpak Bmx Tean Manager. With this appointment Zeiss frees up some time for Nadia Kokni for her to concentrate on other Eastpak projects.

Andy Zeiss: "I´m glad  to have that opportunity, also cause some of the team athletes are close friends."

Zeiss will still be at the helm of all the other projects he's involved  with.          www.eastpak.com