FATBMX Your Online BMX News Resource Since 1998

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: Tyler Collins
Hometown: Simi Valley, CA
Started riding BMX in: 1999
Number of bikes in the collection: I’m up to 8 old school BMX bikes right now, always looking for more Redlines and Champions from the '70s that I don’t have yet.

Where does your love for BMX bikes come from?
Tyler Collins: When I was really young my dad collected BMX bikes with his childhood friends and I was always alongside him to see what his new score was. He mainly collected Mongooses so living in Simi Valley, it was also a part of my home towns history and with me living only a few streets over from where

Name: Christopher Wesley
Hometown: Ewing, New Jersey, USA
Started riding BMX in: 1978
Number of bikes in the collection: 24

Do you remember the moment that you decided to start collecting BMX memorabilia?
Christopher Wesley: I do remember. In 2015, I was searching the internet and I came across a website for photos of restored BMX bikes. I had no idea that was a thing.

Is the focus on ''Odd' Bikes for you?
Christopher Wesley: Collecting odd bikes has been a focus lately. My focus has been on coaster brake builds from the '70s. I enjoy them because anything goes. I can take a set of cranks from a Schwinn Varsity, a seat and sissy bar from a 1966 Huffy muscle bike, and install them on a 1976 CYC Stormer MX frame. It all fits perfectly. The odd parts that I find happen to be part of the era and I discover them from my searches. I enjoy collecting rare records as well as old stereo equipment and speakers so the oddness factor has carried over to bikes.

Let's show the CPX you have. Maybe someone can identify it?

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

Name: Byron TGI Friday
Started riding in: 1969

Teams represented: Kawasaki Motor Co, Shimano America, ***Redline Development Linn Kastan (it was not a team - Linn and I work together to develop The ProLine series: V bars, stem, frame, and fork. Flight cranks. While riding the Redline product Mr. Jim Emerson of EFF /Peddlers West provided me with parts, support, and transportation.

What was the first bike you used to ride Bicycle Motocross before you got picked up by Kawasaki?

Name: Lionel Eden aka carbizguy
Hometown: Born and raised (and still living in) Redondo Beach, CA
Started riding BMX in: 1977 on my brother's old monoshock
Number of bikes in the collection: Currently, I have 9 complete bikes and 20 frames/forks. At peak insanity, I had probably 3 times this in my collection. I haven't been very active lately, I thinned out my collection back in 2010.

What was the starting point of your BMX collecting madness?
Lionel Eden: In early 2000 I found an old BMX Action magazine and that sparked this idea of

For today's episode of Preserving BMX History we talked to BMX legend Eddy King. Before we hit it off, he had to show me his new Canyon E-bike. Only 3 in existence in the USA right now, one being in the possession of MX SX star Ken Roczen, the other one in the hands of MTB rider Paul Basagoitia. Eddy was well proud of having access to the bike and is looking forward to the next ride. We touched base with Eddy on the early years of BMX for him growing up in Chula Vista when riders were brought in from Tijuana by the local dealer just to have a race with the Americans. In 1974 Eddy discovered BMX when he saw a flyer posted up in the window of his local bike shop. It was 1975 when Eddy first raced BMX at Silver Wing BMX, a somewhat downhill track in San Diego. "It took 60 seconds to ride the track, that's how slow we were." Eddy was competing on a $ 29,95 USD Huffy from K-Mart showing that event the top pros had to start somewhere.

Did Silver Wing BMX track get a lot of coverage back then in the magazines?
Eddy King: Just locally.

Name: Toby Henderson
Started riding in: 1972
Teams represented: DG, Raleigh, Hutch, SE, GT, Iron Horse.

Was pretty much everyone on a Stingray when they raced Bicycle Motocross at BUMS in 1973?
Toby Henderson: I know I was on one. The rest of the guys... I'm sure there were some Huffy's on the field :)

At age 12, was the Stingray actually a perfect fit for you?
Toby Henderson: I didn't know better, but it handled everything better than any other bike I rode at that time. It was funny you asked because I was the first one to get a Schwinn Scrambler/prototype, a straight tube version of the Stringray. The head tube was so slacked out, it was almost unrideable. Not sure if they ever fixed that as I went on to ride for DG later on.

Did you do many of the downhill BMX races when they were around?
Toby Henderson: Yes, I remember one in San Diego where I crashed really hard. On the Yarnell track, I was scared to death just to go out of the starting gate.

How many bikes would break at a race like that?

Name: Mickael Clerté
Hometown: Gujan Mestras, France
Started riding BMX in: 1985
Number of bikes in the collection: 18

Do you remember the moment that you decided to start collecting BMX memorabilia?
Mickael Clerté: Yes around 2010, hearing about more and more BMX old school reunions.

Who were the first people you came across that helped you out to find the stuff you needed?
Mickael Clerté: My old friend from TOURS, Eric Pontoizeau. This guy is one of the first French who start to collecting.

Do you feel there is a need for BMX products to survive for history's sake?
Mickael Clerté: Yes sure.

Did you get to keep all your bikes when you were part of sponsored teams?
Mickael Clerté: No never, always need to sell those bikes to pay BMX travels, races…I wish I could but not.