Birthplace : Ann Arbor, MI.
Taj : My mom was at a drive in movie while she was very pregnant with me and the old blues singer Taj Mahal was in the movie. She liked his work and decided that I should have the name.
Taj, etniesbmx.com, december 2007 : Around the age of 13 I went to my first BMX race on a "real" BMX bike (and I was so afraid it wouldn't pass the track inspection to become "race certified"). From that point on BMX was in my life, all the time. I raced for a few years but almost always I have mostly been just into jumping. Around that time some of the first, street and dirt, contests started happening and I couldn't get enough of them. My friend, Ron Kimler, and I are from the same town, White Lake, Michigan. Ron started taking me to street comps around the country. I mostly focused on box jumps at the comps. There was nothing better than jumping as high as I could to some crappy flat wedged landing. Now-a-days I cringe at the sight of those flat harsh landings!
Letter published in Super BMX and Freestyle october 1988.
Taj "Toe Jam" Mihelich, Union Lake, Ml. : Dear Greg, I am 14, 110 lbs. and gladly racing my bank account away, but I've always had bad luck with rims and I can't remember a pair lasting more than a month or so. What I wanted to ask you about is high-pressure wheels and tires - I rode on them and thought they rode nice. If I wanted to buy a new wheel set-up, do you think high-pressure wheels are worth the price? Can you recommend a good rims/ hubs/spokes set-up that might last longer for me?
Greg, Super BMX : To begin with, you need a good, Japanese rim (like an Araya 7X), short, steel nipples, 6080 gauge doublebutted spokes (they're good for racing and will hold up to jumping and stuff), and any good, high-performance sealed-bearing hub should do the job.
As far as the high-pressure wheels go, a good set of 36-spoke wheels will hold up just about as well. Even more important than the wheels you use is maintenance, you need to get a spoke wrench and learn how to true your rims and keep the spokes tight.
Taj Mihelich showed major style on his way to first place in saturday night's UGP jumping contest at the NBL Christmas Classic, Colombus, Ohio. Photo from BMX Plus! april 1992.
Section in a Few Good Men video.
Section in Standard Happy Days video.
Taj has an interview in Dig #1.
Taj, etniesbmx.com, december 2007 : I headed south down I-35 with the idea that I wouldn't stop driving ‘till it got warm. I was friends with the Hoffman Bikes guys and thought maybe I would move to Oklahoma, but OKC in February is really cold, so I kept on going. The weather broke when I reached Austin, TX and my new home was found.
3rd place stuntman street @ 1994 BS round 2, Kansas, may 1994
Taj Mihelich turned Pro. Big and powerful are two words to sum up his runs. He did all his jumps a couple of fett higher than anyone else, almost pulled a downside tailwhip over the hip, pulled a one handed tailwhip, powered a superman seat grab pushed nacnac style, and made a 540 tailtap on the coping of the sub box - third place.
Section in Dirty Deeds video.
Interview in Props #4 september 1994.
Taj, etniesbmx.com, december 2007 : Within a year of being in Austin I started riding for Hoffman Bikes and quit my job as a juice maker to ride BMX full time. In those days being a pro rider meant you did shows at fairs and carnivals to make enough money so you didn’t have to work. It was very surreal being around all the carnies at fairs, but it taught me to ride vert and it kept me on my bike. I also got to do shows with the most amazing riders of the time like; Dennis McCoy, Jay Miron, Dave Mirra and of course, Mat Hoffman. Vert became my focus for a while, but after I got burned out on doing shows (and started making enough money to not have to do them anymore) I sort of lost interest. To this day I miss the feeling of flying on vert. That feeling isn't equaled in any other type of riding. I don't, however, miss all the concussions, or loads of pads and full-face helmets.
Taj gapping the 10 ft. deep bowl at the legendary Burnside skatepark. Photo from Ride US december 1994.
Hoffman Bikes makes "TAJ" signature frame.
Section in Mad Matt (Hoffman Bikes) video.
Cover & interview : Ride US june 1996.
ESPN BS contest round 1.
9th place pro dirt @ X-Games.
Cover : Multiprise # 2 automne 1996. Worlds 1996, Germany.
Downside tailwhip at the Backyard jam.
Photo by Kay Clauberg.
Section in Hoffman Bikes Until Monkey's Fly.
Section in Anthem video
Taj left Hoffman Bikes during summer 1997.
Taj, etniesbmx.com, december 2007 : I left Hoffman Bikes and on one cold night in PA I got frustrated by not being able to ride in the icy weather again and convinced Joe Rich to move down to Austin with me. We agreed to move down to where it was warm and start our new project, in a new city. This was late 1997 and Terrible One was about to be born.
Cover & interview : Ride US #29 august september 1997.
Cover : Dig #6 autumn 1997.
Taj Mihelich on home soil. Posh Trails in Bethleham, PA. Photo Keith Mulligan.
Taj Mihelich on home soil. Posh Trails in Bethleham, PA. Photo Keith Mulligan.
Section in Fox Expendable Youth video.
Interview : Ride US June 1998
Terrible One.
Taj, etniesbmx.com, december 2007 : Running T-1 turned out to be a huge change in my life and moving back to Austin turned my riding focus to street. These were the days when you could ride all over town grinding rails and ledges without anyone saying anything. I vividly remember Joe and I being so confident with doing rails that we would follow each other around town and jump on rails that we'd never even seen before, even without knowing what was at the bottom. How long they were or even what kind of rails they were was something we always found out. T-1 was amazing too. We were so over our heads, but it was fun and took all our extra time.
Taj left Airwalk to ride for Etnies.
Taj, etniesbmx.com, december 2007 : For the first time in my riding career I had shoes that offered some support and protection for my feet. I know ALL shoes are supposed to do that, but etnies were the first shoes that were actually designed decently. Etnies was always so cool with me about shoes. They always allowed me to have all my shoes made in non-leather, since I was a vegetarian and they all worked hard to help me get the shoes exactly how I liked.
Mark Losey, www.ridebmx.com : While at the Interbike tradeshow in 1998, I saw a rail behind the convention center and asked Taj Mihelich if he was interested. Taj gave the rail a go, and his third attempt resulted in a serious crash. When I asked if he was okay Taj looked up and said, "I can feel blood rushing through my stomach." Mat Hoffman had told him what a busted spleen felt like, so Taj knew exactly what was up. I ran inside the convention center and found Brad McDonald's wife and she got her car so we could get to the emergency room. Taj figured he was okay with medical insurance, but unfortunately his policy had just lapsed, leaving him with a $35,000 medical bill. Thank God for Medicaid.
Ride US august 1999
Interviews : Ride US august 1999
Soul video magazine #11
Favorite Rider by Ride BMX Magazine.
Section in Primo Made In Taiwan video.
Double pegs tap at the same worlds on the cover of Cream #8 september 2000.
Interview in Ride US #49 june 2000
2000 dirt WORLD CHAMPION in Cologne, Germany.
Taj : I just entered because the jumps looked fun to ride. I haven't really been riding too much dirt lately, and I wasn't taking it seriously at all. Anyway, when the contest came around I just decided to throw caution into the wind and try a bunch of old tricks I haven't done in years. I kept getting luckier and luckier and it seemed like no matter what I tried I somehow landed on my bike riding away. It was fun and a good laugh, but I hardly feel like the "world champ".
Favorite Rider by Ride BMX Magazine.
Section in Fox Expendable Youth 2 video.
Poster : Ride US april 2001
Height : 6'1", weight : 190.
Sponsors : Primo, Etnies, Fox, Terrible-1, Albe's.
Section in Etnies Forward video.
Interview in Transworld BMX #67 may 2002.
#2 street Rider Ride BMX Mag.
Taj signature Primo grips released.
New Primo Taj tires available in august.
Props #50 october 2003.
Taj : This is the issue that takes a look back at the last 49 issues of Props. I went through and picked out a few clips from every issue and on this bonus DVD all those clips are organized chronologically from issue 1 to issue 49. There is some funny stuff for sure, and some really amazing footage of course. Well, in any case, it made me laugh a lot....
Etnies Trauma 2 shoe released.
Taj, etniesbmx.com, december 2007 : I got to design my second shoe, the Trauma 2, which was a pretty tech shoe that had air- pocket heels and all that. I remember I drew this design for the outsole (the bottom tread of the shoe) and it looked really cool. But when it got reversed for the left shoe the design looked so much like a Nike logo that the whole outsole had to be scrapped and re-done. Molds are so expensive, I felt terrible. Oh well...that's how it goes.
Taj has put up a store to sell hard to find magazines, books and ZINES.
March 2004, after 6 years of riding for and supporting this brand, Taj quits Primo.
Taj : They screwed things up real bad though with the surprise termination of the Primo team manager, TIP Product Manager and good friend Greg Walsh. I just can't support this brand after the way they treated Greg. Although lots of people work very hard and are very talented over at Primo, Greg Walsh was the key person who made a lot of the good things happen. In his time there he has helped build the Primo brand in to one of the best component companies in the world. He was also responsible for bringing T-1 over to TIP Distribution and building TIP Distribution into the powerhouse of BMX products that it is. [Tip Distribution and Primo are both owned by the same parent corporation Gallop Cycle Corp.] The hardest part of leaving Primo for me is all the signature products that I have put work into helping design. Apparently there are still a lot of Taj grips and tires in stock and we are still working out how to handle this remaining stock. If like me, you like those products you should get them quick because they won't be around much longer. The same goes for the patented T-1 pegs made by Primo. T-1 will be also be leaving TIP Distribution very soon as well.
Taj, www.terribleone.com, march 2006 : Hello everyone! Ok, lets see, from what I’ve heard the rumors are getting out of hand. I have indeed made some major changes in the last few days, but nothing as dramatic as the leaving Austin to take Roscoe to race the Iditarod Arctic Tundra race! I’ve decided after a few months of deep thought and consideration that I am going to officially leave the business side of Terrible One...
What that means is that I am giving up my half ownership of the company to Joe. From here on out I won’t be involved in the day to day running of the company or the business side of it. Joe has asked me to stay on as a team rider and so I will still be riding T-1 frames and parts. In fact he put in a order yesterday for another prototype Taj frame. Eventually we might even release it (but not anytime soon as there are several big projects in the pipeline ahead of mine). So why would I want to give up my part of T-1? Probably anyone who’s ever had their own business would know the answer to this… it’s a lot of work! For me its been a matter of not being able to do a good job at shutting things off when the work days over. I tend to take matters home and obsess over them. The result is that I feel like I never stop working, and I start neglecting everything else in my life. We’ve done T-1 for almost 8 years now and I felt like it was time for me to move on to something else. Another factor in this is how much of a test it’s been to work with a close friend on the company. I love Joe, but the business has made things a bit rough for us at times and I value our friendship far more then the company. I finally felt like walking away from T-1’s inner workings was the best thing for me. For now I’m making an effort to NOT take on any more big projects, so no new companies or business plans for me. My plans for now are to focus on just riding my bike. We have the Etnies video coming up and I’m putting a lot of energy into filming for that. I should be traveling a bit more then usual this summer and on my bike more then I have been in years. Good times for me! Joe has decided to keep T-1 running and is heading up everything by himself here in the office (so don’t worry, T-1’s not going anywhere). In unrelated news, I also quit Coalition. I guess just being swept up in the big changes over at T-1 I thought I would also rearrange some other aspects of my life. Greg (Coalition owner) and I are getting on well still and all is good on that front. Thanks to everyone for all the years of support. I hope all your support continues and helps Joe keep this all going for many more years.
September, Taj Mihelich is now on Odyssey.
Section in Odyssey Electronical Video.
Taj Mihelich on Giant Bicycles, december 2007.
Taj Mihelich, www.bmxonline.com, december 2007 : It came partially out of a joke and partially out of a lot of thought. Through the years my focus has gone from only BMX bikes to now, where I really truly love riding all types of bikes. I was friends with Kevin Dana who works at Giant and he helped me get a mountain bike, a track bike and later a road bike. It's really struck me how much I love all these other forms of cycling. I guess I feel like my eyes have been opened in a way. To me, having fun on a bike is the same, no matter what bike I'm on. I joked with Giant about sponsoring me since I was getting so many bikes from them, and they took me seriously. I've thought about it immensely and in a way, it was about me swallowing my past feelings and realizing that I do enjoy theses other types of cycling. Riding for Giant affords me to explore all of these other types of riding as well. That's not to say I am motivated to be competitive in road biking or something, but I do like doing it sometimes and with Giant, I have that option. BMX is where my heart is and where my focus stays. Its really strange, but I see it as a natural progression for me, even though its not one I thought I would make years ago. However, I had to admit to myself that I liked their bikes after I'd gotten my third Giant bike just for fun.
I feel like this is an amazing opportunity for me. My main focus is still BMX and I love pushing myself and trying to be creative in that world. With this deal through Giant is down to support me in that effort and any other type of riding I might want to do. There's absolutely no pressures or expectations from me as a rider, and they are willing to trust me to do my job as a sponsored rider however I choose to do it. So, for me, I get to ride BMX the way I always have, without any sponsor expecting me to go to this contest or to ride this certain way. I just do what I want how I want. That's very important for me in BMX. Also with Giant, I get support in other forms of cycling as well. From my beach cruiser I use to go to the grocery store, to my track bike I ride downtown to the bars, to my road bike, or to my mountain bike. It's like being sponsored for all those other types of riding even though I'm not even any good at them or even trying to focus on them.
