BMX Action--January 1984 Part One

"Factory Kuwie ace, Troy Daniels, takin' care of biz at the NBL grands." That is what the inside contents description says. Not sure who Troy was, but he sure scored a kick ass cover on his 24.

I always get a kick out of seeing some of the reader submitted photos. And when the names Todd Anderson and Hugo Gonzales are attached to two of them in the same gallery, you know I would have to post them. Legends!

For the longest time I wanted a Redline, and when they introduced the Carrera II, I wanted one even more so. Well, that never really happened, but damn, the Carrera II is one of the coolest bikes Redline produced.

Cult OS Classic Frame at Empire BMX

Visit the BMX Action September 1983 post.

Visit our friends at Demolition Parts, they have had a kick ass year!

Freestylin' -- May 1985

Nice cover with Woody Itson pulling a one-footed flipper somewhere on a brick kick turn ramp. The turned slide on the cover seems to have popped up a few times in Wizard's history. This one of Eddie Fiola being one of my favorites. And also is seems Rippin' might have a little history with Wizard Publications also.

Last month I posted this sick picture of Dave Vanderspek from the Joe's II contest. Good to go back and revisit this issue. That ramp looked so perfect and the guys were killing it. A two page spread of Fiola doing a feeler air? Keep reading on to the next section to see.......

.......the picture I would have liked to see in that two page spread. Hugo Gonzales with a kick ass one footed look back. Hugo was always trying cool stuff at contest, and look back variations are something that was not being done at the time. Also nice to see Joe the owner of the ramp getting some love. Nice hand plant shot. Is that even what that trick is called? Excuse my lack of skating knowledge. Where is Animal Chin anyway?

Rick Allison laying down a track stand out in the street in front of Joe's house. If you look closely you can see some pretty big names in that crowd of riders.

Online over at Facetube there is footage of this show in France with RL Osborn and Eddie Fiola. I still find it crazy that these guys used to kill it on such narrow ramps. Oh the good old days.

Also good to get Mike Dominquez coverage after getting better from a broken leg.  Dude was always going way high and had the best variations. One-hander, one-footer while teammate Woody Itson looks on. Also you have Ron Wilkerson laying a little hip hanger in downtown San Francisco.

Dave Vanderspek at Joe's

From the May 1985 issue of Freestylin'. Vander was always a shredder. Check the upside down chainstay mounted brakes. RIP Vanderspek. 

Hugo Ramp to Ramp Transfer

Dale Matson posted a bunch of really good pictures on his Facebook page, and I think most of them can also be found over on his Blog http://midwestfreestyle.weebly.com/index.html Really awesome stuff over there. Somewhere on there is a kick ass picture of Hoffman blasting over Moliterno. So rad. 

Freestyle Women's FS80981 Shark Yellow Red Cyan Polyurethane Watch
Freestyle Men's FS81242 Shark x 2.0 Ana-Digi Polyurethane Strap Watch

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

Freestylin'--March 1985

Nice cover shot of Rich Sigur airing at the Upland Pipeline.There is always so much to Bob Osborn photos that just make them the best. Even with all of the large cover fonts and colors they hardly distract to how great of a photo this is. And there in nothing that can take away from Rich's pink socks.

I remember seeing the opening photo to this article and thinking what the hell? Who are these yahoos? Little did I know how much influence Dizz and Gork would have on our little recreational hobby of bike riding. These guys were something else, and a much needed blast to a somewhat stale industry.

Eddie Fiola blasting on the narrow GT quarter pipe. I like that little comment in the corner that said Dave and Eddie "afflicted" over 10,000 people with their shows. Don't you think that is an under estimate? Had to have been way more that that. I remember those two being on the road for what seemed like for ever.

What could SE do to make the Quadangle frame anymore radical at the time of Freestyle "do-dads" and "add-ons"? Not much, that is for sure. Other than adding the chainstay loops to the frame, it still looks like a classic Quadangle. The forks did get their "standing" tops, but  still have the Landing Gear look to them even if those platforms were useless. Still a great lookimg bike. That stem needs to go though.

There is a thing beauty with how smooth and high Brian Blyther would air at these contest. Perfect X-Up out of the deep end of the Pipeline. Another thing from this time frame was how many people had their bikes and uniforms set up just like Eddie Fiola.

This is the "TRICK" from the King of The Skateparks Final. Hugo Gonzales doing a fence ride way before any of use knew what a fence ride or wall ride was on a bike. Way ahead of his time and crazy to boot. What a great combination. I remember learning fence rides way later on and getting my back peg stuck in the fence. That was real fun.

Freestyle Men's FS75401 Hammerhead Polyurethane Watch
BMX Freestyle
Bmx Freestyle
Motion Activated Light Saber with Star Wars Sounds - with Free Blinkee Light

Wham-O Snowball Blaster 2-Pack

Del Mar skatepark footage.

Freestylin' July 1985

This was such a good issue of Freesylin' magazine. So many good pictures and articles. And the coverage from that Del Mar contest was so crazy. It also looked like it might have been the starting point for the world take over by Skyway. Their riders were all over this issue.

Two Skyway riders on the cover. Not bad. You know, as soon as everyone saw those orange Tuff Wheels on Scotty Freeman's bike, they were going to go out and get a set. I opted for the lavender.

Objective Rad? Sure. Vector Bars might have been cool (I had a set or two), but every set I had and I think every set everyone else had cracked. And as much of a game changer as the "Rotor" was in the BMX industry, you would have thought they could have used something better than an exhaust c-clamp as a cable stop. Good for them for only letting this go for a short time and coming out with that headset cup that had the stop built into it.

 

Del Mar Skatepark  was always such a cool looking place. With it's crazy long snake run, and all of the different bowls. Bummer it was kinda of the younger stepbrother to the Pipeline Skatepark. I wish it would have gotten more coverage before they bulldozed it. Did Jeff Carroll land in that frame stand, or did he go back to the pedals before landing?

Classic Hugo Gonzales. This is the reason I would set up 3 foot tall pieces of plywood by a ditch and learned 360's over them. Hugo is the man!