Catching Up with Bill Neumann

On the last day at Battle in the Rockies, it was awesome to get two riding sessions in with one of my childhood heroes, Bill Neumann. One of the smoothest cats to ever do this flatland thing we all love. On the way back to the McGraw residence, I caught up with Bill to talk about his roots in riding, his consistency, dropping the hitchhiker at the same contest as Kevin Jones, the Riders Brand. We also discuss beating Dennis McCoy back in the day, quitting riding and getting back into it and a whole lot more. Hope you all enjoy this as much as I did interviewing him.

23 thoughts on “Catching Up with Bill Neumann

    • I would second that Todd, Bill is one of the all times greats. It was awesome to get to ride with him and see the magic first hand. He’s very much still got it, incredible guy!

  1. Watching this made me smile & feel very nostalgic. Great to know my old friend is back at it…
    Thanks for getting this done, E

    • He talked about you off camera Josh. No problem at all, in all honesty I could have talked to Bill for hours and would like to get more in depth in the future but now I just wanted to get a short video done and show some respect to Bill.

      • We had lots of really fun & progressive sessions together in the early/mid 90’s. I feel very fortune to have had the opportunity to watch him practice his craft & do all kinds of crazy, off the beaten path stuff that was for parking lot eyes only.

        I remember the “hitchhiker story” like it was yesterday…Bill mentioned to to me on the phone (this is back when people still talked to relay information) and the trick sounded impossible. A front wheel undertaker..? Yeah, right…
        No joke, days later he was doing them. It was, for lack of a better term, a game changer. For all we knew, Chase could have just made it up to see if Bill would learn something so insane…I mean, we had no idea & no way to confirm if the trick was real, or not. But Bill made it happen…all off a wild description.

        That is just one of many crazy, bomb-ass things he has done in the lot…just to see if it could be made real. Seeing & riding with this creative mind only help me become better at what I was doing and I will always owe Bill a debit of gratitude for that.

  2. Great interview! Bill is the Man. If we can get DMC to compete in an AFA Comp, I’m sure Newman will sign up for an old time rivalry. Wouldn’t that be classic.

    • Thank you Dave, so glad you enjoyed it! You had me visualising DMC’s run and the excitement that would surround him when he rode, the music he rode to and of course the riding. Throw Bill in the mix, wow!

  3. Bill Neumann is a cool ass dude and was one of the reasons why I prefer to ride slow and smooth. First met him at a GT show back in 95 and he complimented some scuffy flippy switchy thing I did. I was super stoked on that.

  4. He rode one of the most dialed bikes I’ve ever.

    Seeing Bill ride at Woodward as a goofy camper kid in 1991 left an indelible impression. Glad he’s riding again.

  5. @Jason – very much so, I think the dialled bike is reflected in his ultra smooth riding style. Its like riding with new rims the whole time. He is so dialled still, love it!

  6. James introduced me to Bill a few years ago. Such a cool guy and awesome rider. Totally agree on Bill’s view of Modern skate park. Modern is one of the best indoor spots I have ever been to.

  7. Lots of interesting bits in here. Funny that he was hesitant to turn pro. There was no doubt he had the skills, but the old guard had not been officially toppled yet (though by 88 the amateurs were better than the pros aside from dmc and moliterno).

    I’m glad to have personally attended one of the most historic flatland contests of all time. I remember watching Bill practice that day in the arena. He was the first guy I saw do a hitchhiker. Kevin was off in a parking lot away from the arena trying to keep his tricks (esp. the backpacker) secret.

    I’d love to see Bill bust out a pedaling/gliding pedal picker!!!

  8. It just occurred to me, what might have been, if DMC kept riding flat regularly upto know. Imagine if he did,& dominated the way he used to.

Leave a Reply to Austin L Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*