../companies/Fat Bald Men

fbm company fbm videos ghetto jam
Sources: www.fbmbmx.com, www.myspace.com/fbmbikeco, Chase fall 1999, Chase #18, bmx.transworld.net, ...
If you want to add any info, please contact buissonrouge@23mag.com.
1993 FBM was founded by Steve Crandall in 1993.
Steve Crandall, bmx.transworld.net, january 2009: In the beginning, FBM started out as an acronym for Fat Bald Men, poking fun at the typical businessmen in corporate America—the guys who made decisions in boardrooms, and hired marketing agencies to sell BMX bikes and dictate BMX culture… My friends and I, in reaction to the cheap ploys and gimmicks aimed at our generation from every consumer-based marketing monster, decided to make some T-shirts and zines, expressing our creativity and involvement in BMX. It was pretty informal, but we were enthusiastic teenagers, printing T-shirts in a basement and selling them out of backpacks, paying for gas to get to more and more events, and further submerse ourselves into the mystical world of bicycle awesomeness… Over the years, the acronym allotted different meanings, depending on our moods, or the times. Anything from Fire Beer and Mayhem, Full Breakfast Menu, Fifteen Burly Midgets, to Fidelity Built Machinery, and anything in between.		 fbm 1993 first logo
1997 Steve Crandall: In 1997, I broke my leg pretty bad and couldn't ride for like 8 months. I had enough time to realise that I wasn't doing shit, besides just riding and partying all the time. I moved back to New York, and at the same time, ended up working with Mike Erb, and we started turning FBM into a real business.
1998 Steve Crandall and Fat Bald Men have entered the frame market.
1999 FBM frame and fork.
Chase magazine fall 1999: This much anticipated frame set from the original East Coast badasses at FBM is now available and well worth the wait. The straight forward design comes in two lengths of a 20.5 or 21 top tube. It has all of the features you have come to expect from a rider owned company like dropouts that protect the freewheel, thick tubing throughout and a solid looking gusset under the down tube. Best of all, graphics that include skulls and a Jack Daniels label. Colors include black, blue, gray and red. Distributed in Canada by Ten Pack.
2001 Steve Crandall: FBM is not just a bike company, or a team or anything that you'll see in a video or a magazine, it's a lifestyle, an appreciation of what riding has done for us, and most importantly, it's a bunch of friends that have been brought together by one simple unexplainable fact. It's the smile you have when you get up from a crash, or the smile on your friends face when he sees you didn't kill yourself. It's the 2 miles you have to walk to fix your flat tire. It's the shitty job you had to work all winter so you could take the summer off. It's the road trip with all your friends packed in a piece of shit car. It's the first time you saw a picture of yourself in a magazine, or never cared if you did or not. It's the time spent digging at the trails, riding them, and watching them get plowed, or rebuilt. It's the skatepark you didn't have to pay to ride. It's the turndown that hits your leg, and the tabletop that hits your shoulder. It's the bent forks, and broken bones. It's the first rail you ever did, or the last one. It's the sunny afternoon you spent riding down the street doing nothing. It's the everlasting memories. It's whatever you want, it's the best, it's fucking BMX.
FBM is real life bmxers that don't give a shit about much more than being able to enjoy the simple pleasures of riding. Individuals, doing whatever it is they choose to do. I was stoked when Bob Scerbo said, "riding is a journey, not a destination", because it's true, and hardly any one realizes it.


The FBM warehouse caught fire from a heater.
2002 The first FBM Ghetto Street Comp went down on september 14-15.
2003
2004 FBM will come out with a race frame shortly. It'll feature an internal headset, Euro BB, 1/8" heat-treated chromoly dropouts, cantilever brake mounts, and an externally butted seat tube with an integrated seat post clamp.

Phil Wasson will get a signature frame from FBM. His frame features 3/16" heat-treated chromoly dropouts, an externally butted seat tube, double bend chain stays, 990's on the chain stays which will accept a 30-11 gear ratio, and the new prototype FBM internal bottom bracket.

Shawn Arata will also be getting a signature bike. Shawn's bike features an internal headset, the new FBM bottom bracket, 990's on the seat stays, an externally butted seat tube, and a wishbone on the chain stays.

www.fatbmx.com, march 2004: FBM have made a flatland frame with the help of Leif Valin. Who would have ever thought that the hardcore street/dirt company would walk this way ? Maybe now that the X-Games dropped flatland it's hardcore enough for them to weld up some flatland frames.
The Leif Valin Flatland Frame named the "Equilibrium" comes in two top tube sizes and features a European BB and Internal Headset.
2005 August 11, 2005 - Quality Bicycle Products is announcing an agreement to distribute FBM beginning in February 2006. QBP plans to carry a large selection of the 2006 FBM product line including frames, hard goods, clothing, and videos. All of the FBM products being carried by QBP will appear in the 2006 QBP Dealer Catalog. Quality Bicycle Products, based in Bloomington, MN, is a leading distributor in the cycling industry. Quality Bicycle Products offers domestic and international retailers a wide array of products and services, including a 1,100-page catalog, a renowned custom wheel service, a specialty bike-building program, and more. Quality Bicycle Products continues to advocate for cycling.
2007 Behind the scenes at FBM in Props 64.
www.thecomeupbmx.net: This doesn't sound like it would be that interesting either but it ends up being pretty cool. If you are like me and had never really thought about what building a frame entails or are just an FBM fan, you'll probably like it too. Favorite moments: Everyone working in the machine shop with no sleeves and Jeff Harrington still having that damn haircut.
Riders
George Dossantos has left FBM in september 2002, to ride for 2-Hip.
Ron Kimler June 2001, after a few sponsorless months, Ron Kimler has been picked up by FBM.
Joe Butcher Kowalski autumn 2001 - ....
Ralph Sinisi 1999
Colin Winkleman