In 1998, I was 14 years old, and in need of a new bike. My last bike, a Ride Hard BMX from Toys ‘R Us, had succumbed to bottom bracket failure the previous fall, and I was contemplating a GT Outlook from my local bike shop. Not really sure what to get, I asked some friends for suggestions. Most of them rode BMX, and many had Hoffman’s. A few had Condors, one had a Big Daddy and another had a Flash. The racer with the flash brought in a copy of SNAP magazine, and showed me a Dan’s Competition ad with some ’97 Hoffman completes on sale. I’d had about $300 saved up from Christmas and birthdays, and that was the exact price of the Taj complete in the ad. Chrome was sold out (still the hot color scheme), and “silver blue” was the only color available. At the time, I wasn’t much of a BMX enthusiast, although I do remember watching a skate park contest on ESPN and rooting for Mat Hoffman for some reason. I wasn’t playing any sports at the time, and didn’t really have any hobbies, so I ordered the bike and followed my friends for the summer.
Turns out I wasn’t the only one who saw that ad. Within a month of visiting local trail spots, there were 4 other kids with the exact same bike. I stayed on that thing for 2 years, whereas everyone else dropped out within that time. Eventually, I swapped out the frame for a newer Deebo, and down the road bought my first of many FBM’s. The Taj passed between a few local riders, before ending back in my hands about 4 years ago. I rebuilt the bike, but I couldn’t believe I used to ride it. I’d heard stories of how the Taiwanese manufacturer fucked up the head tube angle, and it was true. The steering was incredibly faster than my current ride, and I promptly returned the frame to my wall after a couple sessions.
As much as I loved that bike as a teenager, I couldn’t ride it in present times. This seems to be a common theme in BMX. Many collectors refurbish the bikes of their glory days, but none of them compare to the technological advances and proper geometry of today’s bikes. Companies like Haro, Redline, Mongoose, S&M and SE have attempted to replicate some of their more famous rides, but they’re only snapped up by collectors who can’t afford to recreate the bikes of their dreams, and hardly ride like their predecessors(OK, the Holmes might be an exception to the rule). Not that you would want to ride a bike with 1984 geometry anyway; it’s a wonder anyone rode vert on a bike with an 18” top tube that was likely to shatter at any moment.
My favorite company alongside FBM has always been Terrible One. The year I started riding was the year the first few Road Fools videos came out, FBM put out its first frame, and Terrible One was spawned. After buying his former pro model bike, I researched Taj a bit and became a big fan of his riding, sharing the sentiment with pretty much everyone else in BMX. Although it took me many years to get a Barcode frame, I always liked them, due to their obvious resemblance to my first bike. I got one in 2004 and it has always been my favorite frame. Rode like a dream. I remember emailing T1 many times, hoping they’d do a batch of Barcodes in the infamous silver blue, but that never materialized. I had the idea in my head to create replica stickers, only replacing the Hoffman logo with T1, and building up a “Tajcode”. I made stickers for T1 in 2008 in exchange for a new frame, and my plan was to build this bike I’d had in my head for years. Just as I was about to build it, I blew my knee out for the 3rd time, and I sold the frame for rent money. A drunken eBay spree and a trade with a BMXboard member landed me another Barcode, and I once again set out to build my fantasy bike. Alas, here are the results:
Rather than reuse old Taj acronyms, I created my own. My graphic designer friend made the perfect logo, and I found scans of original Taj stickers to create the top tube decal. I have a vinyl plotter, so the decals are somewhat more labor intensive to make, but the results were well worth the effort.
Although I completely understand why Taj left T1, it was still quite a shock when the news was released. Some people compared the ordeal to Ian Mackaye signing to a major label. Taj was always a rider who shied away from corporate sponsors; one of the reasons he left Hoffman was because he didn’t want to ride in contests like the X-Games (he won an MTV contest though…). However, he is nearing middle-age, and BMX has never been a lucrative entity. His reasons are legit, and I would feel like an asshole chastising him now, considering all that he’s done for the sport and taking his back problems into account. I blame my friend Stephen for the DT decal, but hopefully Taj would see the humor in it.
