Shajba - A Story Of BMX In Slovenia

"Help us share and spread this dope and contagious thing called BMX."

12 May 2015

Timi Gjergjek car hop by Luka Veren.

Words by Benno Siftar Photos by Urban Cerjak and Luka Veren Intro by Devin Feil

No ramps, no shops and few riders. Some will find any excuse they can to give up on their BMX scene, but starting in 2005 a group of riders chose to do something. Importing BMX parts into the region, hosting jams for 8 years running, filming across Europe no matter the work it took to plan the trips, and premiering two full length DVD's. This is the story of the Shajba crew and the growth of the BMX scene Slovenia as told by Benno Siftar...

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Miha Fistravec wallride to table by Urban Cerjak.

Christoph-Tatschl-Crank-Arm-Urban-Cerjak

Christoph Tatschl crank arm by Urban Cerjak.

Shajba is the name of a group of BMX riders and friends. We all come from Slovenia or southern part of Austria. At the beginning we were 4 teenagers from Slovenian city called Murska Sobota. We started off by selling parts to riders in Slovenia, which we bought in Budapest, Hungary in 2005/2006. Back then there were no BMX shops in Slovenia or in other close regions. With that small amount of money that we'd earned, we wanted to buy wood or whatnot to build our own ramps. We wanted to ride transitions and "normal" stuff like spines and box jump like the dudes we'd seen in BMX videos.

Daniel rail hop by Luka Veren.

"We wanted to ride transitions and 'normal' stuff like spines and box jump like the dudes we'd seen in BMX videos"

Miha Glavic crooked by Urban Cerjak.

Benno Siftar caveman by Luka Veren.

We organized BMX jams to bring other riders to our region and in that way try to help our little BMX scene to grow. Our first BMX jam was back in 2008 and we'll be celebrating its 8th anniversary this year. We also got a bunch of cool dudes together who share the love of riding, traveling and filming to help us share and spread this dope and contagious thing called BMX.

Miha Fistravec toboggan by Urban Cerjak.

"We organized BMX jams to bring other riders to our region and in that way try to help our little BMX scene to grow."

Miha Glavic opposite feeble by Urban Cerjak.

Christoph Tatschl nose bonk by Urban Cerjak.

Straightforward hop from Miha Glavic by Urban Cerjak.

Miha Glavic smith by Urban Cerjak.

Christoph Tatschl gap to the top of the stairs by Urban Cerjak.

2014 we put out our second DVD called 'Conquered Joy' and had premieres around Slovenia, Austria and in Belgrade, Serbia, which was awesome. The Conquered Joy Mix is full of those clips with some other in the mix. We were filming in different cities/countries e.g. Malaga, Barca, Vienna, Ljubljana, Romania, Serbia, Bulgaria and Croatia. It took us approximately 2 to 3 years to put it out just because we all have work/school obligations and we live in different cities/countries. It usually takes quite a lot of time and planning to meet and film.