Name: Andrew Jackson
Age: 21
Location: Thousand Oaks, California
Sponsors: WeThePeople. Then I also get hooked up with stuff from Lavar, IPath, and this shop called Chocolate Crocodile.
Frame: WeThePeople Sleepless 21”
Fork: WeThePeople Helium 25mm offset
Bars: WeThePeople Helium Magnum
Stem: WeThePeople Supreme stem
Grips: ODI subliminals? Or “French Ticklers” as Larry Alvarado calls them
Barends: My last set of bars had like 5 sets of barends in them, and I don’t like the metal kind, so I gave them up.
Headset: WeThePeople
Clamp: integrated
Seatpost: Eclat—built into my seat.
Seat: Eclat Complex padded
Pedals: Odyssey plastic
Cranks: WeThePeople Royals 175mm
Sprocket: WeThePeople supreme 25-tooth
Chain: KMC?
Front Tire: F.A.F. 2.25”
Front Wheel: WeThePeople pi hub laced to the 1st version of the Eclat rim (I think so, but maybe not).
Rear Tire: WeThePeople Grippin’ 2.1”
Rear Wheel: WeThePeople Supreme 9-tooth cassette hub laced to an Eclat rim
Do you have any modifications?
I cut the bars down to probably 26ish inches and I lace one side of my wheels on the inside so I don’t break spokes doing grinds.
What’s up with your grips?
They’re amazing! I keep trying to tell people and they just don’t understand. It’s like having those weird spikey rubber ball things they used to have at gas stations for your grips. Whoever made them is a genius. They are just a little worn out right now is all.
Other than tubes, what parts do you go through the fastest?
Definitely pedals.
I’ve seen you grind kinked rails without pegs—even your axles are trimmed down, it’s like your bike is set up to make it as hard as possible to grind rails, but you still grind them. What’s the deal?
Not even! I still run the old style front hub WeThePeople makes without the female axle so I have more to grind on in front. I just cut down the rear axles because I’m scared of catching my ankles on them and it looks cleaner. Plus, I grind on my dropouts in the back instead of the axles, so it doesn’t really bother me too much to have them cut down.
You had some of the most remote trails I’ve been to in SoCal, and they got torn down recently. What happened?
Yeah, that definitely sucked. It’s a long story, but it basically happened because too many people started going there and parking in front of people’s houses and stuff and those people complained. Then the hippy tree huggers who don’t realize that everyone down there was enjoying nature more than they ever will, found out about them and got involved and figured out a way to get them torn down. We talked to the city and they didn’t even want to plow them, but they had to because of some city code.
Any plans to start digging at a new spot?
Maybe… haha.
I know you’ve been filming for the WeThePeople video, how’s that going?
It’s been going really good. I leave for Vancouver at the end of the month to try and get some more filming in with the guys from the team. It’s different than shooting for other stuff you know? Like I go out filming and I really don’t want to do anything just halfway decent or film something and be like, “Oh whatever, I’ll just throw it in there.” I want to have a section I can be proud of.
Is that going to be your first full-length video part—on a DVD?
Well I think the DVD part is kinda of up in the air. We might do some kind of Web release because you lose so much money putting out a DVD these days and probably get just as much if not more publicity from doing it online. I’m not going to lie, though, I’m hoping we can get a DVD out. Either way, I’m stoked on it because it is my first real section.
