Heavy Pedalz Magazine
by Paul Knox.
Many, many years ago there was an age where BMX wasn’t delivered straight to your phone. In those old times, new BMX came in monthly fixes via Magazines. These were glossy, high quality productions that captured and communicated the excitement of the time, and I would eagerly await every new issue at the newsagent. Every issue was eagerly devoured, and reread multiple times. As I started to travel to events outside my area, I found another fix for my habit; zines. Whereas the major publications were slick, zines were bits of typed or handwritten sheets, with photographs often literally taped to them, then photocopied (with varying degrees of clarity). What zines lacked in production value they more than made up for with content. They highlighted local scenes, riders and personalities that the big Mags couldn’t, or maybe wouldn’t cover. Each one was unique, and the discovery of a copy treasured.
Slowly over time, the big mags shut up shop, and social media became the way for riders everywhere to communicate. For me however, nothing really replaced the feeling of receiving a brand new mag or zine and uncovering the content page by page. Hence I was intrigued when I heard about a printed BMX medium that covered a scene outside of my sphere, by the name of Heavy Pedalz. A couple of quick messages later, and I had ordered some zines – something I hadn’t done for a long time. Once again was the long forgotten anticipation – the post from Toledo Ohio to Melbourne Australia was agonisingly long but ultimately worth it.
Heavy Pedalz is 60+ pages of glossy, solid, BMX. Covering a great scene, it had everything I was missing from an Instagram feed. It’s the great combo of quality print with zine content. For me, nothing beats the feeling of finishing a mag then turning straight back to the first page to read again- and the my issues of Heavy Pedalz are already on heavy rotation.
About Heavy Pedalz
Why A Zine In The Internet Age?
Great Question! Hi! I’m Chuck. I grew up in a house that had magazines in almost every room. From Dad’s Easyriders Magazine to Reader Digest. As I grew up I came to love BMX Plus! Creem, Hit Parader and Circus to name just a few. I would buy 2 copies of each . One to save and one to cut up and post all over my walls. As magazines started to die off I really felt it. In my opinion magazines and now zines (zeens) are the fuel that keep the fire burning when you cannot be involved directly in your passion. You can’t hold a website in your hands or cut it up and paste it on your wall. Prints not dead and let’s keep it that way!
Want to know more? Visit heavypedalz.com or facebook.com/Heavypedalz1.
Posted in: News
