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The German BMX mag is going steady. The latest issue has Hannuh Cools on the cover and in case you're wondering, the Belgian sky is always yellow (because of the fries and the mayonnaise and the yellow lights on the highway). Three Euros and twenty cents is a steal for a 68 page full colour BMX mag. Before you go out and subscribe to have it delivered to your doorstep, it's good to know that it's written in German. This will probably help with your German class at school so don't hold back. But what do you get? After the intro you get all kind of info in the news section. The 2006 event calendar is missing this summer's FAT-JAM (19 August) so mark that calendar now. Tons of DVD reviews, Kopp's music top 5, Freedom goes Emo article and then straight into the Backyard Jam report. The Lumberjack jam in Aurich took place without Gary Ellis there. At least he did not get a picture in the report. What's a magazine without an interview. Sig and Hannuh Cools are contest regulars from Belgium and explain what they're about in the 6 pages they get.

Didn't we laugh at Jay Miron's green spokes at that contest at Moreno Valley 10 years ago? Well, I did. It has taken a while but the trend is finally here. Primo jumped on it and came out with coloured spokes. You can choose from Red, Blue, White and Yellow.
Spokes are not really a part that you can just bolt on. It takes some patience and skills to lace up a wheel. Why not give it a try now that it's cold and wet outside. This is the time to do it, spin that spokewrench! Once you get the hang of it, it's actually a good challenge and you will be able to get that kink out of your wheel next time you have a nasty hang-up.

DIG celebrates their 50th issue with a 132 page bound book. For $6 bucks it's yours and we can only recommend you get yourself a copy. Even if you crash and lay on the street you can make the cover of a magazine. Just ask Paul Robinson. The pages have gotten bigger which means more room for text and bigger pics. After flipping through the Dig This section with news on Dave Young, DIG tattoos, family photo albums, Baz and Leland (of course) and the DIG office, it's time for the Flat Earth Society with a report on the Braun Flatground comp and a bio on Kotaro Arai. The Video stor has DVD reviews and a short interview with Rob-O on the upcoming FIT DVD. The retrospective is with non other than Ian Morris (4 pages) and Taj (also 4 pages). Lost For Words is a photo article with 22 pages of killer shots from Terra, Oberlachner, Adam, Holton, Carson, Docherty and Dolecki.

If we give you a list with the content of the January/February issue of Cream magazine, maybe you can decide for yourself if you really need to have this issue. We say it's a stacked issue, especially for the winter months. The text is in French/English and the photos are great. Cream covers the International BMX Lifestyle and costs 5 Euros. For more info check [url=http://www.cream-bmx.com]the Cream website[/url].

BdJ

This is my third attempt of doing a review on RIDEBMX's March issue. In fact, we've received the April issue already (in February) so we won't be spending too much time on the issue which has Blackman on the cover. It's actually a pretty dark cover for a California based magazine so let's hope for them it doesn't hurt the newsstands sales. 124 pages of RIDEBMX bring you: Letters, News and short articles in Up Front (i.e. the Braun Flatground comp in Amsterdam) which are fun to read. Smokey and the Bandit (Ryan Sher) takes care of the Pro Q&A and Tom Haugen shows his music preference. The Spot Check is about SoCal's Sheep Hills and yes, I also wanted to check that place out (and did). Then and Now: Jay Miron. Private Property: The Seventies Ramps in Hastings, England fuckin' eh right! Products on page 54 include The House axles, Berringer bar taps, FBM hub guard, 1664 pedals, Kink integrated headset, Drive lite forks and a Mosh belt.

It's February and we're reviewing the February issue of BMX Plus! Right in time, or better, way too late. The print magazines seem to put a month on the cover that is close to 5 months ahead when they start putting the mag together. The Feb issue with Josh Harrington on the cover reports about the [url=//fatbmx.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=901]Vans Let it Ride contest[/url] that took place in Vegas in the beginning of October, yup, that's five months ago. For some reason it's still interesting to pick up a new BMX mag even if the news is a bit dated compared to the news on the net. The mail bag (letters section) isn't really date related so you can check that out whenever. I had a letter posted once in Plus! (pre e-mail days) that resulted in a long time letter correspondence with Pat Wirz of The 'Zine. The BMXperts on the next page answer questions of the Plus! readers so if you have a question, send it to Box 958 in Valencia, CA 91380-9058. 

We bought this issue of BMX-UP while we were in France. The cover states that it has reports on the Nokia Fise, the Bercy race World's and the Oakley Twenty Jam in Carmaux, all events we went to over the summer. Tommy Lauque gets the cover nose diving over the FISE spine. After a couple of pages of news we arrive at the Twenty compound which is a business visit/interview with Jean Luc Ferrari and Alex Baret. Here's another familiar event we visited in '05: E Viva Espagna (LG Action Sports World tour - Barcelona). The O/20 jam was a good time and memories returned while flipping through page 18-25. Visit that place when you can. Next up is a race report from the French BMX championships (Mours) with 10 pages of colourful BMX coverage. Frank Soulier does rad tables and gets interviewed in an article that's about the Paris area. If you speak French, you can learn more about Fred Borel and John Petit too as they ask them some questions. 

After months of testing, the THE Vice grips are ready for you to ride. The Vice Grips, a lock on style grip, is the first grip to use a special manufacturing technique to produce a multi colored grip logo on the same layer of the grip. The clamps will keep your grips on tight no matter what the weather is like outside and will make switching handlebars or brake levers a breeze. The Vice clamp feature also helps you keep a set of grips a lot longer, as the dual density construction will help the grips stay in tact after mutable bar changes and removals.

I'm watching the Agoride DVD right now and am trying to finish the review while watching. Not the best set-up but this way I'm sure it gets done. Basically the Agoride DVD is a great archive of 2005 happenings that took place in Europe and France in particular. Even if you're not a top 5 pro finisher, there is a good chance you made it on this DVD if you went to the FISE contest, BMX Masters, King of Boueno, Braun Flatground, Varsovie, the Vibrations Urbaines (Nantes and Pessac) or the 100 Contest.

Depending on what you are looking for, this DVD might be for you but it can possibly be not worth your time. If you hate jungle music and are down for the classics, you should turn the music down. If you don't like special effects, this DVD can get a bit annoying at times. If you want banger tricks only, we can advise you to look further. But the Agoride DVD sure has a crowd and we'd say it's for flatland riders as most footage is from the flat discipline.

You know what it is with video reviews? It's hard to explain the situation with words. One tailtap on a fence out of the skatepark isn't the same as the next one. An alley-oop 180 out of a curved wallride (Yeagle) might not sound ridiculous but when you see it in action, you gotta realize it's nuts. Doing a 360 out of a 180 curved wallride with an orange spin wheel, Standpoint got it on film. We're not even trying to describe Matt Beringer's backyard or the tricks that are done on a weird shaped bowl in the middle of nowhere.