FATBMX Your Online BMX News Resource Since 1998

Name: Jeff Utterback
Started riding in: 1969-1970 after seeing On Any Sunday with my friend Mike Brinkley. His father raced scrambles. We put motorcycle handle bars on our bikes around that time. Went to my first race in 1973 at BUMS. Started racing regularly in 1974.

Teams represented: Vans Bike and Key in Long Beach Ca. Dan Gurney, Yamaha (Raced a Moto Bike for a few weeks waiting for our Race inc. frames), FMF, Scot Enterprises, SE Racing, GJS So Cal. Almost rode for R&R (after Dan Gurney) and Race Inc.(after SE Racing). Bill asked me and offered to pay me a little something. Never went past the first meeting.)

What was the first bike you used to ride Bicycle Motocross at BUMS?
Jeff Utterback: Schwinn Jr. StingRay

In 1973, what were people using at the first few races you entered?
Jeff Utterback: Modified Schwinns for the most part. My Dad met Marvin Church Sr. and started modifying my frames with his as inspiration. The first he did was a Schwinn girls frame with more ground clearance and a straight top tube.

You've seen the BMX bike development firsthand. What kind of full suspension bikes did you get to ride?

Name: Òscar Pallarès (aka Òscar Quatredosdos)
Hometown: Alella (Barcelona, Spain)
Started riding BMX in: 1985
Number of bikes in the collection: Around 50

Do you remember the moment that you decided to start collecting BMX memorabilia?
Òscar Pallarès: It was in 2010. I decided I wanted to find a Monty 109, which had been my first BMX bike back in 1985. Montys were made in Barcelona and, at that moment, were the most competitive

Name: Jim Fisher
Hometown: Gaines, MI... Denver area now.
Started riding BMX in: '79
Number of bikes in the collection: 20 plus

Is your focus on BMX bikes from the period you raced in mainly?
Jim Fisher: Mainly '79-'84, I have to say I’m more a collector today than I was a racer back then. I just had and rode a few of these bikes when I was a kid/teen in small town MI. We didn’t have a track but we had a couple sweet bike shops and lots of places to ride like maniacs and we did. I dreamed of moving to California getting a Toyota 4x4 and racing with the pros back then.

Did you manage to get the bikes that you really wanted when you raced?
Jim Fisher: I was blessed to have some nice bikes... I followed BMX thru the magazines and got to know the guys at the local bike shops so I built up a few really nice bikes back then.

We've asked Mel Stoutsenberger to pick his favourite photos from back in the day and give us the Who, Where, When, What, and Why. Mel documented BMX first hand. Here's photo number Five.

IMAGE FIVE:

Who: Bruce Bufkin from Canoga Park, California. Bruce and I became friends in 1968 because of our shared interest in motocross. We didn't have motorcycles yet but we had our Schwinn Stingrays which we rode as much as we could in the empty fields and trails around our neighborhood. His older Brother used to help us work on our bikes, gave us tips, customizing and making them better suited for riding in the dirt.

Where: Indian Dunes Motorcycle Park, mini-bike track, Valencia, California.

When: August 1972.

Name: Brian Britt AKA: SmokinEndo
Hometown: Stratford, NJ, USA
Started riding BMX in: 1985
Number of bikes in the collection: Today around 12 and maybe 10 or so frame sets. At the height of it all close to 50.

Next to BMX products, what else are you collecting?
Brian Britt: My Goodness where do I start? I guess with Hot Wheels... Collecting Hots kinda laid out the foundation for everything I collect. I do vinyl but sold off the bulk of it. Vintage toys like Joe’s,

BMX Old School Pictures by Bmx Old school

Name: Rod Miles
Hometown: Indy .... Georgia since '84
Started riding BMX in: 1977
Number of bikes in the collection: 20+

Is your focus on BMX bikes from the period you raced in mainly?
Rodney Miles: Yes, I have a thing for the smaller companies and East coast brands MCS, Thruster, J&G Cheetahs and White Lightning.

Being away from California, did you manage to get the bikes that you really wanted when you raced?

Name: Sean Stiddard
Hometown: Bristol, England
Started riding BMX in: 1980
Number of bikes in the collection: Now 14, I had 37 at one point. But I scaled back as to leave the bikes that either meant a lot to me (i.e. my original bikes) or ones I just plain loved too much to let go. I remember once a long time ago my wife (who was my girlfriend at the time) asked the dreaded
question “Exactly how many bikes and frames do you have?”, my reply was “You know about the 20 bikes in the loft, well I have 6 frames at work, 2 frames in the back of my car, 4 being chromed, 2 at my parents and 1 in the mail that I purchased yesterday”, I think that is when she realised she had a love rival in the relationship.

Name: Mohamad Al-amin Abdullah
Hometown: Perlis, Malaysia
Started riding BMX in: BITD mid 90s, and came back to BMX in about 2016.
Number of bikes in the collection: Since 2016 until 2021 I have owned 150 complete old school BMX bikes ('70s-'90s) and more than 250 frame & fork sets. Last year I started to sell a few things from my collection (already sold around 60-70 BMX). I sold some to other local collectors and just tried to move a few items in order to cover the costs of the container. With the help of some friends in the UK and USA, I have stockpiled some parts and bikes, which I then ship in a container back to Malaysia. It is very common in the old school scene for sellers to refuse international shipping. So, we try to have an

Name: Brad Nash
Hometown: Winchester, England
Started riding BMX in: 1983
Number of bikes in the collection: Currently 6

What was the first collectable bike that started it all for you?
Brad Nash: In early 2000’s I got my hands on an '83 Mongoose Californian and that was it...

Do you have a closer feeling to bikes you did own back in the day or badly wanted when you were racing BMX?
Brad Nash: Badly wanted is more like it. I had a rubbish BMX as a kid. Mum swears it was an American import but I think she meant from Halfords. I never raced BMX. We did have a mud track locally that kids