Karsten Moeller
Karsten was one of the most successful racers of his time, a style icon who played a key role in the development of BMX in Berlin. As part of the original "BMX Special" crew, he was elected to the German BMX Hall of Fame in 2024.
In Berlin BMX circles, the motto has always been "you don't just have to be fast, you also have to look cool". For Karsten Moeller, both were always true. He and Andreas "Elle" Gillmeister were pretty much the first BMXers in West Berlin and the first guests from afar at Ekkehardt Teichreber's race in Bremen-Grohn. They persuaded Michael Müllmann to sell BMX bikes in his shop "Instant Funk", which specialised in roller skates, and thus got a place right at the source. And it showed! Nobody was as "pro" as the guys from Berlin.
Thanks to the BDR in Germany, no one really became a "pro", of course, but Karsten brought home many a trophy from the West. These included two German runner-up titles and participation in world and European championships. After the European Championships in Barcelona in 1985, Karsten ended his BMX career and dedicated himself to studying medicine.
When asked whether he would like to work on a BMX magazine that was yet to be founded, Karsten replied "Yes, of course!" in a youthful carefree manner, without really giving it a second thought. Until a certain Aris Donzelli stood in front of him at the 1982 European Championships in Beek-en-Donk. What followed was probably the first editorial meeting of the "BMX Special" magazine and the start of a collaboration that would keep him on his toes for the next three years.
Karsten brought his friend and neighbour Uli Aust (RIP) on board, and the three of them took on much of the editorial work for the new magazine, which was based near Stuttgart, from their home in West Berlin. They collected ideas, staged and photographed reports, tips and stories and travelled to as many races as possible. When the team fell out with the publisher after about a year, they switched publishers in 1984 and launched a new magazine under the name "Speed (Jump)".
Karsten Moeller was inducted into the German BMX Hall of Fame in 2024 for his role as a founding member of the first German BMX magazine, which does not mean that his contribution as a rider and driving force in the Berlin BMX scene was recognised any less. Above all, Karsten has made the sport of BMX a little more beautiful and for that we welcome him to the Hall of Fame.
