bmxultra.com: Firstly congratulations on 30 years in business. 30 Years is an amazing achievement in any industry! BMX is a fickle business with some of the biggest names in BMX falling by the way side through those decades while you continued to motor on. Very few have driven forward for so long on the leading edge of technology, new materials and manufacturing techniques and just seems to continue to power ahead. It seems to be a risky way to run a business but it’s a testament to you, and your team, and a validation of the brand and it’s evolution over the years.

Bill Ryan: Thank you!! It seems like yesterday, honestly, 30 years is so long, but at the same time it goes by so quick. I still remember the day sitting in Power Plus Cycles, our bike shop we had, and drawing up the first drawing of the Supercross Frame. And it has been a very hard road, I have thought of giving up many many many times, and it always seemed just as I was ready to give up, someone would call and say thank you for building them the best bike they had ever ridden, or a rider would call to say thank you for the support and how much it meant to them, and it would give the fire that extra little bit of kindling it needed to keep the passion burning. But let’s face it, I am probably too stupid to leave BMX and love it way to much anyways, so I just got lucky to be able to do what I love.

About Bill Ryan (Let’s go back to where it all began)

Where were you born?

Wow Shane, you are going all the way back, but very cool! Chicago Illinois, I was a midwest kid. We drove out to California in 1972 and settled in a little town of Torrance, California. I got lucky with that one I guess. I got dropped right into the middle of BMX Mecca before anyone knew it was going to be.

Read the full interview with Bill Ryan