(All photos by David Leep unless otherwise noted)

Kevin Porter should be heavily involved in a lot of conversations in BMX. When it comes to progressing tricks like tailwhips and kickflips, KP did that and then mostly abandoned both way before the tailwhip became cliche and the kickflip disappeared. When it comes to changing the status quo of bike set ups, Kevin probably caused more kids to take their pegs off than anyone short of Garrett Byrnes. Longevity? While most BMX careers rarely make it past the 5 year mark, he guy has been a sponsored pro traveling the globe since the late 90′s and is arguably riding better now than ever before. And perhaps most importantly, he remains a friendly, personable guy who wears his heart on his sleeve and isn’t afraid to be open about his feelings and the struggles he’s been through in his life. Ladies and gentlemen… Kevin Porter.

(NOTE: This post is stickied, check below for new posts and make sure to check out Kevin’s Empire web video that dropped today too)

I wasn’t going to do any of these basic questions but you made the point that a lot of younger riders don’t really know your history or where you came from so let’s start with the basics I guess. What scene did you grow up riding in and what got you on a BMX bike in the first place?

My brother was the first person to make me interested in riding. I followed everything he and his friends did. I actually skateboarded before I rode BMX, I was only 8 years old. I could launch a 3 foot ramp on a board. He started riding bikes and I followed that, he quit and I kept riding. I mostly grew up riding in the early 90s trail scene, and then Scrap in the winters. Seeing people like Craig Reynolds (AA pro racer) rip Scrap up was a huge influence. My riding was molded by flicks like “Lights Out,” Juvenile Trickery,” and “Props.” Then later I started to get into street and mini ramp riding more with people like Ryan Jackson. It was right around the time two pegs and one brake was being introduced to the mini ramp. Bringing my trails set up to a mini ramp was kind of crazy back then.

When I think about my first impression of you, it was you rocking for Bully, doing that tailwhip out of the wallride at Roots. Do you remember how old you were then and what your whole mentality on BMX was like at the time? It’s crazy to think about how much shit has changed since then.

I do remember the day almost perfect. It’s strange how that was over 11 years ago. I think… I believe it was 1998, I came to the contest a happy little kid. I wasn’t there to win. I was there to meet my heroes. The people I looked up to all my life. Being in the contest was just like being in one of my dreams. People say I talk too much. It’s true, I do talk a lot when I am excited. It’s a good thing because that means I am excited to talk with you. I know now after 10 years that if I am not talking a lot to you I’m just not that excited about you haha. Such was the case for the people I idolized. I still get that way around people like Joe, Taj, Garret [Byrnes], and even younger guys like Aitken. I feel like I put my foot in my mouth. People like that make me excited and nervous after all these years. I guess things like that just never change. But, yeah I went there riding for Bully and came home riding for Standard.

Yeah so you were a part of the Standard army for a while, how did that come about and why did you eventually leave the team?

Yeah, I rode for Standard for 5 years, I started riding for them at Roots that year. It was also a dream come true. At the time, Standard was one of the biggest and best companies. It was home to some of the greatest riders of all time. The likes of Joe Rich, Luc-E, Taj, Paul Osicka, Ground Chuck, Punjab, Robbo, Keith Terra, Jimmer, Dave “The King” Friemuth and many, many, more. Standard had it’s way with things and at the time of my quitting I was ready to step away from any kind of commitments. I went through this business to friendship thing. Although Standard treated me fairly I was kind of like a punk kid that didn’t want to do what his father said to do. It was so hard for me to quit because Rick was very scary, like a drill sergeant. I later realized that Rick did so much for my life. He helped define what I feel to be right and wrong in BMX business wise. I‘m grateful for that time in my life.

Speaking of Standard, you went on that Rolling On The River trip with fucking RATBOY. How was that? That’s one dude that I always wanted to meet and I assume I probably never will.

Man, at the time Ratboy was a handful. BMX was far too humble for someone like him. He had a lot of tricks and they where a bit out there, I give him credit for his riding, but his attitude was pretty shitty. He thought he could just do what ever he wanted to. With the type of support Standard supplied him with, he pretty much could do as he wanted. I feel like Rick took him on because he was cocky. On the Rolling On The River trip we all went to the Standard warehouse. Rick said to take what ever we needed for the trip. Ratboy walked out of the warehouse with a truckload of stuff. BV, BK and I walked out of there with just a few things each. Towards the end of the trip Ratboy had taken something out of each one of our boxes of stuff even though he had four times as much as us. He actually took every shirt that BV grabbed for himself. Last I heard (4 years ago), Ratboy was a big guy. Someone told me he looked like a rugged old Hells Angel.

One more old memory of you I have was when you sorta snuck your way onto Road Fools 8 by just following the trailer with your friends for a large part of the trip and just killing it. I always thought it was funny too because it actually worked out for you and you kinda blew up after that plus got legitimately invited on a couple Road Fools’ after. What was that time period like in your life?

Its funny, I think that was the thought of most of the BMX world. I guess it came off that way. But, I grew up in Chicago around Marco and Chris Rye (Props owners). I was a very young and very hungry rider I wanted to be on Road Fools so bad. I was a good friend of Stew Johnson as well, because I would visit Fort Wayne when Stew lived there. Those are the three people in charge of picking crews for Road Fools. I think those guys wanted me to join Road Fools 8, but thought I was a bit too young and not quite a known rider. I showed up to one of the spots, and Marco gave me the impression that he wanted me to join the following spot and so on. Later for Road Fools 9 they straight up brought me on.

(Photo: Andrew Brady)

So last I heard (in your Vinyl interview) you were taking off traveling all over to filming for the Empire video and the new Fly video. What have the last few months of your life been like?

Yeah that is what I set forth to do. I wanted to take off and just focus 100% on riding. I did and I didn’t at the same time. The time away I got some clips but I was very depressed. I think I was more in search of myself. In June of 2009 my wife and I separated. I spent til’ November of 2009 working at Delicious and trying to figure out if I could fix our marriage. I left a week before the New Year with the idea of just riding and filming the new Empire video and the new Fly Bikes video. But, deep down I felt like I had to find what I really wanted. After the last Month in Texas, hanging with Hanson Little and getting the support from my friends and family, I came back to Chicago with my head held high and BMX as a great crutch. Now, I only focus on riding. The depression I was in led me to really, really be grateful for BMX. Basically everything that BMX has done for me pulled me out of the darkest tunnel I have ever been down.

So you mentioned to me a little while back that along with the divorce, you’re no longer involved with Delicious at all. Since you co-founded it, was that a hard decision to make?

Like I said, I left Delicious in November. It was because working with my ex-wife and trying to make a friendship after our separation was way too hard. I had the option to keep the shop or leave it and ride. I love coffee but bike riding is my life. I gave my share to Chelsea. I left telling her that I will always be here to help. We have two dogs and that shop. I have responsibility of the dogs and she has the shop. When we need to help each other with either one, we do…

For now are you putting all of your energy into being a pro rider as opposed to splitting your time between a job and riding? Has the experience with Delicious made you less interested in the idea of owning your own business, or is that something you’d like to return to in a few years?

I am putting 100% into riding. I am spending more time behind my bars for sure. I had Delicious because I felt like It was time to work for all the great things that BMX has done for me. I have never felt that I deserved this life over anyone else on Earth. I guess I always chased after riders that worked their ass off and road when they could because I felt like that should have been my life. I feel like I always want to help friends that have to work hard for their bikes. That’s why I always pushed riders like Oliver Leonard and Shawn Arata. They had jobs that would drive them nuts and come out riding with hardly any energy. I felt like they were so good on their bikes and they should be living the same life as myself. Having the coffee shop has definitely opened some doors for me in the future. I will go back to owning a shop again. I just now know that it is going to be a time when that is all I am going to do.

Back to the videos you’ve been filming for, what’s the progress of those two projects been like? I think I heard that Empire is set to come out this Summer but I haven’t heard a lot about the Fly video.

Both the Fly Bikes video and the Empire BMX video could possibly be the most important videos I ever make. Like I mentioned, I have been trying really hard to focus on them and having a deadline is stressing me out. But, I have been on it lately. Really pushing myself to be healthier. I’m now very mentally healthy so my physical health is starting to catch up. This month is going to be pretty good because Lee Turner from Fly Bikes is coming with some of the team to hang out in Chicago. Dave Perrick and I have been working so hard on my part for the past two years. So yeah, both videos are well on their way to being produced this year.

Your recent Vinyl web video was really good. Really good! It seems like you were almost kind reinvigorated, doing a lot of tricks we haven’t seen you do in a long time and it just looked like you were having a lot of fun. Is that representative of the fact that your attitude on life has changed so much recently?

Yes for sure, the divorce opened up a lot of my mind. It made me realize what I really want in my life. It gave me so much energy to focus only on riding. Because of all the working out I’m doing I have twice as much energy and I can fully enjoy riding again. I’m really trying to pull it together in time to get something down with these two videos. Cross your fingers… Hope you guys like them?

When you’re filming a section, what’s your thought process like these days? Are you out there looking for specific set ups or is it just an issue of traveling and seeing what you find? Are you still able to film in your hometown on spots you’ve been riding for years or is it totally necessary that you ride new spots?

When I go out filming I just try to find things that look fun and hard at the same time. I have these thoughts of making anything I do have a feeling of rhythm. I want things to look smooth, fast and delicate. Not so rough and reckless. It’s kind of why I don’t ride pegs. I feel like it’s too hard to be gentle with pegs. I have to say, Danny Hickerson does a damn good job. I just like to ride everything, and I definitely feel like I can still film here in Chicago. As I progress I can apply that to spots I have already ridden. Finding new spots is always sweet though.

Back in the day video parts were a lot more relaxed and the expectations were pretty low, and over the years it’s become more and more banger-oriented per say where all the kids seem to expect their favorite riders to do death defying tricks and invent new tricks altogether. Has filming a video part changed a lot for you over the years and do you feel pressure to impress your fans?

No, Just pressure to motivate myself. I want to produce parts that make me feel like I am producing the ideas I have in my head. Something I am happy with is hard to accomplish now. When I had the shop I didn’t care so much of how things looked I just cared that I got them done. Now I have to do them perfect or I am not happy. I do think that videos parts have gotten harder to film but it is just more motivation to push myself and evolve with BMX. By the way, call it trendy if you like, but taking brakes off, putting big bars on, which are now industry standards, has in my opinion made BMX ten times better. These modifications to my BMX have proven to improve my riding skills substantially.

You’re 28, If you had to guess, how many more years do you think you have left as a pro rider? Having traveled all over the world and had so many experiences, is there anything in particular left that you want to get out of bike riding?

I am going for the oldest pro ever. I started young so I have a good chance of making it. I just talked to Rick M and he is now 45 and still riding. That gives me great hope. There isn’t much I want to do besides continuing to have fun!

Thanks a ton for the interview man, it’s an honor. Whatever you want to say here, thanks, shout out’s, etc, feel free:

The past few years of my life have been pretty rough, I really think I might be in a correctional facility if it wasn’t for all these people. I would like to thank my Mother and Father, my family, and my dear friends. I great deal of thanks to David and the whole Fly Bikes team. Tina, Tom, Hanson, and the whole Empire family I love you all. Duffs footwear and Brian Osborne for all the help and support. David Leep, Andrew Brady and Tom Arkus, for all the help they provide for me throughout the year. Thank you Jay Cunningham and Intelligentsia coffee. Thanks to Chelsea, Katy, and Delicious. Last but not least Timmy Theus, Mecky, Trent, Sam C and Brian Kachinsky for riding with me everyday and pushing me to ride more.