Thanks to @treanor71 for scraping this one up. This spread is from a Jon Byers interview featured in Go Magazine back in 1990. This lookback is somewhere in the range of 10+ ft high out of a 10.5 ft ramp! It should be noted that this interview with our bossman was shot by famed director/photographer Spike Jonze.
Wow, that was such a long time ago. Riding had taken a backseat to school at that time. I was going to college and only riding about once a month. There is an interview associated with that and I remember doing the interview in library at school.
A funny thing about that photo shoot was Spike Jonze was telling me to go lower because he couldn’t get a good shot. I was like “what?”
I think that was the last issue of GO. BMX business wasn’t doing so well. There were so many amazing people at that magazine, Jeff Tremaine, Mark Lewman, Spike, Andy Jenkins. The only reason Spike came down was because he was doing stuff with Sergie Ventura in VA beach.
I ran two tires on each rim (one inside the other) and put 120+ psi, so i could get more speed. Also, I ran my stem and bars loose so when i crashed everything would give and absorb the impact. It saved me so many times. The bars would just go forward or twist to the side.
The ramp had 18′ of flat so you could set up for the next air. It was super fast because I built it with transitions on 4′ centers, so it didn’t flex. Although, Dave Mirra did break one of the supports out of it on a rough landing. I was out their yesterday and the lights are still hanging on the pine trees. it’s a garden now and my Dad has his beehive out there. Those were some really good times.
