Why did you decide to leave Kink and start Sunday?
I think it was a situation like any rider who has ever broken a part and had a different idea to make it better. Their next thought is probably, “I should start a company.” Well, I think I fit perfectly into that model, so here I am. Over the past five years or more, I have been lucky enough to have my ideas come to life through my sponsors, so now I would like to do it for myself. Last year, my brother passed away, and his situation really taught me how short and unfair life can be. I pretty much vowed to make my remaining days more interesting than they were before. He left me in a position that I can take control of my life in order to provide some sort of future, and I didn’t want to waste the chance he gave me.
Was Sunday supposed to be a bike company in the first place?
No, not really. It rose out of a “why not” question. When you have all these ideas and no way of carrying them out, you feel like it’s a given that it couldn’t happen. Take away those beliefs and you end up thinking, “Why did I think I couldn’t do it?” So it makes my life busier than ever-big deal. I see it happening all around me, so why not? I love doing the shop, but I have always wanted to do a bike company.
Will Kink have anything to do with Sunday?
Actually, yeah! They are going to end up doing distribution for it. I have been lucky enough to witness their development over the past seven years, and I realize it is difficult to get the product out. If you have the product, but people don’t know how to get it, then what’s the point? The best thing about Kink is that they are really professional. You call them and you will almost always get a live person on the phone. From doing the shop, it is the most annoying thing when you can’t get a hold of someone, and you are forced to wait for them to call you back. Shop owners are really impatient people, especially when you have a customer who can easily go to mail order with one phone call. So Blackout Distribution seemed like the most obvious choice from my experience-I am happy to remain in the Kink world, especially now that I can boss them around somewhat-ha!
Do you have a team yet?
It is so hard to choose people; I have ideas, but whether the riders are into my thoughts, I don’t know. We will see soon, I imagine.
What are some of the first products we can expect to see from Sunday?
Bars, forks, and frames, which should be around by the end of summer-I hope. I just got the fork sample today, and so far, so good.
With all of the bike and parts companies out there, what will Sunday offer that’s different?
There are plenty of ways to differentiate Sunday from the other companies. I have some ideas, but I can’t really say anything, because the bicycle industry has no {problem with} stealing ideas and making them everybody’s. So I will remain quiet, but the best thing I can say is that it will be flexible and adaptive. It won’t pigeonhole itself into one realm.
Now that you are a company owner, how different is your daily life than when you were simply a rider?
Well, I am from the East Coast, where we seem to be unhappy unless we are running around with too much to do, but I don’t mind it. I went from getting up at 11am, spending the rest of the day losing a hangover, then riding at 6pm, and repeating the next day. Now I am up at 8am, and doing work most of the day until 1am. I used to feel like such a slacker, because I didn’t really have much to do but go ride. That sounds like a dream, but everything gets tired. Now when I ride, I make the most of it, and don’t wait for another day. I don’t mind the 9-to-5 or 9-to-1; I just like being busy, at least for right now.
How long were you on Kink? How did you get on that team in the first place?
I got on Kink in the fall of 1998, so that would be about six and a half years! Wow, that is a long time! For me, it is wild to compare when I got on to now. I never imagined I would be where I am now. If you said I would have had a signature frame and pedal six years later, I would have probably laughed. Obviously, I am glad that it worked out this way, but it didn’t seem real back then. It is amazing how life and chance work out. I got on by fluke; just the right place at the right time. Greg Walsh was the one {who made it happen} because I knew him from being a major city over, and he worked at Kink at the time. I don’t know what he saw, but he pushed Zack {Phillips, Kink owner} to put me on. From there it was some luck, a few good ideas, and help from a lot of people.
What will you look for in riders who ride for you?
I just want guys who are personable towards people. If a kid asks for your autograph, just be cool and give it to them. Don’t let it go to your head, because in the end you are just a bike rider who got lucky-I should know. Also, there is always going to be someone better, so just do your thing and don’t try to play catch-up with tricks, because you will never get there. Copying people’s tricks is the worst thing someone can do. If a pro sees a trick in Ride and then goes out and learns it, ughh! I hate when you can call out where a person got a trick. Originality is a big thing with me.
What are your goals with both the shop and company?
Survive! I don’t want to make a million dollars. For the shop, I want to provide something that is needed in Buffalo. We need a shop that is run by the people who actually ride, know riding, and actually are interested in it. It sounds simple, but in Buffalo, the bike shops don’t care about BMX, and the skate shops are basically mall stores that are just lame shops. When I was growing up, going to shops was like an adventure, and the shops carried everything. You were blown away with all the stuff and the people were awesome. Maybe it was the childhood exuberance, but I want people to be psyched that they can get the stuff right away. As for the bike company, I just want to have fun, and hopefully provide BMX and the riders with something interesting and hopefully challenging. Not too challenging, but hopefully something different. Actually, I don’t really have too many goals besides to do good stuff. If I say more, then people will copy it and ruin the ideas.
hen people will copy it and ruin the ideas.
