Stu Thomsen

When I was a kid, growing up in the 80s (Yeah, I am an old fogey BMX-wise) one of the heroes I literally worshipped was Stu Thomsen. Stu on his RedLine was unstoppable. I really wanted a RedLine PL-20 back then but they were kinda out of my range because they were pretty expensive. At the last gathering, there were quite a few folks out there with RedLines so I decided that I would love to get one again, just to relive my old-school longing. I already have a Kuwahara but a RedLine is what I would love. So be wary out there...this old man will be riding on a PL-20 soon when I can find one. The only problem is...what colour do I paint it? Some of us here have PL-20s painted in white, black and school-bus yellow. Hmmm...decisions decisions but I have to get that frame first!

Cycling Asia but nothing on BMX

There is this new online magazine, hailing out of Malaysia. I would not have known about them if not for the email I got from them yesterday. I checked out their site to see what they had to offer and lo and behold, nothing about BMX, despite one of its representatives telling me that he did a write-up of some extreme bike park in Malaysia. Guys, there is more to BMX than just stunts, jumping and extreme. BMX started off as BMX racing and that is in the Olympics. I and a whole host of others would love to see the other BMX disciplines in the Olympics but until they do, and I have campaigned for it, please support BMX racing. As for that Malaysia cycling site, here is your chance to be one of the first in the region and feature BMX racing.

Letters to us

We get all kinds of letters to us...all the time and we always try to answer them the best we can. Some emails to us are from people looking for information about BMX, some offer help and some just want to catch up and get addresses from us. An excerpt below

My name is (name witheld), I'm a reporter. I was hoping to do a story on BMX culture in Singapore. Skateboarding and aggro in-line skating has had a lot of press in the past years, but I want to show the BMXers of Singapore doing their thing. Are you guys meeting up soon? Is there anybody I can talk to about the beginning of the sport in Singapore? You help would be appreciated. Thank you so much for your time.

Well, this dude did not come down to our gathering but one of his reporters did. He and his cameraman were able to to film us and they had heaps of fun, as the email from him states below

eh guys! mark here from razorTV. thanks for accommodating us on Saturday. Wan and myself had a great time - i'm sure you guys could tell. big thanks to all again who were there to welcome us and share some camera time. Especially Alan, hasan, the 2 eddies, Anthony for his home made beer, Peter of cos, nina and all the rest that we forgot to mention. Till next time, kudos and best of luck!

You are more than welcome Mark. We enjoyed your company too. You are free to join us anytime you wish.

We got this one below fairly recently. Now I know that BMX bikes are pretty unique in their own way but not something that she would be interested in so I gave her directions to the shop of one of my friends:

Hello there,

I'm helping with a story on interesting looking bikes in Singapore. Chanced upon your page on Facebook - wondering if you know of any bicycle owners with interesting looking bikes, or unique features? Do let me know - I'm reachable by phone or email. Thanks very much!

No worries at all. So please, keep those emails coming in. Always glad to help to explain the Singapore BMX scene to you all. We are Singapore BMX

BMX talk

I get many people asking me via emails, telephone calls and even on Twitter about what is the vision for Singapore as far as BMX is concerned. The thing is, I do not know. I suspect that even the people looking after BMX in Singapore do not know either. But then again, many of these jokers do not rock the cradle...they are pretty much afraid to. There is nothing in the timetable after the YOG in August, which I do not need reminding is only about 7 months away. Our BMX riders do not even have a proper track to practice on. So for the inaugural Youth Olympics with BMX in its repertoire, which will be held in Singapore, all we have Singapore-wise is a bunch of commisaires, which from what I saw, do not seem to know what BMX is and some of them do not even ride BMX nor were ever BMX riders in a race.

What is your vision for BMX in Singapore? Let us know. Send us an email at admin@osbmx.com

A great meetup for 2010

Today's gathering was the first meet-up for this year. The gathering was held at the Bukit Batok Skatepark and as usual, most of the regular gang was there. But today's gathering was a bit different. We had a TV crew present there...a TV crew from RazorTV. Most of us got interviewed and questions were asked of us about BMX in Singapore and the like. The guys that interviewed us were totally cool and I think they enjoyed our little gathering, seeing the camaraderie we had. When they left, I feel that they got a bit of an understanding about local BMX and what it had to offer. They were enlightened indeed.

We chatted mostly about old-school BMX, something we all are very knowledgeable about and some other non-BMX related stuff. We also discussed about getting some T-shirts together. This BMX forum is about ten years old anyway so we needed something to commemorate the evnt. After the gathering at the park, we finished off at the coffee-shop near the park for some coffee. We left the place feeling tired but happy and we look forward again to the next gathering, which will be soon. Watch this space!

Some BMX cyclists unhappy upgrading of Tampines facilities not on track

I saw this article on the CNA website located here. There is truth in that unhappiness for sure. Way back in 2003 when I was the VP for BMX in SACA, I pushed for BMX to have more recognition as it was then made an Olympic sport but was told that they were only going to concentrate on road and mountainbike. I kept pushing but I was up against a brick wall. Maybe some people at the top did not care? I certainly got my fair share of rebuffs as far as BMX in Singapore was concerned. So if you read that article, I can tell you from the perspective of one who was involved...it is the truth. So here we are now, with only a few months away from the Youth Olympic Games and we have no track. Sad really.

Food for thought...what is going to happen to BMX in Singapore after the YOG?

Tune Tote for BMX

We all take the iPod and and other music players for granted these days. Files are all digital and stored on flash memory. But back in the day, when you wanted to listen to your favourite tunes, you had to hook on one of these babies to your handlebars. The name of the product? Tune Tote. One of the cool members of VintageBMX.com posted this up in the forums. What this basically was was a set of speakers that bolted or clipped to your handlebars. You hooked your portable cassette player to these speakers and away you went. We did not have much choices when it came to poratble music players back in the day so this was our best bet. I would love to have one just for memories sakes!

How to stop mud entering your BMX fork

If you have an old-school BMX, see if you can get one of these old-school racer handlebar plugs, you know, the ones that used to come on roadbikes back in the day. Stick it up the bottom of your fork to prevent mud and crud getting through. It will not stop everything going through but it will slow down the flow. I have had one on my bike for years and there may be a few bicycle shops still stocking these.

DK Sentry 24" BMX

Checked out the DK site today and came across thie beautiful DK Sentry. Comes with a 21" top-tube and an aluminium frame. The best about this bike is that it come with 4130 chromoly cranks instead of that aluminium stuff that comes with the other bikes. This bike looks bad-ass! I wonder if I can get this into my stable of bikes without overcrowding it?

Haro X24

Just saw this on Haro Bikes revamped website. Funny thing is, they are using the design of yesteryear, with the same graphics and the familiar chevron logo that was around when Bob Haro ruled the roost. I thought I would check up on the Backtrail X24 cruiser that they have because I happen to have a 2000 Backtrail X24 and it rocks.

I came across this bike. Looks ok and then I did some checking on the specs. Check this out:

Frame: X24 Crmo DT – 21.7" TT.
Fork: 1 1/8" Full Crmo- Threadless
Handlebar: Hi-Ten- 5.25" rise.
Crankset: Haro 3-pc Crmo USA Sealed Bearing- 175mm.
Gearing: 39/16 Freewheel.
Tires: Kenda K-Rad 24×1.95 Front and Rear
Hubset: 36h 3/8" Frt / 14mm Rr axle w/Alloy Shell
Rims: Alex 36H Alloy

Looks like Haro cut some corners on this cruiser. What is with the hi-tensile steel handlebar and having the downtube on the frame the ONLY tube made of chromoly? Yeah Haro...you may bring back the logo of old but honestly...you guys need to bring back the quality of old too!