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I think I finally stopped caring about BMX magazines.

It’s hard to admit that. One of the things that got me into BMX was being given an issue of SNAP in order to buy a Hoffman Taj from Dan’s Comp. Once I was immersed in the culture, I picked up every magazine there was. Didn’t matter that BMX Plus! Was geared towards 10-year olds, I still bought it. UK magazines? If I couldn’t find them locally, I’d call up the mailorders and get whatever I could. I remember making a couple big orders from Taj’s BMX Media site when that was still running, as that not only had my European favorites, but also carried zines from around the globe, which were generally tougher to find than the infamous Dave Young Tylenol footage.

At 25, I feel like I’ve taken in more than enough BMX media. I work a pretty boring desk job, and I get to spend numerous hours trolling the Internet and catching up on BMX gossip. I don’t necessarily think that the Internet has killed BMX due to topicality; I think it’s moreso due to saturation. Take a look at BMXfeed; there are some days where half of the featured sites are just linking to other featured sites. By the time Dig arrives in my mailbox, I’ve filled my mental quota for taking in BMX trivia. Not to mention the fact that most of the articles being written are pretty goddamn boring. Shit on the consistency all you want, but there hasn’t really been an entertaining mag since Faction. JPR wasn’t one to bore you with trick lists, nor would he leave out the sordid details of most sketchball road trips. Billy Hank Riesing wrote in a similar style; he might’ve babbled a bit more, but none of the articles were dry or repetitive. Jeff Stewart, who wrote for Ride UK while still under the watch of the Nobles, was another writer who seems to have vanished from the BMX landscape. His stories were always adventurous and had the feel of a Keuroac novel. Your average 15-year old lacked the mental capabilities to really appreciate that type of writing, and I guess that’s the downfall of most BMX media. There are plenty of adults who ride, but with their former editors now under the helm of ESPN, even Dig and Ride UK are getting unbearable. Magazines now lack any grit or substance. The interviews are boring, road trip stories shed minimal light on foreign cultures or interesting occurrences, and editorial content is tame at best. Maybe I'm just burnt out. Maybe it's time to stop clicking the links.

Speaking of ESPN, I did a series of interviews regarding BMX companies doing custom frames. Check them out if you’d like: FBM, Solid, the ever controversial Standard, and S&M. I did these to highlight the fact that it’s still possible to get an “adult” orientated BMX bike. It might not be a Sunday cruiser, but it’s not a Taiwanese frame with a 6” standover height, either. Custom frames are pretty common in the road and MTB worlds, but they’ve been pretty scarce in BMX. It’s a great option for those of us who don’t want our bikes to look like toys. The links never made it onto the Come Up, but I don’t mind; they wouldn’t really have been reaching their target audience, anyway.

I might actually try to update this thing more. Look for an Internet-themed article soon.

-bk

PS – check out In The Gnar!