FATBMX Your Online BMX News Resource Since 1998

The day after the Mini FATJAM, or better, the Mini FATJAM afterparty at OJA, the day starts too early no matter what time you wake up first. Basically the day is a waste trying to recover from the long day and night that ends with a few drinks (too many). Now that events are back on the calendar it will also lead to multiple events happening at the same time. On the weekend of 2/3 April the Ultimate X took place in South Africa, Swamfest got wild in Florida, UEC racing was going on in Verona, Italy and also the Mini FATJAM took place. Next to that the annual Oldskool gathering put on by Marcel van de Hurk also draws BMX-ers from all corners and so harm van Brussel showed up straight from a BMX race in Nuland (making it BMX event number 6 on the same weekend). Two years of no events because of the pandemic with QR codes, mouth masks, social distancing, vaccinations, and now 6 on one weekend and actually, we like it like that.

Issue 12 had a green color. In the beginning we picked our color but after some issues we did not care. As long as it wasn't the same color as the previous issue it was okay. The cover photo on the green paper came out nice. Issue 12 had the infamous Believe it, or not?! news section, a reader photo section and also an MBL concert report. We used to have some ramps at the end of our street that we set up differently all the time. It was our ghetto skatepark but it worked for us. We also rode our scooters there, see page 9 and 10. 

RAD-LAME list, of course! Entered a Talent Show at school and won! One DJ, one rapper and me flatlanding on stage. We got a trophy and a day off. Sweet.

2 Hip King Of Nothing (Rotterdam) report where they stole my camera. Bad news it was. Free Dave Vanderspek Curb Dogs sticker in this issue. RIP Dave. Yes we rode fullpipes back in the day. 19 years ago in Lieshout. Take that.

Tony Hawk did a demo in Eindhoven and we were there. Ryan Moniham interview, Dynamo Open Air '89 report, Bresie interview, Miniramp pics, Pingel art,  Open Dutch vert skate championships, and a freestyle contest report from Sedan, France. Another road trip it was and we rode on carpet! That about sums it up.

With 48 pages this was a skinny issue of FAT-'zine. We're still inthe year 1989 and we went to Paris, France for the BMX Freestyle World Championships. John Yull, Mike Canning, Rolf Seiler, and Dave Beveridge got the cover from the Freestyle Championnat du Monde in St. Denis, France. The pages got messed up a little. It was pretty tricky to put the pages in order and then Joop van den Kimmenade had to be on top of it too when he stapled the 'zines together.

Kees Lemmens wrote a report about a session in Den Haag, Erlangen, Germany was covered by Matt Pingel,and  Haluk did the Tropica contest. We had an interview with the very talented Scott Carroll (RIP), and Lars from Mars wrote a story about bikers and skaters riding together.

We drove over to Uden fr a street skate contest which was won by Dirk Winkelman.  We checked out De La Soul live in Eindhoven and this report was followed by the Paris World's article.

Stephan Prantl was interviewed (page 42-43) and we had an anti-drinking campaign sticker (Drank maakt meer kapot dan je lief is) in issue number 11.

Still a lot of stuff was put onto the 48 pages and like every week you get to flip through it page by page.

We made a lot of them 'zines back then. There was no plan really but this was issue number 7 and the year is 1988. It's the issue that covers the first FAT-JAM. Riding street in 1988 was a new thing.

Having a car on the course was exciting for the street guys, and thrashing it afterwards was a good time. Check the sequence at the end of the issue.

Joachim Mulkens came through with more incredible artwork that he finished during regular school lessons. So good. He's a cop now but could have easily made his money doing comics or whatever.

Issue 7 has an interview with Sander Nieuwenhuis who still is our best Dutch vert rider. Pat Wirz contributes a report about the AFA Masters round 6 in Ohio where Joe Johnson did a tailwhip on a quarterpipe 4 feet out!

Matt Pingel went to London and visited Southbank. We got a free General Bicycles sticker this time. Jeff Hedges gets a BIO, we visited a MC Marvellous and DJ Cash Money concert and made a trip to Cologne for a contest.

It must have been our first time as it took one hour to get from the train station to the Jugendpark. 

The 'zines are starting to get interesting......

Congratulations to this year's Inductees. We saw a record number of people cast a vote for the BMX Hall of Fame this year, as anticipation for the Grand Opening of the BMX Hall of Fame & Museum in Tulsa, OK drew near. Now that it is opening to the public, we are thrilled to announce the date and location for the 2022 Hall of Fame Ceremony:

Saturday, October 29th - in Tulsa, OK, at the BMX Hall of Fame & Museum! Who's in?

The colour of the cover changed with every issue. I sometimes checked on the cover color before Joop (R.I.P.) started photocopying but at times I couldn't be bothered and found out when the 'zines were done. It's still 1988 and Carlo Griggs scores the cover. Jamie Cameron took the photo. Nice one.

The 'zine is starting to look professional with an official editorial page, contents page, and articles.

Interviews in issue 6 come from Tommy Guerrero, Dennis McCoy, Rick Allison and Robert Moeller. There's a photo of Axel Reichertz flatlanding with a fullface. Paul, Menno and I did a Coca Cola commercial and made easy money.

Frank Peeters reports about the Titus Cup, Le Clip provided the free sticker, we went to Bonn for a contest at Mathias Rechenburg's place, we cruised over to Den Haag for a sk8 contest, we visited Tropica in Germany and also discovered the banks at the University of Düsseldorf (1988!).

The Stokebros are starting to make a presence and Olli contributed a nice drawing of Alf.

Just flip through the 'zine page by page and discover something weird. Find the link below to turn the pages.

USA BMX Olympic Stadium in Tulsa & BMX museum. Ribbon cutting day, the official opening is next month.

Random Adventure meets Alan Woods of Alans BMX, a shop that has been on the Wigan BMX scene for over 40 years, and John Lee an ex racer who's love has been rekindled for the sport when his own kids got into it.

It was 1988, the year after the Tizer World Championships in England and the IFN had called for the Tizer World Cup. My plan was to get a ride from Robert Moeller after the Trier contest but while over there they told me there was no space for me in their car. I bought a single train ticket to England from Trier, Germany and had 10 pounds left for food. Luckily I got the leftover bag of bread from the contest so I did not starve. My sleeping bag was the bike bag again so I wouldn't have to pay for my bike on the train. 14 hours later I arrived in Manchester. Read the contest report in issue 5 of FAT-'zine.

We have interviews too with street pioneer Dave Slade, Carlo Griggs, Steve Giberson, Chris Potts and Jeff Cotter. They've got some funny things to say.

The 'Zines scene was getting big and we have reviews from Euthanasia (Jamie Cameron), COW (Mike Rose), Crucial Mania, Totally Intense (Effy), The 'Zine (Pat Wirz), Damage (Dave Slade) and Decade 'zine (Thomas Fritscher, Bresie, Thrasher and Geisser).

The free sticker was provided by FAT-'zine. Yes we had stickers back then.

Joachim Mulkens, Speed and Ollie took care of some great art again. Paul writes about his freestyle activities in 1982. We did a contest report on the Kenn/Trier event. Check this. I went by train to Duesseldorf first. We shredded the city there all afternoon and then took a train to Trier.

Name: Bill Kaczor
Hometown: Bowie, MD, USA
Number of bikes in the collection: 17 currently down from 27

Have you saved your first BMX bike all this time?
Jah Witness: I have held onto my 1984 GT Pro "L" stamp since I've had it. I will never let that go!

Was your first bike the starting point of collecting more?
Jah Witness: No, I was given a GT from the mid '90s by my friend's parents after he passed away. I was clearing out my basement and sold it to a local collector. When he came over to pick it up he saw my '84, and pointed me to the BMX Museum and it opened up a can of worms.