"NIGEL SYLVESTER ON ADVANCING BMX WITHOUT FITTING IN"

[mattywatty]

its all just marketing blurbs to make him seem edgy, i think theyre playin on the fact hes a pro with corporate sponsors, but hes not a ramp rat.

its not really unique though, edwin was on red bull for years but he was totally chill about it. he was in the same situation, street rider from new york who started at the bottom and managed to make it big, and id say without a doubt that edwin has had waaay more influence on bmx style etc than nigel

maybe nigel is just one of those people who takes himself super seriously

Agreed. Edwin straight up invented the "barspinning NY street style" or whatever you want to call it, and transformed bmx into what it is now. Had Edwin not existed, I think the "2 pegs and a straight cable of 2005" would still be the main thing in bmx. I could be way off on this, but in my opinion Edwin basically showed the world how to land flat and not look like shit.

No doubt Nigel has basically taken the Edwin style and progressed it significantly, and I respect what he can do on a bike, but the whole attempted celebrity thing is kind of awkward/ cringe-worthy to watch.

To me, the big difference between what Nigel is doing now and what Dave Mirra did 12 years ago comes down to credibility, and shameless marketing. Circa 2004, Mirra was essentially the king of bmx, simply because he had won a million X games contests, thus the super big corporate sponsors seemed like a pretty natural thing. From what I recall, his main sponsors outside the core bmx companies were Slim Jim, Fox, and Oxy pimple cream. Even though the Oxy zit medicine stuff was kind of lulzy at the time, it's not like Mirra would go on record spouting horseshit like "after an intense training session, I get sweaty as fuck and only the cleansing power of Oxy can restore my complexion to its former mtv glory." Also, even though Mirra did become a celebrity in his own right, it kind of seemed like a natural consequence of being the winningest contest rider in bmx, and it definitely wasn't a result of some bizarre partnership with Eminem.

Meanwhile, it seemed like Nigel went from being some dude from Queens that had like 3 clips in the friends section of an Animal DVD to being that dude trying to be street with all the bogus sponsors. No doubt the nike 6.0 thing was legit, but I can't imagine the Gatorade deal materializing without some kind of professional sports agent working on Nigel's behalf. Also, does anyone know a single bmx kid that has ever purchased a Gshock watch? Regardless, if a dude can secure some big time sponsors that pay him, good for him. What kind of grosses me out though is all of his stupid blurbs about how MLK paved the way for him to ride bmx, or how he tames the concrete jungle of NYC when he rides, etc. It basically seems like he relishes any opportunity to lose credibility in the bmx world in a feeble attempt to increase his "mainstream" celebrity status.  Maybe I'm just out of touch, but this whole thing with Pharell just seems bizarre to me. If you want to become the most famous bmxer of all time, go ahead. Just focus on the bmx and stop trying to turn your bike into some street wear fashion accessory.

[Allah]

What kind of grosses me out though is all of his stupid blurbs about how MLK paved the way for him to ride bmx, or how he tames the concrete jungle of NYC when he rides, etc. It basically seems like he relishes any opportunity to lose credibility in the bmx world in a feeble attempt to increase his "mainstream" celebrity status.  Maybe I'm just out of touch, but this whole thing with Pharell just seems bizarre to me. If you want to become the most famous bmxer of all time, go ahead. Just focus on the bmx and stop trying to turn your bike into some street wear fashion accessory.

Innit. The irony is that by doing all those irritating lifestyle vidyas he's losing the grittiness and edge which make him marketable, well among the BMX community at least, maybe not among the mainstream.

If I was him I would be combining that sort of output with more proper riding edits. I think the community are irritated because he's making money and giving the impression he's top dog but not actually producing much decent footage. Now of course the best dude (arguably Garrett or Dak at the moment) is not always going to be the most marketable, but Nigel seems to have got the balance wrong and become a walking advertisement. The edit with Pharrell was pretty good but could certainly have done without the cringey intro.

Also, Ed had the better part in Cuts. Can't beat that style. People have the memory loss...

[dude...]

you know who he is, you know what he does

i remember when gshocks were the shit, but that was over 10 years ago now

edwin has the best style, so timeless

[DontcallmeKenneth]

G shocks are still popular despite what many on here think. Hes from NYC Im surprised people still wonder about his actions.

[locomotive]

Ive heard people not buy G-shocks after finding out nigel was sponsored by them.

[joelite44]

No doubt Nigel has basically taken the Edwin style and progressed it significantly, and I respect what he can do on a bike, but the whole attempted celebrity thing is kind of awkward/ cringe-worthy to watch.

he's basically trying to be the edwin delarosa reinassence. Nigel might be trying to cop some of the steez edwin managed to earn back in 2003 whilst wearing dunks and making them ridin worthy and popular. those shits dont grip tho!

http://animalbikes.com/reminisce-edwin-de-la-rosa-animal-1/

[ImNick]

he rides faster than most of the dudes doing 1mph ledge combos these days.

[MilkyWilky]

Ive heard people not buy G-shocks after finding out nigel was sponsored by them.

Doesn't that just seem ridiculous.

I guess we'll never understand how hard it is to be a celeb. I think it is kind of ironic, because even if he wasn't fitting in in BMX, he has a pretty high degree of homogeneity with the zeitgeist.

[peggiesmalls]

Think it hilarious that he has sellout sponsors but still supports Brooklyn machine works 

[condrbkr]

The thing I don't get is that he is saying that he isn't a typical BMXer? I don't quite get that. Does he mean he doesn't look like the vert riders that pushed the sport into the main stream (Hoffman and Mirra) or that he doesn't look like a typical street rider? I get it if he is going for the latter but I'm pretty sure 'dude from the East Coast with pegs and no brakes' is the image of a street rider and has been for years.

I think what he means by that is that he doesn't fit the typical career path of a BMX biker. He's not putting out web edits quad-annually for his sponsors, he's not doing trip videos outside of Nike, but that's Nike..., he's not climbing up the standard BMX industry ladder and more power to him.

If he wants to market what he's good at to get something out of it other than bumming on people's couches and inevitably needing to find a different career path at the age of 30, is that really not understandable? The standard BMX lifestyle is great but it's not for everyone and that doesn't make him less of rider because of so.

[ImNick]

If he wants to market what he's good at to get something out of it other than bumming on people's couches and inevitably needing to find a different career path at the age of 30, is that really not understandable? The standard BMX lifestyle is great but it's not for everyone and that doesn't make him less of rider because of so.
 

Exactly what I was thinking.

Even if he gets more eyes on street riding, as I'm sure most of the mainstream is only familiar with xgames and similar stuff, how could that ultimately hurt the sport? Who cares if he's not Edwin/the most legendary street rider ever. I'm sure every Thrasher reading skate rat was butt hurt when Ryan Sheckler had his TV show on MTV years ago, but I'm sure that put quite a bit of more money into the skate industry even if it was from people trying to look "cool."

If anything, it could get more money into the sport. Who cares if there would be kids that use a bmx as a fashion item, it happens with skateboards all the time. Overall, it could improve the bmx industry.
Everything becomes a fashion show.

[locomotive]

The thing I don't get is that he is saying that he isn't a typical BMXer? I don't quite get that. Does he mean he doesn't look like the vert riders that pushed the sport into the main stream (Hoffman and Mirra) or that he doesn't look like a typical street rider? I get it if he is going for the latter but I'm pretty sure 'dude from the East Coast with pegs and no brakes' is the image of a street rider and has been for years.

I think what he means by that is that he doesn't fit the typical career path of a BMX biker. He's not putting out web edits quad-annually for his sponsors, he's not doing trip videos outside of Nike, but that's Nike..., he's not climbing up the standard BMX industry ladder and more power to him.

Yeah, he wouldn't be able to! Thats the whole thing, he is nothing special on a bike and he is getting more recognition than people that would shit on him any day. The thing is really good at convincing non-riders that he is. That puts money in his pocket, but it obviously wouldn't sit well with people that truly love riding, and have been doing it for 10+ years.

[Allah]

For some reason I find this topic really interesting, I suppose because in my ideal world BMX would be perceived as cool by the wider public (or at least as cool/appealing as skateboarding, with a similar level of cultural influence).

When I was a teenager I assumed this wasn't far from the truth (well the coolness bit, not the cultural influence) and (in retrospect rather cringingly) was keen to make sure people knew that I rode, and was probably constantly rabbiting on about positive aspects of BMX. I remember showing this clip to some non-riding friends and being astounded that they weren't blown away by the riding and quality of the jumps (lol). I now realise that most people don't care and can't relate in any way so usually keep quiet about it.

Let's imagine an unlikely scenario where Nigel or another street-oriented pro were successful in building a big mainstram fanbase, perhaps comparable with Mirra/Hoffman in the early 2000s or even larger given teh internetz (maybe Danny Mac is a good comparison?). What next? A video game? Animal clothes being bought by Harry Styles? Most of you old salts would probably hate this but the implications would be interesting. Who would be the most suitable ambassador? 
 

[condrbkr]

Yeah, he wouldn't be able to! Thats the whole thing, he is nothing special on a bike and he is getting more recognition than people that would shit on him any day. The thing is really good at convincing non-riders that he is. That puts money in his pocket, but it obviously wouldn't sit well with people that truly love riding, and have been doing it for 10+ years.

He's not the same type of rider as Garrett Reynolds, Dennis Enarson, and Kriss Kyle. It'd be unfair to judge him as such. To say Nigel is 'nothing special' or couldn't hang in the standard BMX route is so untrue.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lQ4iFlvfRj4 <-proof

He's a top class rider, but people are mad cause they expect only the best to have that type of recognition. You don't get to that level of riding without being passionate about it and whose business is it for how someone gets money. Its cooler to have Nigel making G-Shock money than some guy who kept it 'real' and does retail at some department store in the weekend.

I think someone that parallels Nigel would be Bam Margera. Bam was a good(not spectacular) skater who became the face of the community for a while. He made a killing, sold out to many purists, got hated on by his community, was well known for his projects outside of skating and all. A lot of kids picked up a skateboard cause of him though and thats not a bad thing.

 

[Narcoleptic Insomniac]

I don't get why some people are hell bent on trying to make BMX accepted by the mainstream, advancing the sport or whatever the fuck.

The appealing thing about bmx as a community was that it provided a space for kids to be as weird as they pleased and not give a fuck. At least that's how I perceived when I was 16.