News

Above: Russell Brindley didn't take part in the comp, but he did rip a mean table in the bowl jam afterwards. Photo: Karl Cottrell.

We were very lucky to have held our first of the 4 round BMX comp series on the 22nd of March - right before COVID-19 tightened up yet again just hours after the comp was held. 

Belco park was the home for the first stop and people arrived from all over to take part. It was a great turn out and everyone in attendance seemed appreciative of some normalcy, despite adhering to the social distancing guidelines that was being called out over the microphone. 

Belconnen skatepark is not the easiest skatepark to judge due to the separate street and bowl sections, so the decision was made to split the park into two runs in each section. This was done to see who was the most consistent overall rider, rather than segregating riders.

The 12 and under class was packed with riders!

It was one of the highlights to watch for sure. It's so rad to see new riders push themselves into uncharted territory, with new tricks and lines being tried by all riders. It's especially rad to have the young, next generation being cheered on by the older crew, it no doubt means a lot to be a 10 year old rider having their name applauded by the local hot shot. 

Young Riley Williams stepping down. Photo: Karl Cottrell.

Some highlights were locals Riley Williams & Sasha Kiselev blasting the spine out of the snake run, with out-of-towners Miller Ruks, Jaxon Philp and Jackson Presbury jumping the box jumps (at 11, 9 & 8 years old..) and popping high, smooth airs. Sarah Nicki was also blasting airs in the 8ft bowl, the only girl competing on the day and shredding hard.

Jaxon Philp takes the cake for the youngest rider over the channel on a BMX at Belco. Photo: Karl Cottrell.

The 17 and under class was a real mixed bag of talent. With a variance of predominately BMX street riders and flowy jumpers, it was cool to see what was on offer throughout the park. Canberra local Flynn Sierant took top spot in the end with hard moves mixed with a unique, casual style. 

Open class with wild! 

Plenty of backie flyouts and again an eclectic mix of riders, which kept both sections of the parks interesting. Plenty opting to rip the infamous Belconnen box jumps and lay low on the streets, while the more tech savvy riders kept it to the mini ramp portions and found their spots on the street section to get busy on.

Arthur Birbilopoulos, cranked turndown in the 8ft bowl. Photo: Karl Cottrell.

A couple of things that stood out were Reece Ashton's unique lines in both portions of the park, he definitely did things that no one else was even looking at. Sam White is a new Canberra BMX local that, while he's lived here, has done several tricks I've never seen in real life, all mostly first try. It wasn't his day on comp day, but he did manage to 360 tailwhip the tiny volcano up the top of the street section, which is only about 2 foot tall.

In the end, it was the long-haired, moustached, weaponized Weaponhead Danny Stevenson that took top honours. Danny put on a display on the box jumps and quarters, going higher than everyone else and doing it smooth as. He then bolted on some pegs and went hell-for-leather on the street section, doing all sorts of hard moves first try. It was rad, and a good reminder that riding everything is a real plus!

Danny Weaponhead Stevenson kicking out the jams! Photo: Karl Cottrell. 

Thanks to everyone who came to the comp, it was an awesome day and made us all for normal for a bit! 

Let's not forget that now is still a great time to ride BMX. While skateparks are officially closed by the government (as today 30th March 2020), you can still use your BMX bike to get the exercise that's needed. Both physical and mental.

All you need is you and your bike.

Practice manuals.

Practice wheel rides on the gutters.

Get your hop whips dialled. Or learn them.

Search for spots.

Build a jump, or a ramp.

Use the creativity you already have (you are a BMXer, after all. That's one of the 11 reasons why riding BMX makes you a better person) and put it to use. Make something out of nothing. Turn a bad situation into a better one. After all, you could be complaining about being stuck at home, with nothing better to do. 

At least you can still go for a ride (just do it by yourself). 

Please see below for final points standings from round one. These points will carry through to all other rounds, meaning it could be that the most consistent rider takes the title!

At this stage we're not sure whether round two will go ahead at Tuggeranong on the intended date, but we'll keep you all posted.

Thanks to Karl Cottrell for the photos!

Yes indeed, we're got a FULL calendar for you to print out, hang on your wall at work, or school, or at the trail hut, of the events that we'll be putting on this year! 

If printing something is too dark-ages for you, then save the image, put the dates in your calendar and get excited for a packed year of BMX events being run in Canberra, Australia, by us!

The year kicks off in just about five weeks time with a comp at Belconnen, with a comp every six weeks after that.

• Belconnen BMX comp: March 22nd
• Tuggeranong BMX comp: May 3rd
• Gungahlin BMX comp: June 21st
• Weston BMX comp: August 2nd

We've then got a few weeks in between until a to be announced event will be happening somewhere in between October 3-5. This is one we're still working out the final details for, but I think it's going to be really cool.

Then... The big one.

ACT JAM.

We moved ACT Jam 2020 to the later/warmer part of the year, October 23 - 26th. All I can say is MAKE SURE YOU'RE THERE. I can see it being the biggest yet, no question.

Then finally, our BMX-Mas Jam, which will be somewhat of a Back Bone Christmas party and a cool way to send off the year.

We're stoked to have this all pencilled in, make sure you're following us on the gram or Facebook as we'll be updating there (and on the site) for details on each individual event.

Danny Stevenson lived up to his name on this trip. Full weaponhead status in Bondi deep end. Photo: Tyson JP

The quest for riding concrete bowls never ends.

We took a trip up the coast with not too much of an itinerary, except to ride some parks we hadn't before, as well as get a better session at some that we had. The NSW coast offers up some ridiculously good concrete skateparks, but we had bowls in mind - hopefully some with some deep transition.

We definitely got a good serving of them.

We also got to plan our trip around heading to the Blake Butterfield memorial jam that took place on the Saturday evening at Thornleigh skatepark. We've been helping Brodie Butterfield out with prizes for the jam in his brother's honour since the beginning, so it was great to make attendance this year.

There was an amazing turnout of riders and it was awesome to put faces to names of customers who have supported the store over the years. It's such a buzz to watch riders you don't know absolutely rip their local park to shreds. 

Hayden Burr AKA the Sydney Haydos took home the best rider award, stoked to help with his swag of gear for his efforts. Thanks for the support mate! 

Haydos with the spine tailwhip at Thornleigh! Photo: Tyson JP

Haydos with his well deserved 'best rider' prizes. Photo: Tyson JP

We ended up at Bar Beach bowl in Newcastle for our final day. After 3 full days of riding in the sun, the crew was toasted, but the allure of the bowl was far too much to stay in the shade. We took our final laps and got a really good last session in before packing the van for the trip home.

If there's one recommendation to leave you to ponder on, it's this.

Get out there and ride different spots.

Riding new parks, with different layouts and even feeling different transitions under your wheels is a pretty unique experience. Obviously there's the feeling that comes with mastering your local park, but the feeling of being on alien turf can be exciting and challenging, all at once.

By no means did we conquer parks, but it's a cool feeling to know that there's plenty of places to take you out of your comfort zone, and make you excited to ride, that are waiting everywhere.

It also is nice to experience what works, and what doesn't - so that if the chance arises that you can make something in your own town, you have experience to draw on. 

We pulled the camera out a lot on this trip, hope you enjoy the video and photos and they get you psyched for your own trip somewhere!

- Tyson

Russ going scenic with this epic table at Bar Beach. Photo: Tyson JP

Bobby got that pop! Way up there at Bateau Bay. Photo: Tyson JP

Tyrone Edwards making it look all too effortless at Bondi bowl. Photo: Tyson JP

Sydney legend Dermo twisted down at Thornleigh. Photo: Tyson JP

Weaponhead with the weapon shred lookback at Bar Beach. Photo: Tyson JP

Will Gunn, proper 360 table over the spine at Thornleigh. Photo: Tyson JP

Here it is, don't even try. The best table ever. Benn Pigot at Thornleigh. Photo: Tyson JP

The bushfires that have torn through several parts of Australia over the last month have been terrifying. Huge areas have been affected, homes and lives lost. It's devastating to see. 

Many of the areas that have been severely damaged by the fires are places that our friends, family, riding mates and BMXers call home, not just in the south coast region, but across Australia.

We're donating to the below causes and if you're looking to help out, please consider doing the same. Don't feel you need to donate a lot, anything helps.

Donate to Victorian CFA (Country Fire Authority)

Donate to Rural Fire Service NSW

Donate to Australian Red Cross Disaster Appeal

Donate to help NSW Wildlife victims (WIRES)

Have you got one of our new BMX Island tees that Tyson is modelling yet?

The year is coming to a close.. Here's our trading hours for our retail shop.

It's a busy time of year and we're currently winding down our retail shop opening hours before we break for Christmas. Today (23/12) we're open until 5.30pm, then tomorrow (Christmas Eve 24/12) we're open 10am - 3pm.

And then we close the shop until the 6th of January!

Don't fret though..

There's plenty left for us to do during the time the shop is closed, namely taking care of sending out orders and emails. 

So if you are placing orders in between 24/12 - 6/1 we'll be doing our best to get them out in a timely manner.

Now you've read the important stuff, here's a few photos we have been sitting on for a while..

Will Gunn dipping it over the channel at Belconnen. Photo: Tyson JP

Russell Brindley getting whipped on the Hut jump, Snails. Photo: Tyson JP.

Tyson Jones-Peni with a 360 x-up on the rarely spun hut jump at Snails. Photo: Karl Cottrell

Above: Kris McCreath AKA Parrot, ripping around the berm toward the hut.

Every November since 2012, we've ran a jam to commemorate the life of our friend, team rider and absolute savage trail rider, Dane Searls.

We have never wanted the D.A.N.E. jam to be the only jam to pay respect to his legendary life, nor should it be.

A jam where hundreds of people turn up, or a private jam that only a few in-the-know locals have, doesn't matter, especially when it's to acknowledge and celebrate the life of a legend like Dane Searls.

This year we wanted to encourage riders worldwide to hold a jam for Dane - and the BMX community worldwide responded amazingly!

Riders locally, interstate, and across the globe, got tires on the dirt at the trails, or shovels in the dirt if the weather wasn't favourable. We even saw a few riders who took a couple of laps at the park. But it was all for Dane. 

We think it's a beautiful way to celebrate this legend, to let his name and legacy ring out among the worldwide BMX scene every year.

Special thanks goes out to Jonny Mackellar who ran a public jam at Sumner's trails up in QLD, but just a huge thanks in general to those who ran a jam, or took a lap, in Dane's honour this year. 

A bunch of the crew here in Canberra got together and rode the trails, there was a few Dane Searls-esque moves thrown down (although no 60ft supermans), plenty of good times to celebrate a legend.

Thanks to Brendan Boeck for the photos.

RIP Dane Searls.

Russell Brindley, with the tuck n dive. Weaponhead in tow.

Will Gunn, if in doubt, kick it out!

Tyson Jones-Peni, mid rotate.

Danny Stevenson AKA Weaponhead, giving it a weapon shred, while Will follows him UP.

Vice versa! Will in the air, Danny leading the way. Fold N Hold.

Rhysty kickin it on the spine.

Rusty hesh, layin it out.

Weaponhead with the Dane inspired no foot can!

Got this treat for you to brighten up your Monday! We've had some clips from around that is about time we put them out. We are often out with the camera, filming and just catching sessions with the crew. We compiled them and here they are.

Hope you enjoy!

Shop owner Tyson is turning 33 in a couple of weeks, what better way to celebrate than by throwing a BMX jam at the park across from our shop. Saturday 16th of November is the date, make sure you grab that BMX bike of yours and head to Belconnen skatepark for a good time. 3pm onwards, let's git it.

Did you know that the NSW BMX Championships hit hard on the weekend?

If you're down with BMX racing in Australia you might be aware of the state championships that happen each year.

But if you don't race BMX, then read on. You'll get the lowdown on a huge aspect of one of the most exciting styles of BMX here in Australia.

A quick overview on how the BMX State Titles work

Each year, a BMX track is chosen in each state (and territory), with riders all over Australia travelling to compete for the chance to be crowned the fastest rider for that state in their respective age groups.

A rider from any state or territory can win the title and bragging rights (thanks to a number plate donning the riders' achievement) for the year. 

 Rhysty's 40-44 men final.

Recapping the 2019 NSW BMX Titles

This year the NSW State Titles were held at Maitland BMX track just north of Newcastle. 

There was a big convoy of Canberra BMX riders in attendance at Maitland, competing across several age classes.

The Maitland BMX track had a good mix of all the elements that make a good BMX race; a powerful first straight with a long first turn that led into a fun and fast second straight with no shortage of jumps.

The third straight kept you on your toes! 

This third straight rhythm was just technical enough to keep you thinking while still being fast and not clunky. The only left berm on the track was left till last and started a tight last straight to the finish.

It was rad to see a heavy presence of the fastest and loosest crew in town, thanks to riders from Canberra and interstate wearing their Back Bone race jerseys. The Back Bone race crew was in full effect. 

11 Boys shredder and Tuggeranong BMX rider Reid Stewart. Mitch Ramm photo.

NSW BMX State Titles results

Riders were looking fast all weekend long; there was no less than 850 entries into the State Titles across the two days, which means some of the age classes were STACKED with over forty riders competing through to make an 8 rider final.

A big pat on the back goes to all riders who competed. Regardless of where you finished up, it's an impressive feat just to line up on the gate. We were, however, stoked to see a heavy presence of these Canberra BMX racers charge into the finals and grab a NSW plate.

• 9 girls: Amelia Stitchbury (1st)
• 11 boys: Reid Stewart (5th)
• 12 girls: Maddie Hayes (4th)
• 12 boys: Cooper Sellars (8th)
• 13 girls: Laura Gasperski (8th)
• 14 boys: Nathan Granatelli (5th)
• 16 boys: Luke Granatelli (7th)
• 30-34 men: Kaine McCarroll (3rd)
• 40-44 men: Rhysty! (2nd)
• 45-49 men: Craig Hewitt (7th)

Rhysty hit his final hard and although his foot unclipped down the third rhythm straight, he was still able to hold it together for a 2nd place finish. A special mention goes out to Australian vert-riding legend Matt Fairbairn, who went down hard in the same final, got up and then tried to 360 the last double into the second straight. Wild.

Rhysty heading into the first corner in the 40-44 men final. Photo: Mitch Ramm

BMX racing is tough.

It's tough to line up onto a stacked gate of 8 riders, all of you wanting to make it into the first corner in the number one position - and carry that position all the way to the finish line.

It takes concentration, guts, skill, practice and a little bit of luck to make it through any race, so if you're out on the track and giving it your all - especially at an event like the NSW BMX State Titles - we applaud you. 

Congrats to all the racers and see you next time!

Luke Granatelli is one of the fastest 16 boys in Australia right now. Photo: Mitch Ramm