The End of BMX Plus

I found this clip above on You Tube of a BMX Plus! photographer shooting Gary Young doing a one hand tabletop wall ride for the 30th anniversary cover of the magazine.  Classic style.

If you're an old school BMXer of any kind, then you probably already know that BMX Plus! magazine is being shut down after thirty-seven years in business.  Those of you who know me or have read my blogs know that I worked for a short time at Wizard Publications, home of BMX Action and FREESTYLIN', so you may think I'm glad to see Plus close up shop.  Well, I'm not.  The first BMX magazine I traded my hard earned money for was the December 1982 issue of BMX Plus! with Stompin' Stu Thomsen  on the cover.  In those early days of my BMX life, BMX Plus! was the only BMX magazine carried at the grocery stores in Boise, Idaho, where I lived.  Later on, in a bike shop, my friends and I discovered BMX Action, but it was Plus that we flipped through first.  In those pre-internet days, magazines were the only source of BMX news for us riders in obscure parts of the country.  For Southern California riders, where the BMX scene developed, it was different.  They actually knew many of the riders in the magazines.  But for the rest of us around the U.S., and around the world, we had only those photos and words to learn about the BMX world.  Magazines were magic in those early days.

But we don't live in those days anymore.  Our little, weird sport of racing and doing tricks on a little kid's bike has now spread across the world.  The technological advances since then have led to many other forms of media (like this blog, for example) exploring, talking about, and showing the BMX world of today and yesterday.  For us old guys, it's sad to think that those days of awesome, full page photos that we ripped out of magazines and taped to our bedroom walls, are over.  No more stories of John Ker shooting a full roll of film of a rider doing a single hard trick, just to get that one perfectly focused photo.  Like it or not, the magazine days are drawing to a close.  It's always hard to see something we invested our time, money, and interest in come to a close.  I still love going to Barnes & Noble and flipping through magazine after magazine, not just BMX, but many different types.  That store is the only place around here that still has a huge magazine section.  Like all of you, I'll miss BMX Plus!.  I think I had one small article in it in the 80's, and a few words and a photo or two in Hi-Torque's freestyle mag, American Freestyler.  So I contributed a tiny amount to the 37 year history of BMX that it represents.  I read many, many copies of the magazine, put dozens of its photos on my wall, and knew firsthand some of the people who made that magazine in years past.  We now come to the end of an era.  But in this new world, other forms of media will rise up to take its place.  Thanks to the entire staff of BMX Plus! for all that you have brought us over the years, and I hope all of you are successful in your future endeavors.  

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