Fresh off the release of his Primo grip, and as we all anticipate the Cult DVD coming out this summer I shot our homie Bobby Simmons some questions. I wanted get his views on how it was creating his first signature grip as well as growing up in Ohio and a few other topics. Check out what he has to say, as well as his part from our DVD Still Here.
First off, how old are you? Where are you from and living now? And who are you riding for these days?
28 years old. Akron, Ohio and I ride for Cult, Primo, Operativ, Vans bmx, and ALYK.
(photo by: Scott Marceau)
I know your 1 year with Primo just passed, it timed up pretty well with the release of your new signature grip. How did the opportunity/idea come about?
Yea been just over a year and its been good. On the first Primo trip I went on Nate had said if we were wanting to work on anything to let him know so I took up the offer and started to work on a grip.
How was the process of designing your first product that will actually be sold to kids all over the world?
The process was good. I sent Nate a drawing of what I was kinda looking for. Then we sent it to Neal over at Cult and him and I went back and forth with different ideas and all the the specs of how I wanted it. Once it was good we had it sent out to have the samples made and they came back perfect. After that Scotty and I started on the packaging, and I couldn’t be happier on how it looks.
Are you happy with how everything turned out? Would you make any changes?
I couldn’t be happier everything turned out awesome. I wouldn’t really change anything about them, maybe just some more colors. Shouts to Scotty, Nate at Primo and Neal at Cult for helping.
Would you want to do another product? Whether it be with Primo, Cult, or someone else?
As for doing another project Nate at Primo and I are currently working on a few new things so I’m excited for that. As far as doing other stuff with the other brands I would love to if that opportunity ever came about.
You have been into motorcycles for a few years now, and are just about finished completely rebuilding yours. Thats cool, how has that experience been? Are you going to run your grips on it?
I’ve been into motorcycles my whole life whether it be dirt bikes or motorcycles. About 3 years ago I purchased a ’73 Honda cb 350, got to ride it for 6 months or so then I blew it up. So I’ve been in the process of turning it into a cafe racer. Its been an ok process I guess, I would have liked it to be done a month or so ago, but I’d say its gonna be done in May hopefully. Right now I’m rocking some Cult grips on it so maybe once they wear out I’ll put a pair of my grips on it.
You are a pretty well rounded rider. Do you think growing up in Ohio with the drastically changing, and unpredictable weather forced you to ride what was available that day, being it trails, skateparks, or street?
Thanks. Yea the weather in Ohio is always so unpredictable, so with all the skateparks that we had growing up it was always easy to ride when the weather was bad, and growing up racing all we did was ride the trails that I had at my house so that was always a go to and when nobody was feeling that we’d just all pile in a car and go ride downtown so there was always somewhere to ride no matter the weather.
There were a lot of very notable skateparks near you in the early 2000′s ( the Chenga’s, Section 8, The Flow) do you think riding those ledgendary parks growing up still shapes your riding despite not riding park as much anymore?
Yea for sure riding those places made my riding and bike control so much better, and always going with a huge group of friends only made it that much better with everyone pushing everyone to learn new things just made it that much easier to progress. I can honestly remember doing my first feeble grind on the down ledge at Chenga.
What’s your best Chenga memory?
I don’t know if I have a favorite or best memory of chenga because everytime I went was always a blast, but I would say the last two or three sessions I went to right before they closed were awesome with so many people showing up. The sessions that went down where awesome.
(photo by: Scott Marceau)
A lot of pros came through this area around that same time. Who was the first rider you looked up to? Do you remember the first rider who looked up to you?
Damn, I would have to say Nate Wessel and Pat Schreader. Not being a Chenga local you would get vibed real bad, but those dudes where always awesome. At one point when the Square One Halloween Jam was going on my bike got stolen like 2 days before that and Pat hooked me up with a bunch of free shit witch was awesome. As far as another rider looking up to me I don’t know, kinda crazy to think about someone looking up to me when I still look up people in bmx, but if there are thanks I appreciate it.
You got sponsored at kind of an older age comparred to the average pro rider. Did that surprise you at all? Do you ever feel like the old guy on trips or anything?
True, Yea it surprised me a lot I never would of thought that I would be where I am today and having what I have today after doing the first Act Like You Know video. I was just having fun riding with my homies like always and gonna keep doing the same. There are defiantly days when I feel like an old man, but I try not to think about it there are dudes way older then me still killing so in my eyes age doesn’t really mean shit.
You recently spent some time at the OSS house in California riding and filming for the Cult DVD. How was riding and staying out there with them?
Yea staying at the OSS house was good it’s constant entertainment in there and on that block. Riding was awesome, I mean it can’t be bad when your in Cali with awesome spots and weather when its shitty at home. There was a lot of funny shit that went on at the house, in the van, and at spots but just the shit that gets said when Adam and Catfish are together is too good its like a comedy show.
Speaking of Cult, hows the DVD coming. I know the filming deadline is coming up quick. How has this video gone for you, and are you done filming? Any notable stories?
The DVD is coming along the Promo just dropped the other day and Navaz killed that shit as usual. Yea the deadline is nearing and I’m heading to Cali right now for the last team trip which is sure to be amazing. For me it got off to kind of a slow start I was finishing up filming for “Still Here” and when I was getting started for Cult the camera broke so we where without a camera for almost the whole summer until Robbie sent out a VX for us to use, thanks homie. I got in a few trips to Austin this winter and stayed with Navaz and that helped out a lot but I’m still filming for the video and gonna keep filming up until the deadline.
What else do you have planned for this year?
As far as the rest of the year goes I think there’s gonna be some Primo trips going down that I’m looking forward to I’m sure once the Cult video is done this summer there’s gonna be a few premiers going down that I’m sure won’t disappoint. Keep riding and filming maybe do some Operativ trips. I’m sure a few New York trips will go down which are always good, so we’ll see.
Any last words?
Yea big thanks to Robbie, Neal, Joe V and the rest of the homies at Cult. Nate and John over at Primo for everything. Josh at Operativ. Jerry B at vans. ALYK CRU Brandon, Torey, Scott, Scotty also for helping out with all the Primo shit thanks homie. My Girlfriend for being awesome and supporting everything I do and being cool with me always being gone on trips. The homies I ride with on the reg and anyone else that has helped me out with anything. Thanks
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