Video: Rob Roskopp Owner of Santa Cruz Bikes Interview

 Yeah 1 thing i agree with Rob that the UCI put's allot more money & intrest into road cycling & care allot less about mountain biking,the UCI have done enought bad things like dropping 4x which is one of the most exiting gravity sports with in our sport.

 www.pinkbike.com/news/UCI-Mountain-Bike-Trials-World-Championship-2012.html
in there you'll see 4x.

 Yes but only at the World Championships that there is 4x again,other than that we never gonna see 4x at the World Cups any more but now we got the 4x Pro Tour which was awesome.

 Always seemed that governing bodies in any sport take more than they give.

 When some organisation grows big enough it becomes inefficient and corrupt. In small companies, organization clubs or whatever as soon as you start to free ride it gets spotted and they either kick your ass bringing you back to normal or they kick you out. In a small group money distributions is also easier to track.

Organizations and Governments have additional problem: the money they spend isn't theirs. They should spend someone elses money on someone else and a bit on themselves to be able to operate, but huh, not only they start to have problems with targeting those who need those money accordingly in the first place, but they also take much more for themselves - anybody wants to support some NGO? Thirdly if there is an out of balance huge accumulation of power, there is less and less bodies to control what that power is doing and eventualy execute consequences upon it.

The natural thing though is that when it gets too big, it starts to fk around too much, underestimates threats, some small brown people get pissed off - (be careful if you have sent them weapons or nuke plans in the past) In case of UCI, I think Freecaster has already shown that Roadie Mafia should watch themselves

 im waiting for 29er hater comments to come flooding....

 hell yeah!!!

ROB for Prez!!!


This guy is the real deal- anyone want my stumpy? I'm off to get that Tallboy LT c!!!!

 I hate 29ers and I have never ridden one !!! ; )





nah only kidding I don't give a shit what people ride as long as MTB still lives.

 seems like cool guy, but also has an extremely intimidating face

 How can you not like Rob? Done so much for (at least) two sports.

 Same here, in the 80's I had a Santa Cruz board with Kryptonic Wheels and Taylor Trucks. Man my Board was the shit man.

 I still have a VHS vid of the Santa Cruz crew wheels of fire. He was a total 80's shredder! Just saw the Dew tour and they had on old guys comp and Cab, Hosio, Mountain and Miller ripped the bowl. Too cool!

 Wheels of fire VHS - classic... I had a few Roskopp boards.

 @bikeboardblade: >> Yeah man!!!! I grew up skating and had numerous different SC decks (Stingers and Kendalls), and even lived in Santa Cruz for ten years. Now I'm MTB'ing and here again is Santa Cruz.

And come to think of it, "The Syndicate" is a lot like "The Bones Brigade". LOL

Can anyone tell me what Santa Cruz is doing for Enduro racing in the states? Support for a series that I don't know about?

 rumour has it that this might be his brand.... www.pinkbike.com/photo/8571921

let us know if it works for you....

 i agree with his XC comment after watching the london olympic MTB XC which really lacked any technicality to it. it just looked like a ribbon of dirt path with some arbitrary rock sections. it looked lame and something that could have been navigated just as easily on a cyclocross bike. but yes, there are technical XC trails and races out there.

 I have massive respect for cyclists of all kinds. That category includes xc riders

 martin-m, O.martinez here do your home work before you type,we need guy's like ROB that are in the know or now and can shape any thing,you'll look back when your older,and you'll know so don't hate on me for my word's to you,sorry O. martinez

 Well I personally have absolutely no respect for most parts of riding bikes that are referred to as "cycling".

 @ d-wojo: I agree the olympic trail (apart from the rocky flat section where they were jumping) was pathetic, and agree with the cycloX statement, but again trails like Coed-y-Brenin in Wales are super technical and rocky. CyB was the only place I've ridden abroad, so I havent much experience of foreign trails, but I know Irish trails are very technical.

@ petegson: If you dont like cycling, how do you propose to move the bike?

 @Martin: I don't want to put words in anyone's mouth yet Rob appears to me to be the kind of person who would be happy not to have any say in the shaping of XC. As he says, XC is all about who is the best climber. I watched the Olympic XC and have to say those guys climbing ability is just out of this world.. unbelievable levels of fitness and skill. However at the end of the day it is all about the climb, and only the climb really. In that respect it is more one dimensional and thus less attractive than say Enduro for many riders.
If I were a frame manufacturer I would be very interested in promoting sports that attract a wider variety and number of participants who would want to get on my company's bikes and take part. As Rob says there appear to be very limited funds available from the UCI for promotion of gravity events so maybe the manufacturers would appreciate the chance to organize things too....

 orientdave - please don't judge XC racing by Olympics track... that thing is a disgrace, someone has fkd up the order of the letters - it was CX not XC. Watch a replay of 2012 XCO in South Africa. If what some of you wrote was true that it's all about the climb - guys, I wish most of those fast guys you know, could outride those top XC guys on DH track, please that shows that you know little about XC racers. I think Nino Shurter for instance could even show your fast friend how to whip it good. And they don't practice handling skills for fun only, they need it in the race, you win by being a good climber with no technique on Buds fireroad weekender.

 I stand by my comments: XC I have watched on a variety of tracks, UK, SA, US, Europe and all seem to me to ba about one's ability to climb over descend. Put it this way, you take any fit, competant pro Enduro racer and I would be willing to bet that on the average UCI. XC course there would be very little, if any difference in the times on the descents when compared to the pro XC riders. However on the climbs the XC riders would I bet, wipe the floor with the Enduro guys. Yes, it's only my opinion however that is the only one I am responsible for and it sits fine with me.
The point I really wanted to be seen however was nothing to do with that... I want to say I think Rob seems to be more interested in having a greater say in gravity focused events over XC. I stand by that too until Rob posts otherwise.

 I'm just an average rider, and XC holds no appeal. That's unfortunately all we have here. I don't even visit the trails they hold the races at- they're by the ocean and feature less than 100ft gain/loss of elevation. An enduro on the mountain side of my town? I would try to enter every possible race.

Enduro- Fun.
XC- No.

 Me too... when I do. TT

 I wish all bald men looked that great.

 Why dafaq re u talking about bald guys?
Hahahah just kidin I'd also like to look that good bald

 Very well put!!

 Small correction- not his personality rather personality of his riders. Typing on iPhone not so great.

 It all depends where you live. There are more trails that I can ride all within an hour of my house, but I live within an hour of Park City UT.

 I hear ya. We have a fair amount of trails as well. However, it seems there is a constant battle between land management departments and riders.

Killer trails are being torn down left and right. I've been trying to save one of our local favs for past year. It sucks to spend more time writing emails, making phone calls and trying to advocate to closed minded gov officials than spendind time working on a trial with a shovel. It'd be nice if we all lived near epic parks. Funny thing is, if gov/business understood the $$$ potential we can offer there would be a ton more trails (killer trails at that). I know nobody drops the cash we drop without trail access.

Imagine what the bike industry would be like if there was greater community support? I have hope my brothe, we all do.

Keep'm spinning!

 I was studying today for an exam (gonna be a mechanical engineer one day) and got to the part with the Aluminum-Lithium alloys and thought the same myself. If i got it right, with only 1-2% of Li the alloy can be lighter up to 10%, but it looses on rigidity. So Al-Li alloys are not good for parts which are exposed to direct hits - such as bike frames. Unfortunately I don't know how to explain it precisely because I'm not studying in english, but I think that that's the point.

 didnt know they existed.....sorry....i will ask him again....next time

 Thanks it was a rush job when I did it, hence no mic on his shirt..., im glad you like it....rob has some good well thought out answers.

 good job if its your first it was a good one thanks a lot words with some meaning thank you,keep going.

 well done interview! I also like to see more like this.

 It's not in his best interests to mention gearboxs etc. So like anyone, he wouldn't.

 @Lehel: Actually aluminum gains rigidity by adding Li. So by adding Li you can decrease the density and at the same time increase the Young's modulus (rigidity) which is a perfect combination for building lightweight bikes. Unfortunately processing of AlLi alloys including forging, casting and welding is everything else than state of the art in industrial application. The main problem is the excessive reactivity of Li with everything that gets in touch with it. Furthermore there is a huge demand for Li these days which makes it very expensive, but that was the same with carbon composites back in the days. So maybe we will see some special AlLi applications in the bike industry as well, maybe as a competition for Titanium.

 LOL, I was just about to post this reply to the guy wanting to know what brakes Cedric had and refrained as it was a bit over the top.

What would it matter? It's this sort of generic generalizations that made the interview so stale, and makes people keep opinions to themselves. Rob couldn't really speak his mind, or young muppets would parrot it out of context like some sort of gospel.
All brakes use pretty much the same form of parts, and similar designs, it's pretty much the mechanical advantages that differ, and weight. It was no doubt just a freak rock strike, or his mechanics error.

But yes, in this industry, you really just have to play it so cool and mainstream.

 Carbon is pretty much the best material for bicycle fabrication, but it's in it's infancy still, and very easy for manufacturers to get it wrong. In todays day and age with our over population and desire to consume, carbon frames can and should be made to last for decades IMO, and still perform ridiculously well, and still be light weight.

 Try it on Vimeo. Embedded did not work for me, but the Vimeo feed did. michael

 this interview was done the week before....

 He is still the only rider currently that can take an overall win from Gwin in my opinion . He's got the skills but more importantly he has a great attitude , not gonna name and shame people but a fair few of the top 10 either have thier head up thier arse or in the clouds mentally.

 He rides (or brakes) for HOPE but you can't blame the brakes in his situation, a rock slashed the brake hose open. Great interview! Rob has such a great honest view on MTB it's just great to hear it coming from such a well respected leader in our sport.