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Founded by Taj Mihelich and Joe Rich. Located in TeXas. | ||
| 1997 | In the spring of 1997 or so Joe Rich and Taj Mihelich both quit their sponsors of Standard Bikes and Hoffman Bikes respectively. We had decided we didn't want to ride for any company and that we just wanted to ride for ourselves and do our own things. Eventually we decided that we wanted to do our own company. We both felt that BMX had been really great to us and we hoped to be able to pass that on to others. We just worked on it quietly until we got some things figured out. Joe Rich, www.thecomeupboard.com, december 2007: The name "Terrible One" came from something that Taj drew for an old UGP shirt. There was a shirt with a bunch of animals standing around while a dude was burning in fire. All the animals had a pretty satisfied look on their faces. And basically, it represents that we (the people of earth) are always blaming someone else for all that is wrong in this world. But while this is going on, we aren't seeing all the damage that we are doing to each other and to the world itself. We are the terrible ones. Mankind. That's just a really summed up version. But anyhow, on the back of the shirt, there is a little cartoon that Taj drew. Each of the first 3 scenes of the cartoon were a little pictures with quotes. I can't remember exactly, but it was something like, "the is only one who destroys so much", "there is only one that . . . etc, etc, etc. It goes down a small list. And in the last frame of the cartoon, there was a rabbit at a chalkboard that had a drawing of a stickman on it. The rabbie was pointing at this image with a little stick and the words Terrible one were written under it. Anyhow, That name was going to be a small clothing company that Taj was going to do under UGP. It never happened. The shirt I just described was supposed to be a little hint at towards him doing the clothing company. I can remember that Taj had it narrowed down to about 10 names he was trying to choose from for company name. He asked me what I thought, and Terrible One just stuck out and seemed like the best one to me. Because it didn't identify anything in particular. He could go anywhere with it. If he wanted to do shirts, he could. If he wanted to do zines, he could, if he all the sudden wanted to start making frisbees, he could. So when that company didn't happen, and the idea to do Terrible One came up years later, it seemed like the natural choice for name for us. So there you have it. Taj Mihelich, www.ugzine.com: The name orginally came from a shirt that I did for UGP. The shirt was about how out of all the many different species of animals in the world, Mankind if the only one that tries to control everything, starts wars and kills everything. Man does lots of good things too, but if you were a deer or a cow you might not think so. Anyway, the idea of the shirt was that the animals had finally gotten pissed off enough to do something about it. They had a man tied to a cross and they were burning him. The name came from the animals calling the man the "terrible one". Like, man was is the one terrible species on earth. Since the beginning Terrible One has come to mean many more themes and ideas, but since they are all open for interpretation I won't try to define them or anything. | |
| 1998 | We came out with T1 during Road Fools 1. So, in the spring of 98' we borrowed some money and went for it. Paul Buchanan and Robbie Morales came on as team riders. In the beginning of T-1 we started out with the help of the Props guys. Joe and I (Taj) had hoped to create the dream scenario of being able to ride, and live like normal, but have someone else run the business side of things. They agreed to run the business, ship all the stock and stay on the phone. After a little while of this set up (having T-1 offices in Chicago with Joe and I were on the road and riding in Pennsylvania), we realized it wasn't going to work. In case anyone was wondering, I don't think its a good idea to expect everything to be exactly the way you dream it when you're trying to have someone else do all the work. And so, we ended up dropping the Chicago office and moving everything (and ourselves) to Austin, TX. Joe and I were buried under the work when we took everything on ourselves at once. This period of the business was certainly the hardest part. We were running everything out of our apartment living room and living together. That didn't last too long 'cause we were driving each other crazy. Soon after I got a 2 bedroom apartment and we ran T-1 out of one of the rooms. This lasted about a year, and we were beginning to understand how the business of making bikes worked. For one, we realized how hard it was to make a business out of something that you loved and never wanted to treat like a business. I almost drove myself crazy here because the office was in my house. I could never stop working. I would go to the bathroom in the middle of the night and remember something else that I had forgotten to do. I worked so much I was losing my mind. Later on, I realized one of the key rules of business... you will never finish all you work... relax and go ride or you'll go nuts! Jeff Hefner is also part of the company and will help with designs. |
2000 | JAKKS Pacific Inc. has announced that it has signed a licensing agreement with bicycle manufacturer Terrible One. In addition, JAKKS Pacific has also signed licensing agreements with the owners of the company, popular free-style BMX riders Joe Rich and Taj Mihelich. Pursuant to the agreements, JAKKS Pacific will develop -- under its Road Champs BXS brand -- toy collectible miniature die-cast bikes, mini bike part accessories, bike playsets and action figures based on Taj Mihelich and Joe Rich. Road Champs BXS bikes feature the exclusive "Trick Stick" that allows kids to perform their favorite bike stunts just like the pros. Full product rollout is expected in spring 2000. |
| 2002 | December 31, 2002, trip of a lifetime. Joe Rich, Nate Wessel, Garrett Byrnes and McNeil's Ruben Alcantara just got dropped off at the airport for the beginning of a dream trip around the world. |
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| 2003 | T1 zine 9, may 2003. Scott Malyon's Custom Series Barcode available in july 2003. | |
| 2004 | Joe Rich's Custom Series Barcode Frame available in march 2004. Joe's frame is the first of the new 2004 Barcode style that allows the use of mini gearing set ups down to 28x 10. Each frame is hand signed by Joe and there is only a small number available (only 85 of 21" top tube size and 85 of 20.6" top tube size). This frame is sold as a kit only with 3/8" forks, and small T-1 bars. T-1 video, "You Get What You Get" premiers in december. |
2006 | Taj Mihelich leaves T1 and Coalition. Taj, www.terribleone.com, march 2006: Hello everyone! Ok, lets see, from what I’ve heard the rumors are getting out of hand. I have indeed made some major changes in the last few days, but nothing as dramatic as the leaving Austin to take Roscoe to race the Iditarod Arctic Tundra race! I’ve decided after a few months of deep thought and consideration that I am going to officially leave the business side of Terrible One... What that means is that I am giving up my half ownership of the company to Joe. From here on out I won’t be involved in the day to day running of the company or the business side of it. Joe has asked me to stay on as a team rider and so I will still be riding T-1 frames and parts. In fact he put in a order yesterday for another prototype Taj frame. Eventually we might even release it (but not anytime soon as there are several big projects in the pipeline ahead of mine). So why would I want to give up my part of T-1? Probably anyone who’s ever had their own business would know the answer to this… it’s a lot of work! For me its been a matter of not being able to do a good job at shutting things off when the work days over. I tend to take matters home and obsess over them. The result is that I feel like I never stop working, and I start neglecting everything else in my life. We’ve done T-1 for almost 8 years now and I felt like it was time for me to move on to something else. Another factor in this is how much of a test it’s been to work with a close friend on the company. I love Joe, but the business has made things a bit rough for us at times and I value our friendship far more then the company. I finally felt like walking away from T-1’s inner workings was the best thing for me. For now I’m making an effort to NOT take on any more big projects, so no new companies or business plans for me. My plans for now are to focus on just riding my bike. We have the Etnies video coming up and I’m putting a lot of energy into filming for that. I should be traveling a bit more then usual this summer and on my bike more then I have been in years. Good times for me! Joe has decided to keep T-1 running and is heading up everything by himself here in the office (so don’t worry, T-1’s not going anywhere). In unrelated news, I also quit Coalition. I guess just being swept up in the big changes over at T-1 I thought I would also rearrange some other aspects of my life. Greg (Coalition owner) and I are getting on well still and all is good on that front. Thanks to everyone for all the years of support. I hope all your support continues and helps Joe keep this all going for many more years. |
| T1 team | ||
| Paul Buchanan 1999 Garrett Byrnes John Dye Scott Maylon Ride UK, october 2008: After almost a decade, Scott Maylon has left T-1 and is now aboard United 40. Taj Mihelich 1999 - 2006 Robbie Morales 1999 Romuald Noirot Vincent Poupinot Joe Rich 1999 Simon Stevens Nate Wessel | ||