Solid Bikes team rider Gerald Norman Q&A

Solid Bikes team rider and recent San Fransisco local to the east coast's transplant Gerald Norman agreed to do a Q&A for The Bay Bmx.Gerald is one of the Bay Area's smoothest and most talented street riders.
He was kind enough to do a Q&A for us.Thanks to Gerald for taking the time to do this,Here is what he had to say

1.What's your Name, Age, And where do you currently reside?

Gerald- My name is Gerald Norman, I will be 27 years old on April 9th, and I'm currently crashing at Zac Costa's spot in Richmond Virginia.

2.Do you have any hook ups?Also What is your bike set up?

Gerald- I ride for Solid Bikes.I'm currently running a 22' Solid King Cobra frame, Solid Roseanne Bars, Solid stem, Solid Bitch Cranks, Shadow Conspiracy pedals, Solid Reel Sprocket, Solid Death Grips, Animal GLH tires, my wheel sets are so old I can't remember what they are, Shadow chain, Solid Pegs.

3.Tell us a little how you got into riding and what kind of riding do you enjoy most?

Gerald- I was a roller bladder before I got into BMX, one day, my mom was going to buy me a new pair of roller blades, and before we left the house, I was watching ESPN. They were showing a CFB contest, and Matt Hoffman said "When you see this footage, it will make you want to get a bike and go ride", after I watched the footage, that exactly what I did, and now 10 years later I'm still riding.

I've always been into street riding, I enjoy just cruising around with my friends, I just like being in the streets. I also like to ride skateparks sometimes, riding transitions is a little bit easier on the body.


4.Do you have any favorite spots or recent memories of spots you enjoyed?


Gerald- Some of my favorite spots are:
1. UNC campus in Charlotte North Carolina. That campus has everything that you could possible think of, I always had a good time whenever I rode there.

2. Hood Games Skatepark in Oakland, CA.

3. ASU in Tempe AZ. We went there on the Solid trip, and I instantly fell in love with it. We only got to session it once, I'm definetly trying to go back there someday.

4.Rio Linda High School in the Sacramento area.

5. Fairfield Skatepark, my home park. Whenever I go back there it brings back good memories from when I first started riding.There are way too many spots to name, in different parts of the country, if I named them all I'll be sitting here all day.

5.If you could change anything about bmx what would it be and why?



Gerald- BMX is way different then when I first started riding. I feel like BMX is way too clicky, and that riders take it too seriously. BMX is supposed to be about having fun, when I go on the come up and I see riders talking shit on other riders, making fun of the way someone rides, or something along those lines, it makes me think that BMX is whack sometimes. We are all grown men riding around on little kid bikes, none of us are that cool. BMX is fun, and we need to keep it that way. 

6.Who inspired your style of riding and who did you look up to coming up in the game?

Gerald- When I started riding I enjoyed watching Dave Young, Jason Enns, and Van Homan, but otherwise all my friends were my favorite riders.

7.Would you like to give any shout outs?

Gerald- I would like to give a shout out to my family, my mom back in California and to my sister in North Carolina. Aaron, Brent, and Jase at Solid. The entire Solid squad. All my friends in Charlotte NC, and all the homies back in the Bay Area and in So-Cal, my friends in NY, and to all the new friends that I've met since being in Virginia, and to anyone that I may have forgotten,Thanks.




Gerald and all the Solid homies recently went on a trip to Arizona.Peep both videos to see Gerald shred.Thanks to Gerald and Chris Mcmahon over at  Sjbmx for both videos.And check out Solid and support them by buying a frame,bars,pegs, or even some stickers.





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