Kenny With Brian V's belly of Lucero.

Get Old, Get Fat, Get Ugly, Get Tired, Get Stoked again,Get Skinny, Get pretty, Get Drunk, fall asleep and do it all over!
Below are a few Youtubers of Lucero Playing At FBM When we premiered Half and Half. It was an Epic night of Busch can proportions! Years ago…
Today we celebrated TAG by getting Tattoos, Lucero have been giving him shouts the whole tour. Pretty Cool!

To celebrate the release of the 2012 Steadfast, we gave Gilly a new bike, unleashed his section from Thousand Yard Stare and made this
2012 SteadFast CS flip book, with some cool photos and spec on the frame.
To learn more about the bike, check it out here!

A ginch!

The Maniac- Have you seen him!?

Spend a couple days in Ithaca NY with the right people and your life will never be the same. I spent about 20 years there last weekend. It was great!
A bunch of old friends spent a sunny afternoon riding around Ithaca like some time warp from a nostalgic movie. Hill Bombs, weird stares from civilians, hip boosts, hi fives, pizzas, sandwiches, beers and poppa wheelies.

Cherish your friendships, without good ones, life ain’t shit!

Friendship, Brotherhood, Memories!

Kelly Baker- King of the APES!

Alex Capalango/ Allan Capistrana.

Uncle Albert. Alvin and the Chipmunks.

Mike Tags Bike, Mike Tag Style invert- Fishty Pence!

Spencer- gettin it!

Generational and inspirational!

Eric Holladay! JOOOOSE!

Algernon Calderon

STOKED- Alex Capalongo and Jesse Bower!

Neil Hise!

Timmy BAll- Shortstop Sesh!

Shortstop- not a bad way to end a good day of riding with old friends!

With Mike lurking in the background, the last photo of Tag, Bones, Gilly and I.

There was no somber burial for our loved one Michael Tagliavento, rather a gathering, where we raised short glasses of Jim Beam, to honor the spirit of a great man.

Generations of outlaws, artists, pioneers, fearless hearts, parents, children, hardworking hard men who shed tears, all influenced by Mike, and traveling from the farthest stretches, the fringes of someone else’s reality, to pay tribute.
The brightest and the best from a world Mike helped create! His Friends…

A vikings funeral, for a man we all love. Instead of some vast sea, and burning ship, we sent Mike to sail with tear soaked smiles, over the hard wood Bar top with cold beers, bourbon, hugs and shared memories….

Jimmy and Judy!

(click the photos to see them larger…)

Kenny in TX by Terra!

This friday, April 20th at 5PM, the FBM team and friends will be at the Ithaca park for an informal session, to pay tribute to Mike.
For years this park has been a spot you could see Tag riding and has been a staple in the Ithaca scene, where we would meet up, bullshit with each other, ride around, and often times pedal over to ShortStop for dinner.
That is exactly what we plan to do, ride the park from 5-7, and then pedal across town to Shortstop!

Kenny Horton will be there, doing flatty pancake mc table tops on the hip at the Ithaca park, and you can learn more about Kenny on his recent ESPN Article, shot by Terra which Kicks serious ass!

Saturday session at the Rhine House! Be there!

Cranpa, pre geriatrics in Ithaca!

Fisher! He will be there!

Tag's BAr, The Rhine House!

The first round of Bellwitch frames are back from paint and getting ready to ship, the red ones will be back in a day or two!
Very Stoked!
Here is the spec-
Top tube sizes- 20.5″, 20.75″, 21″ and 21.25″
Head tube angle- 75 degrees
seat tube angle- 71 degrees
standover height -9″
BB height- 11.6″
rear end length – 13/5″

Added features- Made in house at FBM, inverted cross seat stay bridge, looks cool as shit, and has built in awesomeness!

Joby...

Castle Greyskull- forgash pic

The Back of the neck!

This silly string of 5 words became world renowned in 90′s after the release of Road Fools 2, where Mike Tag went from a name in the underground of BMX, to someone people took notice of. It wasn’t long after people witnessed his brutal handrail, and ledge prowess, and his antics which quickly became synonymous with the letters FBM. Fire, Beer and Mayhem, that his status as a badass tough guy, a man of true grit, became solidified.

In recent weeks prior to that life changing trip, Mike Tag, Erbles and I were living on Seneca Street in a party house called Castle Greyskull. It was a block from Shortstop, and another block from a really shitty nightclub, called Semester’s, and on weekends you could here the bass from terrible dance music at our house, and the shrill of drunken sorority girls, and juiced up meatheads fighting after hours in the street.
Our spot was a dive bar called the Chanticleer where we re enacted Scenes from the movie Barfly, and drank dollar drafts. We never ventured towards the collegiate nightlife debacle, it was obviously not our scene.

MIke however was always one to taunt the status quo, and seemed to get a kick out of subjecting himself to questionable situations.
On night in particular, he decides to check out the nightclub known as semester’s, while the rest of us stayed behind partying at the house. When Mike comes home, he tells us the story of his misadventure at meat market looney bin, and it goes something like this-
Mike and a couple of friends go to the club, and shmooze, have a few drinks, and basically just absorb the madness. People watching. At one point, a man in an some unexplainable fashion cry for help, is dressed in black and white stripes, looking like a referee, or an employee at the Foot Locker. Apparently Mike was hypnotized by how ridiculous this guys looked and just sipped his drink with a fixed gaze on this guy who was facing the other direction. Just then some dipshit engages Mike with an aggressive tone, asking ” HEY, ARE YOU LOOKING AT THE BACK OF MY FRIENDS NECK?”
“Am I looking at the back of his neck?”- Mike
And the exchange becomes more heated as Tag tries to decipher why someone would ever ask that question, or why anyone would care.
Finally Tag just goes – “YA I AS LOOKING AT THE BACK OF HIS NECK!!!”, and snatches the guy up….
The absurdity of the whole story became legend, and the phrase became a symbol of just how not serious anything was to us, and how hilarious and ridiculous that time became… That whole era.

Our lives were like some kind of screwed up version of the movie “Stand by Me”, combined with the sound of bottles breaking, pool balls clattering, freewheels clicking, Leland telling funny jokes, and the soundtrack from 1201 playing at peak levels in the back ground.

The past few days have been towing the line between tears and laughter while sharing stories of the utterly ridiculous lives we all shared.

Many Legacies were born out of our group of friends, Leland became a professional wrestler, Erbles and I turned FBM into a bike company, Gilly built every jump that was ever on television, and Stew went on to become an iconic personality in BMX media. Below is the First Video project Stew Johnson ever worked on, in collaboration with Mike Tag… It’s called 1201, and from that summer on, BMX only became that much more AWESOME!

( Oh, and in case you didn’t know, 1201 was the address of the Fat house we all lived in together…)

Tag at 14000 feet with Jason Willis!

Friday the Thirteenth. 2012.

Mike Tag is a name that will live forever in bright lights. Mike is a legend, and as the saying goes, legends never die. Mike Tag made his mark, as a son, a brother, a bike rider, as a friend, and as an Icon.

FBM started in 93, give or take. It really started about 25 years ago when I met Mike in 7th grade spanish class, and it started showing itself, rolling down the streets of Ithaca with Gilly, Ham Bone, and the gang, riding our bikes, and raising hell.

Yesterday, at age 37 Mike passed after over a year fighting a long hard battle.

37 years might not seem like a long time, but in those years, Mike lived harder, faster, tougher and with more purpose than almost anyone, even in a hundred years.

His legend was born in his travels, his unique perspective, his fearlessness, through all the people he met, the lives he touched, the friends he made throughout. His influence and inspiration reached beyond that of an ordinary man.
Mike lived life on his own terms, and he made the people who’s lives he touched, better.

Friday the 13th marked the end of a journey, a wild adventure, made with great friends, on kids bikes, rolling through life.

Today I am sad, but I am also proud of who Mike was, and the impact he made. I am humbled by the outpouring on Mike’s behalf today. Thank you everyone on behalf of Mike, and his loved ones.

Roll on Mike. We love you brother!

Thank you my friend, forever!

Kenny Horton Shot by Christian Hewett

Friday the 13th number 9!
These photos were shot on film By our home skillet, Christian Hewett, More can be seen at Bump Jump!

Big Money, Big Cars!

Also, Tom Blyth’s section is bad as shit!

Adam Guilliams AKA Adam Ginch is one of the most Talented BMXer’s I have ever met, on and off his bike, whether it’s blasting huge airs, dialing in switch, opposite, and wildly tech moves, or flowing trails, he is ON IT!
Off his bike , he is an amazing artist, musician, hardworker and serious headbanger!
We are proud to have Adam Flying the FBM Flag!
Check out his Bike check on the QBP website, and the video below!

OH HELLLL YA!