bmxultra.com:
What is Psykopath?
Nick: Psykopath is a rider owned company that is starting to
make a name for itself in '06. Now the term rider owned is used for anything
these days that a rider manages or whatever. But at Psykopath we are truly
rider owned, there's not a large corporation funding the whole thing and
we are just a front to look the part. I'm the same guy here that you will
see at a big race, or at the skate park, and then talk to when you want
info about us.
bmxultra.com: With a name like Psykopath do you guys have trouble
with speeling?
Nick: Lol, actually I really do. Being that about 60% of the
stuff revolves around the computer I sometimes forget to be proper. I
may email someone and it looks like this "yo man i got that mail
bout the frame u wanted n i can get it to u in a few days lemme know if
dats good 4 u or not" so spelling wise I'm good, but the computer
slang carries over into business and it gets interesting.
bmxultra.com: What is the Psykopath philosophy?
Nick: Philosophy? Well I'd like to think that we are going to
try our hardest to put out a quality product and make it affordable. We,
ourselves, can't see paying huge amounts of cash for the same old run
of the mill stuff, so we are going to try to mix it up bring in some ideas
and keep things cost effective.
bmxultra.com: Do you think that Psykopath can make a difference
to the BMX industry?
Nick: We already are I hope. I mean when your a new company you
have to try things that are different just because you don't have the
financial backing to try things that are normal. Look at a BMX magazine
and you'll see full 2 page spreads of the new pro on the block with the
new cool frame and some results. Nothing wrong with that, but when you
are new as we are still you can't advertise in every magazine because
to run ads in those things are easily thousands of dollars. With the money
that we have that is spendable we invest it right into our pro's. The
cost of one ad in a mag can send a team to a national, cover entry fees
and hotels for everyone. It makes more sense to us to invest right back
into riders, because that's the guys who are representing you on and off
the track.
bmxultra.com: Where are you based?
Nick: Were based out of NOR*CAL! It's the bay area in northern
California. A lot of great talent has emerged from here both race and
freestyle, and the local scene is great. Sure we wish the scene would
overflow with BMX but the sport is up and down and we try and do what
we can to promote the scene and our company.
bmxultra.com: What parts of the world have you sent your products
to so far?
Nick: I wish I could list off countries left and right, but mainly
just the US. To be honest, I think the US market is flooded with companies
and! what makes a company sink or swim is mainly just marketing. We don't
do expensive marketing, were trying to make it off good product and start
up a following that people want to get involved with. As of late I've
noticed that the UK, Australia, just about everywhere but the US, these
places have large scenes and I think I'm going to try to setup a distributor
there and see if we can move some units to those regions.
bmxultra.com: How many people work for Psykopath?
Nick: 3. The breakdown is basically Carl is the owner and he
makes it all possible, he's a Vet Pro and you can catch him at the track
day to day. I'm the main guy here when you call I'll be the voice on the
other side. I make everything happen from team stuff to product development
and anything in between. Carl has a son named Andrew, he keeps all the
video stuff together, films and edits 24/7. And oh yeah Zack he's a street
rider and assists me when I leave for the day.
bmxultra.com:
What products do you manufacturer?
Nick: We offer up as of now both a street and a race frame. The
race frame has been a seller from day 1. It's a great bike and it comes
in at a good price. The street market is a little tougher to get people
into your stuff. If you don't have a pro that flipwhips on your bike it
doesn't have the credibility to sell. But once again we've made a great
frame and have yet to see one crack or have problems so fingers crossed
we've built a strong quality frame.
bmxultra.com: Are they made in the US or offshore?
Nick: The frames we have available now are a project that we
had made from a very credible company in Southern California. I'd like
to say who made them but I'm not sure if it's Ok with me because they
also have a company and I wouldn't want to get anyone in trouble. But
the results speak for themselves the frames are top notch and I wish I
could give credit to the welder. Offshore stuff is becoming all the rage
these days because 15 years ago the quality wasn't there. But the technology
has progressed and the guys over there are banging out some very high
quality stuff. If you know a lot about markup and stuff you know that
a company can easily make good money just importing all their stuff and
marketing it well. We have stayed US made so far and as we are not opposed
to using others we will try our best to keep stuff US made. Gotta support
the USA!
bmxultra.com: Do you think it matters where something is made?
Nick: These days? No. Like I said the quality of stuff coming
from out the country is amazing. And when you see companies doing lifetime
warranties on that stuff, you gotta consider using those sources. We have
a "no questions asked policy" here at Psykopath and we haven't
had to warranty anything yet.
bmxultra.com: What makes your products any different to anyone
else's?
Nick: They are straight forward. We aren't doing anything kooky because
BMX is done with gimmicks. I've always admired Standard, their frames
haven't changed much over the past years and it's for good reason. We're
going along the same lines, trying to keep things simple and strong. Being
that I'm a park rider as well as a race guy, I see the technology and
I see where it can merge and produce a great product. My freestyle bike
weighs in at about 26 pounds and that is comparable to a race bike. There
are a lot of things that freestyle has done to lighten up things and hopefully
we at Psykopath can carry them over to the race side of things.
bmxultra.com: Tell us a little more about your race frames...what
sizes will they be available in?
Nick: The current frame we have is available in either 20.5" or 21.25"
(top tube) versions. We are looking at doing more sizes to keep up with
the sizes that most companies offer, and hopefully we can have alot of
sizes like: 20.75, and 21 as well as our current sizes. We just wanted
to offer the 2 most common sizes that we see and we think we have something
that can suit just about any rider. With the options people have with
parts companies it's pretty easy to get a 21.25 frame to feel short and
a 20.5 to feel a little longer. If we can keep growing we are going to
try and get more stuff out and cater to the riders' needs.
bmxultra.com: Will you be catering for juniors?
Nick: Kids. When you are around BMX for as long as some of us have been
you quickly realize that not only are kids the future 19-27x and Pro classes
but they are easily the core of the BMX scene. Go to a national and watch
1/4 mains and semis, and you will be amazed at how many gates of 8,9,10,11,
and 12 year old experts are at every national. Without those families
taking their children to both local and national races BMX could easily
lose alot of support. So naturally we are looking hard into getting some
smaller bikes together to offer the kids a choice in what products they
want to ride. We are more of a traditional company we like to think, so
for pro size stuff we stuck with a chromoly frame so it would hold up
to the long seasons in the pro class and be a great bike that you can
take to the trails and not worry about. Kids are different they don't
have the ability to get any bike and just get used to it overnight, for
some kids its a mental issue so we are definitely going to try and do
a lightweight aluminum frame with solid proven angles. We've recruited
two 9 experts out of the Sacramento area and with their assistance we
are going to be able to have them ride some sample bikes and see what
they like and dislike and with that product testing it allows us to make
changes and get out a frame that is dialed. Thanks goes out to our little
guys Terry Jason Jr, and Jr. Ferren. Terry was our first younger ripper
and he's been down with the team since day 1. He's a great kid who loves
riding and he's on the come up in the 8-9 expert class. Jr. is our newest
addition and he's already turned 9 and looks to put in alot of races for
us this year. Those guys are gonna be our eyes and ears for our smaller
line of stuff.
bmxultra.com: What about cruisers?
Nick: Cruisers are in the works as we speak, with chromoly planned for
the bigger sizes, and aluminum for the younger guys. We have a Pro Cruiser
rider out of Canada by the name of Horacio Couto who will be helping us
in putting together a solid 24" bike. Terry that was mentioned above
is a cruiser rider as well and he'll be doing any testing in that range
as well.
bmxultra.com:
I have seen Terry Tennette on extremely long 20 inch frames...does he
have a custom Psykopath frame or does he ride a stock frame?
Nick:After 12 years, yep 12 years, on BOSS frames which have a large following
in the NOR*CAL area, Terry has finally hopped aboard a stock 21.25"
psykopath frame. Don't be fooled though I'm sure it is built with a nice
long stem, and anything else to make it feel long.
bmxultra.com: How long do you think Terry can keep going?
Nick: As long as he wants, he is a prime example of what good
training can do. I easily see him riding competitive for a good 5 more
years it's all up to him. When he finds a young gun that is willing to
hang with his training, the AA class will be in trouble.
bmxultra.com: Do you build custom frames to order?
Nick: At this time we don't have the financial means to have anything
custom slapped together but hopefully in the future we can have people
request things that aren't too crazy. I know brew bikes does custom stuff
and from what I've heard their stuff is of good quality and they can help
you with any special requests you may have. Shout out the guys at Brew,
maybe we will send some stock frames to them and let them have some fun
with em. Could you imagine if everyone had their own custom frames? Possibilities
are endless...
bmxultra.com: Should we expect any Psykopath forks or handlebars
in 2006?
Nick: At this time we are just trying to get a good name out there with
the frame that we are offering. I think if we got too much stuff going
at once we wouldn't get the quality control that we need to put out stuff
that we 100% believe in. On the horizon we are looking at possibly doing
some cranks if we can think of a unique design that is going to be different
than some of the stuff out there. If we can keep sales going good and
expand our sales region outside the US I think it'll give us more of an
opportunity to see what people would like to see from us. That's the thing
that's great about a young company we are free to try stuff and, as long
as it doesn't totally bomb out, then we can try different things. It's
a learning experience for sure and we look forward to learning and growing
into a solid company with a full line of products.
bmxultra.com: Where can people buy Psykopath products from?
Nick: Unfortunately right now the sure thing is to hit the website and
get everything off there. We are URGENTLY looking to pick up a distributor
either US or abroad. I'm not sure how long we can keep running the entire
operation out the office here. Some days I'll pack boxes and ship orders
all day long and not be able to handle team duties and stuff, so I hope
we can get the exposure we need and land a distributor somewhere that
can have frames and stuff on hand so that people can get their stuff quicker
and not have to deal directly with me. But I like dealing with everyone
in a sense because when someone calls and wants to pick up an item its
fun to hear about where they're from and their BMX scene. It's not just
" I need a frame" "ok! $xxx.xx" and then the calls
over. I scribble down everyone's information and ask about their riding
situations and try and establish small consumer/company relationships
so I know who buys our stuff and likes this and dislikes that. There's
2 sides to doing it all ourselves, but we hope to get a few distributors
asap.
bmxultra.com:
Who's on the team roster?
Nick: Not to take away from anyone and their accomplishments
but I would be taking up a lot of space if I typed out our entire team.
The site has a list of everyone and pics as well. The changes are daily
as we are always looking to expand because that's how we market through
riders. We have a few AA's and a lot of great talent in the A Pro class.
And our ams are always gettin better. www.psykopath.com
for the entire list.
bmxultra.com: As an independent company how are you able to support
such a big team?
Nick: We wish we could pay all of our riders but at this time
it's just not possible. Our main pro is Damian Lopez and we owe him a
lot! That guy is constantly traveling, day in and day out, and he's a
consistent main event qualifier in both class and cruiser. We wish we
could cash him out and have him stay in 5 star hotels, but it doesn't
work that way. Every rider we support gets info about every other rider
we're cool with and we make cost effective road trips, the days of sleeping
on someone's couch or a 6person motel room are not gone for us. BMX is
a family style thing and all of our riders would gladly open the door
for another family to help them out.
bmxultra.com: Who helps you out sponsoring the team?
Nick: Ryan @ extremeryd clothing co. Has come through this year.
Answer has always helped us out for gear for all of our riders. Sponsorhouse
has done what they can and we are glad to represent them. Shout out my
personal sponsors also- Knight Bike co. New Era Caps and Ride Aid
bmxultra.com:
What is your job there?
Nick: CEO, lol I'm just the guy who's here, and I get what needs
to be done, done. Answer phones, emails, voice mails, shipping, basically
anything that needs to be done.
bmxultra.com: How did you get involved with BMX?
Nick: I started racing when I was 12 with my church youth group.
Shout out Jeremy and everyone in Picacho Az, thanks for the start! And
since then I've traveled the states east coast and back riding my bike.
If it's a national motto, or a pro street final, I'll be there enjoying
every second of it. The love for BMX just grows and the longer you're
in it the better it gets, seeing people progress and seeing the world
for nearly free. I'll never quit. 55&over class sounds real nice.
bmxultra.com: How do you find time to still ride?
Nick:
Well like I said you never stop learning. I actually am pretty good with
my hands and I've learned to build ramps over time. Outside my office
literally 5feet away is a 30foot wide 6foot tall mini ramp, that gets
a lot of sessions. And behind that is the track and trails, so we made
our spots here so we can break up the craziness of the daily grind.
bmxultra.com: What music do you listen to?
Nick: Mainly Rap, but I'll listen to everything. Rock is always
cool for the energy. Whatever's playing is what I'm listening to. Oh yeah
shout out #284,582 lol Carl's other son Arthur and his Dis-O-Bay rap hustle!
bmxultra.com: What do you think of Neil Young?
Nick: Haha, I hope he's not some very important person and I
unfortunately have not heard of him. But yeah me and Neil we go way back
since we were kids. He has that uhh hair and those eyes right? And like
he wears clothes and stuff too. What a guy he is. Neil email me man we
have to catch up!
bmxultra.com: Did you hang out at Woodstock with Neil Young?
Nick: Ok so with that question Neil Young is either a hippy or a musician
from that time or maybe just some random guy that got lost on a bus and
ended up at woodstock. I myself aren't even sure if I were alive during
the woodstock era...wait... yes I was right? I don't know, but either
way Neil Young is cool in my book and his signature frame should be available
soon!
bmxultra.com: Neil's a hippy, he was known as the godfather of grunge (which makes me cringe to even write), he's been in the music industry for about 30 or 40 years. I'll look out for the signature frame though. Anyway...
bmxultra.com: Which do you prefer ABA or NBL and why?
Nick: Uh oh. Speak my mind or bite my tongue? The following statement
is in no way representing Psykopath it is the sole opinion of Nick Valencia
and who is he anyway? With that being said. What Pro do you know without
a paying sponsor could live off of BMX? I think it's a shame that if you
are the fastest AA on the planet you couldn't make enough at a weekend
national if you tripled both days to get to the next race. The pro payout
in my opinion is what's keeping the pro class from blowing up. If these
guys are spending at least several hundreds to attend these nationals
why can't the sanctions do more than 100% payback? I mean the take for
street comps with no sanctions is ridiculous. I've seen pros make $25,000.00
over a weekend and the race scene is much larger, NBL, ABA whoever steps
up and cashes out these pros what they deserve is going to have in my
opinion the better sanction. My choice ABA or NBL is neither, support
yourselves pros, keep throwing these local pro races, time trials, sprint
track stuff, help yourselves.
bmxultra.com: What about platform pedals Vs clips?
Nick: Flats! All day. I get pulled down first straights all day
by people that I know don't have a lot of power, but that's my choice.
I think when a pro makes a main on flats it's the best thing ever. Hell
I'll cheer for any pro that has the guts to ride flats. I see a local
pro ride flats at the track a lot of the time and he is still fast as
shit. The reason pro's ride flats in my opinion is to keep up and not
lose any technology to the next guy. It's just like aluminum to chromoly.
It just never appealed to me to clip in. Just be ready for me when you
pull me to a corner because of your beloved pedals and I come diving underneath
you with 1 foot off anxiously awaiting to hear some contact and your race
be over and I'm still going strong.
bmxultra.com: What do you think the Olympics will do for BMX
racing?
Nick: I hope it has a large impact and shows that our sport is indeed
one of the most challenging sports and we have some of the best athletes
on the planet. I think when downhill BMX got into X games that was huge
for the movement and it brought in a lot of exposure and with that large
scale exposure comes more money through corporate sponsors. But just as
quick as the large pay outs of X came they suddenly vanished and so did
some of the large sponsors. TV time is essential when you are pitching
a big money deal to a billion dollar company and trying to bring them
into BMX. So hopefully with the olympic effort we can land these big deals
again and keep them locked up because BMX will have a spot every 4 years
on the worlds biggest stage. Shout out to the guys who made that possible
too a lot of riders and industry people put a lot of work into that effort
and I'm glad it's paid off for them. Keep an eye out for our 2 riders
who will definitely be representing their countries Damian Lopez who will
be representing his homeland of Argentina and Augusto Castro who will
be puttin in a Columbian effort. Those guys are super excited to be doing
things in a big way and getting to that level, and we're glad that they
will be doing it on one of our frames!
bmxultra.com: How important is the internet to BMX?
Nick: I think it plays a vital role. I see so many videos and
read so much through the work day and it's all thanks to the internet.
It make a lot of things possible and we use it excessively to get customers
to see our product. But its kinda weird too because people get scared
to call, like because email is so popular people are weirded out on calling
me at the office. Someone call me 510-481-1372!
bmxultra.com:
How important is the internet to Psykopath?
Nick: Without it we wouldn't be a company we'd still be thinking
about everything. The entire day is based around this computer and you
guys at the sites. The good thing about websites is they are cheap so
people don't mind helping us out by posting info and news and stuff. It's
a huge factor, so please don't ever kill the modem!
bmxultra.com: What websites do you check out regularly?
Nick: www.bmxboard.com, www.neweracap.com, www.knightbikeco.com, www.rideaid.org,
www.sponsorhouse.com, and now www.bmxultra.com!
For more information about Psykopath check out www.psykopath.com.