RL Osborn | cruiser revolution

The nerd herd: RL & Buff

12 06 2014

A staple in the legendary 80s BMX mag, BMX Action, RL Osborn and Mike Buff could always be counted on for getting rad and doing whatever it took for a great photo.

According to 23mag.com,

As the “Nerd herd”, R.L. & Buff were vital in setting BMX trends during the 80’s, from jumping styles in bike tests to the 4×4 vehicle craze, to clothing fashions and hairdos.

Whether that meant Buff hitting the quarterpipe on a Robinson 24 (“a serious race bike”)

Or RL, laying down some serious roost in this two-page shot for a 24 shootout, they brought the heat every month.

And, with their riding captured by the equally legendary photographer/editor Bob Osborn, these photographs really stand the test of time.

Not a bad way to spend this “throwback thursday”, thinking back to this era and the impact these dudes had on it.

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Tags: 23mag.com, BMX Action magazine, Bob Osborn, Mike Buff, Nerd Herd, RL Osborn
Categories : Freestyle, Old School

Friday flashback

15 07 2011

Back in the 80s, freestyle-oriented 24″ bikes just weren’t available. The only 24″ cruisers on the market were pure race machines.

Fortunately, that didn’t stop the BMX Action test team of RL Osborn and Mike Buff from taking the race bikes they were testing, like the Robinson 24″ Pro Racer, out to the quarter-pipe to “get better idea of their handling characteristics.”

Check out this spread of Mike Buff from the November 1983 edition of BMX Action. Pure style!

It would be more than a decade after this magazine came out before freestyle/jumping oriented cruisers would make their entrance to the BMX world. Could pictures like this have played a part in planting the seed? Makes me wonder…

If you’re into this type of “back in the day” stuff, be sure to check out Ed Koenning’s excellent, When are you going to get a real bike? blog. A must read, especially if you were a typical BMX kid in the 80s and lived for the day each month when the new issues of BMX Action and BMX Plus! would hit the newstand.

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Tags: 80s BMX, BMX Action test team, BMX Plus!, Ed Koenning, Mike Buff, quarter-pipe, RL Osborn, Robinson 24" Pro Racer, Robinson BMX Cruiser, When are you going to get a real bike?
Categories : Freestyle, Old School, Racing

Edward Koenning’s blog is addictive

8 07 2010

I have been checking out Edward Koenning‘s blog, When are you going to get a real bike? for a little while now and I have to say I’m getting pretty hooked.

A big part of his blog is digging up vintage BMX magazine pictures/spreads and commenting on them. I often find myself tripping down memory lane when I read one of his posts. I start remembering where I was when I saw or read it, how I devoured every word of the mag (keep in mind this was before the Internet) and how much it had an influence on me.

I was pretty stoked to see him pull out this gem recently. An awesome berm slide by RL Osborn from BMX Action‘s “24 Wars” cruiser shootout article.

I was pretty stoked on this spread too. Eddie Fiola with a perfect table top air (on vert!) and “The Culligan Man” doing a big jump on a race cruiser to see how it would hold up.

If you’ve been into BMX for a while, When are you going to get a real bike? is definitely worth checking out.

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Tags: 24 wars, BMX, BMX Action, BMX Cruiser, cruiser shootout, Culligan Man, Ed Koenning, Eddie Fiola, Edward Koenning, memory lane, RL Osborn, tabletop air, Vert, Vintage BMX magazines, When are you going to get a real bike?
Categories : Freestyle, goofiness, Old School, Racing, Trails/Jumping

Vert: the final frontier for cruisers?

8 01 2010

Cruisers have proven themselves at the trails, track, park and the street. They’ve also shown that they are more than capable flatland machines.

That’s why I find it a bit surprising that we haven’t seen more cruisers on vert. Pictures and web edits are few and far between.

But I’ve done some digging…and this is what I came up with.

If you’re old school, you probably remember this BMX Action magazine cover, featuring R.L. Osborn and Eddie Fiola busting a couple of flatties on the T.O.L. ramp on some 24″ test bikes.