FATBMX Your Online BMX News Resource Since 1998

Frame: WTP Primate
Fork: Helium forks
Headseat: wtp
Crankset: Demolition new ones
BB Set: demo, or WTP
Sprocket: Demolition
Freewheel: Demolition
Chain: Siver one. KMC maybe 

The second issue of Circle showed up attached to the new issue of FreedomBMX. The video magazine made by Thomas Fritscher and Markus Wilke sees some interesting distribution this way in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Issue 2 starts off a bit rough. Looks like the riders had to huck a lot to get their tricks pulled on the flatbanks and cobble stones after a long winter. The sound of the rough landings and brake cables hitting the frames didn't add to the smoothness of the first part. Things smoothed out when the pros met at the Simpel Session in Estonia. Riders like Chase Hawk,

I've been guilty of telling Props to do something new. After the umpteenth Props VM, Megatour and Roadfools why not do something different. And here it is, the Props Rock 'n Roll DVD. After talking to several riders who joined the tour they were all over it. It was a big posse on the road but good times were had. The final product is of great quality and shows a lot of riding and a lot of the bands. And that's where my problem comes in with the Rock 'n Roll DVD.

Unless you're a big fan of the Greyscale, The Snake Trap or This Bike is a Pipe Bomb, you're being robbed from quality riding footage of riders like Scotty Cranmer, Tobias Wicke, Morgan Wade, Chris Doyle, Ryan Nyquist and plenty of others that joined the tour. It's not that I dislike any of the bands but if you're expecting the Rock 'n Roll tour to be a BMX DVD, be prepared to use that FFwd button quite a bit.

Taking a page from the Motocrossers, the grip has an inverted ridge near the flange. The MX'ers started running these on their grips so that they could use thin gauge wire and secure the grip onto the bars tightly. It also serves to keep water out saving us bmx'ers from a case of the throttle grip. On the inside of the flange side of the grip are another 4 small ridges. I can only assume these are to help keep the grip even more firmly onto the bar and to reduce any slippage during operation.

The rubber of the grip is made of a soft compound - they feel soft but definitely not too spongy. I ride with gloves but these grips have so much traction on them I could easily ride without them. Plastic bar ends compliment each grip.

Chris has gone with a smaller flange on them along with a pair being in the $10 range. Their price is a little higher than your average grip but there is nothing average about this grip from the very detailed design down to the high quality packaging.

After riding a USA BB and Normal Headset Flybikes Diablo for some years it was time to "update" his bike. While putting the new bike together we found out the Flybikes frame was totally cracked at the headtube so he got some luck and didn't knock himself into coma again......

Frame: Fit 20.75" Hawk
Fork: Proper with 990

Freedom Issue 74 has been out for a while now but we haven't done the review yet. Captain Dotterbart makes the cover with a trick that has now made it to 3 covers of BMX magazines. Here's what you're missing out on if you have not found your copy of Freedom # 74 yet:
-News
-2007 dates
-Video reviews
-Media
-Freecoaster
-Tallinn Simpel Session report
-Muenster Beat City report
-Gallery
-Moscow

Most of the time I'm not a big fan of "Photo issues" for the simple reason that I need something to read when I pick up a magazine. Photo issues are usually an easy way out to flap photos together and make a quick issue in times when there is not too much going on (winter). Good pics need to be in every issue, not just the photo issue. When RIDE UK brought out their first Photo issue, I was fearing the same thing but I was wrong. 180 freakin' pages thick this one! Next to the great photos from Dolecki, Sanz, Pairo, Bancroft, Kung, Pieringer, H-man, Terra, and Carson, there is loads to read. In fact, I haven't finished reading issue 102 yet because it's full of so much other stuff (including a 20 questions section with both LARD and Josh Harrington and all their regulars).

Hats off to RIDE for putting together another killer issue. They have now gone monthly so maybe the number of pages will go down a bit

Frame: United Trinity
Fork: United Squad
Headseat:Stock
Crankset: Primo 175mm
BB Set: We the People
Sprocket: United
Hub Guard: FBM
Freewheel: Primo

Brian Chace from Seattle has just released his video called Here and Now covering the Seattle scene. This project must have taken Brian a long time to finish because there is much attention to detail and a great finished product. The only folks that will be left wanting are the dirt riders since there are little or no trails riding. Thats made up for however by all the excellent street sections.

Paul Bonner or "Def Paul" as some people call him , has no drivetrain on his bike and the urge to fakie every 2 seconds. If you watch the video you will see the chainless style is catching on. Since he has no drive train you see him weave and pump all over the place giving him speed to pull fakie turndowns off a 3 set of stairs. A DJ Shadow track accompanies his part while he pulls fakie nose wheelies and manuals. 

Soul and Cream magazine have one less competitor. BMX-Up magazine is no more that that helps with the fight over the advertising dollars (Euro's in this case). Soul and Cream are the better mags from France anyway so it's good to see they survived. BMX-racers are happy too because Soul does cover quite a bit BMX racing. Issue 48 goes to Boulder City, USA to do a race report and the International race in Saint Maxime covers a few pages. Redline's Damien Godet gets interviewed and Camille's covered BMX race track received a scene report. How stoked would you be to have your own indoor BMX track. Freestyle riders win the Race-Freestyle coverage battle and with 116 pages in #48 there is lots of space left for freestyle news, product reviews, spot checks, contest reports, bio's, etc. The mag comes with a huge pull-out poster. Just recently SOUL has started a website. If you haven't checked it out yet, here's the link: