Heath Pinter

Can you beat a good ol’ OG lookdown on a sunny afternoon in Southern California? Nope. Photo: Aaron Nardi

1. What is your first memory of BMX?
Riding my bike to school, there were two jumps on the way.

2. How did you feel when you got your first bike? Do you get the same feeling now when you set up a new bike?
My first bike was a Mongoose, it was way too big. Every bike is as exciting as my first – but now they fit.

3. What was your first bike like?
Mongoose, way too big. Chrome with gold parts, I loved it. it got ripped off.

4. What is your latest bike like?
A new Giant that Corey Bohan and I designed, with all Mosh parts. It’s a lot nicer than my Mongoose.

5. When and what was the first time you saw a rider do something amazing on a bike?
I was ten and a kid did a surfer into the parking lot at school. Couple months later I was doing surfers into the school parking lot. It was so lame.

6. When and what was the last time you saw a rider do something amazing on a bike?
I live with Biz, every time we ride he does something amazing. Maybe Nasty doing a massive 360 into a double backflip at Murray’s house. That was amazing.

7. If you hadn’t discovered BMX, what do you think you would be doing now?
That’s hard. Maybe snowboarding or building classic cars. That’s what I do on the side now, so hopefully I would do one of those if I didn’t ride.

8. When it comes to riding, do you go for style or tricks?
Style for sure. Some of the tricks are just too wild for me. I’m old school, I like simplicity and watching riders that make it look fun.

9. Do you have to work on progression, or does it just come naturally to you?
Depends, some tricks take longer then others. If it takes too long I’m over it. I ride to have fun and when it’s more work than fun I go back to doing tabletops.

10. What state of mind enables you to progress your riding?
Riding with friends. Without that I’m just not motivated. BMX has always been fun and that’s how it will stay for me, I can’t take it too serious. All my riding and progression happened because I have had great people to ride with.

11. What other rider has influenced you the most?
Randy Lawrence and Shaun Palmer. I looked up to both of them and they were the first people to give me any direction in BMX. I never thought riding my bike would be my job, I thank them everyday for telling me it could.

12. What goes down if you have a bad day?
I ride something else, surf, snowboard, or my dirt bike. Riding is what keeps me up. If not, I’m trying to fix an old car, and my day gets worse.

13. When was the first time you tried something big, burly, or scary?
This little jump at Twin Palms in 1990. It scared me bad for a long time, but I finally jumped it yesterday.

14. When was the last time you scared yourself on your bike?
Jumping the Mega Ramp. I have never hit a jump going that fast before.

15. What was the last bike part you bought?
Beringer bar ends. Matt Beringer makes them himself. Lucky I got some.

16. What is the greatest BMX product in the last ten years?
The internal headset. I hated messing with cups.

17. If you could choose two riders to ride with daily, who would it be?
That’s tough. Rooftop, Alistair Whitton, Corey Bohan, Mike Aitken, Matt Berringer, TJ Lavin. I can’t just name two, I would hate to leave people out, like Biz or Dustin Guenther.

18. How would you describe your riding?
Old school, I guess. You’re not going to see any flipwhips out of me anytime.

19. What is your favourite type of riding?
Travelling and riding new spots is my favourite type of riding. Trails and parks the most.

20. Describe an ideal day?
Wake up at six am in Costa Rica. Take a boat from my hotel to Witches Rock and surf perfect waves for a few hours. Have a couple drinks and lunch, then fly back to California in a private jet. Get to Stephen Murray’s house to ride trails till dark, then off to Las Vegas to party at Body English all night. If none of that works, I guess I could wake up whoever is staying at our house and ride my bike all day.

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