Ron Wilkerson's T.T.L interview

He speaks the truth. And I respect that. And I agree with the majority of what he says

I had to skim read that! A lot of crazy ramblings & bitching about the current state of BMX. I know a lot of kids get into BMX because its a cool thing to do. As he said i started riding BMX because i hated Football, Rugby & the more "conformist" sports, I always enjoyed riding bikes throughout my childhood, so it made sense to ride BMX. I have ridden pretty much every discipline other than Vert (That shit scares me!) I do believe BMX should be "Freestyle" Not Dirty, tie dye hippy trails riders, Badman Gangster Street riders or Tattooed, pierced swag fag trick ferret park riders. But I'm afraid that as the sport progresses people tend to choose one discipline & stick to it. Which is perfectly fine, isn't that part of the fun of riding? If you want to cruise the streets & never want to hit a dirt jump in your lifetime why the hell should you have to? So you're a non conformist? Whilst i do agree with quite a lot of it, I think some of it is a load of B.S from an old man who is out of the loop with a failing bike company with washed up riders that no one gives a shit about. I think there is probably some jealousy going on here 2Hip is nothing, I'm sure a lot of the younger riders have NO idea who they are. The Groove tech thing is not "pushing design" its a basic pretty boring idea with god awful looking bars,stem & fork. I personally think most of our disciplines are stale. Same old shit. Street is bar spins, whips & grind combos, Trails is tables, turn downs & tuck no handers & don't get me started on park riding its like going to the fucking circus. Flatland to me is Freestyle, there are numerous different stylish riders, you can dress how you want, listen to whatever music you want & you can set up your bike however you want it! Look at Matthias Dandois he rides Flat on Dennis Enarsons signature frame! My god i bitched about him ranting & bitching & i write 15 paragraphs bitching too lol. But that's how i see the current state of BMX. Like it or Lump it!

Ron's a bit of a nut job.

I think 2-hip should do more to promote their products. It's not that hard to film your riders and put simple edits out.

^agree. I like where the dude is coming from, in saying 'fuck everyone else I'm doing ME'.. I totally agree. But he sounds really bothered and a bit extreme on some parts. He said somewhat that,if you're not riding to innovate or if your style is 'generic' then you shouldn't be riding at all. Most people just want to have fun. If that means learning a 'trendy' trick that's been over done a million times, that's perfectly fine. I don't have to not ride a certain way just because its trending with others. For real freestyle today is kind of stale amongst average riders, when you look at it from a broader perspective, but that's not necessarily destroying BMX. There are still plenty of tricks and styles for us to choose from whenever and however we want. If someone finds it enjoyable to do shit that happens to be trending, then cool. Whatever. I think it's up to the individual rider to realize on their own that riding freestyle TRUELY means RIDING WITH COMPLETE FREEDOM.

I ealize the dude is pretty old and kind of grumpy. the subject of trends and comformity really bothers him. His logic on that is a bit naive and extreme. I don't blame him... But I love this whole montra of 'keep it real'. His views and opinions make him unique to himself and I can respect that.

Well, this kind of stuff really gets me me in the heart. I read that whole interview and i definitely get it. I understand that parts all look very similar and i would love some variation myself, and if i ever get the chance to do something new in the BMX industry, i really will go HAM. But a point he is really missing is how hard it truly is to be different, i mean people dont like change, he himself doesnt like change, he said it in the interview, and really doesnt get how hard it is to stand out and say fuck it. He says he does, and i will take his word for it, but to be a completely different rider in a thing like BMX is difficult enough, but to make crazy new parts and whatnot, has to be even harder. In life it's unbelievably hard to be different, i was different as a kid and didnt wanna go kick balls, i wanted to look at nature, i wanted to learn about bugs, i wanted to make shit, i didnt waste my time with other kids, who were real assholes at the time. I wish i could go way back and never go to a public school like i did, the kids all had to be the same, if you did something out of the ordinary everyone had a heart attack and didnt know what to do. "A kid doesnt want to slide down slides and kick balls and roll in dirt?? WHAAAT???!!! He must be some kind of weirdo!!" I was picked on for being not the same, i was in no way a nut or anything, i never forced anyone to do what i did, i just floated about and did what i wanted. They ridiculed me for thinking outside the box. And that is what will happen to bmx. I loved when i saw 2hips new front end idea! I just dont know where to get it and i have no money right now. haha but really, the main reason people all ride "the same" with only slight differences is because this: if you show a child a picture of a duck 10 times, the next day ask him to draw a picture of a duck, and he is most likely gonna draw one similar to it. It puts an image in your head the same way a street bmx video would put an idea of a 360 or a line in your head, it narrows the mind as to what it has to be. That wall you put up after gawking at a crazy line Garrett Reynolds lays out narrows and blocks the true creativity BMX can create! Yea, a crazy line Garrett Reynolds puts out is crazy and in no way a bad thing, but they are all tricks that have been done before. Which brings me back to my point that being new and different is hard. But what i like to do when i go out and ride is just look at my ledges, my stairs, my jumps, my whatever i shred that day, and try to think of a new way to use it. It can be hard, but it eventually works. I dont wanna do the same line all the pros do, i wanna do my own line. What school did to me is unforgivable in my heart, it forced me to conform to a way that i dont agree with, i should be able to live the way i want, be my own person, but school puts ideas in my mind that i dont want there and no one else even realizes is there but me. I dont talk much at school, i look tired there, strung out. If i say something to someone thatll listen, they realize i actually have a lot more going on inside me than i reveal. Im the same with bmx, i go to the skateparks, i go do a few 360s, throw a bar, an x up, whatever else, i warm up. People are like oh, just another kid that can do other tricks like anyone else haha, but then they see me drop in and go a completely different way around the bowl and jump something that other people wouldnt go near and pull a variation on a trick that has been done, but its new! If anyone even read this, i thank you. haha i ramble late at night because i think best now. haha But my main point, dont follow stereotypes, dont make anyone different feel like shit for it, and encourage all to do different!

^^I was the same exact way growing up, elementary through high. But I would never go back and change a thing. Attending public school taught me a lot about other people and myself. All experience is valuable experience in the end.

Yeah, Ron goes on a lot about how parts are nearly all the same. There's only so much that can be changed on a bike. And some companies do whip out some new/creative designs. But at what point does a part not need to be reinvented anymore? When it come down to it, all a rider really wants is something reliable that works.

BMXism wrote:

^^I was the same exact way growing up, elementary through high. But I would never go back and change a thing. Attending public ...more

BMXism wrote:

^^I was the same exact way growing up, elementary through high. But I would never go back and change a thing. Attending public school taught me a lot about other people and myself. All experience is valuable experience in the end.

Yeah, Ron goes on a lot about how parts are nearly all the same. There's only so much that can be changed on a bike. And some companies do whip out some new/creative designs. But at what point does a part not need to be reinvented anymore? When it come down to it, all a rider really wants is something reliable that works.

...more

yes i agree. My point was i wish i coulda saved my imagination how it was. I dont want to have conformed like i had to to not be made fun of. I wish i woulda maybe just toughed it out. I wish i never would have cared what a person thought or said, but the problem is that they made my mind cookie cutter when i wanted to be a pen knife. haha