Billy Lewis - Pimp or Playa?

What happens if you mix the ocean breeze of Seattle, 4130 Aircraft grade metal, 2 tires, and 1 sick rider?

You get a big boy named Billy Lewis, who reps it hard on a 2 wheeler. Ever since the days of bent seat stays over at Tonic Fab this kid has been pounding on the hours in the parks. Read on to get a true understanding of this crazy kid.

What is your name, and what City do you represent?
Billy Lewis, Seattle WA

Just for the record, how old are you?
22 years of age.

Would you say your age aids your riding capabilities?
I would say that my age is an aid to my riding bikes. I have been riding bikes for a long time now and that much time on my noble steed helps a lot.

What company/ies do you represent?
Tonic Fab, RST, Profile Racing, and Atom Lab.

What was the first bike you owned?
A chrome Robinson SST! I had to save for nearly a all of fith grade to get it. The last day of fifth grade I got the bike and I have not stopped riding since.

Who has inspired your riding the most over the years?
I would say that my friends have been my biggest inspiration. I have a rough schedule so I can't always ride with the same people. I ride the most with Matt, Looch, Kelly, and Cory one of them are always down to ride.

Tonic Fab is a small company. Have you been with them since the start?
No Tonic was around before I showed up. The first time I saw Landon it was at one of the Gathering contests were he put on a singlet and proceeded to hit the big line on a full suspension.


Should Landon cut his hair more often or is he better known with the long locks?
Landon has kind of reminded me of rock star status with his long hair. For some odd reason Landon has always reminded me of looking like a young Robert Plant.


If you could ride with anyone, anywhere, where would you go, and with who?
I really want to go to Spain, Germany, and Italy to ride bikes. New Zealand and Australia are also two places I want to ride. I always see the sickest stuff coming out of those places. If I could go with anyone I think it would be my riding buddies Matt, Kelly, and Cory.

What park would you say is your ideal park to ride in?
My ideal park is a skate park that resembles trails. It would be a park full of hips, spines, wall rides, and you would hardly have to pedal. I am also one of those kids that will sit and jib quarter pipes for hours, so I would need some good quarters for some of that action.

Spinal Flatty

Big Air

Why?
Well I love going to the trails but it seems that most of the time I can't make it, so I want my skate park to resemble the trails. I really don't like a park that is to spread out. I feel like a plane park limits the amount of creative lines that can be had.

Judging by your photos, and videos, you seem to be more “style” orientated, would you say that's something you train for, or did it come naturally?
I don't know if I could say that I trained for it. I would just say that I would rather do a kick out than a barspin. I would rather be able to do only a couple of tricks and be able to do them well, rather than doing a lot of tricks and making them all look gross.

Recently you went down to Super Sessions at Woodward West, how was that for you?
It was an awesome trip I met a lot of really cool people. Woodward was amazing and the riding was great! I did have a couple of unpleasant crashes that left me hurting for the weekend but it was still a blast.


Did you drive or fly down?
I flew next to Charlie which was an adventure in itself! Charlie aka Chazz is nonstop. He couldnt stop messing with Looch which was hilarious. When I would stop paying attention ,his efforts would be focused on me.

Were there a lot of big names there?
There were a few big timers and some crazy riding.

How stoked were you to be there-explain how cool it is?
Woodward is a place that I've always wanted to go and finally got the chance. The skate parks were all really cool they also had some cool looking trails. When I was riding there it was cool to look at all of the stuff that I've seen in videos and been amazed by.

What is your take on Blue Ribbon?
Pabst is the number one party beer!

What is the worst crash you have had?
I was doing a downside tailwhip and when my feet were about to go back to the pedals I got stuck on my frame. My bike was blocking me from running out and I landed on my face. I broke my teeth, my face got all cut up, and I got knocked out pretty bad.

What has been the most memorable ride of your life?
I would have to say that it's between riding ditches in Albuquerque and almost all of the stuff I rode in Utah. I can't leave out a single trip of riding at Whistler as well!

It's your generation that will determine which direction the sport goes. Which would you say would be the most ideal direction?
That's a tough call. I think that this mtb park/street/trails scene represents something that's a little bit bigger than just riding an mtb bike where bmx has already been. I feel like this sport represents a group of people that love to ride bikes in many different disciplines. I will sometimes go ride a DH trail for the day, then go hit up a park at night. The most ideal direction would be to see a lot more things happening like the some of the Red Bull events and Qashqai events moving away from hucking and moving into more of the cool creative obstacles. Kind of mixing the whole bmx and mtb.


Do you still consider yourself a ‘grom'?(grom refers to a up-and-comer)
Yes I do consider myself an up-and-comer but not a grom. I'm nothing big time, I just really like riding.

What was the first trick you ever learned?
It's a tie between the one footer, one hander, and the x-up.

Do you still do them to this day?
The x-up feels weird on an mtb bike so not really. As for the one footer and one hander I could say that I still try to do them in table tops and toboggans.

How have you refined the trick, to perfect it?
I think that a trick can almost always get better but if I'm trying to work on a specific trick I will just try to do the trick at the beginning or end of all of my runs.

What is your favorite trick?
My favorite trick is the table top and almost any variation of it.


Who has played a part in getting you to where you are at? Who has helped?
This is one of those questions were people get left out so I will do my best. There are a lot of people that have been nice enough to help me out recently. Landon Holt is the first name that comes to mind followed by Aaron Lutze. They have really done a great deal for me. Patrick and Alex at RST have also been a huge help. Mike over at Atomlab has also done a lot to support me. Of course the support from my parents since I was a little lad has probably been my biggest contributor.

Anyone you want to give a shout out to?
I want to give a shout out to Jenny! I also want to give a shout out to all of my friends that I have been riding with, Matt, Kelly, Cory, Looch, the Byrds, and to the rest of you you all know who you are.

Peace love and respect.