News Taj Mihelich

Taj Mihelich has been keeping himself pretty busy lately. Aside from keeping his Fairdale Zine updated with plenty of drawings and awesomeness, he’s also been working hard on getting some bikes made!

It’s something I’ve wanted to do for years and years and I think even my hardcore BMX-only friends will be able to relate to some of the motivation behind it.

Fairdale is the brand for all my friends who ask me what kind of bike they should get just for riding around town. In the past, I always struggled to find a good answer for them. So many bikes are too focused on racing, extremeness, trends, are dorky looking or just bogged down with too much flakey technology. On the other hand, BMX, with its simple functionality, has taught me that the technology of a bike rarely increases the fun of riding it.

Click HERE to check out the latest samples and then hit up ESPN for a quick write up!

Nac Nac Wall Plant! Photo by Sandy Carson.

Taj Mihelich has an interview and retrospective photo gallery up on ESPN. It’s been a long journey and we’re psyched to have him be party of the Odyssey family both as a rider and a co-worker. Click the photo to read the full interview!

Fairdale is a new zine that’s been cooking here at Odyssey. It’s master-minded by Taj Mihelich with a little help from Roscoe. Though it’s only been up for a few days, it already has an eclectic set of articles under its belt. Roscoe and Taj basically have free reign on Fairdale so make sure to bookmark it and sign up for its RSS feed. It’s hard to predict what those two will come up with!

You can also connect with Fairdale through Facebook, Twitter and Flickr.

It’s wild to think that this video is over a decade old. It dates back to 1994 to be exact and it features a very young Taj Mihelich after he had just made his move to Austin.

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Ride BMX just got done with their latest issue and it’s a good one! Tom Dugan scored the cover by dropping from the sky with a boosted transfer. Inside you’ll find a write up from Taj about living in Austin and photos from the likes of Chase Hawk, Tom Dugan and other Odyssey dudes. Go out and pedal as fast as you can to the nearest magazine rack and pick one up!

Some time last week, Taj got sick and started taking drawing requests to help pass the time. The concept was simple; suggest an animal doing a trick on a bike and then Taj would then spend a few minutes doodling it out. A lot of you guys chimed in and above is the end result from the experiment. For details on each request, flip through it on our Flickr page.

To wrap it up, Taj even put together a pictorial on How To Draw.

Thanks to everyone who participated. If you don’t want to miss out on the next time we do something like this, make sure to add us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter!

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Taj is resting at home right now and feeling a little under the weather. To pass the time, he’ll be doodling random animals riding bicycles. If there’s an animal you’ve ever wanted to see riding a bike, now’s your chance to submit a request. Post some ideas in the comments section and if Taj digs it, he’ll draw it up for you.

The doodles will be done in a few minutes and under the influence of Nyquil.
See the drawing above for an example.

Check our Facebook and Twitter accounts to keep up on all of the new doodles!

UPDATE: No more requests for now! Thanks to everyone who participated.
Check the Facebook page for all the doodles that came out of this!

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You can’t really go wrong with a 7 wheeled cycle. Here’s a new wallpaper download for you guys to enjoy!

The Athlete Recovery Fund (ARF) continues to be a generous help to numerous professional athletes who have found themselves under the gun of piling medical bills. Their list includes the likes of many talented BMX riders such as Mike Aitken, Stephen Murray, Jimmy Levan and recently, Taj Mihelich.

To help spread the word about their ’cause, Taj decided to interview ARF’s insurance consultant, Amanda Savage. She helped Taj take a bill that was over 40K and dwindle it down to $6700! Read the interview.

ESPN just put up a photo gallery with Taj. It’s a nice pictorial that’ll give you some insight on what life’s been like for him while he heals from back surgery.