FATBMX Your Online BMX News Resource Since 1998

RIDEBMX is a monthly magazine. That means that pretty much every 4 weeks you can pick up this mag and get informed about the latest in BMX land. Their myspace site is already lacking. For the last couple of issues I  was able to pull down their contents list but the latest  issue they've got listed is the May issue. This means I've got to come up with shit myself for another review of another issue.  The July issue can be displayed by retailers until June 13th. That's another 6 weeks that you have to find this issue on the shelves at the newsstands.  Hmm,  what's in it?  The Up Front section has all the news from a couple of weeks ago. You probably already read it on FATBMX.  Chase Hawk is on Lotek while  JPR is still working on getting the Caste prototypes into production.  A couple of riders pick their favorite photo from previous RIDE BMX issues.  Jamie Bestwick  answers all your questions.  Rooftop talks about his i-pod just before he enters the Gumball ralley as Tony Hawk's co-driver. We've heard Elvis (SkinDaddy) was given a Porsche too to race the  yuppie race.  If that's the case,  we'll probably be able to give you a few backstage stories when the world race is over. 

Jay Rycroft sent in a pre-master DVD with his Dark Days DVD burnt on it. Let me explain this first, I appreciate all the videos that are made. It shows that instead of just filming for your friends at a contest (and stand in the way), you actually take the effort to put something together. Jay has done just that. He's been to several events or had people film for Dark Days so he could spend hours behind the computer editing it. Ronnie Remo filmed some stuff while he was over at Dave Mirra's and Jay did a lot of filming around Southsea with the motherfucking Southsea riders. 

The Props Mega tour dvd is out. With 60 riders on board doing a week of touring around California, you know it's going to be a good one. The teams this time are V-club clothing, Shitluck, Proper, Greasy Comb distro, Solid Bikes and Staff mail order. Riders range from full time pros to lots of "Bio material" to just friends who are a good time to hang out with. The official stops were at Woodward West, Primo Ramps and Ramp Rats skatepark but when these mandatory stops were over, it was each their own. Enter Mount Baldy, Vegas, Stephen Murray's trails, Gordy's backyard, the streets of San Francisco, Home Ave ditch, SD YMCA, and too many to mention. Quality of the filming is top notch as we've come to expect from anything that Props makes. Music on the other hand is not super great (no classics or big bands as dealing with the rights is a pain and costs too much) but personally I'm not too picky when it comes to sound so it's not too big of a deal to me. The Megatour dvd goes from spot to spot, from team to team, from trick to trick. It becomes a bit blurry when you watch it for the first time because it's all mixed up.

Bicycle Business News (BBN)  showed up with its May 2006 issue. The mag is interesting in the fact that they go beyond the official press release. When the news is big, they grab the phone and dial up the president of the company to get the score. Cover stories are the sale of Seattle Bike Supply (SBS) to the Holland based Accell group and also the QBP "Frostbike" dealer show. There's news on Brad McDonald and Todd Toth leaving Transworld Media to start their own online gig. Also tips are given how a BMX bike is set up these days. Are you keeping up with the trends? Chris Moeller's guest editorial is always an interesting read whether you agree with him, or not. Specialized is a company that is often misinterpreted. 3 of their employees are trying to brush things up in an article on page 9. Greg Walsh tells about packaging, Greg Hill explains RockStar Bikes, Erik's Bike shop tells their situation, there's a complete bike buyer's guide in the May issue as well as 2 pages of products. Should you sell on E-Bay? BBN gives 7 tips. 5 top selling products and the BMXposuremeter wrap up this issue.

What a difference it makes. It's been sunny for two days and I can ride again. Your outlook on life changes because of it. Psyched. Here's a quick review of the June issue of BMX Plus! that has Danny Hickerson on the cover doing an incredible rail ride up 6 stairs to no-hander. Damn! Chad de Groot knows how to score photos. He pulls out his flatland bike for a double page contents spread. Allan Cooke is seriously nuts. See his helicopter stunt. SE scores some good coverage with Postany getting the poster and Gerber getting an Inside the Pros Bikes article. Also Steve Cuesta gets a pro bike check and for those who forgot about Thomas Hancock, he's still around, simply read his interview. Mike Day and Bubba Harris both scored a #1 title in 2005. There's a one-on-one with the two fast racers. Kip Lekker waves to the camera for a full page shot on page 76. Also full page moving pictures go to Biz, Will Love, Brumlow, Johnny Devlin and Eddie Hernandez. Yup, Plus! likes to give coverage to those who deserve it.

KHE sent over photos of the Justin Miller “Militant” prototype frame. Justin will ride the frame on the NinjaSpin in France (6th/7th of May). Here's the spec:

-Justin Miller’s Signature frame
-1-1/8“ internal headset
- Euro Bottom Bracket
- Angles: HT 75.2° | ST 71.0°

The content list of the May issue of BMX Plus! already gives you a good idea of what's in that specific issue. It's cool to see a European get the cover. Yup, that's Sergio Layos from Spain.
The inside scoop has all kind of news and funny photos. The BMXperts answer letters and BMX Plus! readers who send in a decent drawing have a good chance that their art will make it in the mail bag section. The parting shot is a sequence of Felt's Scotty Cranmer doing a double whip to tire tap. What's in between the cover and the last shot is in this list:

Bikes:

28 Redline Triple X
36 Haro SR Race
66 Failure Frame Test

Vult's first DVD has a lot of concrete in it, lots of sunshine and isn't short of fisheye filming. Add some good music to that and you wish you could be part of it. Vult is a concept of Aaron Nardi, the editor/filmer of the movie. What it is still isn't quite clear to me but he gets things done and that's great. His BMX family is growing too and if you look at the list of riders in 4,5,6, you know you'll be treated with some insane riding.

Vult 456 takes you all over the USA and has a strong portion of transitioned street/park riding in it. It's different from Animal's "All Day" street riding where they ride at night and keep it rough in the NYC cold. 4,5,6 has flow to it and the Californian palm trees in the background of the concrete parks makes you want to pack your bags and go there. There's actually a fair bit of trails riding in the video too but no vert or flatland. You gotta look elsewhere if you're into that. 

We like crazy cover shots. Issue 51 of DIG comes through with a jump through a ring. A ring of FIRE would have been better but still respect to Anthony Villani for clearing it. Dave Osato would have had problems fitting that ring. Sometimes it's better to be small. The cover paper has a matt finish which is different and pretty cool. Oh yeah, the content. Here's the list:

THE USUALS:
-Dig This (News, Survival Tactics, Ross Teperek Art Fags, Liquor Bikes Company Policy, Owain Clegg in Mongolia, Mark Choquette 321, Danny Hickerson Cell Outs)
-Videostore (Interview with Shook's Chad Shackelford, reviews)
-Flat Earth Society (Dane Beardsley)
-Disposable (James Newrick, Adam Baker, Derrick Girard)
-Unsound (Chris Leo/Vague Angels, Limpwrist, reviews)
-Backchat (Sean Burns)

Hannuh Cools makes the cover of the latest BMX-Up magazine from France. This issue gives you all the news in French, Le Melange, the BMX indoor of St. Etienne, France and the Vivrations Urbaines in Pessac. On page 34 you have the Point de Vue, Paie Ton Ethique (yup, it's a French magazine) which is followed by the Folio (sweet photos). The weekend Warriors met at the North of France and had a good weekend of riding together. The pics and a report starts on page 42. Two talented racers that might actually be candidates for the 2008 Olympics made a trip to the USA together. Telling from the photos they had a good time. They're in their underwear drinking beer, riding TJ's trails, shot some girls' bum, passed out on the floor, rode skateparks, went to Woodward, rode the legendary Sheep Hills and uhh, did they get to race? Arnaud Dubois and Pablo Gutierrez had a good time and that's what counts. Girls get 2 pages of coverage in issue 35.