Re-up: UK Ramp rider from the eighties: Damon Nicholls (Re-Up from 2009)

Dec 01, 2014

Written by Bart de Jong

Read 16202 times

Name: Damon Nicholls
Hometown: Santa Monica, Ca
Occupation: IT Recruitment Manager

You were one of the well known riders on the UK freestyle scene in the mid-eighties, when did you experience BMX for the first time?
Damon: First time was when one of my older brother's mates came home with a Team Murray from Halfords…he wasn't that into it and sold it to me - I was in love with it from the moment I set eyes on it…prior to that I had a Raleigh Grifter. This Murray had the yellow Leister Mag's, all HT Steel and heavy as a tank, but it flew like a Jumbo Jet if had enough speed before hitting the ramp.

Was it a hit for you instantly, did you know you wanted to do this for the next couple of years?

Damon: Oh yeah - I always loved bikes, but the BMX was everything rolled into one, functionality, durability, sexuality - all my senses were lit up like a guy fawk!

What was the scene like where you lived? Anybody to ride with, anything to ride?
Damon: Yeah - I lived near Devil's Dyke in Cheam, Surrey, which is a deep creator that (I think) was formed by a WW II air bomb…it had all these steep drops and jumps. Each drop had a name, Wall of Death, Coffin Drop, Cranky (Cranky was so steep you'd hit you're crank on the way down). I

showed up one day on my Team Murray, and met up with all these other BMX's - Tony Mackenzie, Steve Baldry, Ralph Tribe, Eddie (Radical Rat) Morris, Darren Crisp, Weasel - They were all well into it and had proper gear, Mongooses, Diamond Backs, Redline's, Kuwahara's and Z-Rims etc, I was still on my Murray, but knew I had met the right crowd - These kids were tuned in.

We'd go racing to Chatham, Shorham, Birmingham Wheels, Westway ect. But I was a little kid for my age and would get thrashed in the racing scene, (unless I sneaked into the 11+ age which I did at Chatham and got caught, which was well sad and well funny) and had more fun at the skate parks, we'd ride Newcross Gate, Meanwhile Gardens, ROM. and soon discovered quarter pipes - we build one in my front garden in Cheam named Baby Kong (after BMXA's Kong q- pipe) and that was it, that's all I could think about.

No facebook, no twitter, no mobile phones, no e-mail, how did you find out about the next contest or the next riding session?
Damon: We'd just show up at places and get stuck into the scene. Word of mouth mainly and the land line phone worked well too.

How did you get around, did your parents take you, were you on your own, friends?
Damon: My parents were useless for that, (still in Therapy trying to get over that one). Train, tubes and buses were our friend. We'd travel for hours on trains and tubes to get across town, very dedicated lot. Used to get to some places by friends parents - one time Ralph Tribe's dad took us to ROM and he hooked my bike up to a rack that hung the wheels by the exhaust pipe, when we arrived, my Tuff wheel had been burned to shit from the exhaust pipe, I was so pissed off, he replaced it with some ACS mags, not the same, I was still pissed off. Skyway Mags or bust MAN!

Do you remember your first freestyle contest?
Damon: Barely, I think it was one of the UKBFA Nationals - very scary stuff. I remember being on the Skyway Team and thinking I better rip this up, I have a Factory shirt on my back…lot to live up to, especially when there's Craig and Neil on the same team!

Did that involve some flatland riding too?
Damon: Yeah - you had two runs, a flatland run and a q-pipe run, my flatland was useless, I could do a bar hop and turnaround to ride the bike backwards, frame stand and some dodgy balancing tricks.

What did you prefer, riding quarter pipes or half pipes?
Damon: Half pipe no question…that pumping feeling is so magical when you land smooth below the coping and generate more and more speed. Nothing like it.

What concrete parks did you ride on a regular basis?
Damon: ROM was our main hang out.

What sponsors did you have when you rode BMX?
Damon: Pro-lite / Skyway then Raleigh then M-Zone / Swatch / Stussy then Ninja Scooters - Oh dear, looks like that went down hill, didn't it???

Did you do a lot of shows, or basically contests?
Damon: Both - loved the shows, hated the contests. We did the Maidenhead show early on as the Ashtead "Rock Steady" Crew - that was an amazing show - TLB invited us, I think?? The place was packed and the kids were going nuts, big thrill. The contests just seemed like a buzz kill to me, I was more into having a good time and the contest made it feel so serious - pressure,. Freestyle to me was just that, feeling 'Free' and the contest made me feel boxed in.

Any TV-airtime for Damon Nicholls back in the day?
Damon: Yeah - did the Saturday morning show 'Motormouth' discussing the new and trendy Scooters - it was very funny, one of the kids came off the side of the q-pipe as I was being interviewed.

Do you still follow BMX?
Damon: Yeah, from a nostalgic distance - I'm on RAD BMX site all the time, BMX Museum, OS BMX, ebay, drooling over old Race Inc's and Kuwahara KZ-1's - I love the early bikes, cause they were the bikes that started this obsession - I bought an old Mongoose recently and love riding it around town.

If you look back at your time riding bikes, what do you think?
Damon: What an absolute BLAST!

Any shout outs?
Damon: Cheam Pond Posse - Crazy Legg's, Mac, Tribe, Crispy, Weasel, Radical Rat, Titch, Fola, Chrome-Moly Wally, The 3 Lunn's, Nige Tulula, Roy Bethal (RIP), Hayley, Mike Buff and RL Oz-Moan, Mini Nipples -

BdJ

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