| Hey Robin please introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about your background, your work and your environment. |
| My full name is Robin Homes Fenlon, i was born in Manchester, England and have since lived in Hastings before settling in Bournemouth. I work a full time job as a Web Designer for 4130 Publicatons. They publish Ride BMX Magazine, Dig BMX Magazine, Dirt MTB Magazine, Document Skateboard Magazine and MOTO Magazine. |
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| How did you get involved in to more than just riding your bike, like taking photos, writing and designing clothing? |
| I bought Ride UK and Dig magazine for years and i really liked the close family that made up each issue of Dig. As much as Ride UK Magazine influenced my BMX riding, Dig influenced my lifestyle. I wanted to be like them and they took photos and therefore so did I. When i first got sponsored i had an interview in Ride UK. A guy called Laurence Galloway took the photos and that was my first insight into the BMX industry. We became friends and he has taught me alot about photography and other things as well. Writing came about when Brian Tunney asked me to write a sidebar at the Toronto Metro Jam. I jumped at the chance to write something for Dig Magazine and spent days writing a 200 word piece! |
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| How long have you been building websites? Did you teach your self? |
| When i was younger i was an indoor person. I rode but i enjoyed sitting in my bedroom until silly hours messing with my computer just as much. The internet was huge and i wanted to do what nobody else did. Decent BMX websites. I taught myself everything because typical education doesnt work with me. Being forced to sit and read is impossible for me. |
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| You seem to be skilled in many different ways, what is your favorite medium for expressing your self creatively? |
| I find taking photos the easiest medium, although there are many possibilities that i haven't even explored. I am most satisfied making something look good that I have found very difficult. Designing clothes is fun but i find it very hard. Making other people happy is very hard and doesnt usually give me the same satisfaction as doing something for myself. I don't have many favorities, i enjoy lots of things in different ways. |
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| What’s up with Roundabout? How did it come to be and who are your partners? |
| Me and Sebastian Keep are Roundabout and our friend Edd Allen is also involved heavily. Bas deals with the money and daily grind with the printers and distributors, I do the graphics, website and clothing designs, Edd has done all our video stuff and constantly keeps us in high spirits with his keen ideas. We are a good team! |
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| Where do you want to go with Roundabout? |
| I don't know. Its good fun at the moment but who wouldn't want to own a mobile phone company or a plane company? |
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| There seem to bee a bunch of different clothing companies in the world, what makes roundabout stand out from the rest? |
| I wouldn't want to say anything offensive towards any other companies and i wouldn't want to get above myself but i think BMX brands are typically very dark, every piece of clothing is black and thats just not my style. I like bright colours, stripes and happiness. Im really into companies with vibrant colours and good vibes. I really like the Sunday graphics, Odyssey are doing a brilliant job too and Ive always been into Federals Style. Im really into companies that put effort and thought into everything they do. |
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| Tell us about your recent trip and dvd that your are working on? |
| We went on a UK trip with the Roundabout team. Thats Alistair Whitton, Owain Clegg, Sebastian Keep, Caleb Kilby, Chris Souter and myself. We spent a week on the road and filmed everywhere we went. We had a brilliant time and cover-mounted the DVD on the cover of Ride UK which sold over twenty thousand copies. |
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| What is your role at Ride UK, how did it get started, and how long have you been working with them? |
| My girlfriend has worked for the publisher of Ride for a few years so as soon as i moved in with her i ended up spending days at "the office" with her and the people at Ride. I ended up doing some extra work in the Sales dept over christmas and shortly after they gave me a job doing their websites... I have been their for a year. Its good fun most of the time. |
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| You have been working on a few trans ams over the past year. What’s up with them? Do you enjoy working on cars? |
| I love working on cars. My dad messed with cars when i was younger and it influenced me greatly. Ive always liked being a little bit different so i wanted a different car. I wanted a rear wheel drive car that was fast and looked good, no European cars fitted that quota with my price limit so i ended up looking for American cars, Firebirds are cheap here and only available in shitty conditions so i either had to save up for 5 years which would be impossible or buy a wreck and fix it up. Im always learning too, engines are so simple but so complicated at the same time. I'm waiting for the day when i sit inside the car, start her up and go for a drive safe in the knowledge that 'i built this'. |
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| You seem to have a plethora of striped jumpers, how many do you own? Do you have a secrete spot to buy them? |
| No secret spots. Just the local department stores! Like i said earlier, there isn't many BMX clothing companies who make brightly coloured stuff so i have to shop elsewhere. |
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| Describe your bike riding career (or history) from the start to present day in one paragraph. |
| Wow, so many good times rolled into such a small space. I started riding when i saw Road Fools 1. A very important moment in my life. Visited Woodward, another very importaint event. I tried to be every pro i saw before seeing ways of doing things i hadn't seen before. Then i met the Seventies crew, got sponsored, travelled all over, made lots of friends and met lots of amazing people. Learnt that England is a very small place and there is an endless amount of places to go. |
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| Thanks so much Robin. Could you end this interview with a quote, a line from a song, or a statement of any kind. |
| Anything i think of saying sounds either too profound or dumb so i will steal an Albert Einstein quote that i like, "Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new." |
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