BIO and Bike Check: Up and coming star, Olympia Nelson.

Austin has always been a hot spot for BMX. Since the 80’s it has been producing riders that have changed the face of BMX and I’ve had the privilege of riding with a lot of them. I remember riding with one home grown local before anyone had ever heard of him. Chase Hawk and I rode together at 9th Street when he was 5 years old. I knew instantly he was going to make it big. I’ve always kicked myself for not interviewing him back then… it would be cool to brag that I discovered him and be able to look back and see what he thought his future might hold. With Olympia Nelson I have a chance to make up for that missed opportunity.

Olympia has only been on the Austin scene for about two weeks but already she’s got people talking. I knew the second that I saw her that she was going to be the next big thing. When I heard that she has arrived to town without a bike I immediately set to work custom building her one to her exact specs. Now that she’s all geared up I talked Ride into letting me do an interview and a bike check with what is sure to be one of BMX’s great talents.

Name and Hometown: Olympia Nelson. Austin, Texas.

So this is a pretty unique bike, can you explain what’s going on here?
Well, I really wanted to bridge the gap between skateboarding and BMX. I achieved this by building the bike out of the same materials as a skateboard. Plywood frame and solid urethane wheels. Blending the two genres gives me a head start on the future. Plus, lets seem them throw me out of a public skatepark now!

Why did you chose to have the bike built without pedals or a drive train?
There’s a few other people experimenting with that kind of thing now so I can’t really take credit it for it. I think that if you really know how to ride then you just don’t need those things. I wanted create the absolute lightest bike that I could and pedals, chain, sprockets all just seemed like unneeded weight. When I ride vert and skateparks I don’t ever pedal anyway, thats just bad style… Its all in the pump!

Speaking of weight, at only 5 pounds  and 1 ounce this is the lightest bike I’ve ever heard of. Don’t you think the light bike thing has gone a little too far?
Well, you have to remember that I only weigh like 10 pounds. Its easier to go higher if you don’t have to move as much mass.  I’m just taking advantage of available technologies to make riding more fun for me.

What else is special on the bike?
Its all pretty stock really… I guess I have a little phobia about breaking front axles so even though I was trying hard to save weight on the bike I decided to go with a bigger 1/2″ axle instead of those sketchy 3/8″ ones that everyone else uses.

Don’t take this the wrong way, but I think that sometimes people don’t take bikes with smaller wheels seriously. I mean, I’ve seen little kids doing back flips on 16″ bikes and I just kind of think it looks silly. I have a hard time comparing what they’re doing to what pros are doing on normal 20″ wheel BMX bikes. How do you deal with that potential bias in our sport?
The fact that you feel that way shows how outdated and out of touch you are. In 2008  85% of all BMX bikes were sold to so called “little kids” under the age of 12. BMX’s are “little kid’s” bike by definition and they include bikes with 8″,  12″, 16″ , 20″ and even 24″ wheels. Nothing bigger then 24″ though, that’s the line. For some reason anything bigger then 24″ is decidedly not BMX. To be honest I don’t think it should matter what size wheels your bike has. You know? If I do a 15 foot air on a vert ramp its a 15 foot frickin’ air! Doesn’t matter what you’re on… 15 feet would be impressive on a damned Segway! Personally I think the little bike gives me a bit of an advantage. Like when you see me jump the Mega-ramp it looks like I’m going sooo huge just because I’m on a smaller bike then everyone else. Its kind of like an optical illusion kind of thing. Another bonus is that because its smaller I can whip it around easier then a big bike. I could probably do a front flip bunny hop on this thing… its amazing!

K-Rob’s going to have his work cut out for him in 2010. Rumors of quintuple front flip no-footed can can one-handers are already buzzing.

So what does the future hold in store for you?
Well, I’m trying to keep an open mind about the future. I’m only 2 weeks old so I really still have a lot of options left. First thing I have to do is just work on my motor skills. I’m still having some trouble getting my arms and hands to do what I want them to do, also, I can’t quite figure out what I’m seeing a lot of the times. Its just like coming back from a big injury you know… it just takes some time and some work, but I’ll get there.

Once I’m up on my feet I guess I’ll probably head out to Woodward for some foam pit training. Of course I have tailwhips mastered but it will be good to work out some of the contest bangers like triple flips and 1080 whips and my secret show stopper called the Wallet Stuffer. After that, I don’t know… I guess the usual Dew Tour stops, X-Games and maybe some commercial stunt work too. To be honest, a lot of its up to my agent and who pays the best.

Olympia Nelson Bike Check.

Frame: Custom built 9″ frame. Constructed entirely out of 3/4″ oak plywood. It has a good stiff feel, but is still very light.

Fork: I don’t want to say we ripped off Odyssey’s Director fork design, but lets just say I’m glad they helped me out with components and that they are on my side.

Headset: Two 1/4″ galvanized fender washers.

Stem: Four bolt gooseneck/ titanium drywall screw system.

Seat: Odyssey T-shirt wrapped around an old knee pad and super glued to the frame. I think BMX is all about not having a seat post… c’mon, this is a trick bike, we’re not riding the Tour De France here. Lower the flag pole grandpa, you lost the war!

Grips: None. We were really trying to save weight with this bike so we skipped the grips. They’re really kind of unnecessary to tell you the truth.

Wheels: 6 inch by 1.5 inch wheels from a lawn mower. They are really fast and light. 1/2″ through axles front and rear; Its not worth skimping on safety.

Brakes: No way!! So 1990! Its all full speed ahead at all times.

Gyro: Yeah right. I like my bike to look smooth, not like a spaghetti factory exploded out of my head tube.

Pegs: None: I like to push myself to think out of the ordinary. Having no pegs makes me have to think of new and different ways to grind. Its really a good exercise in creativity.

Any last words?
Thanks a lot for the interview and look forward to seeing you all out shredding. You probably won’t see me ’cause I like to keep my stuff fresh and under wraps until the big comps, but I will see you!