Thursday, January 06, 2011

Freestylin' Summer 1984


















I remember having a subscription to BMX Action around 1984 and having this issue show up one day in the mail as a promotional thing for Wizard publications. As soon as I opened it, I sat at the end of our gravel driveway and read the whole issue. What a great idea they had to branch out and give freestyle it's own magazine. Loved it since issue number one.

San Francisco's Golden Gate scene report was the first time we were introduced to The Curb Dogs, Dave Vanderspek, Maurice Meyer, Robert Peterson, and so many more. That had such a lasting impression on Freestyle. Look at that crowd and see how many people you can pick out.













One of the first things I did after seeing that picture of Maurice Meyer was to turn my MX 1000s into a black and red set up like he had. Man do I not miss those brakes. And you have to realize how rad that picture of Kerry Clayton is doing that frame stand nose wheelie. So epic even to this day. Somewhere in there was Rick Allison. He went to do so stuff I think. Just kidding. He was in every magazine it seemed like every month. Rick is a ruler and all around cool cat.













There he is again. Hugo Gonzales! Always up to something at these King of Skatepark series. Blasting over that fence was something so crazy at the time and no one knew what he was up to at the time. Wonder if he ever got back there to pull it? I seem to recall him doing something else over it the next year, but that is for a different post.













That picture of Dominquez airing out of that deep bowl is still one of my all time favorites. There is always so much going on in these old skatepark photos, even in the background. Just love looking through these old magazines and the pictures. Rad stuff.













Blyther on his backyard ramp with a killer x-up. Brian always had the best set ups. I wonder if he got a lot of that from racing? Bear Traps, Bulls Eye hubs, Profiles 400 cranks. At the time that was such a rad bike. Still to this day one of my favorite riders.













The man who started it all. All these tail whipping fools today need to see where it started. Wonder if Brian and Mike worked on these together? Seeing as Mike did the first tailwhip fly out. Man I can remember trying this stupid trick over and over trying to pull it. It too me forever to wire it. Then that dork Fred Blood had to invent the decade. That is a whole other story.













I recall seeing that picture of Fiola airing over the top of that U-Haul and thought that was so cool. Looking at it now, it looks like he was airing off the side of the U-Haul. Judging by the tires marks on the side of it, that might have been the case. Eddie was the man.













Freestyle Men's FS81242 Shark x 2.0 Ana-Digi Polyurethane Strap Watch
Freestyle Men's FS75401 Hammerhead Polyurethane Watch
Freestylin II the Book

2 comments:

Nick said...

Great post Ed, don't remember having too much trouble with the tailwhip...but oh that decade, we must have tried them for months before we started pulling them

Edward Koenning said...

Thanks Nick. Yeah it took some time to get the decade. Almost broke my are on some kind of cross legged variation of one.

BMX Plus March 1984 Freestyle Section

 A small section from the March 1984 issue of BMX Plus, two pages of your favorite Freestyle action. Zoot Scooting Boogie, or something like...