On the steep banks of the Rhine, somewhere in between the crenelated walls of gothic hilltop fortifications and the steady flowing river, packed with ferry-loads of grape-intoxicated tourists, you'll find him... the woodsman. Deep in the forest. Probably with a flying mattock or roaring chainsaw in bandaged hands, or maybe he's mid-line, inverted, with the bike violently rotating overhead. His time is well split between the moving the bike and the earth. There aren't many people this guy can't out-dig, let alone out-ride.
Something of a pioneer in this part of Europe over a decade ago; proving that a German could make it to the very top of the MTB world along with fellow countrymen like Rasouli and Tschugg, Amir Kabbani has now split from competition. But he isn't done yet. The slopestyle rider who built his own bike park has a vision and it's one that few have the talent or determination to see through. Kabbani is a perfectionist with a mind to showing anyone watching the very best our sport can be.
Welcome to castle country....  | My name’s Amir Kabbani. I live in a small town called Boppard in West Germany and for the last decade I have lived the dream of riding bikes professionally—AK |
| Over the last ten years I’ve competed at pretty much all the major slopestyle and dirt-jump contests, even since before the days of the FMB. But as time's gone by I've become more and more hooked on the process of visualising photo and video ideas and seeing them through to a finished product I can be excited about. It’s a stoke that satisfies me like nothing else. Here I am at 28 – no idea where all those years went—AK |
| My own bike park here in Boppard came from... well, out of necessity I suppose you could say. |
| 2001 was when it all started for me... I was about 13 years old. I had a lot of issues sitting still in school, always super hyperactive and found my way to calm down a little through sports. I gave pretty much all of them a try until I got bored, but this one day I found some older kids riding interesting bikes in the woods with motocross helmets on. I followed them and yup, that was true love at first sight—AK |
| The mystery of the woods, flying bikes off a jump you just built…. That was new and electric to me. |
| The slopestyle scene of today has changed a lot. Fresh talents came into the sport lately, they brought new tricks and directions which is super cool. |
| As you might have noticed my name doesn’t really sound that native. I don’t think I act very German either, talking stereotypes, but you’ll never see me be late for something. I hate that and I suppose that's pretty German, haha. My dad is from Syria and came here to study medicine where he met my mum, way before I was born. The town itself is real quiet; not much goes on except a lot of wine culture and castles, but somehow I do like it here and I’ve built myself a good base for bike riding.—AK |
| I have a big family with two sisters and two brothers. They never paid much attention to my riding until things got serious and I told them I was moving 500km away to Munich to ride a giant indoor hall and make some big leaps forward. I didn't want to make a fuss until I knew I could really make it. It was 2006 and I had just won all of the amateur park and slopestyle events I went to so got bumped up to pro-class. In those days Cannondale had a huge Slopetslyle tour called ‘The Cut’ where I was riding against my heroes, but to my disbelief I somehow won those events as well. Cannondale signed me right after and this nervous little kid was suddenly travelling around Europe with the Cannondale Team. Soon after I qualified for the main District Ride in Nürnberg, where I finished 8th place, which helped to cement the start of my career.—AK |
| When my biggest dream came true, I was happy to find out that’s really how it felt every day I woke up. |
| Without bikes I think I’d be somewhere still struggling with life and all those options you have when you finish school and you’re too young to know what’s good for you. I’d probably be a totally different person now; I can’t even tell you because this was the only path that worked in my mind.—AK |
| I have a lot of folks come down to ride my spot quite often. Thomas Genon is usually down for a session. Other than that I am happy that my buddy Patrick Schweika moved close to my place. He rips too and I mean you can have the best spot in the world, but if nobody shares the sessions with you it all feels worthless. You always need a person who pushes you in certain ways!—AK |
| I know Pilli since our really early days of contests... I think our first was maybe the Nissan Qashqai Tour. We became friends and shared a lot of podiums back then. He is a typical funny English guy who does not care at all what other people think about him. Guess that's what inspires me the most, haha!—AK |
| Training has always been a must, it’s only a question of how everyone gets in shape. I used to hit the gym and train on my bike for stamina. No one wants to get injured and building more muscles always helps to protect for the next impact. I also put a lot of extra time into perfecting my tricks; that will save you some hurt! Later I swapped the woods for the gym, which works way better for me. I spend more time there and this kind of workout always brings something new and sweet to ride. I just try to be on the bike as often as possible to keep that confidence.—AK |
| I consider the top slopestyle guys these days as the toughest working guys there are.—AK |
| It’s certainly tough out there for slope and freeride guys to claim their worth for sure - I’d say it’s simply because it’s something not so many people are doing themselves. And fair enough, if you look at numbers this isn’t really something bike companies make money with in the direct sense of jump bike sales. What they too often don’t see, is how much value in terms of image and story that builds for a company. Even if watching a slopestyle contest is something not too many people can relate to from their own riding, it’s still having a huge, lasting impact on the audience and media in general.—AK |
| Just think when someone outside the sport sees this sh*t - it blows the mind of any normal person in the street; it’s absolutely unbelievable to them.—AK |
| The image we athletes create means something, it’s worth something and I say it’s bullsh*t if that can’t be recognised by bike companies. All mountain bikers have a lot to thank freeride and slopestyle for in progressing our sport, I think there should be both ways more attention and financial reward for those pushing the limits. Just sayin'.—AK |
| The ‘In the Woods’ trilogy was my first attempt to get properly into the filming. I love to get hold of an idea and work on it until it’s done and you have that special shot or clip; it lasts forever. I spent so much time with my buddy Lukas Tielke in the forest to produce some unique stuff, having collected a ton of ideas over the year while I was competing. Each edit encouraged us on to the next and I am pretty happy we stomped those three over the years.—AK |
| I think some people in the industry maybe think I am too serious or something, but that’s not the case at all. I love what I do to the fullest and just want to make sure I do things right. When I was competing I was always trying to be the best I could have been, but at a certain point I realised that wasn’t so fun for me anymore so that's why I decided to follow my natural interests, which is the love to create images and film. It hasn’t been plain-sailing, sometimes I struggle to find my role with this and to admit I am sure with my decision. Making your own free choices isn’t always as easy as it sounds.—AK |
| I first built this creek gap back in 2013 for an edit. It took forever to make and ended up less than 2 seconds in the video, so I was pumped to rebuild it again and try a proper trick over it. The spot was too cool not to.—AK |
| The gap itself is super sketchy, with a super short landing to an up-slope. It took me more than a few tries dealing with the intense compression in the small take-off to get the feeling right and go for the trick. But yeah, if things were too easy everybody would be doing them, ha!—AK |
| I just hope there will be as many years on the bike as possible. That thing makes me smile everyday. |
| I'd like to thank all my sponsors that have helped to get me to where I am, my parents for letting me do my thing, my girl Julia and my friends who always encouraged me along the way and hey, also myself for sticking with a good thing; two wheels.—Amir Kabbani |
Check Amir and Lukas Tielke's 'In the Woods' trilogy here:
In the Woods IIn the Woods IIIn the Woods III
Well said!
this made my smile a bit, though.
it so lovely!
With wood?