Freestylin' August 1986

That all white cover, sick Josh White photograph, and some hand written note about magazine rules. Still an amazing cover.

Martin Aparijo spinning his way to first place in the Pro Flatland class, Round 2 in Tulsa, Oklahoma.  

View more Freestylin' Magazine articles here.

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 that it how BMX Plus would describe it. 

GT Summer Breakout

Sad to say that I never owned a pair of those Dyno fish shoes.

Freestylin' -- January 1988 Part Three

Part three to the Freestylin' January 1988 post. The Matt Hoffman shot is amazing! And don't forget to check out part two with Gary Pollak.

Ground Rules Freestylin' July 1986

From the July 1986 issue of Freestylin' photo by Windy Osborn.

101 Freestyle Tricks

Looks like someone added a new soundtrack to this video. Eh, I am not posting all of these, the footage if Mike D in part 4 is enough to get me stoked. Super smooth. I could have gone some something other than a Motley Crue remix, maybe more Eric B. and Rakim. Still, nice to see these videos again.

BMX Action--February 1983

I will be honest, there are a ton of these back issues of BMX Action that I missed growing up. This happens to be one that I wish I would have picked up at our local Albertson's. I absolutely love that cover shot of Clint Miller on his 2X4. Speed, style, great lean over one of the "flaming debris" at Magic Mountains

I have seen so many different shots from this jumping contest at the ABA's Lancaster race, this has to be one of the best of Jeff Kosmala blasting in the long distance jump. I am glad the boys holding the 9th Street Halloween Jams are still having these. Always one of the best things to watch.

From the looks of it, the Lancaster track had one of the best lay outs of the season. Would have loved to race that track, looks really fun and technical. And there you have Greg Hill winning in the Pro Cruiser Class again. Wonder if GT had a bonus clause in his contract for going after the cruiser number one title?

Mike Buff with a perfect table top during a BMX Action show at the Magic Mountain race between motos.

Advance kick turn trickery. I keep saying that coaster brakes need to make a come back. ACS would make a killing if they brought back that freewheel that had the lock out on it. Someone needs to make that happen.

Flatland legend Martin Aparijo getting his X-Up on. Must have been before he made the switch over to BMX Plus testing crew. I always forget how good of a jumper Martin was, always had a good style on jumps.

BMX Bandits Poster Movie 11x17 Nicole Kidman David Argue John Ley Angelo D'Angelo

BMX poster book

Park Tool BBB-2 The Big Blue Book of Bicycle Repair - 2nd Edition

Eddie Fiola and Martin Aparijo Freestyle Show 2010

Awesome seeing these two still riding.

Star Wars® Imperial AT-AT All Terrain Armored Transport Vehicle
Star Wars Saga Deluxe Vehicle Endor AT-AT Walker w/ Biker Scout and AT-AT Pilot

Freestylin' -- December 1988

One of the more memorable covers from the 1988 era of Freestylin'. Has to be one of the better issues also. Such great tour coverage and way too much talk about hair extensions. I wonder how many yahoos went out and got extensions after seeing RL with them? Great shot of Martin by Bob Stukey.

Mr. Moliterno with a perfect look back on the table on contents page. Freestylin' seemed to be picking up a bunch of skate companies for advertisers. I didn't really care. I thought some of the coverage they did was pretty cool and for the most part I enjoyed skating. I just couldn't skate. "Does this sore look infected?" Not sure Santa Cruz. But your ad sure does.

Another RL interview. Things were definitely changing. And old El Cid was right in the middle of it all. This was about the time of Hammer(not the MC), and crazy shin pad/knee pad combos. I think every rider at one time had a set of those pads. I know I had a couple of sets. I wonder if they are they still around today?

Lots of good tour coverage in this issue. That picture of John Peterson riding those quarter walls is so amazing. I wanted to search those things out and and ride them for days. Heard they were a big time bust though. And what can I say about Craig Campbell? That guy is amazing. So much control on vert. Always fun to watch him ride. Skyway had quite the team at the time.

And you know Skyway had to bring along a portable wall for Eddie Roman to ride. Here Craig Campbell takes a ride on it while some other guys spin around on the ground. I think they go by the name Plywood Hoods. I think they are pretty good or something. Kevin Jones is a God among men.

Freestylin II the Book
Freestylin' Fanatics [VHS]
Freestyle Men's FS81241 Shark x 2.0 Ana-Digi Polyurethane Strap Watch
Freestyle Men's FS75401 Hammerhead Polyurethane Watch

BMX Plus November 1983

I can still recall finding this issue in our local grocery store and being blown away. BMX Plus had a way with trying to make their covers so over the top. And they managed a good one this time. David Ruz getting his hop on while his buddy puts his family jewels at risk. Great cover, great issue.

Always did dig the Rad Gallery's in Plus. This issue was a VS. issue featuring "Dangerous Dave Gianunzio against Flying Fiola." I wonder who won? Eh, who cares. That rear tire grab photo is awesome.

Fiola and Gianunzio clocking air in the Rad Gallery.

Procraft Ultima 2400 bike test with MartiN Aparijo manning the ship. Somewhere during this bike test is where I was introduced to the I-Hop.

Good to see ESPN has had their hands embedded in BMX for so long. That shot of Richie Anderson and Bubba Hayes is just so "BMX". Fast and stylish, those guys ruled. Also have to give props to two top Pros running front brakes. I had one of my old bikes set up just like John Piant's bike. Chrome, red and black work so good on a bike.

Old School Snowboarding: The Very First Contest [VHS]
Diamondback Session 24 BMX Bike (24-Inch Wheels), Candy Black, 24-Inch
Mongoose Racer Boy's BMX Bike (12-Inch Wheels)
KMC Z610HX DropBuster BMX Bicycle Chain (1-Speed, 1/2 x 3/32-Inch, 112L, Silver)
The Complete Book of Bmx

Martin Aparijo

J.T. over at Vintage BMX had posted up some links to some old footage of Martin Aparijo riding in a GT show. Good to see some Martin footage, there is not a lot of it out there.

Direct link. Martin Aparijo Huntington Beach Cali

Our good friend Krt Schmidt has some contest footage of Martin up over on his blog. 

And here are a few more links of some really good old school footage.

1983 MN HARO SHOW

1983 Mike Dominguez Pipeline

1985 Dennis McCoy Venice Beach contest

1985 Ceppie Maes Venice Beach Contest

1985 Maurice Meyer Venice Beach contest

1985 Dizz Hicks Venice Beach and '87 Hit and Run tour

1987 Chris Day Velodrome Contest

Kevin Jones Velodrome contest

1990 Jay Miron JTFreestyle show

  
Thanks to J.T. and Krt for the links.

BMX Action August 1982

Eddy Fiola on what was another of my all time favorite covers ever. Torker twin top tubes, Uni seat, gold Shimano DX pedals, graphite Tuff Wheels, all will be taking a back seat to Woody Itson looking cool in the background with his lady friend. Such a good picture in so many ways.

All right, I am not going to post a bunch of these pictures just to poke fun at everything in the background of them. So many of Bob Osborn's pictures have to be looked at in a whole. Not just the riding. What was captured is sometimes simple stunning. The surroundings, the people, the locations, all were a part of the photo as much as the bike riding. This shot from a NBL War of The Stars race is a prime example. So much in this photo stands out as being a part of racing from this time frame. Love it.

Fred Becker leaning out over the Cloverleaf bowl and Eddie Fiola doing a hip hanger. A while back I had posted something from this article. So many good pictures from this contest.

TRUST YOUR MONKEY! Sidehacks in the skatepark. So rad to see. Two note worthy guys the these, shots. Some flatlander named Martin Aparijo doing a front tire grad. And a 13 year old Mike Dominquz. Where have I heard that name before?
 

Scott Clark jumping the triple whoops. I don't know what it is about this spread. The fact that the jumps look like a blind person may have built them. Or the way Scott Clark looks like he has been packing on a few pounds.

Like many other kids who rode bikes around this time wanted to build my own ramp. When I finally got around to getting my mom and pops to give me the blessing, I should pops these ramp plans to what I wanted to build. After he was done laughing, he came up with something a little less bumpy. We built a wedge ramp. HA!   I wonder how many people had built a quarter like this? We had one in or neighborhood that was fun to ride but hitting that 10" of vert at the top took some getting use to.

BMX Plus February 1983.

Bob Haro this time on the cover of BMX Plus February 1983. This bike he is riding has to be one of the most copied builds for Old School BMX collectors of Haro bikes. I can see why, it was a cool set up for sure.

Test of the Champion 24" cruiser. very cool looking bike with that added cross brace between the top and down tubes. Just looked like a really large build compared to some other cruisers around this time. This is the write up that made me want to learn "Hanna's".

Nice shot of the cut away of that added tube. Nice to see they had them welded in and not just shoved in and tacked to the down tube. Very cool. Also a great shot of Martin Aparijo doing the visor buzzer version of the "Hanna".

.
Another jump I went out and learned after reading this test. For a "Flatlander" Martin was also a pretty good dirt jumper.

Rad Gallery with two berm slides! I have said it before, and will say it again. What BMX needs now-a-days are more berm shots. BBBBBBBBBRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!

Update!!!! Forgot one scan. Had to come back and add it. Really cool shot of Steve Veltman going fast as usual, and of Brian Patterson. Big race for Patterson, he had a triple win here. Really impressive to just get a double, I think he even won the title that year also. I wonder if Steve knew that he and I were on the same team for awhile? I doubt it. I was just a kook on a freestyle bike.