Friday, June 19, 2009

Back to the Future... a miniview with Clint Millar

I've known Clint since pretty much day 1 of my riding life. I was 14, new to BMX & Flatland & looking to meet other riders. Picking up a copy of Ride US I saw an advertisement Clint had running for his Prody videos from back in the day. Well from there I got in touch, got the video... & we kept in touch old school style as pen pals - finally meeting about 7 or so years later. In that time he helped me immensely with motivation, trick ideas, BMX travelling stories... all the good stuff to get any younger rider stoked. Now Clint has a successful career as a pro rider along with owning & running Colony amongst many other things. He continues to help riders & promote BMX & the Aussie scene in a way that only he can - cheers Millar! - Badman.


* Years involved with flatland and/or BMX
I started riding flatland back in August of 1988. It all started with me learning back hops out the front of my house & then being stoked that I could do 300 of them in one go. haha.

* Describe the local scene when you first started
When I first started it was basically myself & two of my new found friends, Bob Herbohn & Michael Canfield. There were a few other scattered groups around Brisbane but not many riders at all. If your saw someone else on a bike you were instantly friends. Over the years it started to grow slowly but then took a dive in the early '90's. It was very hard to find bike parts then & almost even harder to find riders outside of your own group. It was a good time period though & we all rode cause we loved it.

* How does the current BMX/flatland scene nowadays compare to the past?
The BMX scene in general is totally different now. So many riders & so much good choices for bike parts, places to ride & people to ride with. Kids really are spoiled today with the choices & opportunities in BMX in Australia right now. Flatland on the other hand is probably still small & unique but on the rise with the help of a few select key people within the scene.

* You've travelled worldwide - how does the Australian scene compare to abroad?
I have said all the time now for a few years but the Australian BMX scene I feel is the strongest in the world, period. For the small population that Australia has in world standards we have a very high percentage of BMX riders here. It's a really good scene here with it's own industry. I am doing my part with Colony to make sure the industry grows in the right direction for the riders here. I want to build the industry to a level where riders can begin to support themselves by riding full time. This day will come for sure.




* As the mastermind behind Colony - you have a lot of involvement with flatland in Australia these days with sponsoring Australian flatlanders, developing flat products through Colony and sponsoring the D.U.G. series. what motivates you to do this?
My motivation for this is just because I used to ride flatland & want to be able to give back because it gave me so much for so many years. I may not ride flat all that often or at a level I used to but I still totally respect it & want to help build it up stronger here in Australia. Plus just helping out my friends like Shane & Simon with their own product ranges is all the motivation I really need.

* Where do you see the future of flatland in Australia?
With the right direction I can see it getting quite strong for those involved for the right reasons.

* You recently put together a new ride - what made you get another flatland bike?
Yeah I am stoked. Been wanting to mess around again with flat for about 9 months now & finally got around to doing it. Just wanted to have the feeling again of doing flatland moves & to see what I could still do. It was awesome to pull some of my old stuff again & I am looking forward to riding as often as I can.

* Final words?
See you all at DUG !!

* Thanks?
Thanks to anyone out there that supports what I am trying to achieve with Colony.
Yo yo !!


And check out Clint's current flatland setup...

Frame: Colony Bloody Oath 19.8
Fork: Colony Hell Stallion
Headset: Colony
Stem: Colony Official
Bars: Colony Teddy
Bar Ends: Colony Konka
Grips: Animal
Cranks: Colony Colonial
BB: Colony Mid
Sprocket: Colony Official 23T
Pedals: Colony Fantastic Plastic
Chain: KMC K710SL
Front Wheel: Colony Clone Hub with Proper Rim (soon to be Colony Clone Rim)
Rear Wheel: Generic Freecoaster with Proper Rim (soon to be Colony Clone Rim)
Tyres: WTP Feelin' Foldable
Pegs: Colony Jam Circle
Front Brake: Hombre
Rear BRake: Fly
Gryo: Snafu
Brake Levers: Colony Transformer
Seatpost: Colony Pivotal
Seat: Colony Cube Pivotal



2 comments:

  1. Nice colour scheme

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  2. "I want to build the industry to a level where riders can begin to support themselves by riding full time. This day will come for sure."

    aka.. be a non contributing zero by doing nothing but ride a bike! meh, i have too much respect for you clint, atta boy!

    ReplyDelete