Name and Handle ( I know this is a question but who says I can’t cheat a bit?)

Philip - Moose

1, where do you live?

Hertfordshire

2, Can you tell us a little about your family situation? Married, single, kids etc?

I live with my partner Wendy and her daughter Nicola. Wendy also has a son, Michael who lives in Southampton

3, what do you do for a living?

I’m a Shift Team Leader in a Power Station (a bit like a real life Homer Simpson)

4, what would be your perfect job?

Ideally I’d like to be a property investor, with enough rental properties to pay me a nice wage, only having to fix the odd problem every now and then and have enough spare time to tinker with my bikes. (like that’s ever going to happen)!

5, Favourite single?

A Thousand Trees - Stereophonics

6, Favourite album?

Word Gets Around - Stereophonics

7, Favourite film?

Saw

8, Favourite food?

Chicken Fajitas

9, How did you find out about radbmx.co.uk?

It was either ORB or Rom bloke who sent me the link when they first started it

10, What bikes did you have as a kid?

My first 2 bikes were hand-me-downs from my brother/sisters and they came second had to us. I was the only one of us to have a brand new bike, my first BMX, a black and red Halfords Turbo with Weinmann rims and brakesets, euro bb and an alloy 3pc crank that kept coming loose. If I remember rightly it was £69.99 (paid in instalments) and I had it for Christmas ’82. For my birthday in February ’84 (I think) the Turbo had a spruce up and my black frame forks and bars were stove enamelled white. In ’85 I had a Green Freeway Freestyler with Acorn Freestyle mags, I think it was about £155 or £175 again paid for in instalments (I think I paid half or whatever it was over £100). I decided on the Freeway after it had a reasonable review in a magazine, in reality it was pretty much rubbish and eventually the seat tube snapped at the twin top tube gusset.

11,What bikes do you own now?

Complete:

’85 DP Firebird Freestyler

’84 Haro Sport

’85 Haro FST

’85 Haro Sport

’86 Kuwahara Bravo KT

’86 Skyway Streetbeat

’85 Vector Unlimited FS

’96 Supercross 125 Pro

Nearly complete (should be finished by the summer):

’84 Free Agent Freestyler

’84 GJS Freestyler

’84 GT Pro Performer

’85 Skyway Streetbeat (custom)

’86 Skyway Streetbeat (yeah, another one)

’04 Supercross Devo Pro

’04 Supercross Devo 24”

Framesets (long term projects)

’85 Curtis Pro

’83 Haro Freestyler

’84 Haro Master

’85 Haro Master

’88 Haro Sport

’87 Hutch Windstyler

’85 Rickman Freestyler

’85 Skyway Streetbeat (another one)!

’84 VDC Frestyler

’89 ELF

12, Which of these are your riders?

At the minute I have only 1 ‘rider’ – the SX 125 Pro, but over the next few months I’m hoping to build a couple of new riders. Both 20” and 24” SX Devo’s and an ’88 Haro Sport (eventually).

13, What is your favourite Old Skool bike?

At the minute it’s the Free Agent although the GJS is a very close second. I always wanted a Streetbeat as a kid, which is probably why I have 4 (and I’ve sold one). I’d also like to have a looptail Ripper and a TA at some point.

14, Skyway’s or Araya’s?

Skyway’s.

15, When did you stop riding?

I stopped ‘riding’ around ’86-’87, none of my mates were really into ‘riding’ BMX at that time.

16, What did you do for kicks in the meantime?

Mainly drank and smoked. Dabbled with soft drugs a little, but mainly drank. Up until a couple of years ago my whole life pretty much revolved around drinking.

17, Do you have any other hobbies?

I have dabbled with other hobbies like Hot Rods, motorbikes, building computers etc, but normally couldn’t be arsed and would go for a drink.

I played Table Tennis on and off from about the age of 11 until I was 20 and played at county standard as a Junior. I started playing again about 4 years ago and play in a local league.

18, What got you back into bmx?

We had a black prismatic chopper we wanted to sell, so I started to do a bit of research on the Internet and looked at the prices on Ebay, there I stumbled across old BMX bikes I remembered as a kid. Then I found VBMX and I was hooked.

At first I just wanted a Skyway StreetBeat as that’s what I remembered wanting as a kid. Somehow it’s turned into collecting all the BMX’s I ever wanted as a kid.

19, What do your friends and family say about it?

‘Get that f-ing bike out of my lounge’!

No, honestly, BMX’s in the lounge, frames and parts in the bedroom and spare room and a loft/shed/garage full of stuff is now generally accepted.

I think whenever Wendy or Nicola have friends come around, they think it’s a bit weird that there’s a kids bike in the lounge, particularly when it belongs to the ‘man’ of the house and when it’s blue and pink!

20, How do you think your current riding skills compares to that of your first time around?

If you notice so far, ‘ride’, ‘rider’ and ‘riding’ have all been written with inverted comma’s. That pretty much sums up any ‘abilities’ (see, inverted commas again) I have or have ever had.

First time around I was more into freestyle and my ‘riding’ was limited to wheelies, bunny-hops, endo’s, front-hops, back-hops, rockwalks, trackstands and the occasional kick-turn.

When I first started collecting, I made a conscious decision not to try riding again at the age of 30. Seeing as though I was shit as a kid, it’s reasonable to assume I’d be shit as an ‘old man’, but after standing around, watching nearly everyone else riding during meetings at ROM and watching some dirt jumping on TV, I thought I’d build a ‘rider’ and have some fun. Oh, I was right by the way, I’m still really shit, but that’s not the point, the point is to have a little fun whilst chatting to a few buddies who are into the same thing.

21, Are there any particular tricks that you working on at the moment?

I haven’t ridden over the winter, but this year I’m going to be working on regaining some ‘bottle’. Any ‘balls’ I ever had as a kid seem to have deserted me now. I’ve only ridden Royston track and some dirt jumps since starting to ride again and I’ve noticed that when my wheels leave the ground, my mind shuts down and I panic (ha ha).

22, What’s the trick you’d love to be able to do?

I’d just love to be able to get some air without pissing my pants (of course, I’d love to be able to do a flip-whip, but I’m being realistic)

23, Where did you ride in your youth?

I mainly rode the streets - as a kid as there wasn’t a skate park or anything like that near to me. There was a council built track in my hometown, but I wasn’t really into racing then so only went there about twice. One of my mates had a quarter-pipe in his back garden but I didn’t ride it much.

24, Where do you ride now?

I go to Dartford Heath

25, who are your favourite riders past and present?

I don’t really have favourite riders, not now. I watch them all and think they’re all great. When I was a kid I had a few favourites like Billy Stupple (did I just admit to that?), Maurice Meyer, Craig Campbell and Eddie Fiola. But when I look at those names, I don’t think it’s a coincidence that 3 of them rode for Skyway (I like GT’s too).

See some of Moose's collection here