Interview: LUX BMX - Australia

Can you explain how the idea for your store came to be?

Ev (Evan Jaques) and I had worked together for a few years at a more general bike store and pretty much ran the BMX side there. When they sold the business they pretty much talked us into starting our own thing and the idea was born.

We wanted somewhere central to the city and we searched for about 6 months before finding our original spot in the Fortitude Valley, which is Brisbane’s rough party district. It was definitely a fun 5 years there!

Can you tell us a bit about your personal BMX History?

Both Ev and I are lifelong BMX riders, Ev grew up in the Blue Mountains, NSW and I grew up in regional QLD.

Ev has worked in bike shops most of his life and is the best BMX mechanic I know. I got my start in the BMX industry taking photos for an Australian BMX magazine called BMXpress when I was 16 or so. I also had an Australian blog called Diversity BMX when I was around 18 which made a bit of money from ad space.

Ev has 2 young girls now so most of his current riding is cruising around with them. I still try to get out as much as I can. I still live for a good old roadtrip!

Are you primarily a BMX shop?

100% BMX until the end! We do branch out slightly with some related products (ie: BMX branded skateboards, big bikes from BMX brands etc) but we’ve always been of the mindset that we’d rather shut up shop than lose our focus on BMX.

Who’s on your team for Vans ‘The Circle’?

Boyd Hilder, 25 years old,

Boyd doesn’t really need an introduction. He’s one of the best all-around riders on the planet and one of the most genuine, humble guys to boot. He currently rides for Vans, Federal, Odyssey and LUXBMX.

Alex Hiam, 26 years old

Superstar AH has been on a street mission lately filming for a new part. Unfortunately, he’s been injured for the majority of the video but luckily he was back on the bike for the last week of filming. Alex rides for Vans, Colony and LUXBMX.

Jake Norris, 28 years old

If you’re still not familiar with Jake Norris you’re about to be. Norris is an amazing tattoo artist, a clip producing machine and your favourite rider’s favourite rider. He rides for BSD, Etnies and LUXBMX.

Tim Storey, 28 years old

The LUXBMX Content King and a real workhorse when it comes to filming and being filmed. Tim does some real creative lines and eats rails for breakfast. He rides for LUXBMX and is riding Federal parts through Motive Distribution.

Brock Olive, 28 years old

Brock has been a staple of the Australian scene for a long time now and his riding has only got better with age. He’s the two time champion of the Australia ‘Slay the Rail’ series and does some of the most ridiculous combos imaginable. He currently rides for Kink and LUXBMX.

Mitch Campbell, 29 years old

Mitch, or Meezy, is one of the most underrated riders in Brisbane. He’s got a really unique style and is a treat to watch. Effortless style. He currently rides for LUXBMX.

Who have you chosen to film the edit?

It’s been a bit of a collaborative effort on the filming front with Troy Charlesworth AKA Biggie B AKA The Real Big Salad and Tim Storey doing most of the riding filming, and I’ve been helping out with a bit of B-roll and technical stuff.

Both of these guys actually work for LUX and make our content already. We all work really well together so it just made sense to keep it going.

Has filming gone well so far?

It’s been a bit tough to be honest. We’ve been locked down for 2 of the 8 weeks we’ve had to produce this video and some of the boys have been dealing with injuries. Jake Norris also lives a fair bit way away from the store, so logistically that’s made it a bit tricky! Nevertheless, the boys have gone in on it and we’ll have something to show that we’re all proud of for sure.

How’s your local BMX scene looking these days?

The local scene in Brisbane is absolutely thriving! There’s so many fresh faces about, and a lot of the old ones that have had a break from the bike are getting back on it. There’s a good mix of all kinds of different riders which I’d say is due to the great weather we have here.

I don’t think it hurts that we have an Olympic gold medallist from Brisbane on postage stamps and getting plenty of TV time; Onya Logan!

How does it compare to when you first opened your store?

There’s definitely a lot more riders around than when we opened up in 2010. Back then you could go to a park and would pretty much know any BMXers name that showed up. Now we’re having jams that hundreds of people show up to, which is amazing!

Have you seen an increase in female riders and more diversity in general over recent years?

For sure! There were maybe 3 or 4 female riders in Australia that we could have named when we opened. I still think there’s plenty of room to grow though, and would love to see more girls get into it. Hopefully seeing girls like Natalya shred at the Olympics will help that along!

How important is a good BMX shop in supporting a local scene?

This is one that may be a bit controversial, but I don’t think a shop purely opening its doors is enough to support a scene. In the age of the internet you can get parts from any corner of the globe; a shop really needs to be a driving force in running events, helping enable locals to run their own, being non-judgemental and building a community in general.

I think locals will always support stores that do this and Australia is lucky enough to have a bunch of like minded stores that are doing a great job of it.

Do you think BMX has been more popular lately?

It really feels like it. There seems to be a lot more BMX popping up in mainstream culture lately and I’m sure that’s having an effect. At first it was ASAP Rocky and Tyler the Creator and now it’s Kourtney Jenner and Channing Tatum, haha! Whatever your thoughts on the Olympics I think that will have a massive follow on effect. I’m sure kids will soon realise they can’t triple tailwhip and prefer slapping pegs on curbs with their new friends instead.

And finally, what’s some of the strangest things that have happened at your store?

I remember someone asking if we had any white tubes to go with their white tyres which was pretty funny! We also had a customer recently make us go through about 20 frames because they didn’t want a serial number with the number 4 in it….

Our spot in the Valley definitely had a lot of interesting characters around. We had some guy think our shop was a tunnel knocking over bikes on the way trying to get through and another dude in a hospital gown dive under the door as we were closing up shop, we had to tackle him out! We also got swindled by a crazy old lady on a coin flip bet. We lost $150 from the cash register. We still don’t know how she did it!