Nice Set Up

BIKE CHECK: Tom Russell’s Cult Walsh

Decked out with the new Profile Two Headed Gator kit

Been a while since we’ve done one of these so here we go…

Tom Russell has been active. He keeps busy and is on a lot of peoples radars so we thought we’d check in with him and take a look at his bike and find out ‘how you go so high?’ Take a look below and scroll to the bottom for a full spec and pictures…

First off, how are you?

Tom: All good as always! Just been working a ton catching up on bills from trips and camera stuff… you know how it goes. Riding almost everyday still even if it’s just for an hour, it’s better than nothing!

You’ve been pretty busy the past 12 months, what’s been the highlight?

T: Aus is by far the highlight of bmx for me as a whole, best thing I’ve ever done in my life, got to meet a bunch of sick heads and create some great memories!

Simple session was a nice bucket list tick off for 14 year old Tom! Remember watching it when I was younger seeing people like Drew Bezanson ride it and was always like “that’d be the dream to ride that”

What’s on the agenda for the next 12 months?

T: All depends on how much I can afford tbh, last year rinsed the back account hard I’m still tryna get out my overdraft from it. Be a bunch of europe trips this year as they’re always good! Talks of an American trip and I’d love to go back to aus for Act Jam… it’s the best bmx event on the planet! Got other ideas floating around but they’re just random ideas as of right now so all depends on how quickly I can save up money! Might have to start growing up though and slow down on trips who knows will have to see how the year plays out! A good friend (that everyone knows) is making the move over for a few months so that’ll keep things entertaining an all you’ll see that soon enough!

Now onto the bike, what’s the one thing that’s has to be the same on every bike you build? What’s non negotiable when building a bike?

T: Ideally frame and bar size have to be the same, they’re like the main parts in my eyes of if it’s changed it’ll make a drastic difference, has to be 21.25″ top tube with at least 13.6″ rear end and a low bb for it to feel normal! And then anywhere around 9.3″ rise bars, not too high not too small. Other things like pedals and grips are a big one for my ocd too I can lose my head over stuff like that

Newest part?

T: All the profile stuff is the latest! Stuff came out siiiiick! Wasn’t sure how it’d look against the white but it’s not too in your face so I’m loving it! Big ups PRE

Tell me about the new profile gator stuff.

T: The 2 headed gator is like tampa’s “mascot animal” and it’s always been a mega trip out there when we’ve gone! It’s been the trip when the whole uk teams been together too so it’d fit! Everyone got the tattoo but I’m not a tattoo guy so I blurted out “ah just do a set of hubs then I can join in” and I’m guessing it helped plant the seed to get them going! There was always talks of trying to do a uk “colourway” or engraving but there’s always a lot of logistics behind the scenes and then one day Carlos text like “oh btw look at this it’s the first design, might get changed a smidge for the final” so shout out all the profile guys! Matt and Carlos are the boys! Appreciate people who have your back!

Oldest part?

T: Have a feeling it’s forks or cranks, can’t seem to break the hawk cranks hahaha they’re indestructible I been recommending them to everyone an you know I’ll land flat to test it hahaha

What’s with all the writing on your bike?

T: Arts and crafts with the nephew hahahaha, about time I painted it I was getting bored of the white and then crack a can of monny and got artistic on it if you can call it that Hahahha

Left a few reminders on bikes before calling myself a pussy sometimes you just need that nudge to send it

You must get this a lot, what do you tell people who are trying to learn to air higher?

T: All the psi

although I dropped down to about 85 now instead of 110 hahaha, I owe it all to the racetrack as a kid, me and the boys used to hammer it all the time it’s like a staple in derby bmx, everyone can ride the track and they all got the ability to air high its wether they got the minerals to hold on going so fast or not haha