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.
Issue 4 of FAT-'zine is more of a skate issue. BMX Freestyle was at an all time low so we did some fun things next to it. It kept us on the streets and the ramps that we had placed at the end of the street could be used for everything. It was the time when we did shows with the Town & Country crew. Bert, a T&C distributor was a crazy guy who organized demos for us at some of his dealers. We loaded up the ramps, did some demos and received dinner at the local snackbar in return. When one shop did not want to give us the gas money or some decent food, it was time to do some anti-promotion. Charlie Sport sucks! Haha, funny shit.
Vert ramps were hard to find back then but we found one in Rotterdam. The hiphop concert review of issue 4 is from the Stetsasonic concert at De Effenaar in Eindhoven.
A free sticker came from Seaflex again Charlie Sport did make it on the Lame side of the RAD-LAME list (of course).
We had an interview with Dave Vanderspek and mini interviews with Elger Blitz and Dan Archer. Find a photo of Bart doing a cancan on a scooter wearing pink Oakley blades, pink/blue T&C pants and a pink T&C backback and win nothing.
Sniper Frans Swinkels was getting rad on his Zorlac representing Vision Streetwear in 1988 and
The American Bicycle Association is a US-based BMX sports governing body in Gilbert, Arizona created by Merl Mennenga and Gene Roden in 1977. It is the largest sanctioning body in the United States concerning BMX. It has tracks in Canada and Mexico as well as in the USA
After the first "Try-mag" we released in 1987 the feedback was so good that we decided to continue with the FAT-'zine project. Paul had just got back from the USA where he stayed for a few months and visited the 2-Hip KOV in Washington, Mount Thrashmore skatepark and the Powerhouse Bike Shop in Hampton, VA.
Issue 01 had three stickers, one FF sticker, one Powerhouse Bike Shop sticker and one Skeletor sticker that Paul found on a roll in the $ 1 dollar shop.
Mike Loveridge got interviewed and street riding is starting to take off. Paul and I used to do BMX freestyle demos and placed a full page ad in the FAT-'zine. Or maybe it was just a filler, who knows.
Some things that made it on the RAD list were: Town & Country wear, Club Homeboy, Fingerboards and Centerpull brakes. Yes, these were the eighties (1988). Things that made it on the Lame list were: The Del Mar killers, Grabber seats, Dyno shoes and Lee Chi brakes. Some of this makes me laugh.
Scooters were still hot (in our eyes) and we even had a page on Snowboarding (the next cool thing to do).
Robert Moeller got introduced as the first German FAT-'zine correspondent and we also took a trip to an LL Cool J, Eric B & Rakim and Public Enemy concert in Amsterdam. Memories........
USA BMX welcomes the @bmxhof Class of 2022! These legends will be inducted into the BMX Hall of Fame, currently being built in Tulsa, Oklahoma!
The BMX Hall Of Fame Class of 2022:
Early Racer - Andy Patterson
Racer - Randy Stumpfhauser
Industry - Steve Van Doren
Woman - Tara Llanes
Early Freestyle - Kevin Jones
Freestyle - T.J. Lavin
When I started riding BMX as a kid, I never thought I'd still be riding in my 20s, never mind at 50! So this year I wanted to create a riding edit documenting that I'm still at it (however infrequently).
A Tucson BMX rider remembers his role in ET as the 40th anniversary approaches.
After doing a BMX 'zine for ten years (1987 - 1996) FATBMX made it on the internet. The year was 1998. Here to stay.