Banter: A BMX Podcast

PLEASE NOTE: An Updated version was released at 7:30pm April 15, 2024 to fix an editing mistake. Bill Nitschke hails from Indianapolis, Indiana. He grew up riding with BMX Flatland legends Perry Mervar, Steve Mulder and Danny Meng. Inventor of the Whopper AKA "Hop Whip" as well as a bunch of other tricks. He rode for DK, TNT, Haro, Homeless Bikes, S&M, GT Bikes, Schwinn and Master Blaster Planet. Currently riding for Flatland Assasins. Special Thanks to Shaun Jarvis for handling our socials. Support the Show.

Robert & Reben Castillo are two very influential brothers, hailing from Austin Texas! Both gained recognition in the 80’s for there flatland abilities and they are still out there pushing the sport today! Special Thanks to Shaun Jarvis for handling our socials. Support the Show.

Gary Pollak was part of the King of Prussia, Pennsylvania BMX scene and considered a quasi Plywood Hood. Featured in early Dorkin’ In York videos & known as a great all-around rider competing in both AFA and 2 Hip Vert & street comps. He is the inventor of the Pinky Squeak. He rode for CW in the mid-80's and toured with likes of Ceppie Mays, Dizz Hicks and MacGoo. He later rode for GT touring with Martin Aparijo, Josh White and trials rider Hans Ray. He also did the Dan Up! tour with Matt Hoffman, Dennis McCoy and Rick Moliterno! Now a family man and living in New Jersey with his wife and daughter and still riding BMX. Special Thanks to Shaun Jarvis for handling our socials. Support the Show.

Brandon Fentonn is a flatland lifer. He has a huge bag of tricks and a myriad of difficult breakless maneuvers and multiple whiplash variations? He currently residing in Toronto and is a regular at the DunBat hockey rink. Brandon has A PHD in Philosophy and currently works as a victim’s rights advocate at Aboriginal Legal Services and as a course director at Conestoga College. Special thanks to Shaun Jarvis for handling our socials. Support the Show.

Join Jon and I as we talk BMX Freestyle with 3 ledgends of the sport Ron Wilkerson, Brian Blyther and Dave Nourie. Hear the inside scope from these iconic Team Haro members. Please click this link if you want to learn more about the Back For More In '24 tour and help support the cause. Special thanks to Shaun Jarvis for his work on the socials. Support the Show.

Few people have done as much for Flatland BMX, as Effraim Catlow. He was: Effraim Catlow: 14 Years of Flatmattersonline! https://www.flatmattersonline.com/effraim-catlow-14-years-of-flatmattersonline?fbclid=IwAR2aO_z7LyHNmtQBSWuIFCqULZxjjcZgJrEZ6ATbDQoSBBg639hBUxvBSLc Special thanks to Shaun Jarvis for handling our socials. Support the Show.

Paula Marie is a Canadian, flatlander that hails from Southern Ontario. She spent a few years living and riding in British Columbia, She's a member of the Women of Freestyle. Has an impressive bag of tricks, Has traveled to numerous events and competed all around North America, Currently living in Georgian Bay Ontario and a mother of two little girls. Special thanks to Shaun Jarvis for handling our socials. Support the Show.

Jody Temple is a flatland rider who's been a long time resident of Athens GA. He is one of the early. members of the Athens Family BMX crew. He's been featured in many videos over the years, but notably has some killer parts in the "Same thing dailey" video series by Dane Beardsley. He also has some stand out entries for the "Master of creativity" contest. He's baVled some health problems that kept him off his bike for long durations but has managed to come back & persevere. A man who insists on changing his socks frequently, We are excited to have our next guest join us. Special thanks the Shaun Jarvis for handling our socials. Support the Show.

Bill Batchelor was an avid BMX rider during the early 80s, participating in racing and followed by freestyle. He was also interested in photography from a young age with black & white images being his preferred style. Talented behind the camera and a world-class skate park in his hometown he documented 80s BMX with some amazing images. After sitting in a box for decades many of these images have come to light for the first time in his book Concrete and Smog. Get your own copy of Concrete & Smog while supplies last: https://www.billbatchelorbmx.com/ Special Thanks to our man Shaun Jarvis for handling the Banter socials! Support the Show.

Maurice Meyer started riding BMX in the mid-70s. In the 80s he was a part of the epic Golden Gate Park freestyle scene and a rider on the infamous Curb Dogs BMX/Skate team founded by the late Dave Vanderspek. He rode for Kuwahara in 82/83 and started riding for Skyway in 1984. As a factory Skyway rider, he participated in both the US and European tours along with Vanderspek and Robert Peterson. He placed 2nd to Dennis McCoy in the 1985 - 17 and over class in the Venice Beach contest. In 1987, he was working for Skywear Clothing and designed the 1987 Skyway jersey and the Eddie Roman street shirt. In 1988 he left Skyway as a rider and did a brief stint as a salesman for them. Special Thanks to our man Shaun Jarvis for handling the Banter socials! Support the Show.

Kip Williamson is a Flatlander originally out of Angola Indiana, an AFA competitor in the 80s, and a Fat House member. He was known in the 90s as the “Video Guy”. He created “Juvenile Trickery”, “Alternative Forms of Transportation” and UGP videos such as “Face Value” & “Mission of Nonsense”. As well as the GT Bicycles flick “Direction”. A GT team tour announcer and held many other positions at GT such as Contest Team Manager & Freestyle Division consultant. Kip hosted the action sports TV show “54321” on Fox Sports, ESPN’s Dave Mirra Super Tour, and co-hosted and was a creative consultant on "Dave Mirra's Trick Tips Volume 1". He was the Mountain Dew tour Announcer for 2 years (10 stops), and the X- games announcer when Mirra did the first double flip in X Games history (San Francisco 2000). Special Thanks to our man Shaun Jarvis for handling the Banter socials! Support the Show.

This episode was sparked by the recent passing of Andrew Wickham. Andrew was a talented flatlander and a friend of Jon’s. If you take away one thing from this episode, please reach out to a friend or family member you haven’t heard from in a while. Here is a living list of whom we have tragically lost from the BMX world. Please feel free to contact Jon Dowker or Anthony Berardi to add names to the list. Mental Health Resources: https://www.helpguide.org/https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/https://www.crisisservicescanada.ca/en/Other references: https://podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/dennis-mccoy-episode-21/id1447198515?i=1000439748999Thank you to the following people who contributed to this episode: Special thanks to Shaun Jarvis for taking care of the Banter socials. Support the Show.

Dave Nourie hails from California, has been riding and even competing in flatland for nearly 40 years! He rode and toured with the iconic 80's Haro team including Brian Blyther, Ron Wilkerson, Dennis McCoy, and Matt Hoffman. He participated in the Haro reunion show in Cologne Germany in 2009, was featured in the classic Eddie Roman film "Ride like a man". He has invented iconic tricks such as the Gumbee, NourieStand, and Miami Hopper Spin. He recently entered Martti Kuppa's Master of creativity. He has operated Nourie’s BMX Academy since 1999 performing BMX freestyle for classes, camps & events which include life lessons through BMX Freestyle. Special thanks to Shaun Jarvis for looking after our socials. Support the Show.

Scott Powell is a pro flatland rider from North Olmsted, Ohio, He is one of the original “Chenga” crew of riders known for their extensive bag of tricks and super long parking lots. An X-games contender from 1997 to 2001 until flatland was eliminated. He is one of the co-founders of the legendary Chenga skatepark in North Ridgeville, Ohio, and the current owner of the latest Chenga Skate Park located in Brook Park Ohio. Special Thanks To Shaun Jarvis for his ongoing support of the podcast running our socials. Support the Show.

Jason Holmes hails from Oshawa Ontario and was arguably one of the most advanced riders to come out of Ontario in the early ’90s. He performed demos for promoter Rick Davis and was a regular on the Welches Grape Stunt Team. He was instrumental in getting freestyle BMX back into the Toronto Bicycle show after the 1990 hiatus. These days Jason lives in Barrie, works for Honda as a Robotic Automation Technical Supervisor. Married 25 years Jason has two kids, 19 and 16. In his Spare time, he collects vintage BMX bikes, snowboards, mountain bikes, plays hockey, and golf...And of course, still loves to ride BMX. Special thanks to Shaun Jarvis for his help with this podcast. Support the Show.

Perth Australia's Shaun Jarvis has been riding for 40 years! Shaun has 6 children, is an animal rights activist, and has owned and operated the longest-running BMX demo team on earth. (Freestyle Now) established in 1986. That's 35 years of BMX radness.! Support the Show.

RIck Allison was a staple in BMX in the 80s. He rode with the Curb Dogs in Goldengate Park including Vanderspeck, Maurice “Drob” Meyers, and Hugo Gonzales. He ended up factory-sponsored with GT, Mongoose, Hutch, and later on, co-sponsored by Haro. He was featured on the cover of the January 1988 issue of BMX Plus! He has done 1000s of shows for Perfection on Wheels, solo shows for Nancy Reagans “say no to drugs” program, as well as shows for SeaWorld, Disneyland, and Phantasland in Germany. Support the Show.

This month's guest is Josh Evans! He Hails from Westland Michigan. He grew up riding with the legendary Billy Newman, was a regular at the Montrose Church sessions and contests held by Greg Flowers. Later he came to mentor Bobby Carter’s crew in Ann Arbor Mi. In 2000 he got flow from Schwinn and by 2001 was officially on the team performing demos. Support the Show.

Gabe Weed often rode in San Francisco as part of the legendary "Golden Gate Park Scene" where he sessioned with amazing riders such as Aaron Dull, Eric Emmerson, and Pete Brandt to name just a few. He turned pro in 93 while riding for 2-hip bikes and got his first magazine picture in the June 1993 issue of Ride BMX. By 1996 he was riding and touring for GT bikes performing countless shows around the country. DISCLAIMER: Unfortunately, we had an issue with Gabe's primary audio recording and had to rely on a backup. Although 95% of the audio from the backup was fine we did have to make some hard edits to cut out some unlistenable sections. Gabe was an amazing guest and storyteller. Jon and I both agree we need to get him back on the show. Thanks for your support and your listenership. Support the Show.

This months guest has been referred to as "The legendary rider from Buckhorn. He moved to Toronto shortly after high school in the early '90s with the sole objective to ride BMX and have fun! He's still doing it. He rode with several generations of riders in the GTA over the years and was an integral part of the ICC (Inner City Circle) crew that produced many of the best street riders to ever come out of Ontario. Support the Show.