The Round Up - Episode 8
Welcome to Episode 8 of the LUXBMX Weekly Round Up, where we present to you the very latest news, videos, sponsorship updates, competition/jam reports and all things awesome in the BMX world. There is always so much happening in BMX, particularly in the LUXBMX world where we are hard at work building our local community and offering you not only the best BMX bikes, Parts and Accessories, but events to ride them at, a shopfront to hang out and talk about your latest BMX purchase and support to a team of riders who also ride these products. BMX is underwritten by a common goal, a fellowship of shared interests and an attitude that exudes passion and motivation. The Crew at LUXBMX are here to champion these values, to lead the way and take charge in guiding the sport into the future. The following points demonstrate our commitment!
First off the bat, LUXBMX is very proud to have partnered with Skate Park Leagues (SPL), a Victorian based organisation looking to bring the skatepark community together to celebrate the remarkable talent of the young and old through running as many events as possible. From the SPL website, the organisation works to achieve this through “running the SPL series which are community based grassroots events focusing on positive participation with Skate, Scoot, (Inline in TAS) and BMX competitions. The SPL series encourages the positive skate park culture of support and inclusion in the skate competitions.” There are over 100 competitions that SPL are looking to hold in 2023 and LUXBMX will be there in partnership, meaning there is likely to be a solid offering in the South East QLD region. The SPL website also regularly features different skateparks from around the country, which is a cool way to get an idea as to where your next roadtrip might be. The most recent is the infamous Weston skatepark in Canberra - see below.
Moving to another competition, the 2023 Oceania BMX Freestyle Championships were recently held at Brisbane’s ‘The Village’ skatepark. As you would expect with such esteem (and UCI points) on the line, the event attracted some big names including the 2022 champions Logan Martin and Sarah Nicki who both went back-to-back with 2023 wins. As stated by Logan, the event is a great platform for young up and coming Australian bikers to show their freestyle chops and gain recognition. Take a read of the AusCycling article to hear from the riders and check out the full results.
Alec Danelutti, Logan Martin and Jaie Toohey - completing the mens podium
In exciting team news, LUXBMX pro Boyd Hilder has been back on that pro-life enjoying an overseas BMX trip in Cape Town, South Africa. Rather than our own unwavering dribble, Boyd has been kind enough to share some words on his experience of the trip:
"Super trip! Didn’t quite go to plan but still had an epic time. First off I flew to Cape Town, South Africa for the Ultimate X contest. I flew out early to stay with Murray Loubser with the plan to get out in the streets and film some stuff. That didn’t happen due to the airlines losing my bike with it not showing up until the 5th day. It was a stitch up but luckily Murray is a surf frother and he had a spare set up! Basically turned into a surf trip for the first few days, wasn’t in the plan but still pretty epic haha. From there I received my bike half way through the practice day for the event. Not much of a worry there was enough time to sort out a run but come qualifying I blew it. Missed a few tricks in the first run then knew I had to step it up for the second run and I went down early trying to get that over tooth on the big bank wall.
After the event there was a day or two of rain so we just chilled, I got a tattoo and somewhere at the hotel me and a bunch of the other riders got a stomach bug. Turned into a horrible last day before flying to Japan.
Still shaking off the sickness, I got to Japan and had 2 days of demos with Rim Nakamura and Logan Martin for Osaka city and Chimera. I was super drained but was rad seeing how much the Japanese love what we do!
From there I had a few days riding what I could and taking it easy traveling from Osaka to Tokyo. On the way through I got to ride Rims private park with him! It was mental how good he is and how good the park is. Also stopped into some local bike shops as well as the Federal distro in Tokyo just before flying out.
Overall it was a fun trip, I was hoping to clock some more clips along the way but I’ve come to learn you can’t force it. I want to throw a cheeky thank you to Murray, Daichi and Fumito for helping me out and showing me a good time."
Keep an eye out on the LUXBMX Journal and socials for an up and coming web video featuring Boyd in South Africa. To keep you hyped in the meantime, check out Boyd riding in the 'Ultimate X' competition below.
On the back of the recent ‘Redback Classic’ jam held at the new Redbank Plains skatepark, the LUXBMX crew are excited to share some news about a Brisbane based documentary film crew who are currently working on a feature length film on the history of BMX in Australia. Going under the name ‘Phaze Films/Hope Harbour Media’, the dudes are looking to document old school BMX from the 1970s up until the 1990s, detailing how BMX has evolved over this era. Being old school BMXers themselves, the dudes are passionate proponents for BMX and offer a unique perspective in displaying on film the characters, products and landscape around the history of Australian BMX. Speaking of the ‘Redback Classic’, the day benefitted from the involvement of the filmmakers who were joined by a suite of old school bikers mingling amongst an event packed full of modern BMX heads. This is an exciting project, so keep checking the LUXBMX journal for more updates on the progress of the documentary.
Onto another segment, you may have caught the new Rider Spotlight up on the LUXBMX Journal, where an up and coming Australian biker gets some shine time. This comes from the frenzied cerebral abyss of LUXBMXs own professional pick/packer Will Fraser. You will be hyped to learn that the second piece of this segment has recently been published, this time with Brisbane’s own Sunay Pabathi. It’s a great read and an even greater insight into the mind of the next generation of street riders. We love to see the young dudes getting involved in pushing the scene, big ups boys.
Sunay putting it on the line at the infamous Botanic Garden rail in Brisbane's city centre
Lastly, and as a new addition to the weekly news items, we’ve decided to improve this feature in serving up an offering of music for you to experience. So at the end of each episode, a different LUXBMX crew member will recommend an album to listen to. The aim is to offer something that you might love and enjoy, maybe even share with your mates or listen to while pedalling around the streets. For the first episode, we spoke with Will Fraser, once again popping up, although this time in the role of DJ. The young fella has already crafted a wonderfully vast and eclectic musical palette and has not disappointed with this suggestion. Selecting the track ‘M’ from English new wave/post punk legends The Cure and their 1980 album ‘Seventeen Seconds’, Will has landed on this song in that it easily conjures up visions of a wonderfully ‘flowy’ street biker. Take a listen below.
That's a wrap my biker boy buds. I hope you've found something interesting in the above, we will continue to mine the scene for items to share. If you think you have something newsworthy, feel free to get in touch. Who knows, you might see it up on the next Round Up!
