Thomas Rank

Thomas Rank started freestyle riding with his friend Patrick Penkwitt on a mild steel bike from the metro. However, things only got really serious after he unexpectedly came into some money: Thomas invested in a fancy Redline complete bike in 1982 and began to expand his endo repertoire.

The two quickly met Rainer Strecker, who also rode a Redline and owned numerous US BMX magazines. This is where the famous plans for the construction of a 1.88m high wooden quarterpipe were found, which were of course quickly replicated.

The American magazines served as a template and inspiration for endless practice sessions. Thomas, Rainer and Patrick trained for hours on the ramp and flatland and rode shows in the Stuttgart area. The final kick to total BMX enthusiasm came in 1984 during a trip to the USA, where they met Bob Haro, among others, to whom they were able to show their skills in a solo session. A sponsorship deal was signed, the PTR trick team graced a page in the legendary Freestylin' magazine and they returned to their home country, where there was still no freestyle scene to speak of, as superstars.

However, the decisive factor for the founding of the "PTR" brand and the associated frame company was another: When Thomas was 16 years old and travelling with his father on his motorbike in the USA and the two of them were sitting at the Del Mar Skate Ranch in the evening, his father suddenly suggested that he get into frame production. Thomas' father ran a small engineering company in Swabia at the time and both had previously looked at a few companies in the LA area - amazed at how small these companies were that looked so powerful in the US magazines.

Of course, the three of them liked this idea and so Patrick, Thomas and Rainer set to work and put their ideas on paper, which were then translated into proper technical drawings by the product designer from the Swiss motorbike company "Egli". Unfortunately, the actual welder had no idea about BMX and so the first bikes were crooked and lopsided. It was only when the idea of fixing the frames in jigs on the head tube and bottom bracket tube during the welding process came about that the results were presentable and rideable.

The first series of the "PTR Trickstyler" was produced and unfortunately soon had to be recalled to the factory: The idea of the crossed tubes just before the head tube looked elegant, but simply couldn't withstand the load. The design was revised and the result was the well-known PTR Trickstyler with the strut from the head tube head to the centre of the top tube.

The frames were welded in Thomas father's company and taken to the powder coater in the neighbouring village by the team themselves. Patrick, Thomas and Rainer were also responsible for applying the stickers, sanding individual tubes before chrome plating and, of course, answering fan mail.

Meanwhile, Thomas' mum took care of the office work, ordered caps from Taiwan and drove across the Swabian Alb in search of a manufacturer for T-shirts and jerseys.

At the time, the "company" seemed much bigger than it actually was, especially due to the constant coverage in Speed magazine. Speed created a real hype. So much so that the PTR Trickstyler was voted "Freestyler of the Year" by readers in 1984, even though the frame wasn't even on the market yet. However, only around 200-300 Trickstyler frames were actually sold. Looking back, Thomas describes the events as "shirt-sleeved", but PTR's contribution to the German freestyle scene remains undisputed. Quite apart from the personal achievements of the riders, they created a "rider owned company" before there was even a proper freestyle scene in Germany. Through their professional appearance, they helped the sport of freestyle gain the publicity it deserved and PTR is still one of the very few companies that have actually produced BMX frames in Germany.

And Thomas Rank has remained entrepreneurial: Today, he manages an electrical engineering company with 200 employees and three locations, which is one of the drivers of climate-neutral industrial production.

Thomas Rank was elected to the German BMX Hall of Fame in 2024 primarily because of his achievements as a freestyler from the very beginning. He helped to show that freestyle could also be taken seriously and competitively in this country by attracting attention with the PTR trick team in the USA. He presented BMX freestyle to a large audience on German television and was the driving force behind the very first pure BMX company from Germany. It took years for the German BMX scene to catch up to Thomas and the PTR team and for that we welcome Thomas Rank.