FATBMX Your Online BMX News Resource Since 1998

Shop name: Kings Rideshop
Location: Cathedral City, California
Years in business: 17 years as of May 2021
Best year yet: Financially 2020…riding I peaked a while back
Worst year yet: I fucked my shoulder up bad in ’98 I think. Financially.. like 2011? A few years were pretty fucked up.

What were your first thoughts on Covid-19 when it hit?
James Colella: I remember thinking it was going to get interesting, I was trying to think how I could make business still work and I had KR masks made really early, I think ordering them late February but as a joke, within a couple weeks people were lined up outside the shop waiting in the morning to buy one.

Name: Ben Weaver
Age: 24
Hometown: Atlanta, GA, USA.
Hook-ups/Sponsors: Pedal Driven Cycles, Mainline clothing

---The FAT favorite list---

-Food: Beer
-Drink: Alcohol
-Person on Instagram: All my friends
-Travel destination: Moab UT

Name: Rainer Schadowski
Hometown: Karlsruhe, Germany
Started riding BMX in: 1980
Number of bikes in the collection: Currently 61 and counting

Do you remember the moment that you decided to start collecting BMX memorabilia?
Rainer Schadowski: It evolved from my habit keeping bikes and gear I had raced and never sold. Then my Dad added more bikes and gear he got from retired racers and all of a sudden it was a collection. That was in the mid to late 90s.

Name: Jeff Tollefson, aka JT & The Torker Kid
Hometown: Saint Paul, Minnesota (USA)
Started riding BMX in: 1974
Number of bikes in the collection: Down to 25

Do you remember the moment that you decided to start collecting BMX memorabilia?
Jeff Tollefson: I actually started the day I got my 1974 Redline Squareback frame and fork 46 years ago. As a kid I traded and sold various parts yet by 1984 I had a basement full of vintage items then started JTFreestyle, my mini bike shop/mail order selling new school parts while doing Freestyle shows. So basically I was collecting from the start.

Do you feel there is a need for BMX products to survive for history's sake?
Jeff Tollefson: Yes, there are so many BMX innovations throughout the years and having those documented/displayed is key for all future generations to experience BMX. My daughter, Jemma (8), grew up with my vintage bike collection in our home. Seeing first generation Redline parts, Motomags, Addicks sprockets, various stems, one piece/alloy/chromoly cranks, into the crazy Freestyle parts she knows so much about the history of our sport before she became a National #1 BMX racer. When I bring vintage bikes to a BMX race the kids and adults all freak out on what we rode back in the day and have an opportunity to explain the history of BMX through the bikes.

What's one of your oldest BMX products in your collection?
Jeff Tollefson: My original 1974 Redline Squareback frame and fork

Name: Ben Murphy
Hometown: Dublin, Ireland but now living in Vancouver, Canada
Started riding BMX in: 2000
Number of bikes in the collection: 20 I think, plus Tons of spare parts, Boxes and boxes of Magazines and a VHS/DVD collection for around 700 or so, who knows haha?

Do you remember the moment that you decided to start collecting BMX memorabilia?
Ben Murphy: I remember it to the day. It was 26 December 2015, I bought an FBM Night Train with Kick Ass Forks, 44t FBM sprocket. I had joined the group Mid School BMX Day on Facebook a while before. I got some money for Christmas and I knew I had to buy it.

Name: George Ntavoutian
Age: 21
Hometown: Kalamata - Greece
Hook-ups/sponsors: RedBull, CultCrew, DarksideTattooSociety, RideonBmx

The FAT FAVs list:

-Spot to ride: Barcelona, Hastings
-Bmx video: Dennis Enarson Right Here