Issue 28 April 2008
Premium
Regular
14 Newtons Playground
10 Spoken Your scene? 14 The Low Down What’s been going down? 22 Scene Check Townsville. 32 Industry.au TripleSix, from the beginning. 38 Inbox We got mail. 40 Reformist Flat, but not like your tire. 84 Behind Bars Remember these faces. 92 Beats and Pieces Music, DVD’s and more. 94 Tech 101 Tuff Necks coaster broken down. 96 New Proddy Steal your Mum’s credit card. 102 State of the nation Coast to coast. 114 20 questions Zac Miner.
Mt Panorama gets bombed.
34 Wear your helmet
It’s your choice, but have a read!
44 2008 BMXGames
Australia’s biggest comp comes of age.
54 Temper Tempered...
On the road with the Tempered crew.
62 Destination: Fiji
Corey Bohan and Cory Martinez get lost.
68 Josh Mete Interview
Forgotten’s newest rider loves fixing his bike.
74 Cams Jam 2
You want big jumps? You got it.
80 3053
Paul Chamberlain’s flatland jam thankyou.
The crew Pulling it together/Matt Holmes, Mike Daly
2020bmxmagazine is proudly printed in Australia by The Quality Group www.thequalitygroup.com.au
Design//Phil Townsley
Scanning by Europress www.europress.com.au
Arts & crafts//Holmes
Contributors//Jamie Mahon, Clint Millar, Steve Morrisey, Colin Mackay, Steve Gorak Taylor, Caleb Mondon, Cooper Brownlee, Shaun Jarvis, Raine Turnbull, Gary WInmill, Ryan Guettler, Devin Parker, Mike Davies, Stu-John, James Wade, Kris Finglas, Ali Finlay, Rhysty, Brett Mason, Michael Harris, Gus, Scott Lacey, Matt Fairbairn, Scottish John, Doug Underhill, Stephanie Clarke, Astro BBoy, Haimona Ngata, Chris O’Donnell, Rob McCann, Jake Hammo, Anthony Brown, Dan Frew, Hugh Andrew, Chris Bierton, Dinny Spicer and Todd Harford. Photos//Nitai Whitehurst, Steve Morrisey, Gorak, Paul (Kim) Kim, Jamie Mahon, Seaton Spratt, Stephen Hillenbrand, Caleb Mondon, Tim Pierce, Ryan Guettler,, Dave Rubinich, Adam Ware, Adam Sheedy, Nic Gascoine, Michael Harris, Kris Finglas, Hugh Andrew, Mike Davies, Chris Raethke and Raine Turnbull. Photographic inspiration//Tony Nolan Publishers//Holmes & MikeD
Dubdubdub//2020bmxmag.com.au
Nitty gritty
Distributed in Australia by Gordon&Gotch. For bikeshop sales in Australia hit up 0415 585 243 or email sales@2020bmxmag.com.au New Zealand distribution is taken care of by Independent Magazine Distributors (IMD) For bike shop sales in New Zealand call 09 5270500 To subscribe in Australia use the subs page in the mag or check out www.isubscribe.com.au For New Zealand online subs go to www.emags.co.nz Change of address? Let us know ASAP!
All material copyright ©2008 2020bmxmagazine Pty Ltd. Views expressed are not necessarily those of the publisher, but possibly that of the author. So if you’re pissed with something, hassle them or get over it. Respect yourself and others, when riding and in life, you’re always responsible for your own actions. Always wear protection regardless of what/where/ when/who you’re riding. Become part of the mag//Every issue more crew get themselves involved in the construction of 2020bmxmagazine, making it the riders manual for the whole of Australia and NZ. If you think your scene is going off, let us know with words and photos. We’ve only got one prerequisite; everyone that writes, shoots or does anything for the mag rides. Editorial and photographic contributions are more than welcome, we even pay for words and photos. Send a stamped self-addressed envelope if requiring return. And label it good cause piles of slides, CD’s and photos with no names or details on ‘em get lost quick. If you wanna send 100 RAW files on a disk, please name em! Hit us up and make it happen. 2020bmxmagazine is published four times a year by 2020bmxmagazine Pty Ltd. We are a 100% rider owned and operated publication, dedicated to documenting the Australian 20inch riding experience since ‘98. Correspondence and competition entries to// 2020bmxmagazine PO Box 498 Newtown NSW 2042 or email bmxrules@2020bmxmag.com.au Advertising info//Advertising rates and info is available upon request: sales@2020bmxmag.com.au
Mik Bayzand is the toughest rider in Australia. Don’t believe us, get out there and watch him ride. PHOTO Nitai
ISSUE 28 APRIL 2008
7
Daniel Donges
photos by
Caleb Mondon
20B0ik8es Ace of Spades
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RIDE WITH US
SPOKEN WTF? Rusty keeping BMX, BMX... at Olympic Park. PHOTO Nitai
The Olympic Dream?
Lately there’s been all sorts of talk about whether or not vert BMX should be in the Olympics. And this rumour kicking round is gaining momentum. Last I heard there was going to be some mega vert ramp in the velodrome in Beijing so vert can be a demonstration event with fixie track riders circling around like sharks, pissed that something is oooler than them... When I first heard about this, I figured it’s all pretty cool, I mean it sounds as if this riding thing has finally become legit. Not that it needed too, but like they say, you can’t fight progress. Although the more I thought about it, I got to thinking that the Olympics need BMX a lot more than BMX needs the Olympics. Of course when I say BMX, I don’t mean racing, cause that’s already a part of the whole five ring circus. It sits in line with the lycra bandits and whole Olympic deal. Train, race, train, race. Two good reasons racing never held any allure to me. It simply wasn’t any fun, seemed to lack creative freedom and didn’t really allow for any self expression whatsoever. But each to their own, and all props to the riders that make it to Beijing. Hopefully Kahlen Young will boost a double backie mid race and make it a little more exciting than a bench press fest. So why does the Olympics need something like vert? It’s simple. I’m pretty sure most of you won’t be sitting up late at night to watch some drug fuelled weightlifters prolapsing themselves inside out, or a pole vaulter doing the same thing that’s been done for years in pursuit of a new world record and shiny medal. And with the huge networks who pay billions to broadcast the event having to sell a truckload of advertising to make their cash, they want (and need) to have you watching. So some coke head executive at a network decided that the Olympics needed to appeal to younger people in order to make more ad revenue. And heres where you start to realise where vert BMX is meant to fit in... Like every thing in life there’s (at least) two sides to the story and I’m sure most of you are by now probably divided on your thoughts on all this big time involvement in BMX. On the positive side, you can’t dismiss more possibilities for riders to attain their dreams, or at least more opportunities within the industry, at all levels. At the very least, if the Olympics do come to include vert, a few youngsters might score the hot chick at school cause BMX is legit and cool. Plus PE would come to involve daily park sessions instead of team sport X (although I’m still not sure if this is good or bad?). And of course with Olympic gold fever flowing, more private and government facilities will start popping up all over the place.
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Now while it just might get riders more respect, money, and fame, there are consequences. You also get trainers, agents, uniforms (what no tight jeans?), and of curse, rules. And what riding doesn’t need is pushy parents (ala BMX racing) screaming at their kids to “air bigger” so they can win a gold medal. It also means so many more people down at parks, or at the 50 brand new vert ramps across Australia that everyone has been crying out for for the last 20 years? On that, I mean why only vert? Why not park, being that that’s arguably the most popular and accessible form of BMX on the grand scale of things? And of course, there will be crew that have no intention of riding just because, being so focussed on their own dreams they couldn’t give a shit about anyone around, they will make things so much fun at your local. Although it could be argued that the likes of the XGames and PlanetshiteX have already caused this. And of course it’ll be interesting to see if the likes of the free to air networks showcase BMX in a legit light and the Olympic crew don’t make it a farcical event with riders in lycra, getting judged on facial expressions or something. I guess we as riders are kinda powerless in this, if it’s going to be in the Olympics, it will. Money talks and credibility might just take a short walk. But ultimately, when it comes down to it, regardless of the dollars, TV rights and bull shit from above, I guess the best bit about riding will be the same as what it ever was. It’s just you and your bike. No one else. You can go ride where ever, when ever you want, with who ever you want. You can choose how far you want to push your level of riding, be it owning your local mini or aiming to ride in front of the world. It’s the same today as it was when the 1st crew decided to learn kick turns and cross ups. To me, it’s never been about winning with riding. It’s always been about the riding, the experience and the good times. I know it won’t make any difference to my local banks and ledges on a late Sunday night if vert or any other part of BMX gets in the Olympics. So go ride. For whatever reason you choose. Holmes
THE LOWDOWN NEWS & STUFF
Newtons Playground
When the Bathurst council offered Freestyle BMX free earth moving machinery, as much dirt as we needed and a cash prize of $3,000 to hold a dirt comp, I have to say I was very excited. Throw in red neck girls, live bands and the chance to mosh my head off all weekend and I was there with bells on. Words by Dinny Spicer 14 ISSUE 28 APRIL 2008
THE LOWDOWN NEWS & STUFF
Cam Pianta stepped up at Mt Panorama and took a much deserved win. PHOTO Steve Hillenbrand
Around 60 riders from all over Australia rocked up to Bathurst for a festival like no other, called Newton’s playground. After the BMX Games and Cam Whites jam we thought we would continue with the big Jumps and had a total of 400 tonnes of dirt bought in to our site. Somehow we still only ended up with 2 sets, but with the lips being 9ft high and down ramps 25ft wide, these where no run of the mill jumps. Freeagent’s Cam Pianta was unstoppable all weekend, knocking out drunks in the mosh pit, bombing Mt panorama race track on his 20” in the pitch black of night reaching speeds of 90km, or just throwing down the biggest runs I’ve ever seen, the Benalla boy was just on
fire. Dane Searls and Jaie Toohey made up the rest of the podium with some very consistent and impressive riding. It was certainly a weekend to let go, which, safe to say, I think every rider took full advantage of. For those who don’t know anything about Newton’s playground, it’s an all round action sports festival and has the potential of being the next X-air or something equivalent. I highly recommend that everyone goes and supports the next one, I’ve just been informed that the promoters have promised some big things in 2009 and Freestyle BMX will be heavily involved to help them deliver. ISSUE 28 APRIL 2008
15
THE LOWDOWN NEWS & STUFF Make your own mind up PHOTO Gorak
Ringwood Jam The Troy and DJ Experience...
I knew the moment I laid eyes on the flyer produced to advertise this jam that it would be a day to remember. Story & photos by Gorak The flyer had candid set-up shot of the two boys being boys and having good fun, splattered with standard fonts to explain the fine details of the events purpose and running times. When I rocked up, in shorts as asked by the flyer, I saw many more men, in shorts, roaming around the skate park making good use of the fine summer’s day in Melbourne. There was a barbie on the back of a ute, loads of colourful bikes and more gay shorts and get-ups than I could be bothered describing. On that note, the day threatened us with some rain, but not too many were deterred as it soon stopped and dried for the shredding to resume. All in all, a good day, some shorts I’d much rather forget, but a good day and all to celebrate a force stronger than any that stand before them, the friendship of cover boy Troy and DJ.
On the cover Rider: Troy Jackson
Sponsor: Federal, Strictly BMX
Photographer: Cooper Brownlee Location: Melbourne CBD Camera: Nikon D200 Lens: 38mm
Settings: 200th/sec @ F4.5 Lighting: Multiple flashes The shot: One hit, one photo!
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New indoor park!
Finally there will be a new indoor park for Melbourne opening in June. Rampfest is the brainchild of the one and only Brett Williams, a name that many of you may not know. But rest assured, back in the early 90’s Brett was blasting huge airs around Melbourne and at many a comp. Think 8 feet out of some of the dodgiest ramps Victoria had to offer back then. I think I recall 720’s over crappy kickers too... After taking on many a business venture, Brett has gone back to his roots and found his true calling, putting it all on the line just so you have a place to ride at any time of year in sunny Melbourne. With the space Brett has hooked up and the crew on board, expect a world class facility that will be Australia’s first 100% bike friendly park. Can anyone say hell yeah? Rampfest will open on the western side of Melbourne at 47-85 Hillary Street, Braybrook. With luck it’ll be rocking for the middle of winter school holidays. Bring it on! For more info and to keep yourself updated for the opening plus session times, go to www.rampfest.com.au
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THE LOWDOWN NEWS & STUFF Chris Courtney PHOTO Morrisey
Coconet Classic
Easter weekend was set for the Coconet classic competition held on Friday the 21st March this year. This comp was a follow up on last year’s successful comp held at the Boyne Island skatepark, up near sunny Gladstone in north Queensland. Story & photo by Steve Morrisey The comp last year was a huge success and this year was set to be even bigger, with a fair crew from Mackay and Brisbane making the trek for the event, as well as all the local riders. All up, there was probably over 60 riders including the Tempered bikes team, as they were sponsoring the event. The comp was not just BMX but skating, rollerblading and scooter’s with a few classes of each, as well as a kite surfing event the next day. Because of the number of classes and disciplines, the park was hectic to get a practice in and there is nothing worse than having to watch scooters have a one minute run each, but at least the skating was cool to check out. Without going on about the other “EXTREEME” events like kite surfing and scootering, the bike classes were pretty solid right from the little kids up to the expert class, there was some rippers for sure.
The sun was cranking hard, so by the time the open finals rolled around everyone was pretty cooked! The top three stand out shredders were Chris Courtenay, who backed up his last years title and took out first place with huge whip airs and old skool no-hander’s 7 foot out of the mini ramp. A well deserved second went to local shredder Norm who boosted big airs, 360 dropped the vert quarter and then turndown transferred out of that to a bank 8 foot away and nailed a truck to fakie on a wedge. Local knowledge in definite effect! Third went to Tempered bikes Mitchell “Macca” Macdonald, who did some weird downside/decade hops over the wedge hip as well as some creative lip trick lines. All in all it was a fun event and if you have the chance to head up next year I would definitely make the effort. Just make sure you bring your kite surfer or scooter with you.
PMP Jam
The PMP Trail jam was originally set to run on the 1st of March, the locals had been working hard on the trials all summer and they were running amazing. Words by Mike Davies
Unfortunately on the day of the event the weather turned to shit and it rained all weekend long. It was a huge shame considering how many people turned up from all over NZ to ride. After that weekend we quickly re-scheduled the event to run two weekends later and run it more as a casual BBQ and get together, compared to a full on jam. The BBQ turned out to be a lot of fun and riders from mostly just around Auckland turned up and enjoyed a relaxing day at the trails.
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What’s my scene!
Thanks for everyone that took part in FBMX’s What’s My Scene survey, the response was amazing. Next time you are about to order that bike or part from an international mail order company think about how it affects the Australian industry in a whole. The more parts that are bought overseas, the more our Australian importers are reluctant to order in mass. As the Australian dollar rises our prices will drop, but only if we all stop crippling the Australian BMX industry. I promise you, stop buying overseas for one year and the prices will come very close to matching the US prices. Support your local BMX shop, after all they’re the ones that support you! Dinny Spicer
1st 2nd 3rd 4th
Jacob Cooper. Sterling, ACT Thomas Glew. Sanctuary Point, NSW Logan Wardell. Moonee Beach, NSW Scott Mulry. Taree, NSW
THE LOWDOWN NEWS & STUFF First off the rank is Pioneer which is basically just a 3 foot half bowl with a little transfer in it, this park has its fair share of gangsters but most of them are only 12 years old so all you old folks should be ok riding there. Next in line is Deeragun park which is also located in what some would call a ‘sketchy area’ although the only bad thing I have seen happen there is a guy walking around with a samurai sword so you make up your own mind. It’s a pretty fun little park consisting of a small box jump and a few small trannies to play around on. Next in line is easily our worst park, which is Garbutt. Garbutt has three 2 foot quarters to offer and a grind rail but somehow after intense study we have found footage of it in Peter Adams trip section in the united video, amazing yes. If anyone is down or up on a holiday, Magnetic Island is definitely a cool park to check out, it has a nice little spine mini ramp but also plenty of beaches and beach babes to check out too. The last park in T-ville, and definitely the best is Murray skatepark. Murray has a lot to offer with tons of quarters, a nice street spine and regular spine, fun box and a new street section for all you street dogs out there plus the lights run there until the early morning. Just down the road there are also some new public dirt jumps that are pretty big and fun. On a rare occasion you might even be lucky enough to see strange angry girls with shaved heads who will have no trouble trying to pick fights with you [extremely amusing] or possibly dudes looking for anyone with vampire bites on their necks [I’m pretty sure that apart from the shaved head chicks and the vampire hunters that everyone else is fairly normal though]. On the odd occasion there is also a mobile skate park that is sweet as and a big mini ramp set up around town. I am also privileged to live on a large block of land, on which I have built some ghetto ramps. They are a lot of fun and are also getting a revamp and change up at the moment so if you’re at the park hit me up, it’s always good to see how different riders attack them. Street wise, the super cheap drains are definitely worth checking, they have some sweet wall rides and ledges and the uni banks which are basically some 8 foot banks with a few hips thrown in. There’s also Pallarenda wall ride which is fun but also scary in that you have to dodge traffic all the time. We have a fair bit of street in and around the city centre too.
Scene check Townsville
Townsville is a medium sized town located about 16 hrs drive north of Brisbane and around 4 hrs south of Cairns and has 5 skateparks spread out around town. Story & photo by Jake Hammo
Trails wise in Townsville we don’t have a lot. There is the Loam Island trails which are sweet when they’re running well and Patrick’s trails, complete with a Dew tour [haha sort of] roll in. They are being re built from flood damage at the moment. If you have the time, an absolute must is the Ayr skatepark, it’s around 45 mins from Townsville and is definitely the best park in the region. It has a fairly simple design with a big horse shoe bowl, bank on one side and a roll in to a box jump on the other and at the end a nice big quarter with a channel gap in the middle. If you make friends with the locals they also have a sweet set of downhill trails that are invite only so like I said make friends. If you’re really lucky they might even show you the Ayr nightlife, but I can’t guarantee that pool cues won’t get broken. We have probably upwards of 40 to 50 riders in t-ville most of which are pretty young, but a handful of them are starting to really kick it up a gear. Then there are the old dogs of the scene that you will find out and about most nights of the week. Skate parks, street spots, trails, vampire hunters, swords, fighter chicks, friendly local shredders, I think I have covered it all. So if you’re in the area definitely come down the park for a roll, there will be plenty of riders keen to show you around.
Hilltops DC remix shoe
A dark, luxurious basement with lush interior, draped with chandeliers, racks of vintage wine, oil on canvas, premium Italian service and old school beats set the scene for the DC / Hilltop Hoods launch, Australia’s first ever remix shoe. A collaboration between DC and the Hilltop Hoods that’s been years in the making. The Hoods rolled to the launch in a black stretch hummer to join 120 of their closest friends, artists, DJ’s and industry crew. DJ Flagrant hit the turntables, dropping all the classic old school hip hop beats as fine Italian canapés helped absorb an open bar. DC presented and honoured SUFFA, PRESSURE and DJ DEBRIS with diamond encrusted DC rings that represented 5 years of loyalty and dedication to the brand followed by a necklace/pendant with a replica of the HILLTOP remix shoe that they humbly accepted to the YEAH’s of the crowd. MC Reason MC’d proceedings, as Cluso and Regan hit the turntables dropping tracks that had the crowd throwing their hands up in the air. Not to be outdone DJ Flagrant brought the house down as MC’s battled for the mics and the crowd hit the floor until the early hours. A premium venue and hospitality with great people, dope beats and bar that was drunk dry ensured a night that will be remembered by all.
THE LOWDOWN NEWS & STUFF Jeremy Grey blasting the sweetest dirt quarter you’re ever likely to see. PHOTO Tim Pierce
Down on the farm
The farm jam took place on the 28th Dec 07, we are very proud of what we put together and have a lot of thanks to give to people who helped us pull off a wicked day. Story by Dan Frew The weather came right for a small window on the 28th, which was perfect timing, but unfortunately due to a downpour, practice was limited to say the least. The rainy period did get the BMXicans charged up to rebuild and ride ramps in the woolshed so that was the place to be for the arvo, with some wicked riding going on... Riders had travelled from around the country and were well keen to ride all the new pieces recently added to the farm and they generally weren’t disappointed going by the level of riding that was going on. The small dirt jumps were ridden by BMX and hardtail MTB’s and there was a wicked vibe happening. The lads were throwing down, there were 3’s, flips, tailwhips and style coming from around 20 riders, as well as Mcgazza unleashing the barrel roll! A couple of our boys needed some St John’s attention and help was quickly administered, Eddie on the laughing gas for a bit, Brad with a smashed elbow… on bourbon for a bit too. The Big Dirt Jumps weren’t taken lightly, but after a few runs the boys were all over them and the all new dirt quarterpipe, which worked real well. With Brett 360’ing the last big one and Mgazza doing everything off it, Chris Beverland flipping, Eddie kicking ass, plus a load of other epic riders, this was all quite something to see. The perspective the crowd gets there is amazing. Ricky Stewart followed Brad Greenslades first claim of doing them on a BMX, good stuff! Jeremy Gray and Hayden from Dunedin were going massive out of the quarterpipe, over 7 feet high for 50 bucks courtesy of The Elk House. We are stoked as with how everything went and have been only hearing good feedback from all, there was minimal damage to property thanks to the huge team effort by all and cheers for the respect you guys give to the place.
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THE LOWDOWN NEWS & STUFF The last shot you’ll see of Tyson sans helmet, but luckily we’ll be seeing him again! PHOTO Raine Turnbull
Wear a helmet
It ain’t for us to tell you what to do. And what you choose to do is your call. But take this onboard... Words & photo by Raine Turnbull
On the 11th of January 2008 Tyson Jones-peni (backbone web designer) crashed at Weston skate park and hit his head. He was doing a table and slipped one of his feet, causing him to lose balance and land facing backwards down the ramp. He then fell back and hit the back of his head on the concrete, knocking him out for a short time. In the few hours after the crash Tyson had fairly normal concussion symptoms so he decided not to go to hospital. That night however, his symptoms began to get increasingly worse. He began to throw up and was constantly drifting in and out of consciousness. Tyson was lucky enough to have his girlfriend Mel in the room waking him up every time he passed out. The next two days Tyson showed no improvement, so he finally went to hospital. As
26 ISSUE 28 APRIL 2008
it turned out Tyson had a skull fracture with a subdural hematoma, which basically means his brain was bleeding! He was told that if his girlfriend Mel had not kept him awake the first night, he probably would have slipped into a coma. Doctor’s said that he shouldn’t partake in any dangerous activities for the next 6 months, because the integrity of his skull was seriously compromised and if he were to hit his head again during this time he could go straight into a coma or worse. Heavy days! If Tyson had been wearing his helmet when he crashed, he would not have sustained such serious head injuries. Two months after the crash Tyson is feeling a lot better, but still has dizzy spells and feels ‘a bit light headed some times’. Or so he tells me...
THE LOWDOWN NEWS & STUFF Dinny Spicer floating through the Canberra sunset PHOTO Gorak
RDO* *R being for rider.
I left Sydney’s rain behind today, it had been sweet weather the previous days of my trip which enabled my viewing of more than just an awesome BMX competition but an amazing crew and supporters who came together to put on an unforgettable gathering and party for the BMXers of Australia. Story by Gorak As I roamed the grounds watching and admiring the events taking place right before my eyes, I was also, without consciously noticing, witnessing the tough and demanding job easily handled by the event organisers. It got me wondering as the tight group of worker ants scurried around the barriers and Red Bull girls, what do they do when they’re not putting this sort of massive affair on? Some would say it was by chance that day, when I was navigating my way out of Sydney and thought to pull into Campbelltown, only to find Dinny Spicer and Chris Bierton shredding the park. These are just a couple of the team set up to manage and hold events such as the infamous BMX Games. Having a quick ride and a chat, I decided to join them on their journey to Cam White’s hill side jam and see what they do on a normal day off!
Chris Bieton PHOTO Gorak
It may be of a surprise to some, but these kids actually ride BMX’s and are really good at doing so. After a quick spill at Goulburn, we headed onto Gungahlin, Canberra, possibly Chris’s all time favourite park. It showed as he already knew every line and was blasting them with more confidence than a Grizzly Bear at a camp site about to have lunch. It wasn’t long before a trip on the flying fox tweaked my back and the camera came out. The sunset was beautiful, dripping in blue and gold and the riding by both Dinny and Chris was harmonising, smooth and flowing. Wow, how poetic can I be? The images you see are the result of what happens when event organisers get some free time. The photographs are the evidence of reasons why you should support this group more than ever. It’s rider run! Here’s the proof. Now support!
FUEL TV. 24/7 Action Sports Television BMX on FUEL TV: APRIL through to june PRoPS Friday @ 9:30pm, Sunday @ 8pm (April and May), Friday @ 8:30pm (June) BMX P.I.G. Saturday @ 10:00am & 4:00pm till 17/5 MATT HoFFMAN’S CFB 3/5 @ 7:00pm 2007 REd BULL ELEvATIoN 16/5 @ 8:30pm, 17/5 @ 12:30 & 9:00pm, 18/5 @ 4:00pm, 19/5 @ 1:00pm SUzUkI BMX MASTERS 2006 23/5 and 30/5 @ 8:30pm, 24/5 and 31/5 @ 10:30am & 4:00pm FBM GHETTo STREET CoMP 31/5 @ 12:30pm & 6:00pm, 2/6 @ 10:30am BMX GAMES 2008 1/6 @ 11:45pm dAILy HABIT Week nights @ 7:00pm & Tuesdays @ 1:30pm WEEkLy UPdATE Sunday @ 9:00am, 7:00pm, Tuesdays @ 5:30pm
Also, Check Out… Check the ‘i’ button on your remote and look out for some quality interviews with Bohan, Guettler and White with all the goodness from the 2008 BMX Games! Plus, the Pro Action Sports Tour starts June 22. It’s live and exclusive. Yes, live and direct to your living room! Get behind all the Aussies as they rip it up against the best in the world!
www.fueltv.com.au
THE LOWDOWN NEWS & STUFF Tim Hales hanging one out for concrete older than 20 years PHOTO Mike Davies
Old school versus new
When you first read the title of this article you were probably expecting to read something about old school vs new school bikes. Maybe you were expecting to read about old school riding, going big and hucking yourself, versus new school riding with no chain and stylish roll outs. Story by Mike Davies Well actually this article is about old school skate parks vs new school skate parks. I don’t know if it’s much of a problem in Australia because from what I have seen most of the parks are well built and a decent size. But down here in New Zealand it’s a completely different story, don’t get me wrong, NZ has its fair share of nice new parks. However this is outweighed by the number of small pre-cast parks that were made using no imagination or and without any unique features. The problem is they are popping up all over the country. They are the kind of parks that have a wedge at one end, a few grind boxes and maybe a pyramid in the middle. They also might have a small 4 foot quarter or if you’re lucky a bowl of some sort. But the worst thing is you could drive down the road to the next town and find almost the same park. So what does this have to do with old school parks? I find it depressing that in this day and age, when the population of skaters and bmxers is much greater than 10 or 20 years ago, that the parks the councils are building are horrible and small. In the 70’s and 80’s there were a good amount of large parks getting built around NZ, some with crazy and amazing bowls, unpredictable transitions and unique lines all over the place. Some of these parks are still the better
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parks around NZ today and I would much rather ride them than a tiny little pre-cast park, built without consideration of what skaters and bmxers actually want. So I guess from this article I am really trying to get two points across. First of all if you live in NZ, whether it be in a small town or a city, and you hear that your local council is planning to build a new skate park, stand up and represent BMXers and make sure they don’t build just another average park. Instead of building a small 4 foot 1/4 to mellow to air, why not build a vert wall? Or if they are putting a spine, make sure it’s more than a metre wide! The second point is for those reading this who are thinking about travelling to NZ, make sure you don’t get stuck riding shitty parks in every small town, take the time to explore some of the older parks that are creative and unique to ride. You probably won’t ride anything else like it and will be fun, plus they are a piece of history! For some of the best old parks in NZ check out Lynnfield and New Lyn in Auckland, Whangarei in the Northland, Waihi Bowl in Coromandel and Waiuku Bowl in Waikato. There are also some nice examples in Australia too, check out Five Dock in Sydney, Albany snake run in WA, Corio bowls near Geelong and the Hobart snake run.
THE LOWDOWN NEWS & STUFF Kye Forte defining the table. PHOTO Jamie Moore
United down under
The United down under tour was conceived to alleviate the lack of pro BMX tours that neglected the one key aspect of every good scene. The local BMX shop. Story by Jamie Moore We wanted to show our support for the local stores that foster and encourage the growth of BMX at its core roots. Riders on the tour were Kye and Leo Forte, Ryan Metro, Caleb Kilby, Corey Martinez, Josh Kathigitis, Kym Bridgland and Nathan Williams. The tour started in Sydney where we made stops at BMX MAFIA in Gladesville, Hell on Wheels in Newtown and Warzone bikes in Sutherland. We then rolled down to Canberra for a big one at Backbone BMX. Then went south through Albury and onto Melbourne for the biggest stop of the tour at Strictly BMX.
After that we headed west via Connections BMX in Bendigo before our last stop at CM BMX in Adelaide. The tour was a total blast and it was great to see healthy turnouts at all the stores and parks we hit up. Be on the look out for a Tour DVD in stores all over Australia and New Zealand very soon. The Tour DVD will also be packaged with every United bike, frame, fork and bars from June on so don’t delay in getting down to your favourite store to check them out!
Highroller BMX
Our beloved island of Tasmania has its very own, rider owned, home grown 100% BMX store. Story by Hugh Andrew
Roughly 9 months ago, good friend and long time rider Brad Cross made the blind bold steps into the world of owning and running a small business of supplying the goodness in our microscopic scene. Instantly spirits and airs were blazing high. The small white cottage style corner store soon became bursting with kids bikes, mums and loads of smelly teen feet. HRBMX is Launceston’s scene hub, tubes and dollar cans on call! Yeeeoow Brad and his faithful band of shredders have been busy building ramps for upcoming BBQ jams so keep an eye or two on the look out. “support your local” its been said and used bazzilians of times, I read it over and over in every mag, but is so soo very true. Sure internet is off tap for prices and especially with the Aus dollar so high. We have all done it, no denying it, but wouldn’t you rather pay a little bit more to have a shop front, a place to hang out, the joy of handling product before you buy it and some one running the shop who actually cares about every kid and every ride. I could go on forever about this and it’s all been written up thousands of times before. When you buy over the internet, you help out a scene you will probably never go to, help build their phatt indoor set up, help put on their jams on the other side of the planet! Why not help your own scene out. Holla Brad you’re a legend.
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THE LOWDOWN NEWS & STUFF Brendan Hansen way above Albany Creek. Seriously. PHOTO Nitai Whitehurst
The Core series returns The Core Series is back for 2008 and is set to be bigger than ever before!
The Core series is the largest BMX and skateboarding competition in South East Queensland and will be coming to a variety of parks during the year. The Series will include the We The People BMX Championship in which riders have the chance to compete in multiple events, win points and fantastic prizes and fight it out for the chance to be the Core series champion, the competitor with the most points after all events. The competitions will feature classes for competitors of all ages and skill levels and anyone is encouraged to compete! The first round will be at Albany Creek skate park on Sunday the 1st of June (Old Northern Rd, Albany Creek) and is presented by Moreton Bay regional council. The series will also feature events at Deagon (dates to be confirmed) and these will be presented by Brisbane City Council. For all info about the Core series, check out www.myspace.com/CoRE
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Heads up
We keep our eyes out for the fresh new gear so you can relax and be in tune all the time... Verde www.verdebmx.com If you check any overseas mags or online sites, you’ve probably seen or heard mention of Verde bikes and their clean cut, super co-ordinated completes. Well wonder no longer cause they’ll be available in Australia very soon through Classic Bicycles who’ve been appointed Verde BMX agents for Australia. Interested bike shops should contact Russell Penn at Classic bicycles on 07 5561 8122
NCAC www.ncacjeans.com
We ran into two brothers recently that got us all inspired and stoked on doing shit for yourself. NCAC is their brainchild, in a nutshell, premium streetwear. No wank, no fuss, they’re just out there making clothes for peoples. From loose fit to tighty jeans, original t’s and some sweet hoodies and jackets, their new range is a cut above the majority of mainstream junk in style and especially in attention to detail. To top it off, all their gear is limited edition runs. So you won’t have to go out with your boys all rocking the same gear ever again.
ISSUE 25 JUNE 007
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THE LOWDOWN NEWS & STUFF Ryan Guettler fired off some bangers at Five Dock. PHOTO Chris Herron
Mirraco tour
When Mirraco decided that there was going to be a summer tour down the east coast ending at the BMX Games, all sorts of rumours started flying. Who was coming, where were they riding, what was going on? If the amount of emails to the mag was anything to go by, the hype was definitely there. Ultimately, the superstar duo of Ryan Guettler and Dave Spinner were the two riders in question that got down and dirty signing hundreds of posters, bikes, foreheads and anything a Sharpie would write on. Their presence at shop signings stirred up a truckload of attention, and the demos even moreso, with every park the crew turned up to being slam packed.
tricks for the masses. Ryan and Mike, plus the crew from Mirraco Australia lived the high life with an epic boat cruise on Sydney harbour, leaving Mike Spinner to say ‘I’ve been over, across and under the (Sydney Harbour) bridge all in one day’. Of course a trip to the Wildlife park was on the cards, as what US rider that has come to Australia hasn’t wanted to see a Koala or a Roo?
From Queensland’s capital the tour started with shop signings and packed demos at Fairfield, Helensvale and of course, Ryan’s old stomping ground, Beenleigh. Sydney saw a big Five Dock demo go down complete with some massive transfers and a killer game of BMX between Guettler, Spinner and Tom Stretton. Spinner unleashed and nailed all manner of tech on some of the oldest concrete in Australia.
The BMX Games was the final leg of the trip, but with 3 days of competition there was no rest. The Games being a big success with Mike Spinner taking out park and Guettler coming in second in dirt and 5th in mini against some amazing homegrown talent.
It wasn’t all hard days behind the pen signing their lives or throwing down banger
The Mirraco summer team tour was reminiscent of the late 80’s tours and is something Australia needs to see a hell of a lot more of in future. Word to Mirraco for making it happen!
Mike Spinner. SEQUENCE Chris Herron
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HB TEAM SPONSOR | WWW.HOFFMANBIKES.COM | PHOTO: Justin Kosman
BRADSIMMS
THE LoWdoWN NEWS & STUFF
Old school!
Hi there 2020, im turning 40 this year and all I want is for you to run my pic in your mag. I have been reading since issue 1, keep on doin what your doin BMX rules for ever!
Old Skool Dave Theres inspiration for us all in that.
Inbox
Email, write, or smoke signal your thoughts. It’s simple, address it to: 2020inbox PO Box 498 Newtown, NSW 2042 or send your digital communications to bmxrules@2020bmxmag.com.au
Thankful
Small town
Hi, I just thought I should let you guys know how much your magazine has done for me. I’m 14 years young and at the age of 13 I was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease, which is an incurable disease of the stomach and intestinal yada yada yada, so basically I was pretty down, but one day I came across a copy of 2020 in my local newsagent and I thought it looked pretty cool so on an impulse I bought it. After a couple of hours I had scoured every article and photo, desperate to learn about this beautiful thing we call BMX. Next Christmas after much persuading I found myself with a Mongoose Mischief and I was pretty keen to get out there and practice but I soon found I was extremely crap at anything I thought I might be able to do. Every time I come inside with a grazed knee or a twisted ankle I immediately pick up the current issue of 2020 and start filling my brain with crazy lingo and slang (and trying to figure out how the hell to do a turndown).
My name is Jake and I have some pictures here, I was wondering what you guys would think of them. I come from the little town of Kurri Kurri, but try to ride any park or dirt possible. If posible could you please place one of these pictures in an up-coming issue I would really appreciate that.
Liam Mccook
Thanks for your time dudes.
Riding has kept a lot of people strong through all sorts of circumstances. It’s that little bit of freedom and escape form the realities that life can throw at you. Stay strong Liam!
Jake Cole The shots look great, and the invert is even better. Rock on!
Girl power
G’day 2020, my name is Rachel from Sydney, NSW and I read your magazine a lot. I know people are probably thinking ‘What? A chick?’ but I love the whole jamming with mates BMX thing. My 16 year old boyfriend, Aaron is a big fan of your magazine and is totally awesome at BMX. He enters competitions and spends almost everyday at the skatepark just doing what he loves most. Sometimes I go to the skatepark with him and I swear I could watch him for hours. We always watch BMX movies, BMX videos and read your magazine whenever we can and enjoy every second of it. I was wondering if you could put Aaron’s picture either doing a whip or a foot jam in your magazine. It would mean a lot to me and most definitely to him! Thank you and much love!
Hey 2020 I’m loving the mag aye its awesome. Me and my mates have been riding as much as possible and trying new tricks when ever we can. Lately it’s been sweet until I got grounded for being late but I’ve got a good reason for being two and a half hours late, it’s because we had just finished our trails and they were looking pretty sweet. So I stayed there and rode until I was ready to go home, but when I got home I got grounded and haven’t been riding since, so keen for a good ride. I’ve added a pic of me jumping the trails. I’ve just subscribed for the year so it would great if you could put my pic in the mag.
Rachel
Nathan Cabban
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Grounded
Photo stealer?
I’m a photographer from Perth, one of my photos has ended up in your last issue, which I really don’t mind, except for the fact that i didn’t send it. After seeing it in the mag, I noticed it had been cropped to cut out my name and copyright and the riders name, just wondering if this was you or the person who sent it to you? If its not somehow illegal then could you possibly send the email addy of the guy who sent them in, i just wanna find out who it was. The rider by the way is Luke Cridland, he goes crazy when the camera’s out. I have atached the original picture and some others of him doin his stuff, enjoy.
Jono Hopkins. Hey Jono, we get sent stacks of pics from people and figure they’re always good to go! Sorry bout that. Keep the shots coming in, we’ll sort you out with something!
REFORMIST FLAT YO!
Tomasz Hantke keeping MikeS’s spirit in Aus alive whilst looking hardcore mid halfhiker. PHOTO Adam Sheedy
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Reformist All things flat. Thanks to Ali
Aunt flow is visiting Melbourne with several riders getting on her gravy train. Paul Chamberlain, Mik Dwyer and Ben Moran are all looking down the barrel of a deal with Circa that’s rumoured to be pretty dam good, the King of Imax Grant Cruise was gifted Hoffman products through Trick Bits including one of the new Kevin Jones Stroller frames and even the Bendigo fledgling Kit McKenna is getting gear from Season. Colony seems to be expanding its flatland line up with riders and products. If you haven’t noticed Simon O’Brien is now on the team and the Badman’s Cube frame should be out in a couple of months. Also in the works is a little version of the Hell Stallion with flatland specs, it’s meant to be in testing now but keep an eye out for an 18” top tube. Also on the cards are bars and pivotal seats and posts. What is more… gossip has it that Simon is working on his own frame with Clint and the team. Dave “Slayer” Sayer has handed over the reigns of flatlandaustralia. com to Wagga’s finest immigrant Todd Hartford, the site’s undergone some upgrades over the last few months, you should drop by and have a look. In other Todd news he now carries around a little dog around with him, I shit you not, he’s just like Paris Hilton it’s really quite odd. Not surprising then that the locals at his spot have taken to chucking bottles at him.
Get your copy of 2020bmxmag from the stores that really know what’s up with Australian BMX. Support those that support our scene...
Sequence Xan Bar Review by Ginny “I like my bars like I like my women... Tall, curvy and in a light shade of grey....” Being on the lookout for some taller bars, I was given the opportunity to road test and write a small review some 7.5” Sequence Xan bars.. The latest addition to Aaron Frost’s parts company. The first thing to strike me ‘out of the bag’ was the heavy knurling, really precise and deep as well as the clean welds. I was also stoked when I saw the 3 degrees of upswept goodness. (FTW!). It’s getting harder and harder to find bars with decent upsweep! So after hacking about an inch off both sides, floating the grips on and clamping the stem down, the bars just felt ‘right’, I mean just right. Even at a respectable weight of around 800 grams. It took me little to no time to get used to them, the added knee room either side of the bars is a bonus, as well as that ultra low cross bar. Which brings up the strength issue. The design doesn’t really scream strength, but they felt as solid as a rock, with no sign of flex or slip at all, and I’ve been showing no mercy either. You really have to have faith in the parts you run and not a single thing with the ‘Xans’ are weighing on my mind. I even landed my first switch foot pedal steam with these babies! I’m fairly impressed with these bars, I plan to run them for quite a while. They are available in black as well as grey and in three sizes 7”, 7.5” and the Mr Big 8”. Hit up www.sequencefab.com for more info.
Back Bone BMX Bikes At The Basin The Edge Cycles Beyond Bikes Camden Discount Cycles Bikes In Byron Bike Trax BMX Mafia Hawkesbury Cycles Hell On Wheels JR Cycles Kidsons Cycles Lifecycles Monster Skatepark Morgan Street Cycles Rainbow Cycles The Sacred Ride The Push Bike Factory Tippo’s Cycles Warzone Bikes The Broken Spoke Ultimate Ride Ipswich Cycles Certified Action Sports Corry Cycles Crossley Cycles Cycle Scene Ride On 99 Bikes The Grind Totally Spoked Bernie Jones Cycles CM BMX Anchor BMX Bears Bikes Bears Bikes Pakenham BMX MAD Connections BMX Diavolo Cycles Greensborough Cycles Logans Cycles Pau’ls Cycles Push N Pedal Cycles Strictly BMX Strictly BMX Swan Hill Bikes and Trikes Ted’s Cycles Bike Force Geraldton Crank N Cycles Cyclerama Fitzroys Georges Bike Shop KD Cycles Margaret River Cycles
Shop 6 Fisher Square, Fisher Shop 5/10 Paradise Beach Rd, Sanctuary Point 39/41 Pacific Hwy, West Gosford 10/335 Hillsborough Road, Warners Bay 184 Argyle Street, Camden 145 Byron Street, Inverell 47 Vincent Street, Cessnock 242 Victoria Road, Gladesville 6 West Market St, Richmond 463 King Street, Newtown 22 Scarba Street, Coffs harbour 107 Fitzmaurice Street, Wagga Wagga 2/20 Riley Street, Penrith Grand Parade, Sydney Olympic Park 53A Morgan Street, Wagga Wagga 3/24 Isles Drive, North Boambee Valley 2 Thredbo Terrace, Jindabyne 2/11 Mill Road, Campbelltown 67 Meroo Street, Bomaderry 43 East Parade, Sutherland 10 Gap Road, Alice Springs Shop 2, 2 Ghan Road, Alice Springs 233B Brisbane Street, Ipswich 2 / 47 Shields Street, Cairns 118A Sydney Street, Mackay 51 Cambridge Pde, Manly Shop 9, Helensvale Plaza, Helensvale 140 Boundary Street, West End 2930 Logan Rd, Underwood 3/42 Currumbin Creek Road, Currumbin 239 Brisbane Street, Ipswich 239 Diagonal Road, Warradale 598 Regency Road, Broadview 75 Johnston Street, Collingwood 62 High Street, Cranbourne Shop 45 Pakenham Plaza, Pakenham 116 Boronia Road, Boronia 5A High Street, Eaglehawk 36 Chute Street, Diamond Creek 167 Para Road, Greensborough 55 Percy Street, Portland Shop 16, Eltham Mall, Eltham 384 Raymond Street, Sale 14-16 Moray Street, Southbank 12 Midway Arcade, 145-147 Maroondah Hwy, Ringwood 73 McCallum Street, Swan Hill 39 Watton Street, Werribee 58 Chapman Road, Geraldton 35-37 Steere Street, Collie 1234 Albany Hwy, Cannington 75 Spencer Street, Bunbury 8/511 Wanneroo Road, Balcatta 9 Kent Street, Rockingham 4/31 Station Street, Margaret River
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Luke Gorecki can ride fast at little quarters. Booya//Seaton Spratt
Josh Stead PHOTO Nitai
Chris O’Donnell PHOTO Nitai
Donga taking on Fuel TV! PHOTO Holmes
2008BMX Shane Badman gleaming the cube. PHOTO Nitai
Vince Byron PHOTO Nic Gascoine
The 2008 BMXGames had a lot riding on them. But with FBMX now headed up by a rider, things were on the look up from the get go. Dinny pulled more together
Lee Kirkman rules. PHOTO Nic Gascoine
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Brendan counting his pineapples. PHOTO Holmes
Vinnie Pugh. PHOTO Nitai
Daniel Donges PHOTO Nitai
PHOTO Nic Gascoine
MX games Yep, Mozzie rode nude... PHOTO Nitai
Seaton Spratt PHOTO Nitai
Josh Mete PHOTO Nitai
in less time than ever before, including a 20 grand pro prize purse, some kick arse jumps and an Australia Day weekend to remember for a long time...
The whole vibe was more about camaraderie than competition, with the most pressure laid onto the organisational team and judges. The general laid back feeling amongst the riders led to some exceptional riding by all who entered in both the pro and am classes. When you bring together all sorts of riders from all corners of Australia, the end result is a huge step up, not only in the level of riding, but a healthy respect for different styles of riding. This only leads to many riders progressing in new directions, which is all good from this point of view! With more riders than ever before, both entered and hanging out, it was always going to be a mission to get the whole event running on time and on schedule day in day out. But with some creative management and forward thinking pretty much all went to plan, making this easily the best BMX event on these shores to date. The four event days were action packed from start to finish. From qualifying through to finals, it was all or nothing and the result was riding above and beyond the call. Many a younger rider upped the ante and not only rode alongside some of their hero’s, but found themselves on the podium. Most notably Todd Meyn and Chris O’Donnell. And of course the legends of Australian riding also made their presence felt, especially Tim Wood in vert. While it’s pointless to list off all that went down, these pages paint a pretty good story of the event. Aside the absolutely nuts riding, the games featured a ruling old school BMX exhibition and 20inch industry trade show, which should without a doubt grow over the coming years, as bringing the whole BMX scene together is what the games are all about. Between lots of parties in hotel rooms, the massive 2020 party at QBar in the city and endless trips to the upstairs bar on site, there were more than a few headaches, but that was always to be expected.
Dave Dillewaard taking rode your guts out to a new level. PHOTO Nitai
In some ways, it was the end of an era, as it will be the last BMX Games at Sydney Olympic Park for a while with FBMX planning on having a world class park course (the likes of Metro Jam) ready in time for next years event. Where next years event will be is still in the pipeline, but expect an event even bigger than 2008’s. All up the 2008 BMX Games were by far the biggest and most progressive to date and represented the cream of Australian riding coming up. To say that this event legitimised 20inch in this country is an understatement. To all the crew who dug, organised, battled, didn’t sleep and made the BMX Games happen, we salute you. ISSUE 28
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2008BMX BMX games
Mike Spinner PHOTO Nic Gascoine
Park
With no chance of getting seating into Monster this year, the park event was a rider only gig, with little to no space for spectators. This was a real pity as the subsequent riding that went down was phenomenal. Mike Spinner nailed park with his trademark big, tech, spinning style. But if there was to be a standout, it was (the now not so little) Todd Meyn who took the rather large step of competing in Pro and took a second place against the best Australia has to offer. Flair 540 tail taps and more. Enough said.
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Josh Stead PHOTO Raine Turnbull
Dirt
With a killer set of jumps including a step down, 500 plus tons of dirt and a dirt quarter at the end, it was always going to be a good comp. Mainly thanks to the crew that pulled their weight and dug their guts out for the week lead up. With both a best trick jam on the Friday night and the actual dirt comp on the Sunday there was more than enough highlights and knockouts. Between Chris Jones so close to nailing a double front flip, Nathan Tomsic stepping up with more style than worries, Jaie Toohey proving he’s got what it takes and Josh Stead ruling whatever way he spins, you definitely got your kicks. And a big congratulations to the birthday boy Cam White, taking a well deserved win. Checking the final out from the balcony at the Novotel was all time!
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Damon Fox PHOTO Gorak
Flat
Flatland at the BMX games 2008 was sweet, heaps of riders in attendance with so many good tricks being done. Late start was the go, the park comp went over time so flat started late. Many people went to the after party instead of staying to watch. That happens… The pros asked that there be no announcing during their runs, I was like ‘what the’! OK they are the pros. Terry Adams and York Uno were there as well as Simon O’Brian and Shane Badman. Terry took the win with a stack of super hard jump tricks, as well as the famous Katrina move. Links were being done by all, but Paul Chamberlain was unstoppable. All riders were there for the official group photo at the end of the comp. It was good to see so many people together from so many different paths all there for one reason. Not only were there flatland riders competing but some park riders entered. Clint Millar rode really well on my bike to show he still has what it takes. Don’t miss the next flatland comp at the BMX games 2009. The Aussie riders showed the international riders such a good time that there will be many more coming back for more fun times. Shane Badman
Terry Adams PHOTO Nitai
Ronnie PHOTO Nitai
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Brendan Jones PHOTO Nitai
2008BMX BMX games
Mini
We had a really good turn out for mini, so many little rippers and pros turned up for the comp. Both the am and pro heats were so exciting to watch and the level of talent had definitely raised the bar this year. It’s really good to see that Australian BMX has been pushed this far and the BMX Games gives everyone the opportunity to show off their talent and have an awesome time riding. Everyone who entered the mini event this year gave it their all and shredded it. In pro Josh Mete and Jaie Toohey stood out amongst the crowd with their big bangers, fast flow and fantastic effort, given that this was their first year in the pro class. Sydney locals Brendan Jones, Seaton Spratt and the Colonel gave everyone a run for their money with their super tech skills on the spine and over vert quarter, it was good seeing them make the finals and killing it. Ryan Guettler and Dave Dillewaard shredded up the ramp like usual, using every inch and every trick was so dialled, you can see why they are Australia’s best. The most outstanding rider in the whole event for me was Nathan Tomsic. He put so much effort into his runs pulling everything he did. With so much style and height from big 360’s to massive tuck no-handers, he had it all and just seeing how excited he was to ride the mini with everyone shows how much BMX Games means to him. All the amateurs rode amazing this year. They were riding the ramp just as good as the pros and had the tricks to back it up, from double whip airs to flairs, they had it all. It’s good to see the younger riders pushing it so far. The two amateurs who I thought stood out were Ben Stone and Danny Stevenson. These two riders put on a show with Ben’s big tech tricks and Danny’s flow it was really amazing watching them kill it. Chris O’Donnell Nathan Tomsic PHOTO Nitai
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Fly’s Kevin Kalkoff ISSUE 28
PHOTO Nitai
Jai Toohey killed it with a 3rd in pro park and a 2nd in pro mini. 8th wasn’t too bad in pro dirt either... PHOTO Nic Gascoine
2008BMX BMX games Peta Shepherd figured a comp was as good a time as any to unleash a flip, on someone elses bike no less... PHOTO Holmes
Girls
Last year’s Australian BMX games were the first to have a girl’s only event, with only 4 girls entering and having a small demo session. This year we had the same 4 girls but also had another 6 enter, so we ended up with 10 girls riding!
As we walked out onto the course the crowd was silent with a few whistles from guys in the crowd. But once the first trick was pulled you could hear the shocked whispers like “Dude did you see that?”. It was such a good feeling with the crowd taking all the girls determination so seriously and we all started to practice. After a few tricks over the box jump Crystal tried a nothing and ended up being thrown forward because of the roller, it was a bit of a scare because she didn’t get up right away, as she laid there for a bit trying to get her breathe back. Then she jumped back up, got straight back on her bike and rode around again. I forgot the crowd was even there until we heard a huge cheer as soon as she got back up! We rode in a jam format riding one by one. Crystal started out with a no foot can over the box and bar spin disaster and then started to pull off some crazy stuff like superman seat grabs and superman no hander’s over the box! Sarah started her run off with a X up over the box then an X up fly out and a few stylish jumps over the flyout hip. She ended up psyching herself up so much that she attempted to jump the 7ft street spine in the middle of the course, her second attempt wasn’t as good as her first but it was crazy! Felicity did a no hander over the box, a tyre grab fly out and a few airs on the
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vert wall. I had entered last year so I wasn’t as nervous this time round. I did tyre grabs, X up’s, a double peg stall and a few foot taps on the vert wall. Van did alleyoop peg stalls, disasters and attempted a few 360 tyre taps over the spine and worked her way up attempting to jump up the 9ft sub and grind across to the vert wall. She was getting so close and the crowd was all cheering her on! Leah was one of the beginner girls in the group who did a few feeble grinds across the ledge, which she had learnt that morning, and a few attempts at double peg stalls. Pip, who had also entered last year, started her run off with X up’s over the box and a few attempts at an ice pick on the quarter, ending with a barspin fly out attempt! Claire was one of the older women of the group who had also entered last year. She attempted a few no footer, one hander’s and ended her run with a fast plant on the quarter. Katrina was also one of the beginners and put in an awesome effort, she rolled around the park with great confidence and did a few fakie’s. Peta started her run off strong with a whip to disaster, tuck no hander’s and a few grinds and then a backflip attempt! After 3 tries she pulled it pretty clean then jumped off straight away for huge hugs! The crowd went wild and it was the best feeling! Afterwards we all got congratulated from the crowd and other riders telling us all we rode really well, all in all it was a great day! Angela Dobbie If you want to find out more about girl riders in Australia check out Angela’s myspace at www.myspace.com/girlbmxers
Jamie with an over tooth whilst the trippers chill below.
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Story by Matt Lawton Photos Steve Morissey
had been planning to do a trip with the team for a while. With everyone kinda knowing each other it was time to make the introductions official and with that in my head plus everyone nagging that it was time to do a Tempered trip, I figured a road trip would be a good way to do just that. othing really got planned solid until I got a phone call from the event organisers from Boyne Island, who were holding a competition there and were really interested in bringing Tempered Bikes on board as the major sponsor. The light bulb went off in my head and Gladstone seemed to be as good a destination as any to aim for as I had heard of lots of good spots up that way. We had about two months or so to plan the trip. But when it came down to a week before the event, the only plans I had were to pick Jamie Warren (our guy from WA) up from the airport on the Thursday arvo, before hitting the road. So we had to do some last minute organisation to say the least... nce we hit the road, we immediately got stuck in gay Easter traffic. The trip up consisted of Jerry throwing fire crackers at whoever was closest, friend or foe inside or outside the car! After what must have been a couple of hours we finally started to see some progress in the moving of the traffic and it was only the beginning of our supposed 7 hour journey. In true road trip style, half the crew were already a little intoxicated from beverages in the first two hours, while me and Jamie were throwing it down in the back seat of Dans Skyline not caring about anything. We were all just having a damn good time! After near fights with local bogan cowboys, Bulldog urinating out the window, drag racing Commo’s and continuous drinking, we made it to Gladstone 7 hours later (thanks to Justy’s trusty GPS) and checked into our accommodation at around 11PM. Then for some reason we did about an hour of drunken riding in Gladstone park in the dark… y now everyone was in Gladstone and the Tempered team in the house consisted of Jamie Warren, Justy Bumpstead, Jerry Vandervalk, Mitchell (Macca) Mcdonald, Tom Stretton, and me, Matt Lawton. We also had Daniel Headon, Corey Mansinger, Nick Kajewski, Chris Lembo, Shane Batchelor, Steve Morrisey, Peta Shepherd and Daniel Brady along for the good times and the ride. We went back to the backpackers to get settled in around 1am after riding and things were already starting to get a bit loose with Macca and some of the other guys. In true BMX fashion we got threatened with being kicked out if we didn’t pipe down and all decided it was time to hit the beds. he next morning, I guess, you could say was our official day one, with everyone nursing a hangover. After getting breakfast we all headed to Boyne Island where the comp was being held and within the first few moments of being there everyone wanted to leave. None of the guys on the Tempered team are what you would call ‘comp riders’ even though they hit them just for fun, but sitting through three classes of rollerblading and scooter comps was a little off putting. The crew got a bit itchy early on as it was mayhem just to get a run in. Macca and Jamie Warren where the only dudes who felt like entering and after about two hours of being there I met a local dude who goes by the name of Gumby. Gumby is obsessed with Sean Burns. And he wanted to jump over stuff… Namely two banks, a rail and land flat in tribute to his idol? The gap was big, but he went for it in his run. On his first attempt he got all stale after takeoff and bailed his bike, skidding on his knees until he got up with arms pumping to the sky for the crowd. The second attempt was something more like what I think he was looking for. He cased hard on the top of the second bank and was thrown over the bars face first to flat. The dude slid about 5 metres on his face before he stopped, afterwards telling me all he wanted to do was vomit everywhere, but he couldn’t because his neck was in a brace and the ambo’s told him not to move. At that point I wasn’t expecting to see him or his ‘side pipe’ showing tight jeans again for the rest of the trip... At the end of the day Macca ended up coming in third place with $75 bucks and some Dominoes/Red Rooster and KFC vouchers in his pocket. A local dude who is a fucking killer, Norm, came in second place after shredding the whole park to death and Brisbane kid Chris Courtney took first place with big, bad ass riding!
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Macca, hop to bank to big fence stall
rom Boyne island we went straight back to the backpackers to get ready for a party one of the local riders, James, was having at his place. The most I can remember is Justy throwing it down on a dance floor to phat techno beats, Jamie and I doing cat walks all over the show, Steve and Corey asking me to kill everyone, watching James totally shred his backyards ramps, which are pretty fucking dope and then almost getting into a massive gang fight with some local hard nuts who started us for being Brisbane locals! I guess Macca throwing rocks at their van might have had something to do with it. After that they slammed on the brakes and all jumped out with cricket bats. All I can say is if it wasn’t for Tom Stretton a few of us might not have been around for the second day of the trip, so thanks Tom! We all bailed into taxis and just got the hell out of that place and headed to the backpackers for some more drinking and gambling. ext morning the plan was to go to Gladstone skatepark and do a bunch of filming there, before heading off to ride some street spots Josh Irvine had been telling me all about. Within 10 minutes of being there I dropped in and took a crank towards this square rail when my chain snapped and sent me straight over bars into the end of the rail, with my shoulder taking the full weight slamming right into the corner, my knee followed, which slammed into my stem. Total death, that took me outta action for the day, so all I could do was film, sit there and get salt at myself and the chain. Macca owned the spine step up thing and was getting good lines for the vid. fter a good 6 hours or so of riding in between the rain and burning sun we headed to these ghetto fountain quarters, which were dope. Everyone had a roll and some had a crank at a curved wall ride for the first time, but it was Macca who shut it down with an opposite wall ride to opposite tail whip out! Who does that shit, seriously? ll in all the second day was pretty fucking wild with a lot of crazy stuff going down on camera. After heading back again to the backpackers it was time to hit the C-lo and loose all my money to Nick, have a few beers (UDL’s are for the ladies!) and some good old Jack D and hope to god I would wake up with a sweet shoulder. Most crew didn’t get to sleep till 4am!
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Justy Bumpstead, topside ice on a funky vert wall ISSUE 28
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Jerry with a foot jam to front jam.
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here are good and bad points to staying at a backpackers. Good being that they are cheap and have a bed and shower, and are usually bike friendly. Bad, is that they can sometimes be home to bloody carnie-junkies that are assholes. We were woken up after the late night at 8am by the carnie tapping on doors and yelling because he was woken the previous night by us. o Sunday morning came around with a banging head and it was the third day of the trip. We had intended to ride a park that was in Calliope and meet up with some local dudes, Norm, Jeremy and surprisingly, there was Gumby. I thought the dude would still be in hospital, but there he was bright as the morning and ready for any gap we threw in front of him. The park was pretty good and had some good stuff to offer, like a nice spine, but for me the highlights were Tom Stretton doing a hang five across the double coping spine and Macca just blasting the shit out of 360 old schools over the spine. Jaime was having fun playing with pocket airs and boosting the quarters. None the less everyone else was shredding and by now I had filled a whole tape on the VX. he local guys took us back to a school in Gladstone that had some cool rails, a wall ride and some banks on which Jerry did a cool wall to 180 bar. Macca was once again killing it on everything, launching this steep bank that was already raised about a foot off the ground to another quick, large hop to doubled peg the top of this fence, that to me looked about 3 metres high (it wasn’t but it was bullshit big!). With Jerry eager to give it a go, he cranked at it, hopped up on the bank and went straight into the fence haha!. Macca then proceeded to ice the fence again for another photo angle and then local killer, Norm, came up with a truck to fakie out of nowhere, props on that! fter riding at the school for a while we decided to head back to the fountains because Tom had a cool idea he wanted to shoot. After a few attempts and one or two times of getting his right shoe wet in the fountain, Steve got some pretty wild shots of Tom doing what he does best on his front wheel. he after party was a gig that the shire was holding for the Coconet classic comp, they had a bunch of bands playing and a fenced off licensed area for drinks. For sponsoring the comp everyone on the “Tempered” trip got VIP passes for the after party, which stated free entry and free food and drinks for the night, so we were all eager as hell to get there and hit the free drinks. s soon as we got there Tom got busted by Cop’s jumping out of the taxi with an open beer in hand, and things were already starting to look bad. We then got to the entry gate and flashed our VIP passes, things were cool until someone mentioned free drinks and the lady at the gate told us that the free drinks were for a different party they held on the Friday night that we didn’t go to, because we went to the BMX party instead. None of us had brought money or drinks with us as it was supposed to be free. Basically it was a total let down, but we decided to go in anyway while Peta drove some of the guys to an ATM. hat night was actually the craziest night I had all trip, I ended up hanging out with the local dudes, Norm, Jeremy and Gumby and these dudes were just loose. Somehow 17 year old Justy was all of a sudden in the licensed area just chillin’ and drinking with everyone and things were starting to get a bit wild. I can’t remember if the party was over or if our crew got kicked out but we all ended up walking down the road trying to get a taxi when Macca came out of nowhere with a carton of beer, telling everyone to hide them.
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Macca, oppo curved wallride in to oppo whip out
s we got up the road another local dude tried to act tough because we were from Brisbane. I don’t have a clue what the people down there have against Brisbane locals, apart from the riders, who are all rad dudes, everyone else seemed to be against any one from Brisbane. But once again Tom saved the day! I ended up in a taxi with Macca, Norm, Jeremy, Gumby and two girls and we were heading to some nightclub that was having a last night deal because they were being demolished the next day. All I can remember is having dance-offs with old men and modelling down a catwalk with Norm and Jeremy. We decided to leave around 1am and out the front down the street we see Tom Stretton walking alone towards the club so we all headed back to the backpackers hoping to find everyone trying to keep the party going but when we got back everyone was in bed. Pussies! Macca didn’t sleep the entire night because while we were out clubbing everyone thought it would be funny as fuck to wet his whole bed which ended up “kinda smelling like pee but not a 100% sure”, so instead of sleeping he went riding from 1am till 7am and then laid on the trampoline until we all woke up. The dude is loose. Day This was the day we were heading home. We didn’t hit the road till about 11am after packing everything up and paying for the accommodation. About two hours into the trip home we decided to stop and ride at Childers. The park is pretty fun and although everyone was tired and exhausted a few people were still killing it. Nick Kajewski was somehow doing tailwhip x-ups over this spine / box jump and Justy was doing what he does best by flowing and getting tech. Jerry got his tech head on and blasted the hip whilst Jamie decided to play with double whips. This kid just decides to try shit and does them, what the fuck? We should really have only been there for an hour or two, but we ended up being there for a few hours which meant none of us got back to Brisbane till late in the evening. o sum the whole trip up in a few words is impossible. All I can say is that I had the most amazing time. Everyone got on and had a good trip, no one got hurt bad and the team kinda got all official with each other. Even though we didn’t ride some wild pools we heard about or get free drinks, or that Lembo didn’t pick up at all and half the crew were at each other’s necks, the trip was still an amazing time that I will never forget. hanks to my team for just being nuts and getting a lot of filming and shots done, despite the crazy hangovers, heat and sore bodies. Thanks to the other guys and girl on the trip! It was awesome to have everyone there and help made the weekend great. Big thanks to Tom for saving our lives a couple of times and thank you to everyone at the Coconet classic. Also a big thanks to Dan Headon for letting us use his car last minute and taking the time for the trip and just making the trip a hell of a lot funnier. There will be an online web video of the crazy shit that went down over at www.temperedbikes.com.au
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Justy proving that you don’t even need feet to do foot jams.
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HOW FAR WOULD YOU GO?
FOR WHAT?
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HOW FAR WOULD YOU GO?
FOR WHAT?
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Riding BMX in Fiji was something I never thought I’d be doing. Surfing yes... But BMX? Red bull put together some insane locations for myself and Cory Martinez to come and session. First spot was a 5ft quarter pipe at the base of a waterfall. When I arrived and actually laid eyes on the set up I couldn’t believe what, and where I was about to ride. Having a ramp built over water and to have the sounds of a huge waterfall smashing down was so sick. It was a one of time project and location and the pictures were amazing. Tabletop mountain and the post was another killer spot. It felt like we were on top of the world, we had a 360 degree view of Fiji. On our first visit the sunset didn’t quite work out for us, so we decided we would head inland to a local village and experience some real culture. We did the real deal, sat inside the hut, shoes off, and did a proper Karva ceremony. It’s something I’m glad I did and got to be a part of. It felt like the kinda place you would go and pay to see such a view and here we were sessioning on ramps and a stall post haha. The tree jump was also a lot of fun and a nightmare at the same time. Since Fiji is so tropical we were dealing with wind and rain every day. The rain soaked the dirt completely and made the run up impossible. We ended up having to lay sheets of ply down just to get speed. It was set up a stone’s throw from the ocean and the backgrounds at every spot were like no other. At the end of the day we got a few good shots and were happy with the way it turned out.
HOW FAR WOULD YOU GO?
The wallride set up was a pretty sweet spot. Yet again we were dealing with wind, so we were looking for a few good shots and then to call it a day. Martinez ended up ice pick stalling the top while I carved the wall under him. On one of the runs I wanted to get as close as possible so when he was stalled I carved right up under his bike and we got the shot! I was really stoked on the picture. During this shoot we had local kids ride up on horseback and watch everything we did… They were stoked on BMX. All up we spent 12 days in Fiji. It’s really well known for its world class surf breaks and when we had a few days off we got to go out with our local tour guide and well respected local Ian Mullar and witness them first hand. It was so much fun. We also had two Red bull jet skies and got to mess around with some tow surfing and all sorts of madness. The entire trip was a life experience and I would love to head back sometime soon. Corey Bohan
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HOW FAR WOULD YOU GO? Quarter pipe with a view? PHOTO (c) Jeff Zielinski//Red Bull Photofiles
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FiJ ! HOW FAR WOULD YOU GO? TOP//Life is good. Trails, hammocks and breaks in tropical weather. ABOVE//Sunset fufs by Bohan RIGHT//Martinez bringing his brand of kick arse to the bamboo quarter. PHOTOS Jeff Zielinski/Red Bull Photofiles
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$329
$449
$399
Pistola $639 and Team $869
bikes coming soon!
$379 B1 Team Frame
$499
B1 Team Frame
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Interview by Simon Watts Photos by Chris Cooper
We all know that one annoying little kid in your town that won’t leave you alone at the local, always hangs around and pops out to ask the stupidest questions when all you want to do is ride right? It’s very rare that out of the blue one day, years after your last thought of him, that that same kid rings you up and say’s ‘I’m moving back and do you want to help build ramps in my back yard?’ Then the next time you see him he’s doing airs over your head, flairs off of the smallest tranny’s, double whips and turns out to be one of the nicest, grounded kids you’ve ever had the displeasure to have known! Well that’s Josh Mete, the sweetest kid I know. How long have you been doing tricks?
Banging question! Don’t know? 4 years. Been doing backies for about 2...
What made you first want to ride?
Seeing Wattsy (Simon Watts), Grant Hay, and Dinny Spicer riding at the ramp and dirt mound in the famous town of Bright.
When you ride it’s always faster, bigger and you have longer sessions than anyone else, how do you do it?
The best times I have are on my bike, so I just keep riding until I have had enough or get hurt. Living everyday like it’s a Saturday, who wouldn’t want that?
You seem to be able to nut out how to learn tricks, like you just think about the trick for a bit then bam it’s yours. What’s up with that?
I will just be at a park and will just try to do it, just keep working on it till I get it. Or if I see something on a video and want to do it I will watch it over and over and work out how they do it, then try it till I can do it too.
Dew tour dreams, America?
Yeah definitely want to do what all the Aussies are doing and travel around lots. Head to heaps of jams, comps and the Dew tour’s and hopefully make the finals, that would definitely be a dream come true and it would make all that riding, hard work and saving to go overseas so much more worth it!
What type of person has riding a BMX made you?
It has made me a better person than I would ever have been. Without it I may have been slapping naked asses in the footy showers. Na, BMX is my life.
What motivated you to move to Perth?
Pretty much needed a change mate, moved over there to live near family and keep myself out of trouble.
How did living over there impact your life and Riding?
Living there alone with Emily, paying bills, rent and stuff and having to work helped me grow up and learn responsibility. Then riding with Todd Meyn, Kie Ashworth, Chris (double frontier) Jones and all other sorts of crazy people, and living in a city gave me so many more opportunities. Better than fucken Wodonga! Its shit house, there is only one park and it is lumpier and smaller than your Sunday morning shit!
Has living with your girlfriend and her family grounded you? Yeah, it’s definitely kept me in line (which is a good thing) they’re really helpful and loving. They have helped me out a heap and let me build a foam pit and other constructions in the backyard. In their back yard!
Certainly the foam pit has helped you learn the big ticket tricks
Pretty much, with the foam pit there’s people who reckon it’s cheating. Well it was cheating for the first cock who built one, but now it’s fair for everyone else who does it. Now you see them in everyone’s backyard. It’s insane, you see tricks like double front flips and quad whips being learnt! Someone is going to die and it’s the first persons fault! Haha.
Who are your idols in life not just BMX?
Ryan Guettler and Scottish John… What do you mean by idols?
People you look up to Arhhhh Jim (Emily’s dad).
Who’s your favourite comedian? Tom Cruise
Tom Cruise, he’s a awesome comedian Na I reckon Adam Sandler or Jim Carrey
DVD obsession, explain that
I like the old movies, I have wasted massive amounts of money on DVD’s! Filled four cabinets, it is horrible!
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Why don’t you want to get your license and drive a car?
Well because my Skyline gt-r 34 ball bearing turbo doesn’t do a 6 second 1/4 mile yet, but I’m just scared of other cars and driving. I’ve got Emily and other sweet people to give me lifts everywhere.
Why all the hate for some of the other riders in BMX?
I don’t like people who take what they have for granted. I usually say I hate someone because I don’t know them, I only know of them from stories I have heard. But in most cases once I get to know them they are wicked awesome people!
Quick random memory
Kie Ashworth and Tim Rose are two very funny men together… Air enemas? I hope you got to witness such videos, I love those guys!
How do front flips over shitty 4 foot hips go?
They end in disaster! I snapped my wrist and was lost with what to do with myself for months! That’s where the DVD obsession came from and I also picked up a bad habit of redtube…
Worth ten clothing?
Worth Ten Clothing is an idea that my friends Beachworth and Tenna came up with. Beechworth being the hessian he is didn’t have any money, so I put forth some dollars, then Tenna and I were on our way! We were good at the start and came out banging with heaps of stuff but then we got lazy. We have more new shirts out now though, so buy that shit! We also have Chris (Danger) O’Donnell riding for us so I really want to help him out as much as possible, he’s the best!
Forgotten something?
You’re a funny bugger… I get heaps of pathetic jokes about the old bike sponsors name! I spent a few days with (you) Scottish John. You rang me up after and offered me a unbelievable opportunity with TripleSix and Forgotten bikes which lead onto colony and 9 dragons helping me out also. I feel extremely lucky to have been given the opportunities that everyone has given me and I so look forward to a long term relationship with Forgotten and whatever the future holds for me.
Who Do You Ride With?
We have a pretty cool little seven man group, “The Dong Wolf Pack” Haha, in house joke! Depends were I am, in Wodonga I ride with Simon, Cooper, Tenna, Quinni, Lasty, Ty and Dre! In Melbourne I mainly ride with Mini, DT, Danimal, Marnold and whoever else is around!
Thank You’s?
I love these bits Haha! Thanks to John Buultjens and Chris Harrison, at Forgotten Bikes, Triple Six Distro, Clint Millar at Colony BMX and Julian Green at 9 Dragons BMX! Thanks to everyone I ride and have fun with! Thanks to the dong wolf pack! Thanks to my girlfriend Emily for all her support, her parents Jim and Linda, they have been so awesome. Dylan for watching broke back mountain with me. I love that movie! Pete Radivo, Mick Bayzand, Kie Ashworth and the Perth crew. Mainly my family, friends and 2020, thanks heaps!
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Cam White PHOTO Raine Turnbull
Hillside Dirt Jam on his , once again, held his ite Wh ron me Ca al, pit lia’s ca y was raised, with the the far outskirts of Austra huge amount of mone a on d ary an t bru ou Fe n of tur d 2n ing az On the ught an am s tell the story... Wamboin. This year bro ily. The following page fam his family’s property near d an y rra Mu nated to Stephen proceeds of the jam do 74
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CLOCKWISE FROM TOP Make the hip and this is what you get.... PHOTO Nic Gascoine Winners circle PHOTO Gorak Big boost little guy, Chris Harty PHOTO Gorak Cam White on home turf PHOTO Gorak Cam Pianta and a big cheque PHOTO Michael Harris Naked guy PHOTO Gorak Boost into the night... PHOTO Gorak
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Daniel Donges PHOTO Nick Gascoine
Steven crashed in the Dew tour last year, leaving his body paralysed. “We’re trying to raise as much money as we can, we want to get Stephen walking again, if possible, having a second jam brought much needed funds” Cameron said. The jam started at 5pm, with over 30 riders hitting up Australia’s biggest dirt jumps. Cam was pulling off moves ‘like he owned tha joint!’ with Dave Dillewaard, heading back from the USA and pulling out massive tricks as well. A must see was little Chris “Gunners” hitting up the huge jumps, at only 16! The event brought a diverse range of spectators, from young to old. It was a family event, sitting on the fence-line watching loose dudes, hucking at these smoothly built trails! Kids running around getting freebies by sponsors that were thrown out throughout the jam. Most of the audience, by the end of the night, was crowded around the last monstrous step-up! A 10ft up ramp, with a 15ft high down ramp, some huge tricks where pulled off the jump, backflips, 360 tailwhips, even a loose dude trying to pull off a superflip! A lot of crashes brought the jam to a standstill, until they got back on, and kept the jam alive... After the presentation and prize money was given out, the jam was over at 10pm. But the night was still young with guys still hitting up the trails until 1am… Stay Strong Murray… Anthony Brown
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CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT Jai Toohey PHOTO Nic Gascoine Under lights PHOTO Michael Harris Damian Connolly superfiip PHOTO Gorak The proud organiser, Cam PHOTO Gorak Cam Pianta PHOTO Nic Gascoine Josh Stead PHOTO Michael Harris
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3 Andre getting all fixie PHOTO Todd Harford
Damon Fox PHOTO Todd Harford Ben Moran PHOTO Todd Harford
Shaun Jarvis PHOTO Todd Harford Andrew McDermott
The legend of Imax continues
PHOTO Todd Harford
PHOTO Todd Harford
Kit McKenna PHOTO Todd Harford
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imax jam
3 5 30 On the long drive home back to Melbourne after the BMX Games I decided that I would organise a contest. I’m not sure why. I just knew that it would be the best thing to do. No. Wait. It’s more than that. I really wanted to give something back to a community that has made me feel so welcome over the past year. Now as a flatlander, risks are a lot more calculated. We don’t get hurt as often and we don’t hurl ourselves into oblivion much either. However, when I got home and posted on flatlandaustralia that there would be a contest in Melbourne, I was reminded that BMX is purely and simply about balls. I got a genuine rush from posting “Contest in Melbourne” on the forum. I can’t believe I wrote that. Man that is pathetic. It’s true though. It honestly felt electric. I was sitting alone in my pants staring at the screen repeating “awesome” over and over again to myself. I never had the desire to organise an event in the past but I’d like to thank wherever it came from because I’m totally fulfilled now. All I can say is that if you really want to organise an event of any kind it will be a success as long as your heart is in it. Paul C
It’s impossible to talk about BMX in Melbourne without first mentioning the weather. The 3053 event, held at Imax on Sunday the 30th of March was lucky. A week earlier and the riders would have melted, a day earlier and the riders would have been washed away. As it turned out, things came good just at the right time and about 25 flatlanders along with the support of assorted freestylers from the Anchor and Barry Street (past and present) plus many others got the day started. Ground riders from all over the city, state and country converged on the nation’s biggest and best flatland location for a jam, comp and high-jinx all put on by the high priest of Imax, Paul Chamberlain. Notable attendees included the festie westies Shaun Jarvis and Buff, Tassie devils Damon Fox and Lenny Bruce and Wagga’s dirtiest wing man Todd the Bod. All the locals were there as well, the king of Imax Grant Cruise, Mik, using his recently broken arm, Kit the fledgling, Ben Moran minus a bike, which he broke in half less than 24 hours before (his second in six months), Karl, coming off a bout of worms, Andre who supplied the music and can claim to be the countries only fully professional flatlander and many many more.
Everyone started to drift in from about 12.30. You could tell the riders were keen because the listed start time for the event was 2pm and normally, when the start time is two, riders don’t start rolling in till about three. As people showed up, the informality that rules all Imax events was on show, there were handshakes for those who hadn’t met before and jokes for those who had. After some obtained food and others got warmed up, Paul declared the comp should start. A short debate followed as to the format, in the end it was kind of decided that it would be jam format with un-timed runs but riders taking a set turn. At first there was going to be at least three runs during the comp but it was noted that people were getting a little bored (I think they all wanted to be riding, rather than watch each other ride) so it was cut to two, as was a proposed final round of the top six riders. Many different links and combos took place during the comp however this reporter was too busy talking, dancing and smoking to take detailed notes on many of them. Old school was the soup de jour and many of the runs could have taken place at the mythical Skate Ranch “back in the day” as could most of the riders dropping them. The applause from random bystanders was enthusiastic and Damon was on fire dropping set after set of his fast and flowing combos. He seemed to find his crazy styles that were sadly missed during the BMX Games and after his first run, sat down and wrote out a list half a page long of things he wanted to pull in his second, which he did. Not surprising then he rocked into
first place and took home a St Martin frame, one hundred dollars and the 3053 trophy. Damon is a flatland machine, if you haven’t had the pleasure of watching him ride I suggest you do, you’ll want to be his vixen afterwards. Ben Moran who is death to BMX products and feared by all frames came in second place. He had to ride Paul’s new bike and was constantly reminded (even if half in jest) not to break it. Ben’s riding is off tap. It’s original, progressive and super fast. Take time to watch him bust out and you’ll understand why he sends so many components to Valhalla. He is a flatland Thor or perhaps Loki. As Paul Knox said on the day, “if that’s how he rides on someone else’s bike I can’t wait to see him on his own”. After the scores were counted, third and fourth places found themselves all tied up and a casting vote was required and as such, his Royal Hardness, The King of Imax, Grant Cruise found himself in third place. Wearing a huge grin, a Hoffman jersey from 1997 and raw flat skills, Grant was in his element flailing about the place and nailing everything pre 2002. Buff from way out west flew the flag for the out of towners stitching up fourth on count back. Buff, who leaves no illusion as to where his nickname comes from was working some hard new school combos, including a link to upside-down which never fails to help dacks get creamed. Lenny from Lonny (who is one to watch, how could he not be with a riding partner in Damon) claimed fifth with new school links. I can’t gush enough about the Len-dog, nice guy, nice riding and nice lookn, he’s guaranteed to make the ladies blush. Rounding out the places was Melbourne’s own Andre, whether it was a surfer, bunny hop 360 or doing the robot (or was it the wave) during a frame stand, Andre is 100% show man. You can catch his performance for a gold coin donation around town on any given Friday. He also seemed wrapped with the KHE bars he scored.
As mentioned before, the final round was dropped, partly because everyone just wanted to ride and partly because the gap in points was so big, second was half what first scored. After the prizes were handed out and the thank you’s delivered everyone got their wish and much riding was had by all. The sun shined through and reminded everyone how good Melbourne can be in autumn. Later, riders went out and drank as much as they could, but because they were flatlanders it was a rather soft night by BMX standards and I’m embarrassed to report the police weren’t even called. It’s important to take a bit of time to thank the organisations that kicked in cash and prizes (freestylenow.net.au, St Martin, KHE and Circa), without them these events would just be smelly flatlanders standing around talking about how much better the day would have been with a bit of product to give away in a competition. Ali FInlay
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3053 Story by Ali Intro by Paul C
Ben Moran ripping another gem out at Imax PHOTO Todd Harford
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BEHIND BARS BMX 4 LIFE
Toby Orchard
Resides Hobart, Tasmania Interview & Photos by Sam Orchard [toh-bee] [awr-cherd] – noun 1. A freakish character. Also known as Goatse.
2. Toby jug. A mug in the form of a stout old man wearing a threecornered hat. 3. Older slang. A long, slender, cheap cigar. 4. A male given name. Form of 23 year old Tobias Orchard.
Being brothers, Toby and I grew up together and I have watched him progress from his first Haro frame 10 years ago to his light as a feather freecoaster set up of the present day. Toby grew up in a little town called Margate and spent the majority of his teen years building and riding dirt jumps down by the water. The years passed and the times changed, seeing him focus more on street. He currently lives in the well known Hobart BMX house, The Salt Shack. He tends to be the type of person who’ll ride by himself in parking lots and small street jibs for hours on end and progress alone rather than in a group. Top 4 Movies: 1.
The Big Lebowski
2.
Oldboy
3.
Fight Club
4.
Robocop
Top 4 BMX Movies: 1.
Voices
2.
Left Right
3.
Ruff Draft
4.
Pegleg
Best Video Part: Tom White in All Day. Favourite Song to ride to: Pigeon by Cannibal Ox.
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BEHIND BARS BMX 4 LIFE
Ryan Dawson
Resides Burrier, NSW Words & Photo by Michael Harris
Dawso was killing it on dirt when I was just starting to ride around 9 years ago and was one of the older guys I looked up too. Even after a few years off the bike due to a knee reconstruction the lad still kills it. Old school styles with a new school flow and the best nac-nacs in town. Haha!
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ROMANOWSKI PHOTO
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BEHIND BARS BMX 4 LIFE
Joe Brock
Resides Canberra Words & Photo by Rain Turnbull Joe is a devoted Christian, a vegan and a Phd student studying biochemistry. Despite Joe’s strong moral beliefs and study commitments, he is a pretty wild character and a classic hessian at the best of times. For instance he prides himself on drinking the water that comes in cans of chick peas (gross). He also sings Johnny Cash songs loudly while he rides a lot of the time, which may come off a bit weird to some, but if you know him it’s just Joe loving life. Over the years Joe has become pretty damn capable on a BMX, shredding anything from deep bowls to big trails. But it has always amazed me how happy Joe is, especially when he is riding. If you ever meet Joe at some spot in Canberra, give him a high five, I’m sure he will be stoked.
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BEHIND BARS BMX 4 LIFE
Caleb
aka Whangamata Resides Whangamata Words by Louis Bolter
I first met Caleb about seven years ago and he seemed pretty sweet, he comes from a small surf town called Whangamata about 2 hours drive south of Auckland. Since then we’ve kept up with him and he’s always making the trip up to come ride. You rarely get riders that could say that they’ve single handedly built a full set of trails with 20 plus jumps, and is half way through building another set, but this boy can. Caleb’s riding has come a long way, he’s a smooth rider and you can tell that from the trails. It’s not all the riding though, he’s a good kid who’s in no rush and takes it easy with a laid back attitude. So bro whenever you’re in up in Auckland you’re always welcome to crash at mine.
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BEAtS & pIECES GIG’s, DVD’s AND CD’s
How hard is it?
I have been waiting for 20 years for something of this monumental proportion to be released. Simply this DVD is the best thing I have watched. Not just because I know the riders in this DVD but because “how hard is it” is slick and clean and sets the bar high for anyone to hop over. There had been much talk about this DVD for about two years and when it had its premiere at the livewire after party it did so to a standing ovation. “How hard is it” follows the k.i.s.s. method. No intro’s, no credits just the riders names and the riding. This vid is all about the riding and there is plenty of that. What more could a west oz BMX vid show case but pure street, with a bit of park and dirt. With sections from west oz legends like Daniel Jamieson, Michael Cernotta, Kie Ashworth, Ben Coffey, Boots and Dylan Mathews you will also see a stack of other west oz riders mixed in-between like Graham Scott, Brad Kohler, Joel Pearson, Matt Bell and a west oz load more. The level of riding in this DVD will blow you better than a Kalgoorlie hooker. Did I tell you that this DVD is slick? The extras include the crashes and scrap, both are bloody excellent. The crash section will make you feel the frustration the riders have from the sessions and will highlight that sometimes more than one take is needed. The scrap section is just bits of footy thrown together that really did not fit in the riders sections but in true west oz form it is on it. Going into more detail about this DVD is not needed because like the DVD this review needs to be clean and simple. All I can tell you just need to get a copy and watch it. “How hard is it” is a true west oz classic and will live on for many years due to its ground breaking simplicity and full on BMX riding. Get a copy now or miss out on a classic. Shaun Jarvis
Stoked on being pumped
Insight
I’m so stoked BMX is stepping up and producing world class productions that can stand their own against anything in the digital age. Mutiny’s new DVD is a killer mainly thanks to Joe Simon’s vision for a BMX DVD above and beyond anything out there before it. Full HD throughout and barely a fisheye shot, plus a stack of tracking (check the shadow of the cool rig in some shots) and focus pulls between smooth as hell edits and well thought out cuts. If there is a feel good DVD for 2008, Stoked on being pumped is it. I guess I should mention it has some bullshit good riding that defines the direction of BMX right now. Watch it! AdJ
This is the long awaited video from Ride BMX and Ryan Navazio. It follows Dakota Roche, Chester Blacksmith, Darryl Tocco, Jared Washington, Mike Brennan, and Davey Watson through the making of a video part. Lets just say that there is a truckload of big hits and misses, many a spot shut down and some very original riding, and doesn’t overkill the fisheye. It’s big budget, it’s got big riding and still retains a core feel and more importantly has the ability to make me wanna ride. Definite standout was Mike Brennan riding to Eye of the Tiger... AdJ
Mutiny
RideBMX
Hard Sell
Sink or Swim
In the process of preparing for their massive Hoolywood bowl show, Shadow and Cut recorded their rehearsals. While the previous productions (Brainfreeze and Product Placement) focused mainly on the funk, Hard Sell goes further, incorporating mostly-forgotten honky-tonk, metal, doo-wop, novelty, easy listening, electro, and new wave singles. Using eight turntables, four mixers, and loop pedals, Shadow and Chemist aren’t simply mashing up tunes during two continuous, one-hour sets; they’re weaving crazily varied musical elements into elaborate pieces. Now you can finally hear what all of the buzz has been about in their live show. Forget mash-ups, forget computers, and never mind the MP3s… this is real turntablism at its genre-bending, skills-dominated best. Go see em on their Aus tour and prepare to be blown away... AdJ
Aside the obvious fact that a bar with the same name (minus Anthem) is my local and possibly favourite bar in Australia, these Brunswick, New Jersey rockers have got themselves an amazing mix of musical styles and influences along with a growing following that wouldn’t seem outta place on a band 10 years their senior. Maybe this has come about thanks to their lyrics of their own life experience that relate to the common man. Sink or swim brings with it a feel reminiscent of an earlier age of punk rock, with a mix of soulful, heartfelt adventures. If only they were on the jukebox at the said bar... AdJ
DJ Shadow + Cut chemist
the Gaslight anthem
tECH KNOWLEDGE THE DARK ART OF COASTERS The dark arts revealed. Simple eh? PHOTO tony Nolan
out with the old in with the new
A little coaster history and an insight into one coaster design that has gone it’s own way. Words by Shaun Jarvis Freecoasters have been around for many years, originally coming from modified coaster brakes (back pedal brakes) that most freestyle riders had when things got started. Back in the very early days of freestyle if you ran a coaster brake you were a freestyle rider. Not many riders rode with freewheels, it wasn’t a done thing. Back then you rode ramps, flat and street with the coaster brake. A very solid brake to have for ramps and your pedals didn’t move for roll backs on the flat, but land wrong and you had the brakes on... Something had to go. The brake itself works on a set of brake pads inside the hub that, when you back pedal it forces the pads to expand inside the hub making you stop. If you were to remove the pads you would still have the freecoaster feature of the coaster brake but without the actual braking. So this was done and many hubs were modified. Standard Bykes brought out a kit that you could put into a coaster brake shell, to make an even better modified hub. In the early stages ACS and Suntour released hubs that with a turn of a knob, you could change from a freewheel to a coaster. Over the last 20 years many bike companies have released freecoasters only to quit them because they could not get the right deal happening. There was always too much slack, they broke too easy, slipped too many times and generally sucked. Nothing has really changed with the freecoaster hub since they came from the old coaster brake modifications. For those of you who still have no idea how a typical freecoaster works this is a brief run down. The driver is threaded on a clutch. The clutch moves up and down the axle when you pedal forwards or back pedal. When you pedal forwards, the clutch is forced into the inside of the hub and gets wedged in there, and therefore it make the wheel turn. When you back pedal the clutch is pulled out of its wedged position in the hub and the hub is now free to roll backwards or forwards freely. So when you fakie you have to back pedal to get the clutch out of the wedged position inside the hub to make you rollback freely. When you stop pedaling the forward motion of the hub will move the clutch slightly out of the wedged position allowing for free movement. You lot got all that? The problem with all this is that inside the hub you’ve got some springs against the clutch, to stop the clutch from just wedging itself in the hub at any time. These springs are a total pain in the arse to sort out when you pull your hub apart for maintenance. Then with this clutch method you have this thing called slack. This is the amount the cranks turn before you get the clutch to wedge itself into the inside of the hub to make the wheel turn. It ain’t like a cassette where it’s instant. On some hubs the cranks will turn about an eighth of a turn before you start to pedal. This slack is a pain unless you get used to it. You can place washers inside the hub to help with this slack, but you run the risk of making the hub engage when you don’t want it to. There is also a problem with freecoasters not wanting to disengage or, engaging when you don’t want them to and the worse thing, forever slipping. Many times I’ve fallen into a ramp due to the hub slipping... That shits me. If all this seems a bit much to follow then you’re right, just try pulling one apart to fix. You got stuff going everywhere, moving parts, springs, washers, bearings and plenty of grease. And can you say heavy, you sure can with all that stuff in there, it weighs a lot.
overwhelming joy. Finally a hub that is on it. On my first easy ride it did make some noise, but this was just the fact that everything was settling in. It rode so smooth and to have the instant crank (no slack) seemed very odd after many years of the old freecoasters. On my first proper go out and shred ride, I did strip out the aluminium axle nuts, but this was not due to any fault in the hub or nuts. I just like to get my nuts tight to hold my wheel in place. Slap on some steel nuts and I was right to go. After some many hours riding it I did get some slippage, but after a call to ECI I found that by pulling it apart and simply wiping the inside clean of grease fixed that one and it’s now working great. I was so impressed with the way this hub works, looks and operated I wanted to get to know about it a bit more so I had a bit of a chat to Paul Knox at Elite cycle imports, who make the Tufneck brand to gain some more insight on this fine piece of engineering. Freecoasters have been around for about 20 years. Have there been any advancements in the technology used for the inner hub workings over that time? The basic principle behind most freecoasters on the market hasn’t changed much since riders started modifying old coaster hubs, a big heavy steel driver that uses a helix / screw to engage the clutch. There have been a few other designs, but the simple driver with a helix has pretty much prevailed. It’s a very simple and robust system, but the driver has always been heavy. What has been your involvement in the rollacoaster hub design? I work for TufNeck and my involvement is as a rider and product developer. We took an existing design and worked with our engineer, to improve the quality and design that we believed would increase durability What inspired you to rethink the way freecoasters worked? My aim was find a better freecoaster…. It didn’t start out as a clean sheet redesign as such. Our previous TufNeck was fine, but really heavy. I was surprised to find that when I pulled my hub apart the internal workings were very simple and compact. Was it your intentions to have it like that? The engineer’s done a brilliant job on the design. My intention was to have a smooth and responsive freecoaster, and he’s achieved that. Is this hub design something entirely new or is it based on some other hub designs? It’s based on a design that’s been in use for many years on bicycles, in a coaster brake application. It’s also the same basic principle as used in semi-automatic clutches in motor-scooters, so the principle has been well proven. Can you give us some specs on the hub? There’s only one axle option available at the moment; 14mm Hollow. It’s Nickel / CroMo, so it’s pretty tough. It comes in 36 and 48 hole, in only two colours for now, Black or Red. It weighs 590 gms (20.8oz) with an 11 tooth driver. Drivers are available separately from 10 through to 14
It’s only in the last few years that bike companies are really seeing the importance of releasing a good freecoaster hub. But all of these hubs still rely on the same old mechanics. Nankai was the leader in the market for many years but they have not changed with the times. KHE have brought out the geisha but again they are still using the same old technology. What was needed was someone to rethink the way this shit is done and engineer a freecoaster hub that is totally new.
Why are the flanges different sizes? With lots of street riders using freecoasters now, hubs are taking more impact damage, flatlanders generally don’t do many ledge grinds. The flanges are as low as possible to be stronger. A bent flange will pretty much write off a hub, so if they’re tucked away, there’s less chance of it happening.
So enter into the market the Tufneck rollacoaster. When I heard about this hub I knew straight away that it was what I wanted. I was sick of my hub and the problems attached with it. So I got one. Tested it and love it. This hub has been totally redesigned when compared to other freecoasters. With no parts to fall out when the hub is pulled apart, sealed bearings, instant clutch release, 14 mm axle, barely any slack, but if needed easily adjustable slack. The system is very simple with 4 ball bearings concealed inside that move up and down a precision cut bearing channel. When you pedal forward these bearings push the clutch into place to make you move forward. Stop pedaling and they instantly move back to the original position and so does the clutch. So no more back pedaling from a fakie, hell yeah. A very simple design.
Is this hub built for the toughest abuse possible? It’s built as strong as possible without weighing a ton. There are three bearings in the driver (instead of the usual two), and there’s a third bearing in the centre of the hub (to support the axle in the centre and help prevent bending).
On testing this hub I found it to work a treat. My first impression was obviously one of
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Has the hub design been patented? No, it was an existing idea. You’ll probably see variations of it around other places. How long did the testing go for before the hub was released to the public? The first prototype was hammered by the guys at Strictly BMX for 3 months, and I ran one for the same period before we put them on the shelves.
NEW pRODUC p pRODUCtS RODUCtS RODUCt tS FRESH IS BEST All product shot by
tony Nolan
Eclat grips
www.eclatbmx.com Eclat is a new parts company from WeThePeople, these grips have a simple smooth pattern and come in a stack of fluro colours…
BSD ti axle
www.bsdforever.com BSD make some nice parts including these Titanium axles for various hubs (they also make them for cranks too), could be a good option as Ti seems to be getting harder to find.
Profile 8t cassette www.profileracing.com
Everyone knows profile hubs are good, we thought we would just remind you by showing you one in a crazy colour that has an 8 tooth driver. Take a look at profiles new website for all the other colours and options you can think of.
LKI shirts
www.loosekid.com.au Loosekid Industries is a new moto/BMX brand coming outta Queensland. With Jaie Toohey, Luke Morrison and few other crew representing em, you’ll be seeing their gear at a park or trails near you.
Fly 28 spacer sprocket www.flybikesbmx.com
These new fly sprockets come in a bunch of colours and all the sensible sizes, they also have the crank axle spacer built in so you don’t even need to use washers or a spacer. Nice
NKE6 Air Zoom www.nike6.com
Bringing the fluro back, Nikes new range of 6.0 shoes have got more colours than you could ever start to imagine, including the Air Zoom Encore Premium which brings Nike’s air cush, responsive sole and solid construction to the BMX table.
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NEW pRODUCtS FRESH IS BEST
Eclat seat
www.eclatbmx.com Super minimal plastic seat with 8mm cromo rails, part of a huge range of Eclat seats heading your way soon…
Kink lightest bar ends
www.kinkbmx.com
The name says it all; these suckers are light weighing only 22g per pair. They come in three colours and use two little allen key grub screws to tighten to your bars.
Simple eject stem www.kickassbmx.com
From the same minds that brought you the eject hub comes the eject stem… It has a unique wrap around design, hollow bolts and a weight of only 258g… The guy that invented these is also on holiday in Melbourne right now.
WTP supreme front hub www.wethepeople.de
The supreme hub uses a crmo female axle and bolts so it’s super neat and weighs only 259g. You can also get a shiny chrome version too…
Federal slammed post www.federalbikes.com
The name says it all, a seat post for when you don’t really need a seat post, its small, light, will hold your seat and you won’t even need to cut it down with a hack saw. We couldnt find a minimum insertion line though?
Pro-tec Ace Nastazio helmet www.pro-tec.net
Pro-tec have been making cool helmets for a while, Cory Nastazio noticed and put his name to this one, it’s got all the usual stuff including Aussie standards approval as well as a checker print strap…
Etnies
www.etnies.com The Variant is Sergio Layos’ favourite shoe and has a bunch of tech Etnies features... needless to say they are good to ride in.
Animal Bob Scerbo bars www.animalbikes.com
Just when you thought you would never see another pair of 4 piece bars again, here’s the Animal Bob Scerbo bars. Made in USA with with thick wall tubing for better strength, an 8” rise and 25” width, they weigh in at 1068g.
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we’ve got ‘em! $8.95 delivered to your door.
Our move got us sorta organised around here and back issues are now available. Each issue $8.95* inc. postage, which will get ‘em delivered to your door! Simply let us know what issues you want and fill in the rest. SEND ME ISSUE/S ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ MR/MRS/MISS/MS: ___________ FIRSt NAME: __________________________________ SURNAME: __________________________________ ADDRESS: ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ SUBURB: _____________________________________________________________________ StAtE: ____________ pOStCODE: _______________ DAytIME pHONE: _____________________________ E-MAIL: ______________________________________________________________________ ENCLOSE A CHEqUE/MONEy ORDER pAyABLE tO 2020BMXMAGAzINE (No cash please!) pO BOX 498 NEWtOWN NSW 2042 * In Australia only. And get the maths right if you’re ordering multiple issues! photocopy or scan this and save a mag. please allow up to 21 days for delivery.
NEW pRODUCtS FRESH IS BEST
Mankind seats
www.kickassbmx.com MK have a bunch of new seats, all come with 8mm hollow rails, in short and fat or long and skinny, in black, white or brown and in a stack of cover designs.
Fly Ruben pedal
www.flybikesbmx.com These super slick, sealed bearing, low profile pedals now come in more wacky colours than you can think of, so matching them to the rest of your bike’s gonna be a walk in the park… Think dirty, rusty, dark brown colour combos here.
Hoffman spreader stem www.hoffmanbikes.com
The spreader come with a 50mm reach, weighs 317 grams and comes in black, bronze, purple or red.
Dangerboy sprocket www.dangerboyusa.com
This nice looking sprocket comes in a bunch of sizes and is made by the CNC legends at Dangerboy in Vancouver, Canada,
Fit folding tyre www.fitbikeco.com
Everyone is making folding tyres now, and why not, they are light and you can fold them… These ones have a Kevlar bead something called silkworm technology plus there’s three different sizes and 2 tread patterns too.
ZooYork Hoody www.zooyork.com
Possibly the coolest hoody to date. Namely cause it is covered in some of the best things in life; switchblades, knuckle dusters, crutches and so much stuff that keeps you coming back to look at it again.
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Ryan neveR Rides without cover
so follow his lead and get protected! Freestyle BMX australia are launching their brand new membership program. not only do you get all the benefits of being hooked up with the national sporting body, with all the comps, news and great discounts with FBMXa affiliates, as a member you will receive a limited accident cover while riding and full cover when competing at Freestyle BMX endorsed events. you’ll also get a custom card with your favourite BMX brand. First 1000 members get a free 2020bmxmag, hindsight 3 and a FBMXa trucker hat all valued at $40. all for the annual membership cost of $33! For full details and to sign up log onto:
www.freestylebmx.org
STATE OF THE NATION YOUR PART OF TOWN Jesse flairing at Waikerie PHOTO James Wade
Tom Stretton tempering Maroubra’s mini. PHOTO Willy Tassie full pipe mission crew. PHOTO Sam Orchard
Brendan Jones before getting squashed. PHOTO Seaton Spratt
State of the nation Australian capital territory
Puni is back from overseas, he had a great time off his bike sightseeing, but the bad news is he’ll be off for a little while longer with a hip operation. I guess that didn’t stop him from winning the open comp at Weston Creek the day before his operation. He also just picked up a new sponsor through Proper Bikes and will have a shiny new ride to look at while he heals, Puni is a badass and we wish him all the best. A video premiere for the new Odyssey flick went down recently at the Black Lotus farm, sick little ramp set up, dudes got loose and threw down both cash and flick outs to support the building of a new ramp, which will be off the chain! Lil Kelvin Pentland’s chrome Eastern Asesino recently got stolen, which reminds me to tell everyone to keep a really, really good eye on your bike cause if you don’t someone will swipe your sweets. At least now it gives the rest of Canberra time to catch up to Kelvin, the kid is shredding right now on a borrowed bike and won the u16 portion of the Weston comp. New Back Bone BMX hoodies and long sleeve tees will be out by the time you read this, so drop in or check the online store if you think you’re a royal rat. Raine Turnbull just had his final (fingers crossed) operation on his scaphoid bone, which he injured while recovering from a knee injury. He hasn’t been on his bike for a long time, but is still alive. Chat rooms pfft. Tyson Jones-Peni is riding-ish after 3 months of his 6 month recovery trail. Jeez, grim news this issue! Might be more inspiring to watch the 6 o’clock news tonight! Nah. Zac Miner turns 21 and is celebrating his birth with an “Ice Age” Jam on June 7th, ahhhh it’s gonna be cold, I get it now. Should be more than worth coming to celebrate. There’s talk of a box jump rhythm... at least there is now. Time to throw down Hack. I can’t lie anymore, that’ll do for now. It’s brick out! Rhysty.
NEW SOUtH WALES Well summer is almost over in Sydney and that means cooler temps which in my opinion is a good thing… Since the last issue we have had the third BMX games at Monster, which will be the last one there for a while. As with the previous years it was a great weekend, but all a bit of a blur for me, still the dirt jumps were probably the best they have ever been and I think everyone had a good time, whether they entered the comp or not… Next year will see big differences with FBMX building a portable street course and mini ramp over the next few months and the BMX Games moving, possibly to Melbourne, for 2009. In other comp news we had the Newtown’s playground comp in Bathurst which was part of a big music and “gravity” sports event. The BMX part was a massive set of jumps which saw some really good riding with Cam Pianta taking out first place. Everyone camped up on Mt Panorama which led to some good stories, like Brendan Jones getting squashed in the band mosh pit, then getting nailed by the jumps the next day… He was still laughing when I saw him, so no permanent damage... Dinny from FBMX and myself are heading over to China in a few weeks to organise the new ramps and do some demos in Shanghai, looking forward to that trip. I think the Asian X-Games are on over there too so there should be a bunch of Aussies sessioning that massive Shanghai skatepark. Keep an eye out too for the RedBull dirt pipe event, happening in late May. I’ve seen the
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crazy pipe construction they are building at a secret location in the mountains and it’s freakin amazing, 100m long and 12ft deep. Imagine a snowboard half pipe built out of dirt… Add a few hips, jumps and wallrides and it’s gonna be an awesome set up. Check the next issue of 2020 for more. What else can I think of… Revesby is getting a new park, should be built in the next few months. Shane Biffen is legitimising his trails so they don’t get ploughed. Apparently Ballina skatepark is getting some additions, Ballina is a nice park already so that’s definitely gonna be worth a visit. Apparently there are some new parks being built out Orange way. With Bathurst, Parkes and Orange already having good parks, a trip out west should be on the cards. Simon O’Brien is on the road for the next 12 weeks with his flatland, art, performance thing called Paradise City that he did at the Opera House last year. It’s going all over the country so check it out when it’s on near you. Mike
qUEENSLAND Brissy has been wet, wet, wet for the last 3 months with some serious rain action which has been keeping people indoors and off the bike quite a lot. If there was a city that needs an indoor skatepark, Brisbane is in dire need. It’s starting to get dark early now so no doubt crew will be flocking to the 3 parks with lights. We need more lights too! The Guys at Tempered bikes have been making some new team additions recently, with Tom Stretton and “Macca” both added to their full team. In other Tempered, news Mitch Wood “aka” Man beast and Matt Lawnton have parted ways. Man beast is going forward and concentrating on Diversity BMX and Matt on Tempered. Both are on good terms, just concentrating on different areas. Young gun, Chris Courtenay has left “Drive” as Advance Traders are no more and has just been hooked up with a sweet new ride care of KickassBmx and Ride On BMX shop, currently running a mix of Mankind and Simple Bikes gear, which in his own words is “awesome!”. In other hook up news Raphael Jeroma Williams is also riding for Ride On BMX shop and just built up a new ride! All the pro’s should be USA home once this comes out, Bohan, Mackay, Guettler, Dillewarrd… Whilst on that subject flatland guru “Stewart Munro” has been working hard filming a new street DVD. From the rumours about, there will be some mind blowing riding from the likes of Bohan and Mackay as well as some USA riders sections as well. If he follows the same quality he did with his last one this should be one of the best DVD’s to drop in OZ in a while, so keep your ears and eyes peeled for that one. It’s probably old news but Brissy’s Peta Shepherd is the first girl to ever go upside down on purpose and roll away in Australia which she debuted at the BMX games in Sydney and has since been sending them all over Brisbane’s finest cement parks. Tim Wood has been getting his ramp set up very dialled lately and also been hard at work, getting the new ramps at Beenleigh built. The park has doubled in ramps and tripled in lines, and it’s gonna be scary to see what the new set ups produce. The set up includes new dirt jumps as well that should be nice and clean unlike the previous ones. A lot of effort has gone into them so if you know one of the many people that have helped, give them
a pat on the back. Speaking of new parks, the Gold Coast has been making ways in their three new set ups, with Elanora nearly finished and Varsity Lakes coming up soon. The only problem is that there is already some heated skate/surfer angst against the BMX crew, so if you head there make sure your head is screwed on and beware of the Shakka bro! attitudes. The Anzac weekend “Filthy drain challenge 2” is being held in Brisbane on Saturday the 26th of April. There will be ghetto set ups and ramps and possibly even some dirt jumps if all goes to plan. If the first one was anything to go by, this one should go off! Sponsors so far are Tempered Bikes and Ride On BMX shop as well as Animal bike’s, Stowaway distribution, Mankind Bikes, 2020, Emancipate and Cropthorn clothing. The location will be kept on the down low till a day or two before so the set up doesn’t get thrashed. Peep www.temperedbikes.com and www.rideonbmx.com.au to get the address in the days before. It will be a 10 min drive from Bris city so for all you interstate crew a car will be needed, looking to be a big one! That’s all I can think of right now… Steve Morrisey Even with the increasing temperature, the north QLD riding scene is still going strong. Just recently, there was a dirt jump clinic and comp held at public dirt jumps at the Murray sporting complex. The standout riders of the day were Jerome Misford, Ben Isaacson, Josh Draper and Callan Brown and in related news Jason Drury wrote off his ankle for a few weeks doing a bizarre mix of a superman seat and a tailwhip. A new BMX company has started up out of Mackay called Flatline BMX. The flatline team are already testing prototypes and their first batch is on the way, so if you need a new frame support a local, you can check out frame pics at www.myspace.com/ flatlinebmx There are also plans for another backyard jam at my place soon so listen out for more details. Jake Hammo
tASMANIA Summer’s over in Tassie, a lot sooner than the rest of the country too. Upon reflection though, it’s been a pretty good one. A handful of trips went down along with a lot of fun and good times. A relatively new skatepark has been built at Burnie in the state’s North, super smooth transitions and some of the biggest in the state too. The south crew headed up to the unknown a few weeks back and rode a fullpipe, easily the highlight of our summer, contrary to that though it rained the whole time. There were 7 of us cramped into 2 cars with a generator, lights, bikes and a pump up mattress to use as a raft to get across the lake to the pipe. Good times. Speaking of South BMX, filming for the new video is well underway. Hoping to get it out by the end of the year with full sections from the state’s finest. The Forward Motion DVD is still available at good BMX shops and via mail order, $15 postage paid. Contact southbmxdvd@hotmail. com or order one from this mag. In Salt Shack news, Hugh Andrew has moved from Launceston to Hobart’s Salt Shack BMX institution. Trav Mitchell is out of action for a while as result of an ankle injury and Toby Orchard fell on his face bunny hopping a bench and lost his memory for a day. That’s all we’ve got to report from the Hobart area of Tassie for now! Sam
ALEX FELIX WAtSON
11tH MAy 1985 – 29tH MARCH 2008
Mango blasting Ballarat’s favourite hip.
Double frontflips?
PHOTO James patterson
SOUtH AUStRALIA Adelaide has been a busy place over the last few months. The weather has been pretty spastic, as I’m writing this it’s pissing down outside. But last week it was mild and before that we had 15 odd days of 35 plus degree heat. Kinda ridiculous, but you have to take the good with the bad I guess. On the jam front, the scene has been a little bit quiet. Summer was a bit too hot, I guess and most of my own Sundays were spent at the beach getting over my hangover rather than riding and sweating it out. Having said that, we did have a jam at Golden Grove just the other day, which went down a treat. Well, I should say, it went down a treat a little belatedly. It was initially set for something like (I’m reaching for the calendar now...) March 8th, but it was too hot, so we put it forward a week to the 15th and that was too hot, so we put it forward to the 29th, and it almost got rained out! Like I said, the weather has been spastic. In park news, we have lost an old beast, Skate FX is officially dead. Home of sessions on many a cold rainy night, Adelaide riders now have no safe refuge from winter. The semi-official word is that it didn’t meet the fire code, or something, so they had to close, and I guess it was expected. Many of us had commented that it was only a matter of time before a health inspector popped his head in... Or some kid hurt themselves and sued (skatefx had no insurance) or a fire inspector, or a building inspector, or someone official. But it definitely sucks, we’ll miss that place. Thanks Beau and Cha for giving us a good place to ride during winter! Now who is going to step it up and open a new indoor park. As far as new parks go, we’ve got a new one finished at Murray Bridge that is pretty awesome. It’s got a cool bowl setup and a pretty standard street section but the main issue there is snakage, everything is packed together pretty close and there are like one million razor scooters in Murray Bridge, so it can get hectic. Gumeracha park is also nearly completed, well it will probably be completed by the time this has been published. There are still the ever present rumours of city skate being demolished and moved to somewhere in North Adelaide, but at the moment it is just a rumour, they haven’t even confirmed the building of the new hospital, yet. Riding wise, well Jesse Bull just keeps getting better and better. Darryn James has been recently hooked up on Tempered which is awesome for him and I think it will really paint Tempered in a positive light too. Darryn is an absolute ruler, all around nice guy, and apprentice mechanic (which would imply that he had a shit bike, which would be correct). I might add that he has been on Dishonour for a long time, because he can’t afford clothes. Since getting his new frame and a few donated parts from good samaritans, he’s been riding a lot more which makes everyone smell better. Ryan Lloyd is absolutely shredding and producing some nice footage and shots, stay tuned to some mags and what not in the future, I think you’ll be hearing a fair bit about that kid! Oh yeah, City local Wedge has really high bars. Check them out... can you say 4 spacers, flipped upside down Knight stem and ape hangers... OW! As for comings and goings... Well Beachy came to Adelaide, then went, then came back
PHOTO Nitai
again. Squeek has returned from the NT, but I think his bike is shagged or he doesn’t have a bike or something along those lines. Josh Kat disappeared for a while on the United Tour but now he’s back... speaking of Josh, he has shagged his wrist and will be out for a reasonable amount of time. I can’t remember how long, but I can distinctly remember saying WHOA, when he said how long it was gonna be. As Dehney would so eloquently put it... “He’d be devved”. I don’t really think there is that much more to add. The scene is still going really, really strong down here and it only seems to be getting better. Hopefully the weather will be nice to us and allow us to pack in a few jams this winter, and Boris would be stoked to know that we’re probably going to do Blackwood next and potentially mack some biddies at the shervo, on the way. All you SA kids should stay tuned to the ugzine.com forums and blog, there is a lot of SA related banter around that place! James Wade
VICtORIA Hey everyone out there, not a whole lot has gone down over the past few months but I will layout what has caught my ear recently. Kym Grosser spent a few weeks riding in Brighton, UK filming a section for the Brighton aint ready DVD, no doubt he blew minds with his original riding style. After years of fighting for it, the Bendigo locals have got their new park and she is a beauty! If you’re ever out that way check it out for a good shred. We’ve had some characters visit our shores over the summer with the likes of the Fly team, United squad, the Nike 6.0 crew and some of the S&M team all shredding spots and hanging out. Can’t say I have a bad word to say about any of them, it’s rad when you get to meet people you grew up watching in video’s and they’re actually good people in person. A couple of people are down and out at the moment, Daniel Fashion broke his leg recently, Marc Arnold broke his hand and Sam Matthews was hit by a car, must be something in the family cause his brother Tom was also hit by a car late last year. A big get well soon to all those boys and also anyone else on the injury list. Sponno stuff now… Chris Finnigan is riding for Fit Bike Co, Marko Maksimovic is getting helped out by United and Mick Bayzand and Liam Fahy Hampton are on Profile. Both Mick and Liam have signature parts coming out on Colony over the coming months so be on the lookout for them in the near future. And last but definitely not least, Zack Musarsa has been hooked up by Fly. Cooper
WEStERN AUStRALIA So the time has moved forward again and I’m finding myself in front of the screen typing up some shenanigans from around this great sunset state of ours. I suppose the biggest news around WA at the moment is the fact that Mr Kie Ashworth can now enjoy all the Fire, Beer and Mayhem he wants to with the Fat Bald Men as he has got himself upgraded to the pro team on FBM. I think that this is a major achievement as Kie might be the first rider to gain a pro team status without leaving Australia to ride in them big contests. Congrats Kie. Chris Jones is not only flipping around on his bike but is also flipping around the state with many jobs. From being in the wheat belt learning a bit about shearing some
On the 29th of March 2008 Felix tragically took his own life. There are many unanswered questions surrounding his death but one thing for sure is he will be deeply missed by a lot of people. While Felix hadn’t ridden in the past few years he was still very much considered a respected rider by everyone who knew him. If you thought you could learn a trick quick, think again, Felix continually blew my mind and everyone else’s with his amazing ability to analyse a trick and make it a reality. This wasn’t just limited to riding either, he would set his mind to absolutely anything he wanted to do and make it look easy. I met Felix at quite a young age and found out very quickly that he wasn’t like a lot of the other kids, he had a maturity beyond his years and a personality most people can only dream of. It is an absolute tragedy that his life was cut so short. On behalf of myself and all of his friends we sincerely hope you have found a better place. YOU WILL NEVER BE FORGOTTEN. Shane Biffen sheep, to living and working in Bunbury concreting. He’s now brought the country to the city and is working in Perth. His double front flips are getting dialled in, after his double front flip at the BMX games there has been much talk about the trick. Yes we know he didn’t ride away from it, but shit man, the guy spun a double front flip and landed both wheels down only to bail on impact from the downward force. How about young Todd Meyn, we won’t be able to call him young for much longer as he too is growing up. Taking second place in pro park at the BMX games. That kid has been ripping it up since he was younger than young, he needs to get hooked up with some flow from someone. Mandurah skatepark recently had a comp as part of the crab festival. It was one of the most fun days I’ve had on my bike for a long time, thanks Tomo you’re tops. Jarrod Coleman took the win in the under 14’s and Todd Meyn won the opens comp. Others to note were Jay Wilson spinning a 720 over the spine and Matt Bell lofting some large Ruben rides. Those kids down there are good I tell you. Ex west oz rider and now Adelaide resident Josh Brind said that Adelaide is sick and a big g’day to all. Brock from Greenhead, a town on the coast about 320kms north of Perth has said that they are building some trails up there. Good work guys. Bayswater skatepark has had a new addition in the way of some dope dirt jumps. As far as I’m told Adam Lewis, aka Killa built them, and they had their first major outing at the Boomshanka festival. Many riders found them a bit hard to get through except for Tim Rose who had this to say about them “they are f#@kin sweet”. Butler skatepark is finally finished, well it will be by the time you read this. It looks like it’s got a spine and a bit of a rhythm section with some grindy stuff in there as well. The forever slippery Kalgoorlie skatepark is looking into getting the surface lightly sandblasted to add some extra grip. That place is rad to ride and I don’t know how the locals rip that place with it being so slippery. A big props goes out to Nev in Kalgoorlie for doing the right thing and still ripping it up. www.westozbmx.com has had a major revamp with a whole new forum and new look. Ben has gotten over his update constipation and is now regular with them. Way to go. It also looks like Ben has got some extra time on his hands now and has made some one off westozbmx bottle openers, if you were lucky enough to win the bid on eBay to get one, congrats. Also new is the westozbmx little rocker t shirt. You know you want one, so log into the site and get one for your mum. And what’s this about a westozbmx team? Is Perth really going to be getting some mad themed jams happening in the future? Only time will tell. One jam going down some time in May will be the team battle jam hosted by freestyle now. Teams of 5 riders will be forced to wear suits of armour and have jousting sticks and battle it out to the death. But in reality it’s going to be a totally fun day with prizes up for grabs for teams in some bizarre categories like the rattiest team, best dressed team, slickest team and so forth. Location is still being found as you read this but look at the westozbmx forums for more details. Jon in Manjimup is organising a jam / comp deal for the long weekend in June. Look for the 1st June as a date. Back Bone BMX is supporting it. The day is to Continued on page 104 ISSUE 28 APRIL 2008
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StAtE OF tHE NAtION YOUR PART OF TOWN Reefton at night PHOTO Dave Coulson
help raise some money and awareness for a new skatepark in Manjimup. The freestyle now ramps might be going down as well to add to the festivities. Camping sites are a possibility on a farm so what are you lot waiting for, get a road trip going. Stuart Keenan is road tripping in a large way. He’s off to live his dream by travelling the world. He’s packing undies and bike and heading off to America, Canada and then to Europe. He will probably be gone for about a year so I hope to get some updates from him in that time. Good luck Stewart and have fun and play safe. One road trip that took place recently was one to Albany. Many riders ventured down to party and ride. I wish I was one of them but other duties prevailed. The ancient snake run saw Brad Kohler again go full throttle and jump longer than you ever could. As well as some street and natural rock action. They also let loose at the new Albany skatepark. That town has a lot to offer to the BMX rider in all of you. Link to this to see some of the action. http://westozbmx.com/videos/albanybro.mov The forever ongoing waflatland soap opera is still ongoing. Not sure why people do what they do but it’s kinda getting a bit old. We all ride so therefore we are. Build some bridges guys and get to the other side. The property values in Perth have been on the rise and to buy a house in the street can be quite hard to do. That is unless your name is Boots as he now officially owns all the streets in Perth. That guy is hella rich now, word. That’s about as much as I can get out of this lot over in the west. If you’ve got some news worthy stuff or you know how to gain control of the streets from boots then email it to shaun@freestylenow.net.au Shaun Jarvis
NEW zEALAND SOUtH Unfortunately we have a sad start to the news this time around, with the loss of two young riders near the end of last year. Brody of Motueka and Kane “peanut” Andrews of Queenstown. Both riders lost their lives as a result of a car crash. (separate incidents). They have left an empty space in both riding scenes which can not be replaced. Condolences go out to the families and friends that knew them. The riding here in Queenstown has been cranking of late. With most the BMXers turning to the big wheel experience (while Coronet Peak has their downhill set up cranking). Massive thanks go out to farm boy Dan Frew and the Frew crew plus Unit clothing for putting on an amazing day of BMX / MTB / 50 bike racing and freestyle moto down near Winton for the annual Frew Farm Jam! It was sick! heaps of dirt jumping madness! Kelly McGary threw down a barrel roll over the 30 foot dirt jumps! and Jeremy Gray along with Brett Frew and Paul Needham were boosting 6 foot plus out of the 10 foot dirt quarter! Robbie Brown also made the trip down to the farm with EDH Travis, Daine and Kowalski. Robbie was going huge over the dirt jumps with very nice superman whips! Brad went down hard on the dirt and was knocked for a six and was left with a king size water bed where his elbow once was. Ricky Stewart rode the 30 foot jumps with style that only he can flow. Check out “Frew farm” on youtube.com for some
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footage from the day. Queenstown skatepark was demolished last September and work has finally begun on the new “plaza” style park. Funding is still in the process for the construction of a “swimming pool” style bowl. So more time has been spent scoping every corner of this town and its surroundings for riding spots while we wait for a new park to be built. I’d like to welcome back Mr Dave Coulson to Qtown! It’s really good to have you back rolling dude! Let’s get that “social” jam back up and running eh! With summer here and temperatures up around 28 plus we are trying to get as much riding done as possible while the weather is good! BMXer / MTB rider Karl (from Nelson) has made Qtown his home since rolling through here for the Frew jam. Kelly McGary has been blasting off everything he can with Brett Frew and crew before he heads over to Canada. Brett to is going to be shooting over to Canada and then on to Brazil with his girl Leticia. Cannan Witton is rumoured to be moving down to Qtwn from Wellington? While on a recent trip to OZ Brad got well stoked on a hookup of some flow from Australia’s UNIT clothing. thanks to Ian at UNIT! Revolver bar owners Jono and Matty put on a bike jam down at the gorge road dirt jumps and by the end of the session things were going crazy, with a few people limping away. The gorge road dirt park is having some work done to it in the form of some more jumps, thanks to the Queenstown city council for giving us some more land. Ricky will be bustin’ to roll them before winter. No doubt autumn will be here in no time so best we get out riding. Devin Time seems to fly by these days, a lot has been happening, it’s been pretty hard to recall. The 2008 New Zealand BMX Nationals has just finished and what a packed 3 days that was. Awesome racing and a few spills to go with it. Thanks to all those that came down to the Revolution NZ / EDH stall to chill out and support us! The Blenheim riders are having their annual trails jam on Saturday 29 March before the weather packs in, a few people are heading up for that, as the jam is well known for good times with Puha and the crew. Dave Coulson has organised the Social Jam for the same weekend which makes things even tougher as the Social jams are Rad too. Decisions… Kwol and myself just got back from a decent 5 week trip that stemmed from Christchurch to Sydney and on to South Africa. I had never been to Sydney before and was totally stoked on the place the whole time we were there. Intentions were to go see the BMX Games at Monster but never made it. Sydney has tonnes of things going on and we spent a load of time cruising the streets trying to find parks, meeting some awesome locals and even heading over to see Hell on Wheels to see what was happening over there. South Africa is amazing to say the least, put aside all the crap you have heard of the place and head over there! It’s fair to say you need to keep an eye out at times but with a mixture of really friendly and ripping locals you’ll soon forget about any doubts you had. Shogn Lee from ‘BMX Direct’ rounded up the boys on their side and met up with us at different parks around Durban for a number of memorable sessions. All the parks are in the craziest of places too like shopping centres and casino’s. Anyway I could go
on about the trip for pages but will leave it at that. Revolution NZ, for those that haven’t heard, started off as an online store for riders here in NZ and is now on its way to opening up as a concept store here in Christchurch. Everyone is really stoked on the idea and wish Sam and Nate best of luck for it. Check out www.revolutionnz.com for more haps on the store. EDH is preparing for 08 with a few new prods ready for release in the next few months, if you’re wanting EDH goodies get your local store to give Jamie a ring at Stowaway, he will sort ya out. Travis
NEW zEALAND NORtH We are coming into the end of summer now down here in NZ, the weather is still super good and it’s been an awesome summer for all the riders. We have had plenty of sunshine and hardly any rain. It seems like every time I write this little bit of news the riding scene gets better and better here, there’s new riders popping up everywhere and the level of riding continues to get better all the time as well with kids shredding all over the country. Just recently, Jed Mildon from Taupo held a BMX comp at his local park, the event was amazing and was a hell of a lot of fun. Riders from all over turned up to ride and compete, there was more than a hand full of riders that killed it but some of the ones that stood out had to be the evil twins, Louis and George bolter, those guys are solid, dialled and smooth. George was doing 540 flat spiny flair type things amongst going super high on the deep end of the bowel. Louis on the other hand got pretty tech with truck drivers of the picnic bench into the flat bank and ice picks to bars. Brain Anzelotti also rode super well, that dude can go so big, he did some of the biggest 540’s I have ever seen, not to mention his front flip out of the park, bananas! And of course Jed Mildon also killed the park, his riding is just plain insane, he did too many lines to mention but one that stood had to have been his bowl to bowl flair.... which was like 8 foot out, and his 360 double whip over the spine. Another ride that impressed me was Kane O’hagen who 3ed and 180ed into the 8 foot bowl! So yea the comp was pretty amazing, I can’t remember who won or whatever, oh well, who cares, it was fun and that’s all that matters. One of the main reasons that Jed decided to hold the comp is because he is moving to America soon to live and study, so it was a bit of a farewell for him. I think it is safe to say that everybody from NZ wishes him the best of luck! In other news Kirk Jonas just got back from his trip around Europe. He has his new NZ based BMX company up and running called VOLUCID. So far they have their own clothing available and are distributors of Zion BMXco. check out www.volucid.com for more info, there is some good content on their site as well as photos and details of all the Zion Parts. That’s all the news for now, check out www.zombiebmx.com for more NZ bmx and as always... have fun... ride bmx! Mike Davies
Got news for your part of Australia? Email us: bmxrules@2020bmxmagzine.com.au
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Dave Dillewaard taking a break from the wonders of online Texas hold em... PHOTO Nitai Whitehurst
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wall wallpaper John Young getting his health food rail hop fix. PHOTO Seaton Spratt
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Evan Daines with nuts under wraps for now// now//C Caleb Mondon
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wallpaper You know you wanna be here. Catty Alley, PA. PHOTO Heath Holden
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GROUNDED ETNIES $49.95 G
The latest DVD from Ride BMX follows Dakota Roche, Chester Blacksmith, Darryl Tocco, Jared Washington, Mike Brennan, and Davey Watson through the making of a video part… Ride DVD’s are always good and this won’t leave you disappointed!
Probably the most anticipated DVD of the year, Grounded shows what the Etnies team has been up to since Forward. Featuring all the team riders you would expect including Taj, Joe Rich, Garrett Byrnes, Rooftop, Sergio Layos, Josh Stricker, Jamie Bestwick and Morgan Wade, as well as locations from all over the world, this DVD dosent disapoint. You also get a 50 page book full of stories and art from the team as part of the deal.
HOW HARD IS IT? $15.00
FLIPSIDE RIDEBMX $29.95
“How hard is it” is a rider made DVD from Perth WA. Inside you’ll find mainly street riding, with a little park and dirt all put together into a slick and clean production. Featuring many of WA’s best riders including Daniel Jamieson, Michael Cernotta, Kie Ashworth, Ben Coffey, Boots and Dylan Mathews this DVD shows what’s going on over west right now.
Ride’s latest DVD takes 4 hardcore NYC street riders and drops them in Greenville for a look at the protown lifestyle. Featuring big name’s like Dave Mirra, Josh Harrington and Aussie Dave Dillewaard ripping up the million dollar private indoor parks of Greenville, plus some cutting edge street from NYC. This DVD is all about uniting the fringes of BMX. You know the production will be up to Ride’s high standards, check next issue for a full review.
CLOCKED IN fOcAL pOINT $24.95
LIVIN IN EXILE RIDEBMX $29.95
NEW!
NEW!
PRICES AS LISTED
The defining Aussie street DVD? Released in November of 2007, a huge premiere showcased this dvd which features: MickBayzand, Daniel Johnson, Troy Jackson, Cooper Brownlee, Liam Fahy Hampton, Jase Bannan, Flagz, Will Jackson, Kym Grosser and Marc Arnold in a mix tape style including 45mins of bonus.
Mike “Rooftop” Escamilla, Corey Bohan, Danny Hickerson, Will Love, Kurtis Elwell, Sergio Layos, Scotty Cranmer and Steven Lilly all blow up in the latest Ride BMX DVD. Although BMX continues to be one of the most popular of all the lifestyles, it still remains one of the weakest industries, with lower-paid professional athletes and active persecution by police, parents, security and even other sports. Why, for so little reward, do these riders still push themselves so hard? Where does inspiration come from when you are... Livin in exile
FORWARD MOTION SBMX $15
HOW TO TRANSWORLDBMX $29.95
Forward motion features some of Tassie’s best known riders ripping up spots across the apple isle and beyond. The production is super slick with very nice titles and opening scenes and rolls along to a variety of music, everything from DJ Shadow to Led Zeppelin. The DVD is made up into sections from the local crew, plus there are appearances from a whole bunch of other riders. Such a killer debut DVD!
Just staring out and want to learn how to grind or need to learn some new tricks cause the local kids getting better than you? Grab a copy of the How To DVD and learn from a bunch of pro’s that lay it down nice and simple so you can make the steps to BMX ruler in no time!
SOUL 31 SOUL BMX $20
RHYTHM + HOW TO DIRT JUMP
Once again Soul covers the world of BMX. This issue features a Melbourne scene check, Spanish road trip, North Wales scene check, Germany to the Netherlands road trip plus bio’s and coverage from a bunch of comps ranging from the Backyard jam in Sheffield England to a comp in Trutnov in the Czech Republic. All up you get 40 minutes of footage you probably won’t see anywhere else…
RIDEBMX $29.95
Ride BMX has combined two classic videos onto one DVD. Rhythm is a trails video that takes you all over the United States, including: Indiana, Ithaca, Florida, Iowa City, California, Long Island, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and many other places. How to Dirt Jump is hosted by Fuzzy Hall, and stars T.J. Lavin, Cory Nastazio, Robbie Miranda, and many others teaching you everything you need to know to become a better dirt rider.
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PLEASE TICK DESIRED BOX INSIGHT HOW HARD IS IT? CLOCKED IN FORWARD MOTION SOUL 31 GROUNDED FLIPSIDE LIVIN IN EXILE HOW TO RHYTHM + DIRT JUMP
20 Questions Signing off
20 questions Zac Miner Questions & Photo by Raine Turnbull
1 Who is Zac Miner? Haha , this rubbish rider that tries to ride, haha me.
2 Age and hometown?
21 and I’m from Deniliquin, Victoria.
Haha juice, I love my juice.
13 An excuse you use often is? I think I’m pregnant.
3 What do you like most about living in Canberra?
14 What is your biggest fear?
The riders and friends... Although a few have recently left. You couldn’t ask for a better bunch of rowdy dudes, it’s like a big family.
15 Comps or filming and shooting photos?
4 What do you hate most about Canberra?
That all my friends don’t live here!
5 Dirt or Street?
Not knowing what I’m gonna do with my life.
Filming ‘n’ shooting fo sho, the feeling you get when you’re involved with the process and seeing the finished product.
16 Last stunt you did for a camera?
Me being a hack in the photo for these questions.
Dirt fo sho.
17 Last time you crashed on a BMX?
I swing both ways if you know what I mean, haha.
I’m a hack, I crash all the time! Naa, at Cam White’s jam, turns out it was a little bit more serious than I first thought, with brain swelling and an additional boobie on my hip.
6 Style or tricks? 7 The last song you listened to was?
Bloc Party: Like eating glass.
8 The last movie you watched was?
Hit man, I fell asleep after 20 mins though.
9 Your favourite bike part is?
Frame probably, there’s so much that can be different.
10 Something you could use more of in life is?
Spending time with friends.
11 Something you could use less of in life is?
114 ISSUE 28 APRIL 2008
12 What do you always keep in your fridge?
Things that drag you down, work, shit people.
18 Favourite place you have ever ridden?
I’d have to say Weston Creek, it’s my local ‘n’ nothing compares as of yet.
19 What was your first BMX?
The first one I can remember is a Freeagent Warbird, it’s where the hackery began.
20 What do you ride now?
A Bloody Oath with all the Colony goods with help from Backbone and TripleSix. Thanks to all that help me out!