Good thread this,it's heart warming to hark back to the late 80's early 90's infancy of rider owned companies but bmx is too big these days and we as riders are too old or lazy or spoilt for choice with readily available good quality bikestuff to make a decent living out of making one-offs + small batchwork in a shed on a shitty lathe then doing the packaging adv + merch etc etc. The younger end doesn't have to start designing and making stuff that works now coz it's all been done for them by the previous generation so choose your company wisely and hope some of the £ gets back to the people who deserve it, the people passionate about bmx and lucky enough to have the skills to get a business running too.
Ha, i laughed at that bit about smelting the iron ore, very good!
I can see mirra with a spade and pick now!