Eddy Grazielewski

Shortly afterwards, his mate invested his money in a department store bike with die-cast rims, which they tested extensively. After they were even able to repair the bike while sitting on the floor in the department stores, they stumbled across the Berlin shop Instant Funk and Martin "Kongo" Böhmfeld, who already had a BMX bike at the time. A second-hand Motobecane had to suffice for Eddy at the time, but that was about to change with his first wage: He entered Instant Funk in search of a GT and left with a brand new, chrome-plated Pro-Neck. Proud as Oscar, Eddy lost himself in the brand fetish of the time and reeled off many kilometres on his new bike. There were a few spots in Berlin at the time: the Märkisches Viertel neighbourhood was home to VFL Tegel and had a small BMX track. Berlin-Charlottenburg in the far west had the "big" track, which also hosted international races. And in Wexstraße, just round the corner from Instant Funk, there was also a small track which, according to legend, was built by Michael Müllmann himself from dirt imported from the USA.

At the same time, Eddy and his mates also created their own spots. They built jumps on rubbish dumps, placed boards on walls, attacked table tennis tables and jumped off the Berlin Sechserbrücke. There were no limits that were not tested. This is where the legend of "Rambo Eddy" was formed. Contemporary witnesses tell of the daring "urban freerider". If any jump was too high, too steep, too far or impossible for any other reason, Eddy came and jumped. He can hardly explain this phenomenon himself. He became a different person on the bike. The feedback from others gave him self-confidence and the slight Erhard became Rambo Eddy, just like Clark Kent became Superman as soon as he took off his glasses.

Such a name was of course also heard in the West, even if there is almost a certain tragedy in the story behind it. Eddy's pedal broke off during a race and the remaining piece of pedal axle rammed deep into his calf. In search of help, he went to the paramedics' tent, but the medical staff, or whoever pretended to be, were so drunk that Eddy declined with thanks, had a needle and thread given to him and treated the wound himself. The film "Rambo - First Blood", which was released around the same time, sealed the deal and the name was fixed. From then on, he was Rambo Eddy.

It was under this name that he made his big appearance in Speed in 1985. He graced the cover and the magazine dedicated several pages to him, celebrating his death-defying stunts. Together with "Sammy" Sommerfeld and Ingo Pannischky from the "Getto", as the Märkisches Viertel was affectionately known, he had built the two ramps known from Speed, with which they performed at neighbourhood festivals, sometimes for sausages and rolls. Inspired by Mercury Morgan, who in an article in BMX Plus! jumped serveral cars on his bike, Eddy fitted himself with a 68 chainring and tried to set distance records. The world record attempt announced in Speed never took place, but the accompanying picture in Speed has lost none of its impact to this day.

However, Eddy took a rather detached view of the hype surrounding him and his nickname. He never gave in to the gossip, but was well aware that the whole thing was very beneficial to his BMX career. At the time, he worked for Motorrad Schütze in Berlin, who also sponsored him. This gave him financial freedom, he was able to devote himself fully to his passion and only had to worry about what he enjoyed: BMX and fast motorbikes. When Patrick Penkwitt came knocking at some point to support him with PTR frames, life was almost perfect.

But only almost. The PTR frames were not really up to Eddy's standards and he bent them beyond recognition on many a bumpy landing. The next step was a sponsorship from March Racing from England via Thomas Jäger from TJ Racing. Now his frame was able to cope with all the stresses and strains, but unfortunately Eddy didn't like the geometry at all. Things only really calmed down when Schütze gave up his BMX department and Eddy switched to Instant Funk / Sport Import. From then on, he rode Dyno and attended the big freestyle contests all over Germany.

By this time, Sport Import had already moved from Berlin to Edewecht and the Instant Funk skate shop was no longer living up to its potential. Michael Müllmann decided from afar to entrust Eddy and Andreas "Elle" Gillmeister with the management of a new shop: California Sports, in the centre of Berlin. The shop rode the brand new streetwear wave and hit like a bomb. Customers ranged from dads who wanted to buy their child a BMX bike, to celebrities like Nina Hagen, who bounced through the shop in her knickers in search of the hottest clothes, to the many kids who came from the east of the city after the fall of the Berlin Wall. It was here that Eddy realised for the first time how reality was getting in the way of his riding ambitions. The longer he stood in the shop, the less he rode BMX himself.

In search of career prospects, he was soon drawn to Sport Import in Edewecht. He got a car and drove around the country as a salesman, but he wasn't happy there. Eddy found the job difficult and at the same time the call came from his old home. He went back to Berlin and took a job in the catering industry, the sector to which his family had always been attached and which he had long resisted. From then on, free time was over and his only connection to BMX remained friends from the scene who visited him at work.

After training as a sommelier, Eddy now works for an exclusive wine wholesaler in Augsburg and also runs his own business selling wines and offering wine tastings. What he remembers most from his BMX days is a community in which togetherness counted, in which the successes of others were recognised without envy and which was seemingly free of resentment. These may not always be the best qualities for business life, but they are a good recipe for a happy life.

When Eddy's stunts in Speed magazine made him famous in West Germany in 1985, he was already something of a legend in his home city of West Berlin. With his fearless nature and creative approach to his surroundings, he inspired the young Berlin freestyler scene and was "street" before the term had even appeared on the horizon. In the years that followed, he proved throughout Germany that he was more than just a crazy daredevil with a memorable nickname and put his talent to the test at the country's biggest contests. For his services to German BMX freestyle and his pioneering work in the field of completely crazy long jumps, "Rambo" Eddy was inducted into the German BMX Hall Of Fame in 2025.