Niki Croft - 20 Questions


Bars over a deckchair while waiting for the Quickcrete to dry. This ghetto spot needs work… Photo: Nathan Beddows

1. What is your very first memory of BMX?
It was when I was 13 riding a set jumps behind a Somerfield in Belper, Derbyshire, whilst it was pissing it down with rain! My motorbike chain was so rusty it seized up my freewheel.

2. How did you feel when you got your first bike – do you have the same feelings now when you set up a new bike?
Definitely! I get so I excited, even when I get a new tyre it’s an amazing feeling. Almost like no-one can touch you, you’re just doing what you want, how you want and when you want.

3. What was your first bike like?
A white and blue Barracuda Mojo. I think in Ride it said it had the biggest dropouts in BMX…

4. What is your latest bike like?
Mutiny Sinister, and I love it.

5. When and what was the first time you saw a rider do something amazing on a bike?
If I remember rightly it was on a video, Robbie Morales doing a table! Boyaah! But in person probably my bro eating shit on a jumpbox made of gravel! (2001).

6. When and what was the last time you saw a rider do something amazing on a bike?
Matt Roe doing a turndown! Or Van Homan’s Fit-Life section or Aaron Ross on Chill Bro.

7. If you hadn’t discovered BMX, what do you think you’d be doing now?
Probably in the army or working towards something to try and travel the world.

8. When it comes to riding, do you go for style or tricks?
I go for whatever feels right really, plus I think some tricks contain good style, however I think airs are the way forward – no tricks, no style; just pedal as fast as you can into a quarter!

9. Do you have to work on progression, or does it just come naturally to you?
I think everything will at some point progress, I tend not to think about it and just enjoy it.

10. What state of mind enables you to progress your riding?
It’s not a state of mind, more of an atmosphere – good friends travelling will always progress riding, not just riding for yourself, but BMX as a whole.

11. What one rider has influenced you the most?
I can’t really say one in particular, everything I see influences me to ride, from the kid who doesn’t do tricks just whips-out, to the guy who rides with a fullface sending everything he can. Roey has influenced me to ride from day one, and don’t forget STP!

12. What goes down if you have a bad day?
Usually a bad day isn’t really bad, it just means I can’t get to ride because it’s too wet or I can’t pull a trick – or Kate Moss didn’t add me on Myspace because of my lack of emo hair – which will result in sitting in the pub with the riders from Notts.

13. When was the first time you tried something big / burly / scary?
Probably when I was about 15. I jumped off a roof into this grass bank – the roof was huge and the grass bank was quite far away.

14. When was the last time you scared yourself on your bike?
Probably last Thursday when I tried to manual down this massive hill drunk, it was scary! OK, honestly though, I’m not too sure, maybe when I did this barspin roof gap in Notts for The Make 2 video.

15. What was the last bike part you bought? Errrrmmmm… do inner-tubes count? Possibly a brake lever?

16. What is the greatest BMX product in the last ten years?
GYRO! Even though they have probably been out longer than ten years?

17. If you could choose two riders to go riding with daily, who would they be?
Aaron Ross and Van Homan.

18. How would you describe your riding?
Like a Big Mac from MacDonalds, a bit sloppy but gets the job done.

19. What is your favourite type of riding?
Everyone’s. I don’t really have a particular type – I love trails, I love street, and I love park – and I love to watch people ride all of it.

20. Describe an ideal day…
Does this have to be realistic? I don’t have to be at work! So I speak to friends and we all go drive up to Scotland to ride Perth Skatepark, then drive down Hastings to ride the Seventies Warehouse before catching the ferry to France to travel around Europe. That would be perfect...

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