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| BMX News had encountered a fairly traditional and predictable conception in terms of the path from which issue one appeared in April of 1981. It came bathed in coloured inks and rolled from the presses of Lancaster publisher Morecambe press who had with the help of a gentleman called Bill Lawless had created in 1977 a hugely successful weekly news rag called Trials and Motocross News of which Bill was the editor. It was the offroad bible for the UK scene and now, four years after T+MX News came the &Mac222;rst pre production issue of BMX News, again thanks to Bill who had the previous summer been on a fact &Mac222;nding mission to the US to &Mac222;nd new publishing ideas for the group. The paper was for the most part given out at schoolboy MX races, the perfect demographic for it at the time as it co-incided with the UK release of the Cult Classic Offroad Motorcycle Movie “On any Sunday” which featured BMX alongside Steve McQueen. It was a taster to see if they could make a go of doing a BMX mag on a regular basis. Fellow Northerner Alan woods was one of the &Mac222;rst people to get the mag and he was also an ardent supporter too, he was both motocrosser and BMX distributor at the tender age of 16 importing the Torker and Robinson brands. Bright to the workings of the publishing business Bill knew there was an opportunity and gap in the market for a weekly that reported on all the race and trials events going on all over the UK and also feature World Championship events too. Coupled with a small but eager team the paper was an instant success. This growth coincided perfectly with a recently passed law that now allowed schoolboys to ride motocross and trials bikes for fun therefore creating a huge new business model for the emerging japanese motorcycle industry. On re&Mac223;ection now Bill says BMX news was too early to be able to work as a business. And like a lot of things with hindsight of course publishing a weekly BMX paper was probably not what BMX in UK needed at such an early stage. Despite reasonable sales for the &Mac222;rst 15 issues there really was no big industry as such to support it, apart from a few distros Like Alans and a few others to back up the content with ad revenue and because of this the paper struggled to make any money. Bill and Morecambe had to pull the plug on BMX News after 4 Months and 15 issues worth of content which consisted for the most part of races from the North of the UK and some bike test and colour pics from the USA. The Uk’s &Mac222;rst real magazine had hit the skids... Sometimes it doesn’t pay to be the &Mac222;rst. But there was, like all good ideas, a lifeline and passing of the proverbial Baton. it came in the guise of a family mad on BMX - the Higginsons. |
Weekly newspaper printed in the UK by Morecambe Press Publications.
Tabloid newspaper siz, full colour cover, black and white inner. |
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issue 1 - april 24th 1981 (scanned by kdw712)
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issue 2 |
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issue 3 - may 8th 1981
24 pages. |
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issue 4 - may 15th 1981
24 pages. |
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issue 5 - may 22nd 1981
Redditch Race Report: Chorley race report: 2 Pages of Rad Vocab: Cleethorpes track Test: and lots more photos, news etc.
24 pages. |
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issue 6 - may 29th 1981
5 pages of the first Eastway Meet: Robinson test report: 6 pages of the first Buckmore Bats Meet: Southport Meet: Full back page photo of Danny Oakleyand lots more photos, news etc. etc.
24 pages. |
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issue 7 - june 5th 1981
24 pages. |
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issue 8 - june 12th 1981
24 pages.
Redditch: Some aggro -but the racing was ace.
Spanners: Bottom bracket mysteries revealed. |
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issue 9 - june 19th 1981
24 pages. |
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issue 10 - june 26th 1981
24 pages.
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issue 11 - july 3rd 1981
24 pages.
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issue 12 - july 10th 1981
20 pages.
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issue 13 - july 17th 1981
20 pages.
Big report from the improved Chorley track.
An assessment of the updated Montesita trials bike.
Barraclough's adventures in California
...and lots of news from the BMX scene nationwide. |
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issue 14 - july 24th 1981
20 pages.
Steve Gratton on the cover. |
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issue 15 - july 31st 1981 - last issue
16 pages.
David Arnold on Mark Scully's Redline on the cover. |
BMX News issue 15, july 31st, 1981:
BAD NEWS: BMX News shuts down.
GOOD NEWS: moves for a new weekly. |