2020v33 by 2020 BMX Magazine

Issue 33 September 2009

Premium

Regular

14 Aus Bike Show

12 Spoken Documenting the life.... 14 The Low Down Pretty much everything BMX! 108 Behind Bars Remember these faces. 116 Tech 101 WTP’s Klaus Dyba. 120 Beats and Pieces Music, DVD’s and more. 122 New Proddy Enuff said. 130 Inbox We’ve got mail and your photos. 134 Picture this The money shots. 144 20 Questions Rick Hayward.

Australia gets it’s own tradeshow, with BMX....

50 Fit Bike Co in Oz... Living the fit life in Australia with Van Homan, Dakota Roche, Chase DeHart and Robbo.

60 Pools of Perth Jamie Mauri documents the good times.

70 Ride On Road Trip Close the shop, we’re going riding....

78 Last Moran Standing Flatland genius Ben Moran by Alistair FInlay.

86 Coast to coast? Tempered’s crew head north.

94 D.U.G. Tomasz Hanke words up the first Aus flat series.

100 The Bolter Bros. Sibling rivalry at it’s finest.

The crew

Competitions

26 Osiris Kicks, cap and shirt to go. 145 Colony Pivotal seats!

Subscribe and have the chance to win one of 50 Colony Pivotal seats. Yeah yo!

Instigators//Matt Holmes, Mike Daly

2020bmxmagazine RRP AUD$9.95 NZD$12.95

Feature Design//Phil Townsley, Alex Liiv

2020bmxmagazine is proudly printed in Australia byThe Quality Group www.thequalitygroup.com.au

Creative//Holmes

Work experience ruler//Josh Druce

Photos//Nic Gascoine, Nitai Whitehurst, Raine Turnbull, Cooper Brownlee, Steve Morrisey, Gorak, Dave Rubinich, Seaton Spratt, Caleb Mondon, Jason Starr, David Apostle, Michael Harris, Mike Davies, Sam Orchid, Zack Musarsa, Willie, Michael Lovett, Lloyd Dean, Dave Coulson, Brett Kennedy, Alex Kuzewicz, Jamie Mauri, Chris Cooper, Tim Pierce, Jason Morey, Kyle Jacobsen, Tomasz Hantke, Sue Ford.

Become part of the mag//Every issue more crew get themselves involved in the evolution 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 must ride. Editorial and photographic contributions are more than welcome, we even pay for words and photos. Send a stamped self-addressed envelope if requiring return of slides or otherwise. 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 up our website for the run down on contributing.

Contributors//Steve Morrisey, Steve Gorak Taylor, Caleb Mondon, Cooper Brownlee, Raine Turnbull, Michael Harris, Phil Mitchell, Matt Lawton, Clint Millar, Mike Davies, Troy Charlesworth, Brendan Jones, Tomasz Hantke, Phil Townsley, Tim Pierce, Ali Finlay, Dave Coulson, Steve Morrisey, Brendan Howard, Jamie Mauri, Alex Liiv, Evan Daines, Shaun Jarvis.

Studio photography + inspiration//Tony Nolan Publishers//Holmes & MikeD

Dubdubdub//2020bmxmag.com.au

Nitty gritty Distributed in Australia by Gordon&Gotch. For bike shop 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!

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.

2020bmxmagazine is published four times a year by 2020bmxmagazine Pty Ltd. We are a 100% Australian 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

Tyson Jones-Peni entertaining the crew.... PHOTO Raine Turnbull

ISSUE 33

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RIDE WITH US

SPOKEN RIDER RUN

This is a take over!

From back in the day to today, rider run is the only way foreard....

I recently got sent a package from a riding friend that I can easily say I haven’t seen in at least 15 years. It was a trip to open it up, throw the CD into my G5 and pretty much flash back into a time I’d almost forgotten about. 100’s, literally 100’s of photos from the crazy Adelaide scene around the years of 1988 to 1992. All scanned and saved. Seruously, thats some dedication! These photos documented the early days in freestyle for me, and ones that pretty much defined me and got me to the here and now. Scott (who sent the CD) was in a lot of ways a big part of my inspiration to ride BMX beyond riding from A to B and doing some mad skids. Scott and another pretty influential rider I would soon meet, both rode in a school rock eisteddfod on stage which ended up on TV. I somehow saw it on the box and was blown out. I didn’t care much for the wack dancing and over acted drama scenes to average music, but they came out busting crazy tricks on aqua and chrome bikes. Holy shit. Talk about a revelation. BMX was more than just racing and getting called BMX Bandit. It wasn’t too long after that little piece of motivation to learn tricks like I’d seen on the TV, before myself and couple of crew from the hills of Adelaide made the ride down to Glenelg as we heard there were some riders down there on the weekends. And it was there I met the two in the eisteddfod show, along with a whole new crew of riders who were all killing it in their own ways. I guess that day formed the crew as I knew it back then. We were all pretty tight, riding every day possible, earning new stuff and growing up around the BMX deal. Over the following years, our little scene grew stronger, the riding was progressing off the hook and a few opportunities came and passed as we weren’t organized even a little bit to take advantage of them. So with the collective heads of all the crew we rode with and the organizational skills of one unstoppable Mum, we got ourselves a legit ‘club’. Looking back, this blows me out! We did it to ensure we had insurance coverage for riding in general, places to ride (we had the Adelaide Airport spare carpark to do what we wanted with! Try that in 2009!) and the ability to access government grants and get ourselves paid demo work at shows, the Grand Prix, many a small town fair, TV ads and more. It was going off for us in little old Adelaide town. BMX was paying some dollars, we were having a truckload of fun, getting to travel and ride places we’d

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never heard of and felt like we were just like the crew we idolized in the mags of choice back then, Freestlyin’ and Go. We had it going on, on our terms and we did it our way or walked away. It’s that simple ethos I’ve always sprouted in this mag over the years: rider run. It’s the only way. It doesn’t take much to work out why. You ride, you know the deal. We can always learn business skills, learn to edit or film. We can work out how to screen print a shirt, or run a comp, to import bikes or start a shop. But those who may have those skills outside of BMX and want to come in to exploit it will rarely understand what it is to ride, or more so make the move to become a rider in order to understand. So while I wax lyrical, flashing back to my past and all it’s rider run goodness, it doesn’t take too much to see just how far this ideal has come today on these shores. It could easily be said that the Australian scene as a whole may be the most progressive, vibrant and rider ruled scene in the world. Even the big corporate players here pretty much all have riders infiltrating their ranks and making sure things are done right or at least pointing them in the right direction. So what’s the message here? Take control of your deal, make it happen, don’t wait for someone else to do it. It is seriously up to us to make a difference. Simply bitching and moaning don’t get anyone anywhere. Anyway, back to the top, and to Scott*, thanks man, you brought back some amazing memories. Thsi trip down memory lane reinforced why I’m still riding today. Good times, good people and when you do it yourself with people on a similar wavelength, you can achieve anything. Holmes

*Thanks have also gotta go out to Simon, Judy, Shallen, Con, Jon, Nick, Tim, Ed, Damien, Big R, Luke, Kym, Darren, LIttle R, Andy and the rest of the SA crew back then. FCA rocked! Maybe we should start it again seeing as the current ‘governing’ body is completely lacking any BMX involvement?

THE LOWDOWN NEWS & STUFF

14 ISSUE 33 SEPTEMBER 2009

THE LOWDOWN NEWS & STUFF

Bringing the industry together

Australia has again got its own tradeshow in Ausbike. A chance for the distributors and shops to get together and work on their hangover emergency plans.... Story by Holmes It’s been a few years since the Australian bike industry has had its own tradeshow and the demise of the old show was mainly due to the previous organizers living in the 15th century. Luckily a whole new group has taken on the task of bringing the bike industry together once a year. Ausbike was a pretty cool event. Beyond the fluro lycra gayness and some wacky stuff from China, there was a tight BMX ‘alley’ with the majority of the core 20inch distributors all hanging out and getting along great, shooting the breeze and generally getting stoked on where everything is heading. Add Dinny’s fun box and quarter pipe set up to the mix with Colony’s Alex Hiam, Liam Fahy-Hampton, Marnold and Zac Miner all shredding the set up with hourly demos and you had a good time. Plus there were plenty of wacky bikes to ‘borrow’ and crank around the show on, which surprisingly didn’t go down too badly. Picture crew ripping manuals and skids on anything with two wheels, from fold up bikes to fixies.... Funny stuff. With shops and retailers from all round the country heading in for the show, it was a pretty full on time for the crews from TripleSix, Stowaway, Abyss, Colony, ECI, KickassBMX, Trickbits, BMX Militia, BikeCorp, Oceania Bicycles, Classic and Advance Traders as BMX is becoming a force within the industry.

The best thing had to be just getting a lot of the BMX industry in one place and throwing ideas around, talking it up and generally being a part of something pretty special. That special thing being where BMX is at right now in Australia. Every night had some action somewhere and while the weather stopped a lot of riding after hours, everyone seemed to be having a good ol’ time. So while the show might have been a little early in the trade show season (some new stuff won’t be released world wide for a couple more weeks in Eurobike/ Interbike) and some say that it should have been open to the public, it was a great time and a general success for all involved. By all accounts, it’s happening again for the next four years at least. And while we could’ve walked around shooting shots of trade show stands, we figured why not let everyone shoot photos of themselves....

Just a few faces from the Aus BMX industry down in Melbs. PHOTO All who pressed the remote....

ISSUE 33 SEPTEMBER 2009

THE LOWDOWN NEWS & STUFF

Andy Buckworth

The last few months have seen Andy killing it on the international comp scene. We caught up with him to find out just what has been going down...

So where have your travels taken you this year?

I started my travels by heading to Anthony Napolitans place and then just rode Woodward Camp every day. From there I headed to France for the FISE contest which was awesome. Then the Mirra Co team went to Paris to shoot photos and make a web edit, this was also amazing, such a good time. From Paris I went back to Woodward Camp for about a month, then from there I went to Chicago for the first stop of the Dew tour, then back to Woodward Camp for another month or so. While I was there I had the chance to film an episode of Nitro Circus with Travis and all the guys which was so fun. Then from there I went to Huntington Beach California for the Nike 6.0 BMX Open. This contest was so amazing, such a fun time, four days of riding! After that I drove down to San Diego to the Mirra Co office before driving up to Orange County California for the ASA box jump contest. This contest was super fun, lots of good riding and a fun time. That brings me to now where I’m still in Orange County, just letting my body heal before I take off again for the next stop on the Dew Tour. You’ve started to get some big results this year, how has it been stepping into the limelight around a truckload of the worlds best riders? Ha, well it’s such a good feeling, it’s like a dream come true. There is so many amazing riders over here, it’s really just the best feeling standing on that podium with two of your best mates. You killed it at the FISE mini comp with some front flips and hand plant flips over the spine, when did all that stuff start happening? Well the front flip over the spine I’ve been doing on rezi spines for about a year now, but just never had the guts to do it on the real thing. Then when I got to the FISE contest I knew I needed to step it up to do well. So I just man-ed up and sent it. Then with the flip hand plant, that all happened as an accident! I was just fooling around in the foam with 360 hand plants then when I took it to the rezi, I just turned it into a flip hand plant. And then the Dew Tour BMX opener sounded crazy, what went down there for you? Well the first stop of the Dew Tour is open qualifying. So that means anyone that registers online

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and gets accepted can ride for their chance to be in for the whole season. I qualified 7th, then in the prelims I got 16th, so that was good enough to secure me a spot in the rest of the tour. On to the Huntington Beach 6.0 comp, you scored 3rd after a few hard days riding? What was that format all about (can you run us through how it worked and how you found it?) The Nike 6.0 contest was so amazing, such a good time. Yeah, I finished third after four long days of riding. The format was a lot different to most other comps. This was four days of competition and the top 10 in points from the three days went to the fourth and final day. It was a cool way to run a comp, you got a lot of time to ride the park. I love to ride so it was cool with me! And by the fourth day you’re pretty dialed with the park so it shaped up to be a super crazy final. Obviously you ain’t too fazed dropping in after the biggest names in BMX have thrown down big runs? Did that ever freak you out? Yeah for sure, it did freak me out to start with. But as with everything, you get used to it. You just gotta look at a comp run just like any other day on your bike. If you can keep that state of mind you should be all good.... Have the more established Aus riders been helping you out at all or are they bummin you and the new gen of Australian rippers are stepping up fast? All the other Aussie riders over here are super happy to cheer on a fellow Aussie. And being the young gun makes it all so much better. They know exactly what it was like the 1st couple of years, so they are always happy to help. So what’s in store for you this year now? Well for the rest of the year I’ll be hanging out at Woodward Camp and just hitting all the Dew Stops and any other comps that come up. That’s about it! Any thanks? Yeah I’d just like to thank MirraCo Bikes, DC Shoes, Ogio, Johnny McLean, 2020 and most of all my mum and family. I could not of done it without their support!

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THE LOWDOWN NEWS & STUFF

Jase gap to wall on the freshest, white wall you’ll ever hit.... PHOTO Cooper Brownlee

On the waiting list

Straight up, there is just something about filming and working on a video project that gets me even more psyched on BMX (if thatê s possible). When you come home from a day of riding, knowing that you got a couple of clips that youê re stoked on, you feel satisfied that youê ve progressed in the production of the project. Story by Cooper Brownlee

As a rider, filming can also help the progression of your own riding. You always seem to try and push yourself to get something on film that you can sit back and watch at the end of the day, and be proud in the knowledge that you’ve worked hard on that section. I’ve also noticed that friendships can grow or strengthen from these long periods of filming. Sure, when you spend two hours filming the same clip with someone it can become an individual thing, but at the end of the day everyone has worked to get something accomplished. Not to mention the support and encouragement flying around during those often frustrating two hours. The following is a little bit of an insight into what went on during the making of The Waiting List DVD. While filming for The Waiting List the whole crew definitely had its fair share of ups and downs during the 18 or so months we spent on it. On the one hand, you have an awesome time finding new spots, learning new stunts and, of course, going on road trips (which was something we did quite a bit this time around – I think we filmed in six different states all up). But we inevitably also copped some fairly shit experiences as well. Both Troy and DJ blew out the ACL ligaments in their knees. Troy did his trying a tuck no hander down the same stair set that scored him the cover of this magazine a while back. What sucked even more was that when he crashed, he pulled his shoulder out as well. That was his main concern until he tried to get up and walk. That was when we knew things weren’t good. DJ did his knee trying to oppo crooked grind to 180 a tiny rail in Canberra. It was the very first spot we hit on arrival so all he could do for the next three days was get very pissed off. He then spent the next six months seeing his normal doctor, who kept telling him it was just swelling, until he finally saw a specialist who told him his knee was basically hanging together by a thread. Even now, neither of them can ride. Troy should be back riding towards the end of the year, but DJ is still a while off yet. The moral of this story is that I recommend getting private health cover! This set of circumstances is also where the title of the DVD came from. During the filming, basically everyone in the video broke or tore something in their body, so it was only fitting that the name relate to it. For once, the editing side of things went fairly well. In the past we have had troubles getting the picture quality right on the master, or the computer files would play up. Thankfully, this time it all went fairly smoothly. I would “capture” all the footage (transfer it from the recorded tape to my computer) and then transfer it onto Leon’s computer. That way all he had to concentrate on was editing, which I think was a process that worked out real well. There are always camera troubles at some point during filming. Last time around my camera broke a couple of weeks before we had finished the DVD. This time around I lost a tape which had a few of Troy’s clips, including his knee crash. The last day of filming also had some camera tape issues. We lost a clip of Marnold doing a fairly long nose manual link due to a tape scramble and we also nearly didn’t get both of Jase’s last two clips because of the camera not actually recording the footage, even though it was in record mode. Thankfully, I noticed both times that the timer wasn’t moving, but it still made for tense times indeed. Another tense camera moment was when Goof dropped my camera and the fish eye detached itself from the camera body. That day was full on! Goof was filming me at a spot and we were doing a rolling line so he was on the filming board. Now, anyone that knows Goof knows he isn’t the most co-ordinated person in the world. He even told me that he wasn’t keen on using the board, but I told him to do it anyway. When we were rolling back to the start of the run, we were talking and the board simply went out from under him. The camera went up, up and away from

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the both of us and there was nothing we could do. It felt like it was all happening in slow motion. There was even dead silence for at least five minutes before we checked to see if the camera was alright. There was no damage and everything was fine, but I will still bring it up in conversation just to stir him up. When you are out and about you will always see some random happenings, especially around the City area. We had so many encounters with random people but one classic occasion that I remember was when we were riding the same stair set where Troy got hurt. Some drunk guy and his mate got to talking with some of the crew, as drunk people in the City tend to do. At first the dude seemed cool, just interested in what we were doing. I really don’t know what sparked it, but all of a sudden he bitch-slapped Charlzy (R.I.P.) across the face. I don’t know what this dude was thinking at the time, especially as there was as least 15 of us and only two of them. Rhys Yeomans stepped up and got up in the guy’s face to get him to back down. Rhys ended up pushing him and as the guy was standing on a stair set and drunk, he fell doing the windmill arm action that you only see bad guys in bad action movies do, tripping down the stairs and over a bike on the way down. He picked up the bike and threw it at Rhys (needless to say, it didn’t affect Rhys in the slightest), ripped off his metro shirt and got ready to rumble. By this time, the mate had stepped in and I guess realised that as tough as they thought they were, they had no chance against all of us. They stepped away and we continued our ride. There is never a dull moment to be had to City night missions or road trips! One of the trips we did was to Adelaide, where we hired a bus for the ten of us. It was the middle of summer and I think the middle of Adelaide’s hottest ever heat wave – we were there for four days, and every day was 40+. There was no need for a motel, as the heat meant we would just sleep on the grass every night at the caravan park. This trip probably had the funniest moments of any trip ever taken! At the caravan park we stayed at, there were these trampoline style air pillows for the kids (big and small) to play on. Goof got right into it, did a frontie but got loose on the landing. He fireballed out of it and literally took this young girl OUT! We stepped away from the playground after that. We rode everyday, but most of the time it was at night because of the hot weather. One night we were riding this shopping centre with some flat rails. It must have been about 9pm when these parents (who looked a little rough around the edges) were pushing a young child in a shopping trolley through the carpark. The dad got a little overzealous and the trolley got away from him, setting sail for a gutter-crash landing. It was something you might see on YouTube if you searched “worst trolley crashes” but when you throw a small child into the mix, you get a kid crying like there’s no tomorrow but that was relatively unscathed. The mother got pretty cranky and was telling all sorts of random profanity at the father. Since this had all happened just in front of us, we were all a bit stunned as it definitely wasn’t something you would see in a carpark every day! Watching the DVD now, after it’s all done, it gives me an awesome feeling just from seeing the spots we rode. Or seeing a clip that we filmed after driving a couple of hours to search for a particular rail we had heard about through the grapevine. It’s cool that when you think about it, every clip has a story behind it. That’s what I think the best thing about making a DVD is. It give you memories of the great times you’ve had on your bike. The fact that you can go back and watch videos you made five or six years ago, have a laugh with your mates and relive that time in your life.

THE LOWDOWN NEWS & STUFF

2010 rides....

We’ve been spotting some fly new rides that will be gracing the floors of your local bike shops real soon. Heres two we figured tick all the right boxes from United and Kink. Red, white and blue baby!

United Supreme SU2 The crew from United have stepped up their complete range in a huge way for 2010. Aside the clean as hell new colour ways, they’ve got their spec and pricing dialed. Frame 4130 chromoly TT 21” Fork Tapered 4130 chromoly, 10mm slots. Bars 8” rise, 27” wide, 4130 chromoly. Grips United U Jive with push in bar ends. Stem CNC machined alloy. Cranks 175mm, heat treated tubular chromoly. BB Sealed mid. Sprocket United 25T. Rear hub Alloy sealed cassette rear 14mm w/ 9T driver. Front hub Alloy sealed 10mm. Rims Cinema 777 double wall 36-hole. Tyres Odyssey Aitken 2.125” front/1.95” rear. Seat United ultra slim Pivotal seat with alloy seat post. Brake Tektro alloy U-brake. Weight 11.1 kg. RRP $899

Kink Whip

Kink have got themselves ahead of the game by releasing their 2010 bikes way before anyone else. But don’t let that fool you into thinking they rushed anything, the Whip is a sweet ride for not too much dough.... Frame Chromoly front triangle with integrated head tube. TT 20.5” Fork Full chromoly with 10mm slots. Bars Kink Uptown chromoly 8” rise. Grips Kink Omega. Stem Alloy front load. Cranks 3 piece chromoly 175mm. BB Mid BB sealed bearings. Sprocket Kink Decimal 25t. Rear hub 14mm sealed chromoly w/9T driver. Front hub 10mm chromoly axle. Rims 36H Alienation PBR front, Alienation Black Sheep rear Tyres Kenda K104l 2.25” front, Kontact Kontact 1.90” rear. Seat Kink Pivotal embossed slim with Pivotal post. Brake Tektro 990 alloy rear U-brake with linear cable. Weight 12.06 kg. RRP $699

PHOTO Tony Nolan

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THE LOWDOWN NEWS & STUFF

The • Burgh Jam

This was my first Helensburgh jam and Iê ve got to say it was a good time despite owning myself towards the end of the day. That and the rain. I didnê t know too much about the crew who made it happen, so I asked the man behind the day a few questions. Story and photos by Michael Harris Eric, this isn’t the ﬁrst time you have put on a jam at Helensburgh, when was the last one? The last one was a few years ago and the one just gone is the third one we have put on, I can’t wait till next years jam at the ‘burgh. What’s your motivation for being so active in the BMX community in south Sydney? I was involved in the surﬁng community for about 15 years or so and was a founding member of two board clubs and had a ball. I see the riders of all ages at comps and jams and no matter what level of riding ability everyone is hanging out, chilling and having a good time just like the days I had in the board clubs. I would love to get a series of comps going in Sydney say four comps, each at a different park. Similar to the CORE series up in Brisbane? Yeah, I have spent many long hours on the phone to Councils and the like but I haven’t been getting any results. There are a few comps around like the ones at C-Town and there is one down at Ulladulla. The comps aren’t really about winning and losing but just getting together and having fun. I’ve got to say the comp down at Ulludulla was a credit to Acco, everyone that attended had a ball! Your young bloke Corey rides, do you get support and ideas from him and his mates with running the jams? Not really, they are just happy that there is something on. At the jam last weekend, Jake came up from Wagga as well as a crew from Ulludulla, also Luke from the Central Coast. They were just happy to ride and chill with some mates they hadn’t ridden with for a while. That was the general feeling I think, just catching up with old friends and making some new ones. You have been throwing around some ideas with Julian from Above All BMX in Miranda for some more jams and the such, when can we expect another one? We are planning one at Menai early in November, I will keep you posted. Anyone you would like to thank for their support or anything else you would like to say? A big thanks to Above All BMX and 9Dragons BMX for all their support to the BMX community and for the giveaways on the day. I’d also like to thank Stewy from Aussie Freestylers Clothing and last but not least to all that turned up, thanks!

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Digging the dream

Building his own little piece of trails paradise, Phil Mitchell has brought the trails to his own back yard. Definitely living the dream, with a house and trails out the back. We hit up Phil for the low down on his creations.... I started my trails when I got back from the States, like just under 2 years ago. I checked out spots for trails before I even looked at a block of land, and then finally moved from Berowra and bought a house on the Central Coast with the right spot right behind my back fence. The first 6 months was pretty much just building, no riding, since every shovel load at the trails is mine. So there still wasn’t too much to ride even after six months. Normally I wouldn’t have built trails so close to where people, MTB’ers, 50s, bushwalkers and the rest go, but surprisingly no one has touched them. And even better, no one seems to care about them. I’ve even had some positive feedback from the neighbours, which is a nice change from Berowra. Since the dirt at my trails is so good, I’ve hardly had to touch them. Plus covering them up with black plastic helps so much these days with the crazy weather we have. As for my tool of choice? Definitely a Pope square mouth, best ever for shaping lips. At the moment there’s 10 jumps, 3 berms and a sketchy arse vert wall so you don’t fall down into a massive gully, hahaha. The trails will never be finished, I will be building new lines as long as the trails are there.

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Throw your hands in the air if you got trails out back... PHOTO Brett Hemmings

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The legends of Australian freestyle.

Rebuilding history

Earlier this year, a little piece of history was returned to itê s original owner, one of Australiaê s original freestylers, Steve Cassap. John Buultjens was the man behind this mission. A year or so ago, John was given Steve’s old GT Pro Freestyle Tour Team to restore, presumably for his own collection (see the best collections of Haro’s world wide!). What Steve didn’t know was that John would then painstakingly restore the GT back to it’s former glory and return it to Steve on his birthday along with getting a stack of old Melbourne freestlyers there to celebrate.

Osiris package to win! So

The crew from Osiris have pulled together a package of 100% rockstar to giveaway! Osiris have been ramping up their BMX division for a while now overseas, so it was only time until their branch down here did the same. With Alex Liiv, Jamie Mauri and Josh Irvine on board, they’ve got some serious versatility on these shores. So to spread the Osiris love, we’ve got an Osiris pack to go to one lucky reader consisting of a pair of Osiris ‘Tranzor’ Hightops in Black/Lime/ Orange, a ‘BNB’ T-Shirt and an Osiris ‘Raja’ Hat. To go into the running to win this Osiris package, just answer this simple question: Q: Name one rider ripping on the international Osiris team? Email your answer into osiris@2020bmxmag. com.au by the 15th of November to go in the running. Make sure you put your shoe and shirt size in too or you’ll be missing out. Specific styles subject to availability, but they’ll be sick shoes regardless!

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THE LOWDOWN NEWS & STUFF

Got a Sweet tooth?

Alex Hiam is a young rider that is trail blazing his way into BMX, mainly thanks to his incredible riding. This talent has now earned him a signature frame, something usually reserved for veterans of the 20inch life! Colonyê s Clint Millar lets us in on how it all happened. When I ﬁrst saw Alex ride I knew there was something special about him. It was at Kuraby skate park in Brisbane and he had the whole place stopped. There was about 50 riders and skaters hanging out and Alex had the whole place to himself. It was amazing to see him ride and how much control he had for such a young kid. Alex was only 12 years old then and it did not show except for his size. Alex is a little kid, even for his age. He was on an 18” bike at that time and it was then even before I had asked him to ride for Colony that I decided I would make him his own special custom Bloody Oath frame. That 19.8” Bloody Oath actually caused some interest so we offered it as a production model. It sold rather well and it was then that I thought let’s offer Alex his own little model frame. The Sweet Tooth was then born. Not too sure on this but I think it’s fair to say Alex would have to be the youngest BMX’er on the planet to have his own signature frame. Well deserved none the less. Alex is a little champ on and off the bike. I am proud to have him as an integral part of the Colony team and even prouder to call him a friend. Read on below as I asked Alex a few questions about his pending frame to be released in September this year, the Colony Sweet Tooth.

Alex shredding Kuraby in the darkness. PHOTO Cooper Brownlee

So Alex, what were your first thoughts when you were told you would be getting your own signature frame? Oh my gosh you have to be kidding, I couldn’t believe it, I was happy for ages! How did you come up with the name? Me and a mate were listening to a song while I was thinking of what to call it and it said “I got a sweetooth and it will never come loose!” I called Clint straight away to tell him! It fits perfect because I love lollies! The stickers are rather unique and they suit you rather well. Was it fun working with Cooper on the design? Yeah it was heaps of fun! I found it so cool I get to design my own stickers! Coops did a really good job they couldn’t have turned out better! What is it that you most like about your frame? It’s my signature one! It’s really hard being a little rider trying to find a light, strong short frame for BMX because there aren’t many around. But now there is. Any last words or thanks? I can’t thank you (Clint) enough for giving me the opportunity to have my own frame! Thanks Coops for doing such a good job on stickers! Thanks to Crossley Cycles and my parents.

FUEL TV. 24/7 Action Sports Television

Here’s the BMX gold you should be watching on fuel

CORBIN PRESENTS Get to know your favourite freestyle sports athlete more than you ever thought possible. This in-depth show dedicates a whole half hour to really get to know each of the most interesting competitors out there, hosted by Corbin Harris. Weeknights 6pm – 7pm. FIRSTHAND Get to know your favourite freestyle sports athlete more than you ever thought possible. This in-depth show dedicates a whole half hour to really getting to know the most interesting competitors out there including Scotty Cranmer, Jamie Bestwick, TJ Lavin and Ryan Guettler. Tuesday nights at 7.30pm on FUEL TV HOME GROWN MANIACS Crazy Aussie’s doing crazy things in their own backyard. Home Grown Maniacs brings you the wildest antics from the world’s of BMX, FMX, Surf, Skate and anything else that makes the raises your pulse. It’s all nuts and it’s all “home grown”. Sunday’s at 7pm REBEL EVENT HIGHLIGHTS 2009 History of the BMX Masters The guys from Rebel have slung together a truly sweet show that showcases wicked new sports lurking of the fringes of extreme sport. Part 1: Fri 11 September at 8:30pm Part 2: Fri 18 September at 8:30pm 2009 DEW ACTION SPORTS TOUR The 2009 ACTION SPORTS TOUR is underway. Plenty of Aussies are in the hunt, headlined by Cam White who will be defending his 2008 BMX Dirt Dew Cup. Its action sports’ richest purse and it’s all live right here on FUEL TV. STOP 4, DAY 1: Sunday September 20 LIVE at 1:30am and replayed at 9.30am STOP 4, DAY 2: Monday September 21 LIVE at 4am and replayed at 9.30am with a full recap at 8:30pm Plus there is other random stuff you will probably like…. ED THE SOCK Join this perverted little Canadian sock puppet talk about chicks, pornstars and everything else low brow… Warning: it’s trashy as hell, but you do get to see more boobs than an SBS movie and all in a Cannuck accent, yeah guy.... Weeknights at 11.40pm on FUEL TV PULP SPORT Two kiwi dudes doing some funny sh*t and making fun of main stream sports stars. It’s more awesome then the time Christian Bale blew up at that dude on the Terminator set. Weekdays at 5:05pm on FUEL TV

And remember... www.fueltv.com.au It’s new and improved! 30 ISSUE 31 MARCH 2009

Subrosa is HOANG TRAN, Rich Hirsch, Ryan Sher and Eli Platt

The Skeleton Crew is Vince Kroff, Greg Smee, Scott Ditchburn, Kyle Hart, KusKus, Scott Greentree, Levi Rogers, Ken Wang and Mike Czajkowski

速

HOANG & KYLE FILMING FOR THE "GET USED TO IT" DVD

www.triplesix.com.au www.subrosabrand.com

THE LOWDOWN NEWS & STUFF

On the other side of the lens. PHOTO Nick Gascoine

In Progress

We catch up with Troy Charlesworth on the making of the long awaited BMX Militia team DVD heê s been working on. Story by Holmes

You’ve been hard at work on a new production? What’s the story? Well, there’s been talk of a BMX Militia DVD since before I even rode a bike... I have known Terry for years so as I started to film and make DVDs, Terry mentioned I should do something with his team. Eventually he asked if I wanted to go over to South Australia to film with Daniel Dunn. I was like ‘hell yeah I’ll go over’ and from that day I ended up taking on the project to make the whole DVD. Who’s on board rider wise? It’s got the whole team which is; Chris O Donnell, Luke Gorecki, Luke Fink, Seaton Spratt, Brendan Jones, Shane Colon, Dermo, Nikki Buckard, Nathen Tomsic and Daniel Dunn Will there be a Luke Fink drift section? Haha no, but he has a clothing company called Club Outrun which is dropping a DVD soon. Anyone claiming last section already? We will see. You probably all ready know with all the banger pics in your mag though! How’s the ﬁlming been going down? Got the big stuff locked away already? Filming has been awesome so far. It was a little weird at the start cause I didn’t know a few of the riders on the team but it all worked out and I got a lot of really good clips locked away. There’s a few clips that will make you sing! Where have you been to so far in the making of? Adelaide, Melbourne, Coffs Harbour, all over NSW, Brisbane, Shanghai in China and all over the ACT. Give me one funny experience from the ﬁlming so far? Probably meeting Ocean. He’s this unreal thug from the

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streets of Liverpool that loved the camera. I stated filming him and he and his boys talked about life. He’s even got the opener of Dangers part! Are you having to crack the whip to get the crew motivated? Kind of. I keep thinking to myself ‘oh we’ve got 3 months’ but it comes up real quick. So I’ve been pushing for it lately! Has Terry from BMX Militia got you on a tight deadline? When’s it slated for release? Not really, but I’m calling it! Filming will finish at the start of November and have it on DVD for the kids by the start of December. So is your third production proving harder than the previous ones? In a way, but the reason is probably because I didn’t pick the riders for this DVD! Have you got anyone else onboard for assistant ﬁlming/ editing duties? I’ve been filming all the clips and editing it. There may be one or two clips in the DVD that I didn’t film... What’s your set up (camera/equipment/stuff/edit suite/ software etc)? Apple Mac, Final Cut Pro, VX 2100, Centry Optics fisheye lens. With so many DVD’s ﬂoating around, how are you looking to make this one different? I wouldn’t say it’ll be different, but I’m trying to make the DVD and filming all clean and making sure the clips I got are real good so it’s a good DVD.

THE LOWDOWN NEWS & STUFF

Anthoney Napolitan PHOTO Schelbert

Worlds in Cologne STEINS & SCHNITZELS

Story by PHILT

The winners, Napolitan, Bestwick and Dhers PHOTO Chris

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The 2009 BMX Worlds were being held in Cologne Germany for the 25th time and, through some fluke, my holiday plans for a trip around Europe had lined up perfectly with the event. I’d heard rumours of extra large beers and crazy parties, as well as a list of some of the worlds best riders, so i was excited. After the massive drive from the Netherlands in a purple VW Polo, myself and my lady were looking forward to the comfort of a hotel and a few days of beer and bikes. We arrived at the event early the next day, and although the weather was looking a bit sketchy, the set-up was not. Dirt had been crafted into a massive 3 pack after a wood-roll-in to carving-berm-step-down and was positioned under a bridge as to not be affected by any rain that may occur. A masterful idea. The Braun mini was back and U.K rider Mark Webb was already destroying it with his unbelievable tricklist during warm-up. The street course was a swarm of activity with Amateur practice underway. Hundreds of riders had entered, so we found a spot, got comfortable and watched everyone smash into each other. The next few days all became a bit of a blur. I’m not sure whether it was the amount of Rockstar and beer i had drunk, or if it was the dodgy Currywurst I’d eaten, but the everything became a bit random. The rain was stopping and starting at regular hourly intervals, so just as the riders (and the crazy crowd) got warmed up, a shower would

come and dampen all the ramps and everyone’s spirits. There was plenty going on around the ramps to keep you amused for a while, and once it stopped the flamethrowers would come out and dry the ramps again. Rinse and repeat. I can’t really remember seeing a whole comp run, but there was some ridiculous riding going down. My memories in random order are as follows: Jamie Bestwick making a vert ramp look like a tiny mini by blasting higher and smoother than ever....cheering so hard for Mike Steingraber during flatland that i upset the guy next to me....Chris Courtney going higher than is humanly possible with whips on the mini....Morgan Wade’s face furniture......Vince Byron just plain killing it.... some U.S kid called Brett “Maddog” Banasiewicz (seriously, who calls themself Madddog?!) who just blew everyone away, you gotta see this kid ride......Martti Kuoppa loving himself..... Napolitan doing the no-handed fronty of the big dirt set. What else can i say? I erased most of my memories in the few weeks after Cologne by travelling around the rest of Germany and Austria trying to sample every one of the 3000 locally made beverages. If you ever get the chance to travel this part of the world, do it. If you get to do it at the same time that the Worlds are in Cologne, i can’t recommend it enough. Tschüs.

Danny Josa

Ron Wilkerson

PHOTO Schelbert

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What would you rather ride: A 4ft wide/30ft high vert ramp. A flat rail on sand. Or a 9ft high dirt lip with no landing? I would definitely have to say the flat rail, but what’s up with the sand? What would be your fantasy banger trick? Tooth hang 360 down something sexy. What’s harder, tailwhips or backflips? Backflips. What’s the biggest thing you have jumped, hopped or dropped? Not sure, I don’t think like that I guess. What inspires you? Tempered, my friends, music, Ride On. All things effect me in different ways. Life inspires me.

Treebog action.... PHOTO Jason Starr

What tricks do you do “goofy” way? Nothing.

Industry.au Matt Lawton

20 quick questions with one of Australiaê s newest industry players; Matt from Tempered Bikes. By Alex Liiv

Favourite drink? Vodka. Turn bar or straight bar tabo’s/inverts? Turn bar tables = amazing. Favourite bike part? Right now I would have to say my bars.

Age and current location? 20 years full and I’m currently living in Brisbane.

Favourite BMX films? Banned 3, Metal, Insight, Voices, Tomorrow we work, Steadfast, Focal Point... There is a lot more.

What was the first trick you learnt? Endo! I can remember for weeks I could not understand how to endo. Does that word even exist in BMX any more?

If you had to take away one part from your bike what would it be? My broken cranks.

What was the last trick you learnt? Table down stairs.

Weirdest things seen whilst out riding? Tom Appleby. Homeless dudes refusing free beers. Broken Bones. Male prostitutes.

What’s your most disliked trick? Barspins, because I can’t do them like Jerry.

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Name 12 things you could be doing as you ride? Bone dething, drinking, smoking, crying, breathing, taking in life, urinating, texting my girl, listening to music, filming, jumping curbs, flowing some drains.

If you could only ride one spot for the rest of your life what would it be? Probably Milton ghetto, had some real badass times there.

Describe your riding in two rhyming words? T-Bogs and Rail Dogs. Why ride? To be a part of something great.

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The Victim

Right on the eve of this issue going to print, we scored a look at Forgottenê s 2010 Victim. Heres the lowdown....

Spex.... Frame Cr-Mo main frame, 20.5” with Internal H/Set & Mid BB & removable gyro tabs. Fork Full crmo bladded with 2pce steer tube. Bars Full crmo 7.9 Rise Grips Mushroom Style Black Stem Alloy Front load Slim Headset FSA Impact Style Lever Tektro Brake R Tektro U-brake Cable Standard 2P Cable Crank CrMo tubular 3pce 175mm, 19mm 8 spline BB Set Sealed MID BB Sprocket Forgotten 6061-T6 CNC Sprocket 25T Chain KMC Z410 Pedals Odyssey Plastic Rims Sun Circle Single Wall 36 hole Spokes Black Steel Tyres Kenda F, K-905 R, K - 907 Hub F Joytech Sealed 10mm alloy 36h Hub R Joytech Sealed 14mm 9T Cassett 36h Seat Forgotten Mid Seat Seatpost Steel Micro Adjust Seat Clamp In Built Colors Matte Black, Matte Lilac

On the cover

Rider: Mitch ‘Macca’ MacDonald Photographer: Nitai

Location: Rad carpark trolley rail....

Camera: Canon 1D MKIII Focal Length:

85mm

Settings: f6.3 @ 1/250th

Lighting: Two Elinchrom Rangers sandwiched in the usual way....

About the shoot: This rail was to be the start of shooting with Macca for an interview pice, but as you probably know not long after he broke his leg real bad, so for now this all we got.

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38 ISSUE 33 SEPTEMBER 2009

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Arthouse Evan Daines

Drinking, smoking and drawing. Some riding gets done too.... Story by Holmes Photos Caleb Mondon So how long have you been drawing and getting that creative vibe ﬂowing? My Dad and my brother used to always be drawing, so I’d be trying to duplicate it, taking them and trying to reproduce them, so since I was real little. Back in kindergarten! What sort of styles have you taken inspiration from? I like a lot of the pin-up drawings and artists, all the hot rod sorta stuff. Like Ed Roth you know, old hot rod stuff. But it can come from anywhere, like random pictures on CD’s, tattoo stuff and anything really. Have you done any training/study in this ﬁeld? I did go to TAFE for a little bit. I guess it was the stepping stone to get into the design course you wanted to do down the track. It was part time at night, twice a week for a year. But I got a job and couldn’t finish it. I was unemployed when I started it. So it’s all self taught really... You’ve got a pretty sweet set up to work from? Yeah, my shed and my room. The shed gets real cold in winter, but I’m usually in there cause of smoking, drinking and drawing... You work in pen and ink a lot, but you’ve been getting busy painting and more yeah? I always used to draw my stuff in lead pencil, I never got into colour too much. But then I got random pens and paper in my room, so I started using biros, and it wasn’t until heaps later on that I did that Octopus drawing, that was my first one in full colour. Cause I always used to draw cars and stuff, I’d only shade em, but then it started sinking in that I could pack more detail into a simple picture with colour. You’ve been busting out from only working on paper lately, what’s been going down?

TOP//Ev’s work appears on the soon to be released 2010 Eastern Boss and a few other models. ABOVE//Octopusses and Donga’s tatt BELOW//Ev ﬂat at Kooks trails.... BOTTOM//Pen work and some Heel Bent action.

I’ve had a few friends that I guess have liked my style of drawing and asked me to draw things up for them for a tattoo. It might come from a random idea, or a few ideas that they want to work with, and then I’ll put together a couple of pictures I can work off. And then I just go from there. I guess every time I draw something, I get a little better, so sometimes I look at older work and think I could’ve done it so much better. As for tattooing, I’m not sure I could do that just yet, but I’m quick with the ideas side of things, like taking someone’s ideas and working with that. I did get an offer to tattoo, but time and location wasn’t really good so I held out. It was going to be a tattoo apprenticeship, I’d start off just drawing and since they were psyched on my drawings, I would’ve just started on tattoos. But I didn’t want to get into the whole bikie scene. I’d rather it be pretty low key! More like a home kit and work on mates and go from there. So who’s sporting your work on them? Mostly Daniel Donges. He’s got his whole arm done. He’s my blank paper. He had an idea of BMX and cars and a layout of all that kind of stuff. So we had a bunch of pictures and went through six or seven designs before we started locking in the picture of what was going on. But mainly having his Dato, his bike riding, a highway to hell around it, racing flags from his BMX racing days and of course Donga up top doing a moto whip. Lots of bits and pieces that mean something to Daniel, not just something that looks cool. Besides Donga, a couple of mates girl friends and stuff like that. Is tattooing what you want to get into? It’s definitely something I want to get into although I don’t want to get pigeon holed into only doing that. I love working on ideas and then drawing them up and handing them over to the next person in the process, whether it be a designer or tattooist or whatever. Definitely tattoos, but if I could be drawing up graphics for decks or t-shirts that’d be cool. On that, you’ve just worked with Eastern on graphics for a few of their 2010 range, how did that all come about? Well, my mate Donga rides for Eastern, and Phil Townsley works on their graphics. One night me Donga and Phil were plotting and scheming after a few drinks. Dan recommended me to Phil and that got me a foot in the door. I worked on a whole bunch of drawings based on ideas they had and it was good. I just saw some shots of the finished bikes and so far so good. I can’t wait to see em in the flesh. It’ll be wild to see my drawings make it onto a bike! So is there enough ‘art’ in BMX? It’s pretty limited in someways. There is a small amount though. Like there’s the mainstream stuff which is what they want to push to everyone with what’s cool at the moment, but then there’s the smaller companies bringing the ‘art’ and sticking to more traditional stuff. Everyone has got their own tastes, but there’s plenty of room for more! Skating’s got it pretty covered and BMX is maybe a few years behind. They both hold their own in each way but BMX is kinda following in the footsteps, but it’s definitely getting there. ISSUE 33 SEPTEMBER 2009

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Dirty Hands?

We figured why not check out a few of the guys that keep your ride rolling day in day out, the mechanics of the BMX industry. This issue we hit up Hell on Wheels resident wrench and flow master Tom Boorman to see what the realities of working out the back of your local BMX shop are.... How quickly can you build a complete? And don’t bullshit me!

What size hammer do you utilize on a daily basis. Size and weight please?

I have never really timed it but prob like 20 mins, depending on the bike, a brakeless complete is more like 10 mins haha.

What’s the usual lunch diet consist of?

What’s the most common screw up from crew ‘who know bikes’ who come in saying it wasn’t their fault?

If you had to abbreviate your name to sound cooler what would you change it to?

Anything to do with freecoasters, ”I swear I didn’t pull the hub apart”, yes you did pull it apart, and yes you did make the problem worse. That or “I can build the wheel myself”, then when you see them at the park, the valve hole has been crossed and the wheel rolls about as true as a football. Have you ever ﬁxed or built a bike nude? It’s on the to do list.

A good solid heavy one. Prob about a foot long and weighing in at a kilo or two. Mexican from Guzman, that or Burgerlicious are the usuals. Does T-Bone sound too gay. So you’ve got to install a mid bottom bracket, do you use: A/ a block of wood B/ that hammer I just told you about C/ a bearing press

So there’s no toilet paper left, do you smear shufﬂe into the shop to ﬁnd tissues or jeans back up and not a word about it?

The only press I have is a park headset one and the shaft wont ﬁt through 19mm BBs, but it does on 22s, but most are 19 anyway, plus the press takes longer. Normally a good block of wood on the bearing then it’s hammer time.

I seem to be the toilet paper thief around here, instead of buying tissues for my nose I just take toilet rolls from upstairs and keep one in the tool box, so I don’t think I will have that problem.

A kid walks in with a 15 year old Target BMX covered in mud and rusty as hell asking for a service and some Grand Slams. What do you do?

Can you be arsed ﬁxing your own bike after taking care of everyone elses? Always, I think I’ve developed a bit of a complex about my bike, I always ﬁddle with it.

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I’d like to give him the old ”do you brush your teeth before you go to the dentist” speech. Followed by “you know these bars cost more than your bike kid”, talk. But if he’s keen then why not....

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Alex about 1 second before foot breakage. This rail claimed Zac Miner too... PHOTO Gorman

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Thunderclap?

Crashing, stacking, bailing, head over turkey, stunned upon impact, swirly, eating shit, jerried, boned, worked, slammed, gimped, grinded, blow off, blew up, bucked, thrashed, fucked up, bone death, case, nose case, shin bash, skin slash, rag dolled, slide out, broke off, fell off, slayed, smacked, eat the dirt, dealt, shit the bed, boom, burst, clash, cracked and the good old thunderclap. Words of wisdom by Alex Liiv Crashing has always plagued BMX riders and always will. It’s not crashing that sucks, as such. It’s the beat up broken body and pain that makes falling off your bike a c#*t. It’s almost stupid to think of what we are doing to our bodies for the thrill and enjoyment of riding our bikes. It’s almost unjust or is it? Riding is our fun, it’s our escape and it’s a huge part of our lives. If life is about being happy, then that’s justiﬁcation enough for me to go try jump off something high. Once upon a time I got smashed up real hard for the love of riding BMX. I myself went head over turkey on that fucker of a double set at Sydney University. I got a lot of ﬂack from that crash. “That guys stupid, why the hell would you try that?” That’s what the doctors said. That’s what non riders said. But for a BMX rider to say that just didn’t make too much sense. The whole idea of riding is to express yourself and do whatever you want to do, no judges and no rules baby. It’s all fun and games, even if someone gets hurt. It might be easier to give up on something or dismiss it and say that was ‘stupid’. But if we all thought that trying was ‘stupid’ and this attitude was the only way of thinking, we wouldn’t have any of the tricks, styles or even bike parts that we do today. We need to crash. We need to get back on the bike. Otherwise we learn nothing. It’s the battle between good and evil. Crashing is the sour, and there is no sweet without the sour. We need this relationship. For the good times, the good laughs and the evolution of riding bicycle motocross. Stay Safe

THE LOWDOWN NEWS & STUFF

Better times way back when 5 Dock was being reborn. PHOTO Seaton Spratt

One long, scary day How far would you go, just to ride your bike? Story by Brendan Jones

On the 24th of May I was having a normal Sunday ride. We were all hitting a sub rail that had just been put in and having a good session. Then it all seemed to go wrong. I was doing an over and back ice pick on it and started coming back in on an awkward angle. I thought I could ride it out. But the next thing I knew, I was walking around in a daze (luckily I had my helmet on) and my neck felt weird. Thinking I should go and get it checked out, my girlfriend came and picked me up and took me to the hospital. We headed into casualty expecting the usual long wait, but with a bleeding head and with me saying I’d hurt my neck, I’ve never been through a waiting room so quick. They put me in a neck brace and took me to get a CT scan straight away. Not long after the doctor came and told me the bad news that I had fractured three vertebrae in my neck. The C4, C5 and C6 to be precise. They put sand bags around my head and neck and told me that any type of movement at all could result in me being paralysed. I was then strapped onto a spinal board and transferred to Royal North Shore Hospital and into the resuscitation unit to see a spinal surgeon. After the longest and scariest day of my life, they tested all my reactions and touched me all over. After I had a finger up my ass, they told me that I would be okay because the fractures were stable. They went on to say I would have to wear a neck brace for six weeks and that I was very lucky. Now the question everyone keeps asking me is am I going to quit riding? Or more accurately, I’m being told that I can’t ride anymore by my family. It’s a hard question to answer when you have that much pressure on you, but I know that I will keep riding. It’s not like I got out to try and hurt myself and I never try anything that I don’t think that I can do. But all I keep thinking about in my time off is how much I want to ride. To just hang out with all my mates, talk shit and have fun. I’ve also had the time to think about other people that can’t ride any more like Renee or Stephan Murray. I know all they want is to be able to ride again. So I kind of have to keep riding for them. BMX is my life and I can’t wait to get back to it! But I’ll make sure I have income protection to pay the mortgage...

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THE LOWDOWN NEWS & STUFF Yep, this set up is heading down under. With the Wu Tang. Yeeew! PHOTO Courtesy grindtv.com

Megaramp comes to Australia Holy crap, they be building one hella big kicker in Melbourne come October 31st!

After months of whispers and rumours, it’s now official. The Megaramp is coming to Australia! On the 31st of October, exclusive to Melbourne’s Etihad Stadium comes the massive inaugural extreme sports spectacular, Megarampage, which will welcome the largest ramp the southern hemisphere has ever seen and some of the world’s best BMX riders. Confirmed are American champions Morgan Wade, Kevin Robinson, Anthony Napolitan, Allan Cooke, Dave Mirra and Chad Kagy, and reppin’ Australia is Steve McCann, with judges to be decided in conjunction with Mat Hoffman. A long list of pro-skaters has been confirmed for the event too. As if that wasn’t enough, playing live are The Offspring, Good Charlotte, The Wu Tang Clan and Kelley James who will be making their way from the US of A to bring in this colossal event alongside Australia’s Cog, Mammal and Shaman Son. It’s a veritable feast for everyone who is keen on the extreme. The Mega Ramp is over nine storeys high, as long as a football field, and the biggest action sport structure in the world today and is revered by every BMX rider in the world. Etihad Stadium will barely be able to contain the absolute magnitude that is Megaramp, which takes four labour-intensive days to build; the treacherous ramp is over nine storeys high, nearly reaching the top of the stadium, and covers over 12 acres of ground. The riders attempt ‘Big Air’ where they go for amplitudes of over 20 to 30 feet in the air, over and above the height of the ramp. We are not talking about some dinky vert ramp – you do not want to fall from this monster! We have a double pass to giveaway, all you have to do is answer this simple question: Q: Name the Australian BMX ripper riding at Megarampage? Shoot your answer to megarampage@2020bmxmag.com.au by October 15th and make sure to include your postal address and phone number so we can get tickets to you. For more information, check out www.megarampage.com

He shreds all forms of terrain, mixes park tech with the ability to throw down big tricks on dirt, flow trails and kills street. Louis is just about to venture off to a warm summer in Canada to escape the harsh New Zealand winter. But before he headed off to ride some of the best skateparks and enjoy some brews on the other side of the world, he put a new bike together with the help of We The People and Triple Six. Check it out. Fork: WTP Helium

Spokes: Wheelsmith Double butted and Marwi Titanium.

Bars: WTP Helium High

Seat: WTP Warp

Stem: WTP Supreme

Post: Shadow Unbra

Grips: Macneil Traveler Grip

Pegs: Colony Oneway Alloy

Lever: Eclat with Snafu Detangler and snafu cables.

Tires: Fly Ruben, both fronts.

Frame: WTP Chief 20.6

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Bike check Louis Bolter

Brakes: Fly Brakes with Eclat clear pads and Knight Bike Co. hanger Cranks: WTP Royal Pedals: Eclat Surge Plastic Sprocket: Eclat Tilt 25t Chain: some single speed one. Hubs: Eclat tech front and rear 9t driver w/ bell hub guard Rims: Eclat Bondi Aero (f), Bondi (r).

How do you like your bike set up? Well I run brakes, left hand drive is the best invention in BMX, and have my seat a fist height high, enough to spin the B’s! What modifications have you made? None really, just the usual like cut the seat post down. I made a double butted head set spacer on the lathe, and I also run Titanium spokes on the non grind side to save a little extra weight, thanks to Tim at T-Whites Bikes for those!

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This trip could almost be titled, Van Homan gets the bangers clocked. Here on the Canberra gap of doom. ISSUE 33

A GOOD PORTION OF THE FIT TEAM MADE THE JOURNEY OUT TO AUSTRALIA, WITH HELP FROM ELITE CYCLE IMPORTS, FOR A LITTLE TRIP FROM MELBOURNE TO SYDNEY VIA OUR NATIONS CAPITAL, CANBERRA. IN THE LINEUP WAS T.M. ROBBIE MORALES, NATURAL BORN SHREDDER DAKOTA ROCHE, SMOOTH TALKIN’ CHASE DEHART, THE INFAMOUS VAN HOMAN AND KINK’S OWN DARRYL TOCCO ON FILMING DUTIES. FROM DAY ONE, CLIPS WERE GETTING SORTED. WHEN I ROCKED UP ON DAY TWO TO TAKE OVER THE TOUR GUIDE ROLE, ROBBIE WAS MORE THAN STOKED ON THE AMOUNT OF QUALITY FOOTAGE ALREADY SNAPPED. “WE GOT 8 CLIPS BEFORE THE FIRST STOP!” HE CLAIMED, PSYCHED ON BEING IN MELBOURNE. IT WAS IN THE END, A FILMING TRIP, ALL THE FOOTAGE BEING FOR THE UP COMING STAY FIT DVD, PREMIERING IN VEGAS THIS SEPTEMBER. THERE IS NO DOUBT THEY WILL HAVE A GOOD AMOUNT OF AUSTRALIAN SCENES IN THE FEATURE. FROM FEEDING THE WALLABIES AND BEING ATTACKED BY CRAZY BIRDS AT HEALESVILLE SANCTUARY TO RIDING SOME SORT OF FOLDED PAPER SCULPTURE IN MELBOURNE CITY, I THINK AUSTRALIA WILL BE WELL REPRESENTED. PHOTOSTORY BY STEVE TAYLOR

Dakota Roche making his way through Melbourne’s Library banks (left) and tooth hanger’n the infamous Sydney cult building rail without waking the tweaker caretaker....

We spent a few days in Melbourne; rolling around checking out all the sights and watching in pure amazement as the imported Fit team looked at everything in a whole different way to what I was used to. I think it was the first time I had seen any of the team do any sort of stunt when Dakota Roche blasted a wall ride down a ten stair at Parliament Station and then linked it to a 180 hop over the rail down the next flight of stairs. All while dodging light poles and pedestrians with boom boxes. Before I knew it, Darryl had his camera out and Dakota was setting up, figuring out how to get it done as if it were nothing more than a 3 stair. And that’s exactly what he did, seemingly no harder than a few stairs beneath him, Dak sorted that spot in the heart of Melbourne and we were off to dish out more through the rest of the City. The team, with Geelong’s Chris Finnigan now in tow, hit up some more spots including iconic Melbourne structures like the ‘Vault’ or more commonly known as ‘The Yellow Peril’ because of the uproar it caused and also the infamous library bank on Swanston Street was not left untouched. Chase Dehart launched himself up and over one of the library signs and into the heavy midday traffic, naturally with an abundance of style. We all chilled there for a bit, Dakota rustled up another clip and the boys chatted to some passers by.

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Van Homan seeing new lines in old Melbourne spots. ISSUE 33

Five Dock trains with US and Aus Fit crew.....

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The team wanted to see a Kangaroo! They had been hassling me about a bunch of stuff and this was something I could provide. So, in the van we climbed and set off to Canberra but not before a quick stop at Healesville Sanctuary. There were a bunch of animals they loved to see and hear about, but the two that spring to mind are the Koala, that Chase couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t believes gets high on eucalyptus leaves, and the Kangaroos. Strolling through the parks, we noticed in one enclosure the keepers feeding the Wallabies. Dak picked up a carrot and eagerly attempted to hand feed the marsupial. Van, excited, joined in and they both got the unforgettable experience of feeding a Wallaby. Not before being a little too close to some birds, we move on through the fire ravaged Toolangi forest and on to Canberra.

Parliment steps. First attempt. Big wallride to 180 rail. Dakota tough.

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Post modern art re-interpreted by post modern BMX ruler Van Homan.

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More cult building useage for more reality based practices.

We had more luck with the weather in Melbourne than anywhere else on the trip to Australia. We had nothing but sunshine in Melbourne but when we got to Canberra and then later Sydney, we had to deal with the cold and also the rain. This only slowed the shredding down marginally. It was in Canberra that I witnessed something I still can’t get a grip on, Van Homan. After believing he’d put himself out of the trip he spotted a gap. We organized a piece of ply wood and scoped it out. The traffic was an issue. It was one of Canberra’s main roads and it was during the day, with a multitude of cars, trucks and other vehicles barely missing my flash units. Van Homan pedaled around, launched up 8 stairs using the ply and cranked full noise at the road which happened to be 10 stairs down, plus a footpath and a guard rail away. No small gap! He made the gap, everyone was stoked and cheering him on but there was something wrong. Van didn’t seem content. He grabbed his bike and walked straight back up and whispered something to Darryl. I wasn’t sure if I had heard right, ‘what’s he doing? Did he say he was going to..?’ but I received no reply. Silence. Van comes barrelling at the gap again but this time I noticed his feet come off the pedals. His bike rotated. He landed, one foot on and stamped the other into the ground hard. He wanted to get it done, land the trick but his rig started hissing. A flat. Shit! Get a tube, get a pump. Too much time went by and his bike wasn’t running. Is his ankle going to survive? Can he ride someone else’s bike? A tube was fitted through the help of pretty much everyone there. The rider that has contributed most to getting me psyched on riding these kids’ bikes was ready again for action. He pedaled again, up the stairs, across the flat and launched. Over the stair set, kicked his bike into a tail whip, pulled it round, over the rail and on to the road below. Clean! Wow! Done, and in front of my own eyes. WOW, Fucken WOW!

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Another rail, another banger from Van.

I really should have ended with that! It was an awesome thing to have witnessed! But there was still more to be done, more to happen, more sights to see and more amazing kids’ bike antics. There was still Sydney. The home of the opera house, the harbour bridge, Kings Cross, Bondi and Five Dock skate park. Unfortunately, we had to leave our rider Fitty behind in Canberra but we got to see a bunch of shredders on the last day of daylight savings at Five Dock skate park. We rocked up with a full van for the jam put on by Hell on Wheels. Chris Finnigan had flown in and was eager to shred. Robbie was already stoked on the Australian team but was keen to see Fit Bike represented properly in Australia. Someone amongst the crowd aired higher than anyone else at the park and with more style than most people could only dream of. That person was Benn Pigot. Robbie was so excited about what Benn had to offer he needed to have him on the Australian team. Congratulations Benn! The jam was awesome, Five Dock skate park, snags, beer, Fit Bike Co, there’s not much more that could make that day any better. The next day was the last full day in Sydney. We spent that with a few of the locals hitting the streets and riding a bunch of stuff we’d not seen. Another spot and another time I’d seen stuff looked at in another way. Not looking at what obstacles are in the way making it ‘un-doable’ but instead looking at how we can ‘adjust’ it to suit. Big spots, high rails with big obstacles but still not anything that a good TM couldn’t move. Unfortunately that lead to a bust, so we moved on. The crew was getting bigger. More and more riders were rocking up to see what the US team could do but that only made them scatter and break up. Some of us chilled in the park while some of the team went off in search of some more to ride. It got late and started to cool down. The team was beat. It was their last day in Australia so we went out for some dinner and a few drinks. Nothing wild, it was just some good drinks, some great food and a general wind down conversation that could have gone to all hours in the morning. The next day, I dropped them at Sydney airport. We said our goodbye’s and moved on. For me, I had the next day or so alone in the van driving home to recap and reflect on the week and a half that had just been. I’m glad it was a long trip, there was so much to think about and reminisce on that a drive any shorter wouldn’t have been sufficient...

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I’ll start off by saying, the feeling of finding a new pool is fuckin amazing. It’s like getting presents. I don’t know about the rest of Australia but Perth has never had a lot of pools around... But this year they seem to have popped up here, there and everywhere. It’s so rad finding a pool with proper trannies, a good corner pocket or love seat, anything really. Before it’s even clean you browse the lines that are possible, what’s grindable and what’s not. Shit is mind blowing. There is so much shit that comes with being in other peoples property. Especially if the house isn’t abandoned. We’ve had all sorts, from the crazy homeless guys living in the abandoned hotels, police (who always think you have drugs or are doing graffiti for some reason, like you can’t possibly just be riding bikes), to the angry dickhead neighbours who never mind their business. But at the end of the day if it doesn’t get too intense it all ends up being a laugh and definitely worth it. Oh yeah and Jay Wilson the early morning 1pm pool diet of McDonalds ice coffee and $2 menu is genius haha, yeah baby...

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Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s so crazy to be able to take a thing like bike riding and adapt it to something like an unused hole in the ground that people use to cool down in when the sun is shining. Just taking something obscure and getting a rad feeling out of it is amazing in general really.

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A sweet thing about pools is you donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have to do banger tricks to be able to have fun, just finding sweet fast carving lines or a nice corner to air is mind blowing. Also it separates the kids too, thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s nothing better than a know it all skatepark kid getting in the pool, thinking they can do a footjam in it and faceplanting on the wall as soon as they try.

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It’s cool to see how our sport has evolved from skateboarding all those decades ago into what it is today. Seeing that pool riding hasn’t gotten out dated after such a long time just shows that there’s something special about it and it doesn’t look like its going to stop anytime soon, more to come...

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HIT THE ROAD FOR LOAD A VAN FULL OF GUYS, LOAD A TRAILER FULL OF BIKES AND BE ONE OF THE FIVE DAYS. NOT THE NEWEST THING IN BMX BUT IT STILL HAS TO BEST THINGS TO DO WITH A SPARE WEEK. ROAD TRIP TO KEEP I HAVE WANTED TO HOOK UP THE GUYS ON THE TEAM WITH A THE SHOP. THAT AND OF PART A BEING FOR TREAT OF BIT A AS THEM PSYCHED AND VAN AND TRAILER, GET SOME PHOTOS AND FILM SOME STUNTS. WITH A 12 SEATER DEVISED A SKETCHY HOOKUPS AND CREW TO MEET UP WITH ALONG THE WAY, WE BIKES. PLAN BASED AROUND GETTING LOOSE AND RIDING LITTLE KIDS EY MORRIS STEVE BY PHOTOS AND STORY

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DAY ONE

One early April morning the boys rock up at 5am and we say our G’days, pack the van and roll out. Now I say roll out because I am pretty sure as we pulled out of the driveway there was some herbal refreshments floating through the van, not my exact cup of tea at five in the AM, but the idea was to have fun, party and ride and we were on route to our first stop. So as the saying goes, when in Rome.... As we exit Brissy on the way to the sunny coast, we make a quick decision and lane cut to hit the newly revised and built Beerwah skatepark deep in Steve Irwin country. The first stop was intended to be a quick one and probably the earliest most of the guys have been on the bike for some time, but still the vibe was lively and the guys were shredding. The one hour quick stop turned into a three hour session. Everyone was killing it, and especially Nick Kajewski who was sliding toothpick grinds across a ramp for way longer than should be possible, but on one attempt his peg stuck and he got shot onto the flat on his shoulder. Although he was pretty hurt he kept smiling and ran with the ‘give it a day or two’ and hopefully she will be sweet. Otherwise we decided to keep rolling as lunch time was fast approaching and we had some K’s to cover yet. After a quick Bottle-O run we were headed north to Bundy. On the way we were passing a town and saw a rail on the side of the road. A quick U bolt and we pulled up and grabbed a few bikes out for those who were keen to give it a whirl. Steve Lyons and Chris Courtenay fired it out with a few combos and heckled a few locals in the process.

Raph sighting and blasting one of many rail hops on tour....

Both had gotten into the spirit after the bottle-O so the confidence was high and Chris decided to old school them to flat. We piled back into the van and then hit the road to Bundaberg to checkout the park and then head to our accommodation for the night. Now there is a bunch of cool crew from Bundy that support the store so we threw out some Myspace hits to crew saying we were rolling into certain towns on the trip so come say G’day. What we weren’t expecting was the amount of crew that would rock up to say G’day and ride, so when we pulled up to the park, after a couple of cartons of Queenslands finest XXXX beer and a couple of passion pop bottles, Jack Birtles insisted that the guys were not exactly seeing the world in the clearest vision. But about 50 plus locals turned up. That aside, they all got their bikes out and managed to pull their shit together and rip the place apart. A couple of notable things were Raphael’s rail manual to barspin, which was just silly, as well as Tom Stretton and Jerry doing nose wheelie combos and G turn combos over the box, as well as a couple of local lads who were flipping and shredding the place to bits. After the lads were beat, we threw out some stickers and freebies and headed to Bargara where we were staying. The villas we stayed at were a real treat, definitely lucked out on that one, we all had a bed and got to chill outside and play with the tame possums that were running around being curious. ISSUE 33

DAY TWO

Mitchell MacDonald down whip 360 fakie. What?

Up and at em! Nice and early we hit the road but our first stop was to check out Bargara skatepark as we heard it was fun and a bit wacky. Not knowing what to expect we were stoked to find a unique park that was a mix of old school park meets new park upgrades with some hard to ride stuff which always makes for an interesting time. Straight outta the van, Thomas Dunn was on the tip, blasting flairs and airing the shit out of the not so perfect transitions. Raphael was plain ripping the park apart with transfers and lines that only he could find and line up.

We pulled into the backpackers pretty late but decided to head to good old KFC for some grub. By the time we hit KFC we were all pretty ﬂuid. So we rock up and there is like 20 riders from the park that went to grab a feed by chance at the same time. So we say G’day, have some laughs then before you know it chips and gravy and chicken is somehow being launched around the place. We decided it was best to leave and head back to the hotel as things were well on the way to loose town.

Unfortunately Jerry got a bit loose on a Nac seat grab and looped out to sitting on his ankle in a tweaked position, which was the end of his stunting on the trip. This was where the Rumbo’s started ﬂowing and we all found out how much he is a lyrical rhyming genius. Bargara is on the beach and we all went to chill and some went for a swim in the ice cold water. From there we decided to hit the road to Gladstone.

A few showers later and we go out to Gladstones ﬁnest watering holes, we might have gone to a strip club and it might have been the most random country version of a strip club ever! Somehow myself and Mr Tom Stretton were walking back home and we got bailed up by the Police for some reason or another and mid ID check they enquire if we are the guys from the BMX shop in Brisbane? Warning lights go off and of course we have no idea what they are on about or why the Police know we are in town? We make our way home quietly...

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xt spot>Bottle-O Wake>Eat>Ride>NeSle ep

Tom Stretton tooth whipping one of the best quarters ever built!

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DAY THREE Most of us wake up with a headache or some hangover type injury. But with Gladstone skatepark being so dialed and calling our names, we all get into it. First up Gladstone has a bunch of cool locals and shredder’s and we are greeted at the park by a bunch of cool cats. We get into it, Macca blows the park up and Tom Stretton does lip tricks that confuse and astound us all. Raph heads round the corner to see if there is any street to eye off and ends up finding a rail hop and casually cruises over it. At some point the Police turn up and spot Jerry enjoying a Can of Bundaberg’s finest drink. The hard arse girl cop busts his balls and gets all technical, but gives him a warning to pull his head in and they leave without fines or anything. So it seems Gladstone is turning out to be a lucky town! We all get sunburnt and decide it’s best to hit the road and make our way to Rockhampton, but not before we hook up some of the locals with some stickers, free parts and tee’s for generally being top blokes. As we load the van, the herbal remedies are floating about for some time and then the fuzz pull up again. This time the little tough guy from Gladstone Police decides to bring the hammer down on disrespectful city folk who run amok in his fine town. “Regardless of if we are guilty of anything” he decides to go 3rd grade teacher on us and let us all know we are little brats or something equally offending to him. After he ruffles his feathers for a bit we continue packing the van and go on our merry way to Rocky. Again via the Bottle-O.... We had a hook up to stay on the lovely beach side town of Keppell Sands where I have family and they hook us up well, with a much needed shower, beds and a big pot of home made chilli which we all gorge ourselves on till we are full.

Steve Lyons stomping the big kinker ﬁrst try in Rockhampton

Macca hand planting under a blazing sun. Mike Cz whipnose at Beerwah

T-Strett getting his trails on!

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DAY FOUR

We get up and our hosts have cooked up a feed that soon becomes the talking point of the trip as it was fit for kings. Everyone fills their bellies, especially Jack who despite his size can’t let food go to waste, so finishes off more food than I have ever seen one kid eat. We decide to check out the beach and go for a stroll before hitting the road. One thing you gotta love about Australia is the beaches and countryside we have. We end up amusing ourselves for a couple of hours by climbing the point and somehow a rock fight starts. It’s not until Jerry is practically tipping boulders over at people that we end the battle and then cruise back to the ranch. We had hit a lot of parks, so it’s decided we need to find some street and mix it up a bit. So we head in to Rocky university with the hope that there might be some unridden treats, and lucky for us we hit the jackpot. Straight up Raph finds a rail hop with a few options and ways to hit it. It’s at this point you realise why BMX got the word freestyle as everyone had a different approach or trick to try out. Macca, Tom D, Steve L and Chris C all have a crack but no doubt Raph twisting and nose bombing a 360 over it took the cake. We roll around and find a few other things, then a kinked rail from hell turns up, one of those that is 100% do-able but it’s on the high side and if it doesn’t go according to plan, could make for a long night if you know what I mean? Anyway a few people take a look but Steve Lyons calls it and decides to fire it out. Being it was also his first kinked rail, everyone had their doubts about the call. First run up and a few “nopes” and “too fast” words were said but from the second he hopped, he had it in the bag, slid it right off the end and showed us all. I’m glad no wagers were put down cause we all would have lost a few bucks! From there, Mike Cz found a 13 stair that he wanted to hit and as we were packing the camera gear from the rail the security were onto us. We politely told them we were leaving but Mike thought otherwise so we exited past the drop. Mike asked to get the camera out and said he would just give it a shot without a tester run up. First attempt he hit it a bit loose and blew off, but got straight back up, ran to the top and bombed the thing clean as. I’m pretty sure his front wheel landed almost before his back as his style and the clip was banked. Security was onto us again so we had to bail for real this time. We bounced to the Rocky skate park, and it’s a pretty good park so the crew were into it straight away. Nick and Jerry were taking hold of the camera and getting all sorts of wacky angles and techniques that Steven Speilberg dosen’t know about. Macca got down to business with lines all over the place. Tom Dunn over rotated a rather large flair, got jacked over his handlebars and nearly lost his man hood, but managed to get some shit done on the ledge. Mike got down on a random kids scooter and learnt tailwhips! By far the highlight of the session was Chris trying to hit the moon sending whips way above the 8 foot mark. These things were mind blowing to watch, they were so high it was like he would tweak a Nacnac and then let go and then catch it the other side, not the kick and stomp you usually see. After we were done, we all decided to blast back to the Bargara resort for another night in luxury and get an early start on the bike the next day. Much to my excitement (as the driver) everyone got loose on the ride back while I drove into the night. I think two cartons at least got drunk and Jerry was smashing the rumbos as usual. We pulled in late but had a party anyway and I must say it’s gotta be the first place I have ever stayed where rocking up with ten rowdy BMX’ers and getting on it till the wee hours hasn’t got us kicked out of a hotel....

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Thomas Dunn large Nacnac in Gladstone airspace.

DAY FIVE

It was a bit of a sketchy start for most, but we all managed to get rolling pretty early. Chris had some friends with some jumps in their back yard so we decided to check them out. We got lost a bit, but rocked up and everyone was keen to get their dirt on. The jumps were agreeable and everyone started throwing out moves after only a few hits. Macca got his dip 360’s on and the locals got down with big flips and whips and all got their Braaaappp on. Probably the most sessioned section was the sketchy dirt and wood quarter at the end of the set. It started off mellow and made of dirt, but then went to vert pretty quick with bits of random plywood and a tiny little deck. T-Strett pretty much owned the thing with front wheel trickery only he is capable of doing and nailed a Tooth-lash clean as a whistle for a photo. I even got the front brakes busy which must be a rarity these days at all, let alone at trails! After everyone was beat and dirty from a spill here or there, we loaded the van, said our goodbyes and rolled out of Rocky. Destination? Home. And not a second too soon as pretty much as soon as the trailer got loaded the rain started coming down. Some five hours later we were high five-ing each other and heading our separate ways home back in Brisbane.

Chris Courtenay massive whip at Rockhampton

Big Shout out to all the guys on the team for busting their asses and contributing to one of the best trips I have been on. Everyone got on, no ﬁghts or problems and even with a couple of injuries and basically getting chased out of a town by the Police. Everyone was so pumped that we are all anticipating the next one. Also thanks to KickassBMX, and Triple Six for supplying some gear for the boys and to hook up some of the crew we met along the way. And to all the friendly riders and crew we met on the way, a big cheers for the support and good times. Let’s do this again already!!

Steve Lyons Big ﬂip transfer at Beerwah park

Peace Out.......

Hang 5 pick by T-Stret. ISSUE 33

Last Moran Standing The rise and fall and rise again of Ben Moran Story by Alistair Finlay Photos by David Apostol

Country flatlanders are different to their city cousins. They tend not to need the perceived warmth and security that a large and diverse scene offers. They are happy riding by themselves, existing in parallel to the world around them. Or at least that’s my experience with Ben Moran, and considering there have been times when he was the only known flatlander in country Victoria, I think it’s a fair generalisation. I had the real pleasure of living in the same large country town (or small rural city, depending on how you see Ballarat) as Ben for a number of years. It was a good time. The next nearest flatlander was over an hour away and the IMAX spot took a three hour plus round trip to get too. Ben was a link to a scene that seemed further away than even before. He would turn up to my place at all hours, sometimes we would go for a ride, sometimes that ride would be flat. Other times we would drive all over the country side hitting up any number and type of spot that only comes with the acquired knowledge of living somewhere all your life.

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Often we would just sit around drinking or smoking or shooting shit, or Ben would listen to me complain about shit. But no matter what we did, I always felt glad I was doing it with Ben around. But Ben’s like that, he uses his charm and very subtle dry whit to disarm you and put you at ease. However, Ben’s charm isn’t a tool or a weapon that he uses to get something from you, in fact quite the opposite, it endears you to him and places you completely at ease. I’m not the only one who is keen to dump a big bucket of metaphorical man love over Ben. Sometimes Australian and sometimes flatlander Paul Chamberlain says

“Other than my dad, Ben is the only truly unmaterialistic person I have ever met. What I like best about him is that he is incredibly selfless and extremely helpful. Ben’s a tireless worker running mostly on enthusiasm. A case in point, the only thing of value that Ben owns is a $500 sleeping bag. You could hardly say his bike is valuable”.

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The Ben Moran story starts about 25 years ago in the small Victorian country town of Waubra which is about thirty minutes north-west of Ballarat. He grew up on a farm with his brother and two sisters. It’s easy to understand where his gentle nature and love of life comes from when he talks about this time.

“When I was about eight we had these Jack Russell dogs, Rambo and China, they disappeared up Mount Misery for about five days. When they finally rocked up I was amazed, we thought they had gone for good but they were just camping up the mountain” Ben went to the local primary school and then was bussed into Ballarat for high school. Yet education was not his first priority and he left school in year 10 with the aim of becoming a pro-flatlander. This was a big call at a time when flatland and BMX in general was just emerging from the great hibernation of the nineties. Was this foolish? Not really. Naïve? Perhaps. An example of how dedicated Ben was and how seriously he takes his riding? Absolutely. However, Ben, like with everything else, is open and honest about this time.

“Ahh, the journey into the unknown” he says, “I decided to ride flat out, ha ha! I did a paper round in the morning, then I’d ride till lunch time and then I’d go back out again in the afternoon. I did that for a few years. It was good to go for a punt, I gave it a whirl!”.

He has no anger or malice about not quickly realising his goals, rather he looks back at the time with warm memories and gives a knowing smile when asked about it. The time after leaving school was Ben’s first ascension on the national scene. He started traveling around the country for events like the now extinct Planet X Games and to ride with other crews. He began to make a name for himself. He turned up in Adelaide, Sydney, Melbourne and many many places in-between. People began to know who he was. South Australia’s finest export Shane Badman comments

“I first met Ben at the Planet X Games in Sydney maybe 7 or 8 years ago. It was refreshing to see a new face on the scene, but what was most notable where his skills and attitude. Even back then his style of riding was very unique - a telling sign of things to come” And then Ben was gone. Just like that. He disappeared After he disappeared, people would tell me about this mythical flatlander from the strange land of Western Victoria, about a guy who had amazing flatland talent, who could do any trick ever and was destined to reunite the three lower Saxon kingdoms under the house of Moran. Okay, some of those are exaggeration but it was kind of like that. The reputation he developed during his first period on the national scene lingered for a number of years, people would talk him up even though he hadn’t been seen for ages. When I moved to Ballarat the Ben Moran stories hit overdrive.

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A flatlander who worked for a few days in the town reported seeing an amazing ground rider in a carpark, another who had just moved away after studying there said he could be found in a different carpark and enquiries at the local bike shops revealed everybody knew him but no one really knew where he was. The longer Ben stayed away from the scene the bigger the myth of Ben Moran became. What was he doing during the time that he wasn’t out on the national scene? Well, he was being Ben of course. It seems he just stopped riding flatland. He rode street and park instead, he got a job and he also spent a considerable amount of time driving people on his local scene around the place. However he also comments

“I never stopped thinking about flatland”. To be honest, I cannot really remember the first time I met Ben but it was around the time of his second coming. A flatlander told me that Ben had been to IMAX and within a week I too found him. The most likely scenario is I would have been traveling somewhere in Ballarat or its surrounds and just come across him riding in some carpark or netball court or bare patch of earth. But this happened so many times it’s hard to pinpoint exactly which one was the first.

He has all the qualities that make a great flatlander; he rides alone a lot of the time, he is happy with his own company, he’s highly original, he’s a perfectionist and flatland is his culture and this deeply affects his interaction with aspects of mainstream society.

“The first time I met Ben he didn’t really say anything. He seems shy at first but he isn’t. He’ll pretty much talk to anybody about anything just because it’s part of his adventure. I remember his riding though. His path at that time was jumping a lot. It was very interesting to watch because I hadn’t seen it before. Very exciting.” Paul sums Ben up perfectly when he talks about his adventure. Ben’s whole life is an adventure. That adventure could be quitting his job and going to Tasmania for New Years, it could be driving his un-roadworthy car half way up the eastern board only to have it breakdown at the top of a hill or it might be his now famous ride through the Western Australian wheat belt. ISSUE 33

Ben’s riding also reflects this adventure. People can’t seem to get enough of it and when other riders watch him ply his trade for the first time, it’s rare they are not blown away. It is hard for me to describe his riding style because words like ‘tech’, ‘flowing’ and ‘big’ are useless. Ben’s style is all his own. It is not uncommon to hear things from seasoned riders like “I’ve never seen that before, EVER!”. The other reason it is hard for me to categorise Ben’s riding is because I have been spoilt. There was a time we rode together with such extreme regularity that his way of riding and his attitude become the way I saw all flatlanders. I would benchmark other flatlanders against him, he was the archetypal flatlander.

But Paul does remember, he says

But Ben’s adventure is more intrinsic then just going to new places. It might be talking to a guy with an obvious mental illness at an outback train station in New South Wales, it could be sleeping rough and dumpster diving in New Zealand or just the fascination of watching a junkie struggle to remain upright out the front of a Subway in Carlton.

Ben describes his process for developing his tricks and links,

“First I get drunk!….. Nar, it’s not like that at all. I just start with something simple and try and build on it, I might switch hands or try a different angle. Sometimes they work and I try them over and over again and sometimes they don’t and I put them away for a few months and then come back to them.” Ben goes through lots of different phases with his riding, one month it will be all about hops and jumps, the next he’ll be all over the back wheel, then he’ll move onto hang-5 variations and maybe work some of those hops into them.

One hot summer’s day at the Civic Park in Ballarat, all Ben did was endless turbined cliffhangers, they just went on and on and he just went on and on, it was an amazing example of temporary flatland OCD. For all the great stuff he does, there are failures. There are links that Ben never gets and this can apparently bother him, not that I have ever actually seen anything bother Ben. Like I’ve never seen him chuck or slam his bike or bag out another rider or stuff like that. He says

“Yeah, there are things that I don’t get and this can annoy me, but I just move on, it’s just a trick”. Ben is so original with a lot of the links and combos that he comes up with that it is impossible to compare them against other riders because no one else is doing what he does. In fact I’d even go so far to say that if he is working on something and finds out that someone else does it first, he’ll stop trying and move onto something different. This is not out of ego or malice but out of a sense of self determination to be original and push his envelope as far as it will go. Paul’s take on all this articulates the situation well

“Ben just does whatever he likes, but I think that he wishes his parents had pushed him to do something different. I know I’m glad that they didn’t. Half of our generation is trying to be like him but they all fall short when they search for recognition and buckle on fashions and peer pressures. Ben doesn’t need a political reason to climb mountains and go to the op shop - It’s just him”

Ben still just disappears now, thankfully it’s only for a few weeks at the longest, but it’s almost like he goes walkabout, or I guess to be more flatlandy we should call is rideabout. I’ll try and call him and go around his regular riding spots looking for him only to find he’s been riding and camping in the Grampians for the last week. This is all part of the Ben culture, the Ben lifestyle, Ben freestyle, championed by Ben and practiced by Ben that ultimately creates a Ben Zen. Everyone seems to like him, even the John Laws of the Australian flatland scene Stu Munroe has good things to say about him

“he’s the most original, most talented rider in Australia after Simon O’Brien” When I asked Stu if he’d give Ben a video part he conceded he “didn’t know if he’d give him a full part but a part for sure”. Stu only speaks the truth… but he raises an important point, there have been times when Ben hasn’t been willing or able to take the next step. There was a high expectation that he would do well in Down Under Ground events and he blitzed the pro class at round two in Melbourne during qualifying. Yet he faltered in the final and ended up fourth. Also, despite attending all four rounds of the DUG series (but not riding in the Sydney round, choosing to judge instead) Ben only managed to place ninth overall. It must be said that none of this overall really matters to Ben, his “choke” in the Melbourne comp is much joked about in good sprit. Downs and knocks are not something that Ben gets upset about, they just become part of his ever growing adventure. Something to think about, something to improve on, something to ride.

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Despite all his talent, the big wraps people put on him, his high profile and the fact that he gets to almost every flatland event, Ben has never had a sponsor. Which is probably lucky for the sponsors because chances are he would send them broke. He literally rips frames in half and parts to pieces. He’s notoriously hard on shoes, killing them sometimes in days. An examination of his shed reveals multiple freecoasters smashed into bits and he once turned up to my house with a car load of parts including cracked frames, forks and bars, cranks and bolts and bearings of all kind. His plan was to scatter them about the place. He left a striped out Primo crank arm in the coping of the skatepark in Daylesford and assorted other bits in many other strange places.

No, it’s because the amazing adventure that is the life and times of Ben Moran is a story that should be told and remembered for its unique character, interesting tales and uplifting positivity. Okay, maybe I am trying to make him out to be a flatland god… just a little.

The whole point of this article is not to build Ben up as some kind of flatland god, because I know he wouldn’t have it and it wouldn’t sit well with him, it’s not to eulogise him as if he had departed in some way either, it’s not even to pay him back for helping me move house multiple times.

“He’s very good at washing up!”

The final word on Ben comes from Paul’s wife Jen. Ben, Paul and Jen, it sounds like a ’60 children’s TV program, but that’s another story. Anyways, they ended up spending a lot of time together. Ben would often crash at their house during his rideabouts and they also travelled together to places like Tasmania and Sydney with other assorted crew. I totally agree with her having seen him in action myself on a few occasions, but anyways Jen says

Words by Mitch Wood AKA “Manbeast”

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, It s 6:30am on a chilly Wednesday morning. Any other morning I would be just waking up and preparing myself for the daily grind. This morning was different, I was sitting in a taxi with Matt Lawton, Will Horan and Mitch“Macca”Macdonald on our way to pick up a 12 seater van. By the time we that we were a band reached our destination, Will had convinced the cab driver , on tour and the van was to be our tour bus, which wasn t actually that far from the truth. At first, prospects looked slim when the douche at EuropeCar looked like not letting us take the car without a driver over 25, but thanks to Matty dishing we were allowed to leave and left to pick up the rest of the out some more cash , guys from Matty s place. The cre w consisted of Will Horan, Timmy White, Tom Appleby, Tom Dunn, Macca, Jeff Bahr, Kyle Jacobson, Matt Lawton and myself on filming duties with Jerry Vandervalk and Corey Mansinger joining us for the last couple of days. With high spirits and high expectations we embarked on our journey. The idea behind the trip was to hit a bunch of spots from the Sunshine Coast down to the Gold Coast. We hit some crazy spots along the way including lots of cool parks, some gnarly drains with a constant stream of putrid slush running down the centre, more than one gap involving jumping through a tree, a playground that Tom Dunn absolutely destroyed and a railhop across the road from a police station just to name a fe w. I witnessed a lot of crazy stuff on the trip, most of them involving Will Horan. That kid is loose, on and off a bike. I saw Tom Dunn escape death on numerous occasions and tell two waitresses not to split a $5 tip. I saw Tom Appleby gap a rail and completely miss all transition. I saw a roadtrain miss Will’s bare arse by about 30cms and a 60 year old woman trying to crack onto us. I saw nine guys sneak into a caravan park and sleep in a room meant for four. I saw a lot of beer drinking and shit-talking and I saw a tight group of mates shredding and having fun. Unfortunately the trip turned sour on the Saturday seeing both Tom and Macca ending up in hospital. Tom went down hard at some trails trying to bail over the the bars but hooked his legs on the bars and got swung head first into , ground, he got knocked out and had some memory loss but luckily didn t split it. That killed everyones vibe at the trails so the cre w headed to Nerang. The night was starting to pick up until Macca looped out on an air and fractured both bones in his leg. Not a great way to end the trip. Get well soon mate! Big thanks to Matty for inviting me on the trip and all the guys for being such a fun cre w to hang with. Keep checking temperedbikes.com.au for the video of the trip.

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MATHEW LAWTON:

1. What was the idea behind the trip? Get loose with all the cats for 5 days and just make our way from the sunny coast to the gold coast to document being on the road with the Tempered team. Plain and simple. Thanks to all the dudes for breaking balls and making it one hell of a trip! 2. What was the favourite spot for you? Definitely the filthy drains, something about drains just get me all wet. And jeff Bahr.... 3. Funniest moment? I can,t really pin point out one single funny moment, but i can say that anytime we were in the van.... things got wild. 4. Games of Craps in the Van? What about it, who even won that game, i have no idea....i only remember Macca rolling the goods. 5. Would you say the trip was a success? There was no bars or goals set for it to be a success, the trip was everything I had hoped for and more. Just wish things went a little more smoothly for everyone on day four (Saturday). I can,t explain how fucked that day was for us all... Tom dunn is finally back shredding and Macca is able to move around, so things are looking good! 6. Where is the next one headed? Some where deserted where no one has really been, no plans. Just pile up the van and the trailer and set off in a general direction with all the dudes. I think it would be a lot more relaxed that way.

TOM APPLEBY:

1. So dude, why did you throw re-fried beans onto the front windscreen of the van and leave it there for days? I just wanted to let the van sample the beany flavours. There ,s nothing wrong with sharing! Really though, my vegetarian Mexican cravings had to be satisfied, but by the end of a cold can of refried beans all you want to do is throw them at something, and Mr. Dunn encouraged me to spoon it on the windscreen in an attempt to simulate poop. I feel that it was an accurate representation. 2. How many times did you get boned out on the trip? Approximately half as many as Tom Dunn and Macca combined. For everything I did there was at least fourteen wrecks involved. 3. What was something you wish you had done on the trip? That double rail with a gap in the middle. I,m calling it out for Tina! Besides that, probably some more gnarly drops and gaps, maybe with a little less meaty paw than I got on the trip second time around. 4. Do you frequently molest your chickens? It,s mating season, so things get a little wild at times, though I,m more of a duck man myself.

Matt Lawton PHOTO Kyle Jacobsen

MITCH WOOD:

1. You came on the trip as the filmer, how was the you behind the lens? trip for Filming on the trip was is but having constant so much fun, I love filming as it bangers to capture makes better! it eve n 2. What was the experienc e like being on the road those dudes? with all Loose. 3. Most enj oyable moment from the trip? Don,t you split it! 4. Why did you have to int Now I can,t wake withou roduce me to espresso in a can? t it. Welcome to my life.

Tom Appleby hearts smith grinds and denim. PHOTO Kyle Jacobsen

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NSIN GER:expe rience even with COREY MA trip late, how was the

1. You joined the only two days left? , e goin down hard. That Man it s was so good apart from peopl that, it was so good from t Apar . Macca well was real gay. Get was amazing. bus the in just even , yone hangin with ever two day journey? 2. Favourite /best mome nt from your and watching Will do Oh ed. Riding the trails, so so diall , ain. hops whips. so good i can t even expl ney? jour day two your 3. Worst mome nt from ,t fair. They both wasn just It . down go s mate my g Just seein shred.

THOMAS DUNN:

1. What made you want to do every deadman rail hop you saw on the trip? HAHA I,ve only ever done a couple of rail hops before and I,ve always loved them and wanted to do more of them and on the trip we just ended up at spots that had perfect ones everywhere so I had to do em haha. Also dropping to flat is the best haha. 2. You crashed pretty bad on day 4, care to explain what happened? I don,t remember anything so i really can,t explain that one. 3. Favorite quote from the trip? Anything the Game said, he ,s the best. g g g g g unot. 4. Worst quote from the trip? Don't fuckin, split hahahaahhahahah 5. What was split on the trip, a five dollar note or carton of beer on the hour? I don,t know what that means but one night me, Will and Beast went to an Italian restaurant and had the best pizza in the universe.

Tom Dunn threading the needle and Matt carbo loading. PHOTO Kyle Jacobsen ISSUE 33

JERRY VANDERVALK:

1. You joined the trip late, how was the experience with only two days left? Yeah I was gutted I couldn,t really get the time off, but the two and a bit days that i spent on the trip definitely had their ups and downs... 2. Anything good happen on Saturday night? It was funny, some local guys were there and they were all old school, we were getting some clips and anytime I did something, he lost it hey haha (shout out to that guy). 3. What happened with all the footage from that night? Haha well we thought it got recorded over because when we watched some stuff it just cut to stuff from the next day and I was blaming Corey because he was watching it in the van. But the clips turned up when the footage was getting captured so all is good! Sorry Corey I was wrong to doubt you this one time ha. 4. Favourite moment from the trip? Checking out the trails was awesome 5: Worst moment from the trip? Would have to be seeing Tom go down, then Macca on the same day, that killed the vibe for sure..

N: WILL HORA jacket, feel like talking about that? trip you found a prett y sexy denim

1. On day 4 of the a pile of discarded clothing. For most m jacket afte r scrumaging through jacket to ever yone , we found several deni dope this found I Well aha? t the showing off Where do I star even to Matt ys that evening. Afte r been freshhh pressed up against my white T all day, ,t of the day I rode in the jacket and OF THE JACK ET! Which had DE INSI THE ON s) faece n huma and he replied ‘Ohhhh yeah ahhah didn Macca told I skid marks (from t nigh that r Late . trip g on the sweating. Man by far the dirtiest thin . suckkka.’ leads for the you see those massive skiddies man.. my bike to try and find some jumper t of day 3 when you disappeared with nigh the on ened happ y reall What 2. the creek and , van? the bike , so I thre w the bike across the headtube , which I kne w I couldn t jump with down ,s bike didn,t make the distance and got drenched in wate r, all up and Well I came across a rather large creek y kaa jumped afte r it. Unfortunatel y, Mattthe rest of the trip with moto grip and a leaking rust y bike .... sukk mmm delish. Matt y then had to ride the van? 3: Why did we need jumper leads for cab! a d calle just have ld shou Man we 4. Favourite quote from the trip? , it ayeeeeeee’ Hands down - ‘Don t you fucking split about? come quote rite to tip this favou your 4.5. How did and afte r finishing we all decided waiter rent er in some fancy Italian restaurant Beast, Thomas D and I were eating dinnwallet. Beast handed the tip over the counter but unfortunatly a diffe E FIVE DOLLARS, so cute waiter $5 from Thomas’s tightass Thomas was angr y and thought they were going to share the WHOL aa funniest shit! ahaa ers wait the both with ces chan (still fresh, cute) claimed it. Tightass ayeeeeeeeeeeee” and ble w his slim he said don t you fuckinggg split it ? , 5. How fresh reall y is fresh er! Now that s FRESHHHHH! ing your leather jacket in the show Man you have no idea. Imagine wear in the park on day 2? him leave did you bring him on the trip and then 6. We never kne w you had a son, why brat! Man that kid was a waste of space aye, ISSUE 33

Will Horan rail to whip! PHOTO Kyle Jacobsen

KYLE JACOBSON:

1. You came as the photographer, how was the trip for you being behind the lens? The trip was amazing, I have never shot so many amazing photos in one day, everyone was throwing down all the time, it was nuts. 2. Which spot did you feel was the best to shoot photos? I really wanted to get stuck into the trails at the goldy but after Tom went to the hospital no one really felt up to riding them. The drains we hit at the sunny coast were so dank and dreary which made for very nice photos, I will have to go back there very soon. 3. What was your most memorable moment from the trip? , There were a couple of moments, some good, some bad and some really bad, i ll always remember Tom jumping incidents I have seen. eating over everything, and then being involved in one of the worst dirt 4. Anything else? I would like to thank Matty and everyone that came on the trip for making it such an awesome trip, and get well soon Tom Dunn and Macca.

JEFF BAHR:

1. You made it up from Canberra to come on the trip. What was it like to leave Canberra to go some where you have never been, to come on a trip with riders you have never met? Coming up to Queensland for the first time ,was awesome to say the least. I was super keen to go on the trip and meet everyone during the lead up, then I kinda realised I m not the loudest guy out there and I didnt know anyone so I was a bit nervous but still super excited. But yea it turned out to be an awesome time, all the guys that I met were awesome so thanks to all of them. 2. How many beers does it take Jeff Bahr to finish a sentence? If you,re, a fresh face, it,ll take a fair fe w haha, mind you by the time I,m firing out paragraphs you won,t be able to understand a word I m saying... and neither will I haha. 3. You got pretty boned out on the first two days, what happened there? Ah well, the first day was alright, just cruised around the park but night time fell and the beers were pouring so around about midnight, I think, everyone was hitting the hay and I, decided I was hungry. Went for a walk around, left the caravan park somehow found my way back after a fe w hours but didn t find any food. Now the second day we went to these awesome drains with the seediest water I had ever seen or smelt, anyway, the concrete was kinda rough and while I was mucking around by myself around the corner my front wheel washed out my foot went into the water drenching my pants and my bike, I got soaked and got some nice cuts n bruises too. 4. Will Jeff Bahr be back in Brisbane any time soon? Of course Jeff Bahr will return to Brisbane... dates yet to be announced. won,t be in the summer but, can barely stand Canberras summer 5. Care to explain the nightly doings we had? There were many fun nightly doings. But i,m sorry to say there all unexplainable. I,m just gonna say nights were fun haha. 6. Did you really see a dead body in that ocean at Alex Heads? Well don,t mean to get down on Matty cos I,m pretty sure he is the one who spotted the corpse, but all I saw was a bunch of rocks.

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TIM MY WHITE:

1. Favorite moment from the trip? Taking a dump in the bushes. 2. Worst moment from the trip? Seeing Macca and Dunn go down on the same day :( and clubbing sober. 3. Why, instead of riding the drains on day one, you just thre w rocks at everyone? Coz I wanted to wreck that old dudes CHILLA! 4. You Were like a little school girl sitting in the back of the van most times, too many expresso in a can? , Back of the bus is the place to be, those expresso cans were such a rip but I don t mind if you whistle at me! 5. Was it just the vibe of the trip or do you always try to tune old ladies? I was the youngest on the trip so i had no choice. give me a break chief. 5. What will you remember most from the trip? ,t wait to do it all again The trip was super fun, nothin better then having a ghetto as ,roadie with the boys, can ,”Random moments were Deffs IT! SPLIT FUCKEN DON’T deffs, was trip the of line and root some old bushpig. Favorite playing with a bunch of chickens and ducks whilst hoolahooping, also waking up with the bottom of my pillow wet one morning. Meals were rockin’nothing beats a fe w undercooked snags marinated in beer. Mr. Dunn and I named a moth Charles and I found out Tom was also lactose intollerant. Trashing Maccas was fun also! If the blonde skater chick from Alexheads that broke her skull is reading this YOU’RE HOT! I enjoyed myself WOOOOO!

MITCH McDON ALD:

Get well soon yo!

ISSUE 33

Timmy Whitedownside ice. PHOTO Kyle Jacobsen

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George and Louis Bolter Words and photos by Tim Pierce

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One day, two Bolters, three locations. Imagine two young guys that share similar looks, similar passions, similar mannerisms, along with the same infectious personality and your mind has conjured some sort of rough picture of the Bolter twins. George and Louis Bolter are the two next best things in the New Zealand BMX scene. They have grown up in Auckland, made a solid name for themselves and their riding speaks volumes. I think the connection that these two have is incredible, (Yes I sound like a fag) and I have to wonder if they ever get pissed off as being referred to as the twins though I have never seen any sign of this. They thrive off each other and seem to spend as much time together as they can. They live together, work together and ride bikes together. Maybe having someone there to constantly push you through your whole life is why they became so goddam good? Theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re rad people to hang out with, and even radder to shoot. I had great ambitions to document these guys properly with my camera, but when it came down to it, alcohol got the better of me. Before I knew it, it was me, Louis, George and the dance floor at 3am, repeatedly. The images that follow in this brief little insight are from one day with the two Bolters, at three different locations around Auckland. Enjoy.

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BEHIND BARS BMX 4 LIFE

Bryce Madsen

From Waiuku, New Zealand Resides Brisbane, Queensland Words & Photos by Mike Davies Where are you from and how long have you been riding BMX? I’m from a small town called Waihi in the North Island of New Zealand. I started riding when I was about 12 or 13 after watching “fantasy” featuring Dave Mirra and Ryan Nyquist with my friends, I’ve been riding ever since. That movie rips, you should get it out. Waihi is a very small town, what’s it like growing up there and riding BMX? Growing up here riding was mean, we had a tight group and we rode everyday, period. There’s only one school here so we all grew up together and rode the local every morning before school. My parents live on 7 acres of land so we always had dirt jumps, our mates’ dad would take us out of town just about every weekend. We were all competitive with each other but never bitchy, it was weird, we all just wanted to go to the X Games haha. What’s the riding scene like in Waihi? It’s pretty small now but I like it that way. I ride with some young guys out at the beach, they’re chill, they’re down to ride with bent forks and everything, reminds me of me when I started riding. No one cares about stuff here. My mate Jess and I rode the city a couple of months ago which is pretty rare and these groms kept telling me that I had laced my wheels wrong. I was like “who cares, most of them are there.” Not a lot of the crew I used to ride with ride anymore but we all still hang out. Jesse’s bike got stolen probably 5 or 6 years ago, for some reason that pretty much shut our whole scene down except for me. I gave him my old bike a few months ago and we’re making a comeback tour. Apart from BMX, what else is a big part of your life? I keep ultra busy, trying new things is really important to me. I feel I might miss out on some of what life has to offer if I stick to one thing. I worked straight out of school for two years so I could go drifting, all my friends that were into riding started and just tried to go competing, that car has kept me super poor! I also probably skate as much as I ride but only at my local skatepark, nowhere else. I play drums in a covers band called The Rifft with my friends and we do little gigs round the place. Come winter time my life pretty much goes on hold and me and the band snowboard every weekend almost without fail. I love snowboarding, it`s kinda my new thing. I cop a lot of flak from my friends because I’m always updating my gear like every pay day. No lies, last year was my first season and I did 25 days or so. I’ve been through five boards already, if it’s not next years model I don’t want to know about it. I try to make church on a Sunday as well, family and friends are the most important to me. What bike are you currently riding? I was riding a Fly Pantera with all the bells and whistles. Recently ABD hooked me up with their next years bike called the “Izzy”, it’s way lighter than my other bike. I gave my Fly to Jesse, I don’t think I’ll ride it again. This ABD looks dope as well, I’m not gonna lie, if it doesn’t look cool I don’t really want to ride it. If I didn’t care about looking cool I would go and buy some roller blades or some skis, no lies. Maybe get into free running... So you are currently getting support from ADB bikes? What’s it like working with them and riding their bikes? Ian and the crew at ABD have been really laid back but are still really motivated to get stuff done, I like that. Shooting with Nick and Mike is rad. They are patient with the shots and don’t mind waiting for me to do something good, which sometimes takes ages haha. I love the bike I`m riding. When most people get a new bike the first thing they think about is what they are going to change. When they gave me the bike I was a bit gutted because anything I changed would have made the bike dumber, I changed the tires though just because that’s what you do. What motivates you to ride every day? Fun, when riding stops being fun I’ll quit. I think that’s a while away.

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ISSUE 33 SEPTEMBER 2009

BEHIND BARS BMX 4 LIFE

ISSUE 33 SEPTEMBER 2009

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BEHIND BARS BMX 4 LIFE

Robbie Brown

Resides Brisbane, Queensland Words and photos by Sam Minnel

Loose, changing styles, rad moustache, Geraldine, rock and roll, not scared, motivated, travelling, street and good times. These are 10 things that describe Robbie Brown. I first met Robbie not long after I started riding, when the ghetto ramps on the tennis court had first been finished. He shredded then and he still shreds now, his style has changed many times over the years, but if you put anything in front of him no matter how abstract he will find some crazy line. He has one rad moustache, played in a rock and roll band, travelled extensively and lives and breathes BMX!

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BEHIND BARS BMX 4 LIFE

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Ben Finney

Resides Queenstown, New Zealand Words & photos by Dave Coulson 112

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We used to watch Ben ride the old mini in Queenstown, airing higher than most and learning lip tricks as if he had a small book with him teaching him technique and style. He never spoke, just rode that ramp like it was his last ride. Ben originates from England, living in QT for many years now, his learning ability amazes me whether it be dirt street or ramps. Getting rid of that old Volume that weighed more than me, was the best thing he ever did! If you ever need anyone to ride with, hit him up, always keen and always learning. His fascination with the scenery around him can make a road trip seem like youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been in his truck for a week. Stop staring out that window Finney.

BEHIND BARS BMX 4 LIFE

Cody Rollbusch Resides Loxton, South Australia Photos by Kobi Koch

Our skate park has only been open for about half a year. But when it finally opened, pretty much every man and his dog went out and bought a new bike. Most of them hardly knew how to balance on their new purchase, let alone ride it on a ramp. In amongst all the new shiny chrome bikes was 12 year old Cody on his old crusty Haro. His style instantly stood out and you could tell he had a background in motocross. Since then he’s only got bigger and a lot better, and he got a new ride with a bunch of dialed parts. Good thing to, the Haro was well past its retirement age for the air he was getting on it. Now Cody and I ride most nights after school and on the weekend if it’s not 43° or raining. If you’re ever near Loxton in South Australia, you should definitely check it out, there’s a fair chance Cody will be there, shredding the park. Although he sometimes tells me he can’t air. You judge for yourself.

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TECH KNOWLEDGE THE FACES BEHIND THE SCENE

Power to the People

We the People have been a force in the BMX world for more than a decade now. Hailing from Germany, their approach to BMX has been a precision based one. We caught up with WTP partner and art maniac, Klaus Dyba to get the lowdown on the new complete range, working with artists and being flatland world champion back in the day. Interview by Holmes You’ve been the driving force behind the look and feel of WTP since the beginning. So 1st up, when did WTP all start? Wethepeople started as a T-shirt company around ‘93 or so. Can’t remember exactly when really. Then a Cologne distributor started to sell some Taiwanese stuff branded with the name Wethepeople around ‘96, but just in Germany. Around ‘98 Harry Schmid and I got into it cause we had a plan to try it worldwide, but with our own designed parts. So Harry got into the company to draw and design all the products, with me doing all the graphics. I worked for the German mag Freedom BMX as an editor and graphic designer at the time. After a while, I figured out it was just too much work to focus on both and I finally worked solely on Wethepeople. Since 2002 it’s me and Harry running and owning Wethepeople. How have you kept the motivation to keep stepping up on graphics/design and always expanding? I think it is just the joy of doing something new that keeps me motivated. That’s also why Wethepeople’s styles always change, or that all decals look so different. I get bored really fast from my designs, so I always try to do something new. Mostly I like the stuff better from other companies, so this also keeps me motivated to do something new! Your 2009 complete bike range was tight, but by the looks of it, the 2010 range is upping the anté in a huge way. Attention to detail is above and beyond what any company has ever attempted on a range of bikes. Is the process a nightmare with everything on the bikes basically custom? Well, it’s the same for the bikes as it is for my graphic work. We are bored of old stuff so we always try something new. For 2010 we changed a lot. We are at a level now where we can invest in our own molds. So we did our own Salt tires, rims, brake levers and brakes. Even if we use OEM parts, we try to make them different, even if it is just a hub shell shape. This makes our bikes different I think. If you don’t do that, you just have the same parts on your bikes like everyone else and you can just see a difference thanks to the sticker design. Details are really important for us. Maybe we take it too serious sometimes, but it shows in the end result.

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Maybe that’s the German way of doing something! But back to your question, it is indeed sometimes a nightmare to control all those things. It’s still all done by Harry and myself. We go to Taiwan each year and build all the sample bikes together by ourselves. So we see directly if something is wrong or needs to be improved. We have nightmares till the first production is coming out, cause you’ll never know if everything is perfect. There are hundreds of possible places to make mistakes. We do a lot of quality control, maybe more than others. We’ve also worked with the same makers for many years now. So we know what we’ll get and I think the shops and owners of our bikes recognize that as well. What is the design process for a bike? Frame and part design, mock ups for colour choice and then graphics? After interbike, Harry and I sit down together and look at our bikes. We look for what we don’t like and what makes it not look as good as it should, or what we can improve on. For example, last year it was tires. Most brands run the same OEM tires on their bikes (including us), cause there aren’t too many affordable OEM tires available that look good. So we thought there must be a way to make a cheap tire that actually has a modern, or nice tread and look. So we did it. Same with the stems. We found a way to make a nice looking stem for a price that you can use on a complete bike. After that, Harry redraws all the frames every year. He also does the bars and forks. We also try to make different frame designs for each model to make them unique in their own way. To have our own shop (www.peoples-store.de) helps a lot to stay updated in the BMX world. Mainly so we can react really fast to changes. Meanwhile I look for nice colourways and colour combinations. Mostly I check out shoe brands or snowboard websites for inspiration, cause they have the big money for good graphic designers. Then I do hundreds of combinations and try to figure out what looks best and what is possible to do in production. Mostly our ideas die because of the production costs. It is also important for us that all bikes have their own vibe and not just black or white (cough). The sticker artwork is my personal nightmare, cause I am really critical on my own work. If the sticker artwork looks shit or it’s not liked, it’s harder to sell the bike. Even though you can just peel the stickers off. So this year I started to work with some freelance artists.

TECH KNOWLEDGE INNOVATION 101

Let us introduce you to the 2010 Envy complete bike.... PHOTO Tony Nolan ISSUE 33 SEPTEMBER 2009

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The 2010 range features a whole bunch of artists collaborating on graphics, who was involved? I came to a point where I couldn’t handle all this by myself. Especially because each of our bikes have their own theme... That and my brain is a bit empty after all these years! So I tried to start to work with some freelancers. It wasn’t easy in the beginning, since I did all stuff by myself over the last years. I had to explain that it’s all about BMX and that I don’t want skulls with a skate helmet and crutches in the designs and so on. But after a few tries and sketches, all the stuff we talked about came out really well. The Justice graphics were made by Troy White from Florida who is doing a lot for skateboard and snowboard companies. I didn’t have to explain to him too much what I was looking for. I just said ‘The bike is called Justice, and it should have a hard rock or eighties touch to the graphics’. And then it was finished! The Crysis was completely hand drawn by a Cologne artist named Herr Schulze (http://www.herrschulze.de). He draws some sick shit! Faces puking, fingernail clippers and stuff. I just wanted the skeleton to come out of the frame tubes. So it needed a little 3D style. I sweated a lot, cause he had to redraw all changes. But he was really into it. The Versus got a totally different look. I hope the people are into it since it is a bit different than your normal decal designs. For the Versus it was important that the colours of the sticker match the parts colour really well. The artist was Emil Kozak. He did the Avenue cruiser decal as well.

What’s your weapon of choice for design work? Mac, PC, software? Crayons? Actually, I can’t draw too good, which sucks! So most of my hand drawn stuff is typical copy/wasted ‘zine style. I love doing that, but I don’t have too much time for it. As for my computer, Apple for life. I’ve owned one since 1994, back when we started Freedom BMX magazine. Right now I work on a G5 Mac Pro 2 x 2.8 Ghz Quad Core with 8GB of RAM and a 30” Apple display. And I’m mostly working with Adobe Creative Suite CS4, Illustrator, Photoshop and Indesign. Nothing much else. 9am to 8pm daily (mostly)! I’m so psyched on the youtube link with you killing it at the 94 worlds! So when does WTP bring out Peregrine like bars that you can cut off if they’re too tall? Haha! I never cut them! But it’s actually a cool idea to have a two piece bar and a four piece bar all in one. Just cut the lower griptube and there you go. I should sell that idea to KHE! So now you’ve set the bar for complete spec and design, what’s in store for 2011? To be honest I am really proud of our 2010 line and it will be hard to change a lot hardware wise. Especially now that it’s still affordable. I bet after InterBike we’ll notice stuff that can be changed or improved. So you’ll see!

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BEATS & PIECES DVD AND CD REVIEWS

The Emerald Video Peter Adam The Emerald Video is the latest project from Ireland’s Peter Adam. The DVD is pure Irish pride with almost all the footage coming from the streets of Belfast. Riders featured include Peter Adam, Andrew Ryder, Derek Johnson, John Wells, John McVea and Matt Gillispie as well as Michael and Chris Sharpe and Luke Godson. In-between travelling the world, (Pete spent a few months in Australia last year) Pete managed to put together over an hour of Irish BMX for the world to check out. There’s the odd skatepark clip, but it’s mostly street and they seem to have everything from rails a plenty, to curved wall rides and the infamous “road gap”, can’t wait to ride that one again Pete… The music is a good mix of different styles with The Undertones, Devo, Tears for fears, Neil Young and even Ice T making an audio appearance in the bonus section. Also in the bonus section is one of Pete’s first video projects from 1999, complete with 4 pegs and big chainwheels. The Emerald Video is available in all good bike shops via Stowaway Distribution. Mike Daly

Queensryche American Soldier “ON YER FEET!!!” cries out for the opening line on this album and introduces the listener to an experience from the perspective of a soldier dealing with the realities of war. Instantly I get the feeling this album is more than just a bunch of songs thrown together by a group of has-been hair-metalers who’ve run out of cash. There are glimpses of the classic 80’s hard-rock that the name Queensryche brings to mind, yet the music is diverse, sometimes dark, sometimes heavy and at times almost peaceful. It is epic and perhaps schizophrenic, giving a clear insight into the contrasting emotions faced by the soldiers at war. US Government propaganda was an initial reaction, but after a few listens I did actually start to appreciate the work that has gone into producing the music on this concept album, but it is probably not for everyone. It most likely won’t hold its place for too long on the stereo at a party full of bmx’ers on the cans, however it is worth a listen and maybe needs to be given more than one go to get the idea of what Queensryche have intended to do on this record. Brendan Howard

Killswitch Engage Self Titled OK, I’ll admit from the start that although I have seen this band’s name getting around for sometime now, I have not previously taken much time to find out what they are all about. So first thoughts are aggressive verses and powerful melodic choruses, this is just the kind of gear I am likely to put on at work just to piss off my department manager. Some cool, solid and heavy guitar riffs with plenty of hardcore screaming vocals and some insane drumming. Perfect in the car for those of us who need to feed our tendencies for road rage. However, there isn’t anything to this album that really takes me by surprise, in fact it is pretty much what I expected to hear given my ignorance to this band’s music. Still I wished I’d had it with me blasting out my eardrums while snowboarding at Perisher last weekend. Brendan Howard

Streetsweeper Social Club Self Titled If you’ve been lacking music that makes you stand up, get ready to be counted, ready to get your shit going on, then look no further than the first release from Streetsweeper Social Club. Thrown into the mix none other than Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine fame and Boots Riley of the Coup. With the straight up revolutionary outlooks of both members in full blown swing, they have managed to bring something special to your eardrums. Yes, those soul moving riffs Morello is renowned for and Boot’s hard hitting lyrical outbursts contain the fire to take down the corrupt, corporate world in one foul sweep. Mix in a little funked out, booty shaking beats amongst the fire breathing content and you’ve got some fuel to help you through the day, be it on a ride, behind the wheel, matter of fact I’m listening to it now... Holmes

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NEW PRODUCTS FRESH IS BEST

New Products Studio photos by Tony Nolan

Fly Grip

www.flybikesbmx.com Yep, you’re seeing OK, Fly have decided that a 355mm long one piece design for custom grip length is the future. Cut in half and you will have very long grips that hark back to the early 90’s when crew ran two grips on each side. Make those tuck no handers that bit easier....

Verde Cartel Stem www.verdebmx.com

Verde’s cartel series stem is slick. Forged then machined for added strength, and no rear clamping bolt for a smooth look. So how does it clamp then? Well, a tapered wedge system allows greater contact area with the steerer tube for a secure grip. 50mm reach and comes in Verde’s signature colours. Awesome and light!

Demolition Zero rim

Nike6.0 Converge

So maybe purple is your thing? Maybe it ain’t? Luckily, Demolition’s Zero rims are available in a multitude of colours to make sure you ain’t ever letting the colour code police bring you down. Even better is that their double-wall design has two vertical ribs and a welded seam for even more rigidity. Still, purple is looking pretty good right about now....

Nike have some of the nicest looking kicks on the market right now. Built tough with the Nike heritage throughout. The new Converge are a super durable shoe made to last on or off the bike. And the raddest thing? All 6.0 colourways only last a few months before new colours kick in.

www.demolitionparts.com

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www.nike6.com

UGP Pivotal seats www.bmxmilitia.com

UGP have gone nuts with their slim and padded pivotal seat range. Too many graphics to mention, all are looking sick thanks to more than a couple of artists being involved. If youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re sick of conventional seats, UGP have the answer!

Macneil bars

www.macneilbmx.com Macneils XLT bars are just that, extra light. Mainly thanks to their heat treatment, a slim cross bar and multi butted Sanko tubing. And instead of three different model names, they come in three different rises and width increases accordingly. We wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t expect anything less form these Canadian style masters.

Mechanik Hollow-trac chain www.classicbicycles.com.au

One sweet half link chain with rounded side plates for 9T (and larger) compatibility meaning this half link chain runs almost as smooth as a normal chain. Hollow pins and side plates reduce weight while the half link design allows you to dial in your rear end length on short dropouts. Did we say they come in a truckload of colours? Well if not, then they do. ISSUE 33 SEPTEMBER 2009

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Mankind Justice cranks www.kickassbmx.com

Mankind’s new two piece cranks have a heat treated 19mm, 48 spline hollow chromoly spindle, two sprocket bolt holes and are RHD and LHD compatible. They are also available in a bunch of funky colours and weigh in at a lightweight 833grams.

DK Alpha Stem www.bmxmafia.com

CNC machined from 6061-T6 aluminium with hollow hardware and a cool laser etched logo. These stems come in 45mm or 53mm lengths and a multitude of colours including black, green, coffee, or blue.

Colony Clone hubs www.colonybmx.com

Colony Clone hubs are available in front or rear in a stack of colours including the ever so popular purple shown here. The rear hubs have ceramic driver bearings and the fronts use a female bolt type axle. The fronts weight 273grams and the rear weighs in at 414grams.

ABD Seat

www.avantibikes.com ABD have been expanding their range of affordable parts and bikes for a few years now. Coming out of New Zealand, their line now includes about 100 different designs on the all conquering Pivotal seat. From tartan to straight colours, there’s gotta be something to match with your laces and pay Jay Miron a few more royalty cheques.

KHE Cirrus Bars www.khebikes.com

KHE are the innovators of BMX, and while some of their ideas may be outside of the mainstream ideal of what BMX is, you can’t ever say that they aren’t pushing the boundaries. When KHE first introduced butted bars, people laughed, but nowadays it’s the only way. Their Cirrus bars are super light and completely heat treated with 10° backsweep and 3° upsweep and come in two rises depending how tall you want em. And those holes ain’t just for weight, they help stop your grips rotating. Rad.

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NEW PRODUCTS FRESH IS BEST

Verde Cartel frame www.verdebmx.com

Verde’s Cartel range is their premium stuff, all designed to work together and stick to Verde’s super clean styles. Their Cartel frame is no exception, 100% chromoly tubing, tapered stays, removable mounts and guides and big rear tire clearance. TT: 20.5”, 20.75” or 21” CS: 13.75” HT: 75° ST: 71° BB: 11.8” WEIGHT: 2.22kgs

Volume Robs Zombie www.volumebikes.com

Light, strong and ready for anything. Rob Wise’s signature frame has plenty of options and with brake mounts on the seat and chainstays you can run em where you want, if at all. Straight up rad graphics and a Volume logo headtube hole! TT: 20.5” or 21” CS: 13.75” HT: 75° ST: 71° BB: 11.7” WEIGHT: 2.17kgs

Unknown Evolution www.kickassbmx.com

Unknown hit the Australian shores with a bang, their light as hell frames making a name for themselves instantly. Utilizing an advanced heat treating process, the Evolution frame weighs in a lot lighter than the majority of heat treated frames out there. And they have a lifetime warranty. TT: 20.6” or 21” CS: 13.75” HT: 74.5° ST: 71° BB: 11.8” WEIGHT: 1.67kgs

Fit Bike Co. Hawk2 frame www.fitbikeco.com

If you’re after one light as all hell, skinny tubed, US built frame that is also Chase Hawks signature ride, then this is the one and only ticket. 4Q baked tubeset, tapered stays, thread on brake mounts and in raw or black. Minimal ain’t even the word, this is BMX at it’s simplest! TT: 20.5”, 20.75” or 21” CS: 13.55” HT: 75° ST: 71° BB: 11.8” WEIGHT: 1.8kgs

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NEW PRODUCTS FRESH IS BEST

Strictly Zip Hood www.strictlybmx.com

www.fitbikeco.com

Fit Bike Co Hood

Backbone T

AnimalxGhostface T

Etnies Cap

Zoo York T

Hell on Wheels T

Loose Kid Industries Belt

Jet Pilot T

www. animalbikes.com

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www.etnies.com

www.loosekid.com.au

www.backbonebmx.com.au

www.zooyork.com

www.jetpilot.com.au

INBOX WE’VE GOT MAIL

One young ripper form Orange.... PHOTO Michael Kelly

Inbox

Email, write or paint your thoughts to us. Itê s pretty simple, address it to: 2020inbox PO Box 498, Newtown, NSW 2042 or send your digital communications to bmxrules@2020bmxmag.com.au

Industry knowledge!

Seeing as Dempsey said....

Hey guys, I’m really interested in publishing and the work that goes into the magazine and for my negotiated studies I’m doing a mini magazine, I was just wondering if you have a certain program and or what others you use in publishing, eg. Photoshop, etc.

Hi im Matt, I’m 16. I ride my bike as much as possible, When the weathers good And in Perth that’s most of the time Thought id send you guys some photos After my mate Dempsey told me to haha. Anyways, I hope you guys like them and they make it to the magazine.

Andrew, Tasmania

Matt, Perth

OK, making mags is your game eh? Since theres five BMX mags in Australia nowadays, why not join the party! Here at 2020, Indesign, Photoshop and Illustrator (CS3) are the go for making the mag at the graphic end. Aperture for all the photos, Pages for writing and a few other bits of software for varying things from scanning to uploading files. And all this runs on Macs cause I’ve never used anything else! If you want to know more hit us up again.

I always knew I shoulda moved to Perth for the weather....

Rad Dog Hey how are all you guys, I love your mag, great read and sweet pics. Thought I would send a pic of me riding Mt Cotton skate park today. Just started riding again. Been off the bike for 5 months now. Got a new bike and loving it, stoked! Be sweet if u could run my pic in your mag sometime. Thanks heaps for a sweet ‘zine. Peace. Sam, Mt Cotton

Back into BMX? Hey, i was looking through your site and seen that you guys encourage people to contribute articles and photo’s etc. I have attached a photo i took last week of a mate who is just getting back into BMX. Check it out... i’m pretty sure you guys should get a laugh out of it! Cotter, via email So you’re mate just got back into BMX but didn’t get back into wearing clothes right?

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Before the fall I recently went riding one weekend at a dirt jumps track which we call Woodlands my best mate Nick Murphy had a stack and has been in hospital for the past three days and has had a operation. I got a photo of him doing the jump before and it looks pretty sick. If you got some spare space in your mag could you please put this photo in it would mean the world to him to be in your magazine. Sam, Ocean Grove We hope Nick recovered alright eh!

Sharing the pain I’ve just read in the June 09 issue that Brendan Jones broke 3 vertebrae in his neck. September last year i broke my C7 and ive only just now 11 months later been strong enough to get back into track riding. Suspension mountain bike riding has been fine 4 months after the accident, but not BMX... i just want to pass on my best wishes to Brendan. When i was bolted into the halo brace i wished i could talk to someone that had been in the same boat, so if he has any questions id be more than happy to help and if you think it would be ok you could pass on my email address. Paul, Hamilton, NZ

We will pass your details on. Hope you be healing up! Hey Guys, I’m 13 Years old and I ride a 2005 Diamondback Skindog with a shitload of Odyssey parts, I’m getting a 2009 Hoffman Condor (Limited Edition Green) as soon as I can sell my motorbike. Here’s my problem, I can’t ride a bike for shit, so how can I get better? I’ve been riding (seriously) since November/December 2008 and still can only do a few small Double peg grinds and T-Bars and can only hop a few inches. I can’t go to my local skatepark since its full of dickheads, theres only a few good dirt jumps and no good street spots. I like in a Shit-boring town called Whyalla, theres NOTHING to do here so if I’m not riding I’m playing video games. When I finish year 12 im moving to Melbourne. Thanks for the stickers last issue they look great on my bike. I love reading 2020 as soon as I get some money I’m gonna subscribe, You guys make the sickest magazine there is, you take the sickest pics and interview the sickest riders (I’m still waiting for an interview with Nyquist, Nasty or the Condor). Catch Ya later from Whyalla Deco, Whyalla Holy crap! Only riding since November last year and aren’t the best rider on the planet? Welcome to the lifelong game of self improvement that the BMX journey is! Lucky for you, you’ve got a park, so if it’s full of crew you don’t want to deal with, maybe ride it real early. Go build some new jumps and search out some street spots. BMX only gives back what you put in, so get off the playstation and make you’re own fun. There’s plenty of crew who grew up in smaller places than Whyalla and became amazing riders. So guess what? The choice is yours!

INBOX READER PHOTOS

One sick shot of Chris Harti. Raine and Nick G better watch their backs! PHOTO Doug Taylor

Matt Boulter TBog in Perths good weather....

Nude run ation by Smith....

Reader photos PHOTO Cotter

Dedicated to the next gen of riders and photographers in Australia.

Sam at Mt Cotton.

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Tuckâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;n at dusk. PHOTO Maddison Millionaire

BrentonKerr, Mildura park.

Nick pre crash at Ocean Grove

T AC Back Bone BMX

Shop 6 Fisher Square, Fisher

02 6288 5186

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233B Brisbane Street, Ipswich 51 Cambridge Pde, Manly Shop 9, Helensvale Plaza, Helensvale 2/2 Central Court, Browns Plains 652 Ipswitch Road, Annerley 643 Samford Road, Mitchelton 140 Boundary Street, West End 2930 Logan Rd, Underwood 239 Brisbane Street, Ipswich

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DVDdirect

2020ê s DVD Direct mail order not only cuts the cost of DVDê s but we send • em straight to your door! Stoked. Prices as listed INCLUDING free postage in Australia! Get your BMX DVD fix with no mess, no fuss. Simply fill in the details below.

Flipside Ride $29.95

Ride’s latest DVD takes 4 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.

BMX Bandits $14.99

I wanna live S&M $39.95

dvd cover option 1.indd 1

Banned3 Betteroffdead $44.95

As a rider, you have to have this DVD in your collection. It’s Australian as Vegemite and has enough BMX history to make your tuffs straight without even going near the freezer. Why Nicole Kidman didn’t win an Oscar, for this we have no idea!

Banned 3 features Colt Fake, Rickey Bates, Patrick King, Johnny Devlin and Mark Mulville, plus a bunch of other riders... and is definitely one for an 18+ audience. This DVD is mostly street with some real big lines, and crashes. Plus a bunch of mayhem including burning cars, fights and boobs.

Livin in Exile Ride $29.95 L

How To TWBMX $29.95 H

Mike Escamilla, Corey Bohan, Danny Hickerson, Will Love, Kurtis Elwell, Sergio Layos, Scotty Cranmer and Steven Lilly all blow up. Why, for so little reward, do these riders still push themselves so hard? Where does inspiration come from when you are... Livin in exile

Down Under Tour United $9.95

Channel 4down Presents United Down Under Starring: Corey Martinez, Nathan Williams, Kye Forte, Leo Forte, Ryan Metro, Caleb Kilby, Josh Kathigitis Edited by James Cox Filmed By James Cox, Dean Hearne Directed By Ian Morris, James Cox & Dean Hearne Produced By Ian Morris, Dean Hearne, Dan Brown Cover Artwork Will Smyth Photograhy by Ricky Adam

Features the full S&M team; Matt Beringer, Randy Brown, Tony Cardona, Jeff Lantiser, Josh Stricker, and Cameron Wood; filmed in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, UK, and the USA. Some kickass good times on bikes!

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!

United recently came down our way to tour and film for 3 weeks between Sydney and Adelaide, this DVD is the result.

18/3/08 15:29:22

I Insight Ride $29.95

The latest and easily the best Ride video production since Thunder follows Dakota Roche, Chester Blacksmith, Darryl Tocco, Jared Washington, Mike Brennan, and Davey Watson through the making of a video part… Some banger sections and a good vibe make this DVD one for the winter months. Dakota Roche has skills. Serious.

Rhythm/DirtJumpRide $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 and the 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!

For Australian sales please mail a cheque to: 2020bmxmagzine, PO BOX 498, Newtown, NSW 2042 NZ sales: Paypal the $ to dvd@2020bmxmag.com.au and email your details to the same address. Delivery MAY take UP TO 21 DAYS depending on stock. FIRST NAME _______________________________ SURNAME _________________________________________ ____________________________________________ ADDRESS ___________________________________________________ SUBURB______________ SUBURB____________________ _______ STATE _____________ POSTCODE ________ DAYTIME PHONE ________________________________________ EMAIL ________________________________________________ [ ] I enclose a cheque / money order for $_____________ payable to 2020bmxmagazine Pty Ltd (No cash!)

Please tick desired box

Flipside I Wanna Live United BMX Bandits Banned 3 Insight Livin in exile How To How To Jump + Rhythm

with r ice e ove for error. in v Ir Josh no room icz uzew lex K TO A PHO

142

ISSUE 33

20 Questions RICK HAYWARD

Taking the law into his own hands.

20 Questions Rick Hayward Qê s and photo by Raine Turnbull

1. Name? Rick

2. Age, Hometown? Twenty six, Brisbane currently, no gypsy activity to report.

3. What do you like most about your home town? Everything’s close by, food, riding, friends. 4. A phrase you say often is? ‘I don’t reckon’

5. A common misconception about yourself is? That I could answer this question easily. 6. Your biggest fear is? I’m not really sure, I guess fear of those I hold dear suffering.

7. Your biggest pet peeve is? Dry cake.

8. A guilty pleasure of yours is? Ice cream breakfast.

9. An excuse you use often is? No excuses, just reasons.

10. Something you could use more of in life is? Swimming holes in summer. 11. Something you could use less of in life is? Anticipation, thank you Dave. 12. Something you always keep in the fridge is? Flaxseed oil, exciting huh?

13. The last meal you ate was? A classy middle eastern joint with my lovely lady. 14. What calms you in times of stress? Reading Dalai Lama writings. 15. The best advice you have ever received was? Chill.

16. The best word to describe your life is? Happy.

17. What quality do you admire most in other people? Humility. 18. What was your first BMX? The silver eagle.

19. What was the first trick you ever learned? X-up I’d say.

20. What is the best thing about BMX? The lifestyle, of course.

144

ISSUE 33 SEPTEMBER 2009

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4. The Colony Pivotal seats will be won by the first 50 correct answers drawn. 5. This competition is a game of skill. The judges’ decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into. 6. The first 50 correct answers will receive a Colony Pivotal seats, not transferable nor redeemable for cash. 7. The winners will be notified by mail/email or possibly by phone. 8. The competition closes October 5th 2009 with all last mail received on this date. 9. The promoter is 2020bmxmagazine!

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