Name: Ronnie Napolitan
Hometown: Youngstown, OH
Height: 6’2″
Weight: 200lbs
Sponsors: Haro Bikes, Vans, Demolition, MARKIT, Oakley
Frame: Haro SD, 21.25″
Fork: Demolition Elite
Headset: Demolition
Stem: Demolition Keystone
Bars: Demolition Suburban
Grips: Duo Bohan
Tires: Demolition Machete
Rear Wheel: Demolition Rogue Hub, Demolition Zero Rim
Front Wheel: Demolition Bulimia Hub, Demolition Zero Rim
Sprocket: Demolition Merit
Chain: Odyssey Bluebird
Pedals: Demolition PC
Cranks: Demolition Revolt
Seat: Demolition MARKIT Collaboration
Post: Demolition Pivotal
Clamp: Integrated
Pegs: Demolition
Ronnie gives Christian Rigal and myself a "nice overclicked" on the MARKIT trip to Fresno. Photo: Brady
How have you been, Ronnie?
I’m chillin’ man, just got back from a long trip to Woodward East, and I’m leaving in like three days to go to Japan.
You stoked for that Japan trip?
Yeah, it’s gonna be sweet, I’m super hyped on it.
Nice. Who’s on that trip with you?
I think it’s pretty much everyone from Haro, so myself, Dennis [Enarson], Seth Klinger, Nasty, Colin Mackay, all those fools.
Speaking of Haro, I know you’ve been a part of the program for a while now. How long has it been since you got on the team?
I’ve been on Haro going on four years now. Yeah, I love it, Haro’s awesome. It’s more like a family to me than a team. I love it. I get to ride with Dennis everyday, hang out with Seth Klinger, just always crack jokes on everyone and do some shittalking.
You live with Dennis, as well as Christian Rigal and Connor Lodes. I know they’re always giving you hell for not being home and jokingly ask you if you’re moving out–so I know you haven’t been home much. What have you been up to this summer and what’s good for the future?
Let’s see…I’ve been super busy, I was going out to Woodward West a little bit because my girlfriend worked out there, so I’d go out and visit her. I was out there for about two weeks, then we did the MARKIT Fresno trip, then I went back to Woodward for another week and then I flew to Woodward East after that and hung out there. Rode trails there, and caught up with friends and family. Tomorrow I’m going to Japan for twelve days, and then as soon as I get back from that I’m doing NORA Cup and going on a Demolition trails trip to the East Coast right after Vegas, and then hopefully a trip up to Portland right after the trails trip. The past couple of months have been so busy for me. It’s awesome, I love it. That’s why I’m doing it.
Have you been able to travel this year more than the past, or has your schedule always been pretty busy?
No, I’d say this year I’ve been traveling the most. I moved out here to San Diego and when I got here, I feel like I was here for six months straight and never left. Just living, loving it, riding the ramps everyday but it feels like the past four months I’ve been gone, non stop. So, it’s good, but I definitely wanna be home for more than two or three days and chill with all the homies out here and ride the ramp and stuff.
Your brother just moved out to Southern California–I know you’re not right next door to each other distance wise, but do you still get to see each other fairly often?
Actually, I’ve been going up there a lot recently. He lives in Costa Mesa and there’s a really good skatepark that’s about a mile from his house. We just pedal there in the morning. It’s the Volcom park, it’s got an amazing bowl so Anthony and I hit it up as much as we can when our schedules aren’t hectic. We ride the bowl, hang out in Huntington, and just kick it. I pretty much go up there, he’s too cool to come down here, he’s been down like one time [laughter].
Your riding is really well rounded, and you’re a pretty big dude. I noticed you’ve got a top load stem on there as well as some pretty big bars–is your bike setup pretty big? What’s it like overall?
I’m definitely a massive dude. I ride Dennis’ signature Haro SD frame, a 21.25″ top tube. My frame right now is a 13.75″ back end, but we’re getting the V2 pretty soon, which is going to have a 14″ back end. I ride a big ol’ bike. I’ve got a Demolition Keystone stem–it’s got a 53mm reach, so it’s a pretty long stem, and then I just ride the Doyle bars, the Suburbans. So I ride a pretty big setup, bigger than most people.
You’re running the MARKIT seat–you want to talk about how you became involved with the crew and how your part for the DVD is coming along?
I got the MARKIT seat on there…I can’t even remember…I’ve been coming out to San Diego before I even moved here for maybe three years or something. I got a plane ticket right when I got on the Haro flow team and I was like, “Yeah! I’m going to San Diego to hang out!” I was hanging out with Dennis and he was saying that he’d really like to do his own jeans company some day. Finally, it started happening and it’s crazy how far it’s gone up until now. The seat’s awesome, Demolition hooked it up on that one.
My part has been going really good. I’d say we’re about halfway done filming for the video now. Everybody has a lot of footage already, so we’ll probably do another year of filming, and then drop that vid on iTunes.
You ride a lot of ramp and trails–are you running more PSI than normal in your tires?
I don’t know. I feel like I pump ‘em up to 80. There’s this one transfer at the ramp at Enarson’s house that I know when my tires are low and I go for it, they go completely folded over, so I know it’s about time to pump the tires up. I’m not picky about PSI or anything, I just ride it.
I asked the same question to your roommate Connor Lodes–who’s the best bike mechanic in the house? Connor claimed it was him and you.
[Laughter] Yeah, that’s what I was about to say. He does a lot of stuff…I dunno. I’d say he’s probably better. He uses my tools though, so, I have to take some credit [laughter].
Any other special mods or preferences that you do to your bike? Things are pretty solid these days and it seems like a lot of people are just able to run things stock.
I just rock my bars uncut out of the box, it’s pretty stock, I guess you could say. I don’t do any mods. I just ride the parts that Haro and Demolition hook it up with and don’t really mess with it because it’s all pretty dialed.
What’s it like riding for Vans? How long have you been involved with them?
It was right before I moved to San Diego. I was living in State College and was about to move and just said, “Hey, I’m moving to San Diego next week, could you send some shoes to that house?” I remember trying to get the address of the house and everything…so I’d say it’s probably been nine, maybe eleven months now? It’s awesome. I love the Vans shoes, the new LXVIs are amazing and they’ve got a really good team. Connor just got on the team too so we’ve got two Vans riders in the house now. He loves it, I love–Vans. It’s sick.
Last words, shout outs, or thanks?
Shout out to Haro and Demolition for keeping my bike fresh, Vans for keeping my feet nice, and everybody else that’s helped me out along the way!
TAGS: Bike Check, demolition bmx, Demolition Parts, Features, Haro Bikes, haro bmx, Ronnie Napolitan
