Five Guys BMX Zine: Pedalling New Zealand on BMX
Zines come in all shapes and sizes (check our Zine Library – soon to be expanding, by the way).
Back when phones were for calls, zines were a unique mode of expression. Now, individuals and small organisations can voice their opinion or document their events, travels and stories on free online platforms. But zines have never gone away, and recently digital printing has improved, making it even easier for small projects to be turned into professional-level productions.
Five Guys BMX is an amazing little thing. It is what it says: five guys on BMX bikes. It’s a 78-page A5 perfect-bound zine that documents their journey across New Zealand. Except it was any old road trip. This lot fancied a bit of hardship so they strapped some panniers to their 20 inchers, added a bit of length to their seatposts and pedalled at great lack of speed across the country. Camp spots, vistas, beers, tyre slides, clicked turndowns, friendships, fun. The grind eventually ground them down and they resorted to a spot of motorised aid, but the adventure was real.
The journey has been beautifully photographed on a couple of battered old iPhones. Is it real photography if it’s on a phone? Of course it is, especially when the shots are so well composed and edited, conveying the endless Sunday vibes of weeks out from the Big Wide World, head down focused on achieving a pointless, but probably life-changing goal.
It makes us want to hit the road.
More about Five Guys BMX by Luke Peeters
