Q&A with Tom Russell

– How does it feel to have a signature colour?

It genuinely hasn’t sunk in properly still! It’s actually unreal! Seeing loads of people over in America run them (cause they dropped there first) to now I know of at least 4 people with them over here who are local-ish… and then a good friend of mine Chris has one. We used to be in the same classes at school just watching riding videos and all that stuff and now he has my colour way which is so sick!

– How did it all come about?

Literally one day was just flicking through my emails and saw one off Robbie, was at work so didn’t even read it straight away, haha! It was around Christmas time that we first spoke about it. Few messages forwards and backwards and then it went a bit silent, from everything being delayed and no one getting any stock, and then one day I got an email of the drawing and I just couldn’t believe it! Looked so good!

– Were you running the Walsh frame for a while before this?

Always had the Walsh frame! Before Cult I was on a big styled 21.3/13.7 frame and instead of going down a size I decided to bump up to 21.5, felt perfect from the day I got on it! Certain hop tricks / little jibby stuff can be real hard but it’s all worth it when you get it done haha! Then it’s like the most stable thing ever on transition! Can’t complain one bit!

– What do you like about the way this frame rides? What size do you run?

21.5, just love a big boat. The low BB is probably the best thing about it, makes you feel actually in the bike not on it! Deffo more comfortable with that!

“People like Roey, Chase, Doyle and Kriss Kyle have all had orange bikes over the years and I’ve loved them all!”

– How did you choose the colour?

Always just loved the colour orange! Think it’s just the best. Wanted something that wasn’t too bright though that’s why it’s a bit of a dark orange instead of being super bright! Plus people like Roey, Chase, Doyle and Kriss Kyle have all had orange bikes over the years and I’ve loved them all!

– What’s the deal with the tiger graphics?

Just really love cats ? and it just worked perfect with the colour! Was thinking of what I could do for graphics and my cat just walked up my stairs and it hit me… Orange + tiger haha!

– Ride Fast Land Flat… Is that your motto?

I try to ride fast! And I never catch transition anyway! It’s a motto that I’ve not wanted but had to take on, hahaha.

– How does it feel seeing people running this frame in the wild?

So good! Almost jealous cause theirs always seem to look better than mine haha! It’s so cool though I can’t lie! Feels better than you could’ve ever imagined. Honoured to have people run it, it means the world to me!

– Some shoutouts / words of appreciation?

As always, Gav at mode for always having my back and supporting me. Been going since I started in 2010!

Carlos at Profile for always keeping me rolling smooth and answering all my stupid questions haha! He’s the man!

A massive thank you to Stu and everyone else at Seventies! They really have helped me a lot and always hold it down!

Of course, Robbie for the once in a lifetime opportunity! It’s actually a dream and I couldn’t be more stoked to have it with the coolest brand out there! He’s really the man!

And then finally all the boys and anyone who’s bought my frame wether cause it was for me or just because they like the colour! It’s literally the biggest achievement of my life! Thank you to everyone!