When you meet someone for an interview and the first thing they do is they buy a beer and tell you to, “hold on one second while I take a piss in this alley,” some people might be put off by that. Those actions just solidified in my mind that this was going to be a good time. I met John in Brooklyn on Saturday afternoon during the Bike Fetish Day celebrations where we found a nice stoop for our Q & A session. If you follow his blog (Prollyisnotprobably.com), you know it gives you a sense that he is a very humble and down to Earth kind of guy. Well, that is exactly what I found to be the truth. It was a lot of fun to sit down and talk with him about fixed freestyle, architecture, and toys, but for as much fun as it was, he always kept an air of seriousness about it.
John “Prolly” Watson is all things bikes. Coming from a background in mountain and road biking, his knowledge compounded from there after he moved from North Carolina to NYC. A jack of many trades on 2 wheels, being a sponsored fixed freestyle rider, still riding his road bike and heading out to the Velodrome for track races, John offers a well versed and respected perspective on the cycling community. We touched on a bit of everything, the future of fixed freestyle, the NYC bike scene, and how awesome The Sword may or may not be. Check it out along with photos from Water St. Sessions last Thurs!
OOPM: How long have you been riding bikes in general?
John: Mountain bikes and road bikes in college, then when I moved here (NYC) I started riding a single speed conversion, then a fixed gear. So, I don’t know, probably since like 2000. I mean, you know when your a kid you have like a BMX and like a beach cruiser, shit like that, but serious…I took mountain biking seriously.
OOPM: How long have you been riding fixed then?
John: Well, I moved here in 2004, I was riding a mountain bike. I sold my road bike because I figured the streets would be too shitty for a road bike, as ironic as that is. [laughs] So, I rode a mountain bike, hated it then I got a single speed and caught on to the fixed thing and was just like, “alright, I’ll try fixed.” So, I guess like 5 to 6 years?
OOPM: Was it a progression from there to get into freestyle?
John: Well, I had my conversion for a while and was riding that around, then I got a track bike that actually bar spun…no, before that I had a track bike that didn’t bar spin, then I got an IRO that actually did bar spin so I started fucking around. Actually, here at Bicycle Fetish Day, 3 years ago was when I first learned to do bar spins. You know, like popping up front wheel and spinning the bars, and then backwards circles and stuff like that, pogos, but that was pretty much it. I started taking the fixed freestyle stuff seriously like 3 years ago when I met Tom (LaMarche) and Tony (Fast).
OOPM: How did you meet those guys?
John: There was this competition at the banks called “Battle of the Banks”. I pretty much thought it was going to be skids and backwards circles and bar spins and Tom shows up and is doing 180′s out of the bank and Tony is doing Wallrides to Fakie. They were actually riding the banks like a BMX, and I just met them and we just started hanging out and been friends ever since.
OOPM: Obviously fixed freestyle is blowing up right now and getting bigger and bigger, where do you see the future of that going? Do you think eventually people will start making a living off of this?
John: No, never. It’s a credible sport, but the BMX and the skating industry are MASSIVE industries that have infiltrated every aspect of life. Like corporate advertising, fucking Wal-Mart, and companies know that you can go to like southern California, you can throw a contest in NY, and put big money up and guys are gonna fucking go at it. It’s all about crowd appeal too. You can watch guys do stuff on fixed gears that looks ok, or you can watch guys on BMX fucking kill it, and that’s the difference between the 2 sports. One is fun and one is like, you gotta be really fucking good. Like if you’re a pro BMX’er and you’re good, you’re going to make a lot of money. There’s no way if you’re a fixed gear rider you’re going to be as good as a pro BMX’er.
OOPM: Do you think a lot of it is also understanding? Like people see fixed riders riding and they assume it’s just like a BMX bike, so since the show is not as “grand” as a BMX show…
John: Yeah, yeah. You already have kids talking about getting paid, and it’s one thing to have a sponsor and get a free frame and maybe a flight, like a travel stipend. But it’s another thing to actually be paying someone. It’s a lot about representing the company, it’s a lot about giving product research and development, like developing new products. Those kinds of things are worth more to companies than your face or your name on a bike.
OOPM: Do you think that’s because it’s so new and still developing?
John: Yeah, it’s new, but a lot of the companies that are making this stuff aren’t big companies. If you look at the first few companies that made the first actually fixed gear frames were small grassroots companies. Do these companies have at least $60,000 a year to pay someone, no, or $40,000 or $30,000? No.
OOPM: Do you think if bigger companies do step in and start paying people that it will kind of ruin it?
John: It’s kind of hard to say, “ruin” or mess up the sport is one thing, but when we started doing this shit it was because it was fun and something different. Like, I take it seriously and I practice stuff, but I don’t take it so seriously that I’m gonna feel like if…I don’t know, it’s a hard line…this for me is a fun way to spend my time. I mean, you can tell at the pace that the sport is progressing kids are out there hucking themselves off shit, putting pegs on their bike, going massive doing all this crazy shit. You can tell, those are the guys that want it, they want it, they want to get paid, and it’s just a matter of what you want to get or expect to get out of it. For me it will always be something that is fun and I’m comfortable doing. I’m not gonna push myself to where I can injure myself to the point where I can’t race at the track or couldn’t ride my
road bike. So, for me, I have a little bit of a different slant on it. Also with the blog, I feel like my blog is the credible thing that I come from. I’m not like a fantastic rider, I’m good at what I do. People know me because of my blog not because of my freestyle tricks.
OOPM: So it really boils down to what you’re trying to get out of it?
John: Yeah, exactly.
OOPM: Besides bikes and collecting those, you also collect toys, right? Like vinyl toys?
John: Yeah, it’s not like…ok, yeah, it’s super fucking nerdy, but…[laughs]
OOPM: That’s ok, over half the people at the magazine collect vinyl toys so…
John: But it’s Japanese, it’s Kaiju, it’s not western like Kid Robot style stuff. My biggest thing is like, I’m good friends with the guys from Mishka, and I introduced one of my friends Joel whose name is Lamour Supreme to them a while back and they’ve been doing collaborations. Basically Kaiju roughly translates to “strange beast”, and it comes from all the Godzilla and Ultraman movies from Japan where it’s these strange beasts that are destroying cities, so you know kids would play with these vintage vinyl toys that were literally made in a factory by some old man pouring vinyl into a hot press and making the toy. So, now you’ve got these companies that are doing limited runs, and when I say limited I don’t mean like 100 pieces, I mean like 10 pieces that they paint themselves and they sell for a decent dollar rate. You just have to find a way to get them from Japan, so I’m really into collecting those kinds of things where it’s like each toy is handmade, and some special variety. It’s also not as cutesy cartoon-ish like Kid Robot, it’s pretty nasty like really organic and kind of rough. You can actually see tool marks and shit like that. But I’ve only been picking up pieces like if Mishka would do something or if my friend, Lamar Supreme would do something I’d grab a toy, but now I’m actually searching this one artists stuff out pretty regularly.
OOPM: So it’s more the hand crafted aspect of it?
John: Yeah, and there’s only a few guys that I like too, I’m not buying into the whole thing.
OOPM: So you have a degree in Architecture, do you still do a lot related to that field?
John: Yeah, I’m going to be an architect one day. I moved to New York to work in architecture. 40 hours, at least, like usually around 60 hours a week, and I was working full time until about 5 weeks ago when I was laid off because my office just ran out of money. The industry is so slow right now that it’s not even worth it to look for a job, so I’m collecting unemployment and selling bike parts, and just focusing on the blog more and riding. I can actually race at the track now, they do track racing out here on Wednesday nights. I could never leave work early enough before. Come September though, I’ll probably start looking for a job.
OOPM: Do you do graphic design as well?
John: Not really, I mean, I kind of built my web site. I didn’t use a template or anything, so I learned CSS, and PHP, and some HTML, and I actually had a friend that works at Mishka, Mike Jones, did my logo. Going through architecture school, you kind of learn the fundamentals of Gestalt, form space and order, and the grid, so I can like apply that stuff, like I can look at something and lay it out, but I’m not quote, a graphic designer or anything.
OOPM: How awesome is the band The Sword?
John: Eh, they’re alright.
OOPM: Noooo! Just alright? [laughs]
John: I’m so specific about what I like, and The Sword just misses the mark.
OOPM: How’s the fixed scene in New York?
John: It’s cool! The freestyle scene is pretty much non-existent, there are like 3 people who do it, there’s like Torey, Wonka, and me. There’s a few other people that mess around a little bit. I mean it’s fun because there’s not the microcosms of scenes that other cities have where like the polo guys will only hang with the polo guys, or the messengers will only hang with the messengers. Like here everyone gets along and hangs out, and there’s no shit talking like, “oh you fucking poser, you’re not a messenger, you suck…” there’s none of that. People will kind of heckle the freestyle kids a little bit, but at the end of the day we’re still out there riding our track bikes at the track…
OOPM: At the end of the day, you’ll all meet up for a drink at the bar?
John: Yeah, yeah they’ll still hang out and stuff.
OOPM: What’s your favorite city to ride?
John: Oh, that’s a tough one. I haven’t ridden in whole lot of cities in the US. I really want to ride in like SF and Seattle and Portland. I’ve ridden in Amsterdam, Roderdam, Tokyo, Tokyo was definitely fun because…yeah, I’ll say Tokyo. There is this understanding between the mopeds the cyclists and the cars, they acknowledge everyone’s space and they will encroach upon your space, but they won’t be aggressive about it. So you can be hauling ass down a street and a car will pass you going 50 mph, but they’re not like swerving and honking at you. They’re just giving you the 2 feet that you need. You can pull sidewalk lines, and like if you run a red light people you are riding with freak out, where as that’s not a big deal here. I think overall though definitely NYC. Other than New York, I would say Tokyo is fun.
OOPM: What’s your favorite city to hang out in?
John: Hmmmm…I don’t know man, that’s a tough one. I feel like, Philly is always a good time when I go. I feel like every city I go to, like for instance I was in LA for a little bit, rode around LA. Like brought my bike and had a different experience there. It’s tough, I got to another city and it’s like, “oh, they don’t have this like New York has, or they don’t have that like New York has.” Like, where the fuck are the Bodega’s, why are the bars closing at 2, you know? Everyone wants to drive and it’s like, well why don’t we just ride, well, it’s 10 miles. So, lets ride 10 miles. It’s just getting rid of that comparing it to New York. That wasn’t really an answer to that question, but I would probably say New York.
OOPM: For moments of road rage would you rather have a lazer on your bike or a chainsaw?
John: Chainsaw! [laughs]
OOPM: What should the penalty be for a bike thief?
John: Chop his fucking hand off! No, I’m just kidding. I don’t know, it’s tough, when cities get gentrified and people need to find a way to make money and they see kids riding these expensive bikes around, it’s like yeah, they’re going to steal em, it’s part of the territory. I mean, it’s tough to say, I’m not really an aggressive person, but if someone was fucking with my bike and I had a U-Lock on me I wouldn’t think twice about fucking hitting em in the ribs or the kidney with it, that’s for sure.
OOPM: You ride road, track, and fixed freestyle, do you find that being a well rounded rider actually makes you better rather than focusing on one?
John: Definitely. fixed freestyle has increased my bike handling skills in every other form of bicycle I ride. I’ll go out on the track and my fixed freestyle bike has a 74.5 head tube, and I’m used to turning it on a dime and controlling it. I’ll go out with my track bike that has a 75 head tube, and Kissena in turn 4 has like a few bumps. If you’re over your front end or on the front of your saddle and you’re pushing yourself to where you’re about to shit your pants, and you hit a bump wrong, I’ve totally brought my back wheel off the ground. The packs get a little squirrely sometimes and you gotta fucking make a move, you see a line and you make a move. In general man, like riding a fixed gear aggressively in traffic and on the streets of New York makes you a better bike handler than…I can’t think of anything else. Like I grew up mountain biking and you learn to pick your lines through trees and shit and it’s the same thing, except the trees are moving and they’re on cell phones and they have dogs attached to their hands. But I definitely picked up a lot when I started racing at the track like feeling how you become one with the bike and it becomes an extension. You just move your body to move your bike, it’s not so much moving the bike to move your body.
OOPM: When did you start racing at the track?
John: This season is the first season I’ve raced. It’s fun! I played competitive sports in high school and college. You gotta have that, “I’m gonna fucking eat your head off”…you’re my friend when we’re not out here, but I’m gonna fuck you up right now. I did good opening weekend, I took the gold for the Cat 5′s, and then going out on Wednesday nights is fun. It’s a good mellow scene, everyone is real chill, but you’re there to race, you’re not there to make friends on the track, you’re there to make friends off the track.
OOPM: What bikes are you riding right now?
John: Fixed freestyle is the Milwaukee Bruiser, and it’s got Sun Ringle rims and Answer bars and stem, Charge saddle, Hold Fast pedals, Profile hubs, Profile cranks, it’s a pretty solid build. Road bike I have an Eddy Merckx MX Leader with Dura-Ace 7402 and carbon HED wheels, which is like my nice road bike. I got a vintage Eddy Merckx Track Bike that’s all Nuovo Record which is like pretty classic. Then my actually track racing bike is a Felt TK2 with Zip 440 wheels and some road drops.
OOPM: Obviously your blog is super successful, was that ever in the vision at all when it started, or was it just for fun?
John: No, not at all, when I started it it was because like when I moved here like my friends and family and everyone wanted to know what I was doing. Also, I was at the point where I was going like architectural lectures and gallery openings and parties and it was so new for me to sucked in to culture like that. You come to New York and there is just so much going on that I wanted to find a way to like…I called it a collective collection. Like everything that I find as influential to my life was on the blog and it helped my friends and family see what I was doing. Then eventually bikes became more important. I think what it was, was like 3 years ago everyone on the West Coast was talking shit on us riding our bike like BMX’s and I was like the 1 guy that always stood up for it and I always got trashed. Like Bike Snob ripped me apart constantly and there is a name associated with a face, I think that’s why it’s successful. Then recently since I’ve been laid off I’ve actually been able to go out and working with like Sara Kinney on video projects and taking more photos. Creating more about quality and less about content. I always try to write something about each post and when I’m doing twenty posts a day, it’s not as meaningful as when I’m doing 10 a day that are really really consistent conceptual posts. I feel like people have picked up on that and are appreciating it a little more, traffic is definitely sky rocketing.
OOPM: If you could pick a theme song when you entered a room, what would it be?
John: Oh God! A theme song when I entered a room…that’s a tough one, I don’t know [laughs]. To indirectly answer, you know in Dazed and Confused when Matthew Maconahay walks into the billiards spot, I’m trying to think of something that’s not super like, “hey, what’s up” [laughs]. I don’t know, I mean, I’m a big fan of like…man…this is a really tough one….
OOPM: I like that this is the hardest one [laughs]
John: I know, I mean, there is just so many fucking like, in the recent months I’ve found so many albums that I’m really stoked on…..uggghhhh….
OOPM: We’ll make it easy, what are you listening to these days?
John: Yeah, as far as new albums, 2010, fucking Burzum Belus, that’s hands down the best fucking album, Varg like departed from his keyboard ambient shit and just went back to like Filosofem era and just created a fucking phenomenal pure Norwegian Black Metal album. Dark Thrones, Circle The Wagon is like crust infused like thrash punk fest. Nocturnal, Violent Revenge is like blackened Thrash. There’s tons of fucking great albums out right now, Hooded Menace’s new album is really good. It’s like straight up hard gnarly Doom with like death vocals. Sleep is some of my favorite stuff, Electric Wizard, Black Sabboth, Weedeater. Then like Dubstep too, although Dubstep is weird right now, basically going through the phases that Drum and Bass did in the 90′s and it went from being very dark and bass heavy and rib crushing bass lines to more Dance and House and Garage influence. There’s a few guys still bringing it back, but most of the stuff is more dance oriented. If I walked into a room, I guess something from Weedeater would be cool. I’ve been really feeling that album recently even though it came out like 2 years ago.
OOPM:Last words, shout outs?
John: Thank all the sponsors, Milwaukee, Profile, Mishka, Outlier for helping me out so much. My girl for putting up with it, all my friends, Tom and Tony for getting me into it and pushing me. Other blogs that have shown me love too. Just all the people that are riding an keeping a positive attitude and not taking it too seriously, and still having fun, and just the NYC scene, like my local bike shop Affinity and anyone that has been real with me.
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