Chad Kagy says goodbye to his sole bike sponsor Failure Bikes
The professional BMX rider, Chad Kagy, parted ways with his sponsor, Failure Bikes, over a week ago. According to him, the decision was taken after due consideration from both the parties and is for the best.
Kagy broke the news of his association with Failure Bikes coming to an end through his twitter account. The tweet made by the California-resident on June 23rd read, “Not riding for Failure Bikes anymore” and “Recent change to benefit us both.”
On the very same day, he followed up his first tweet with “No current bike sponsor, industry is rough at the moment but things will turn around.” One could not help feeling amazed after going through this tweet.
The 32-year-old pro rider said that before making the decision, both he and Failure Bikes’ Matt Bischoff, also known as Beard among his peers, had discussed it and felt that it made a lot of sense to make the change.
While this highlights the fact that Kagy was not dropped by Failure Bikes, but instead chose to part ways with the company himself, it still seems a bit odd to find such a high profile BMX rider with not even a single bike sponsor. He does have other sponsors,
which include Arma Energy Snacks, Alpinestars, Real Water, Kicker, KLeN Laundry, Nitro Circus, Bikes Over Baghdad.
Not finding a single sponsor from the BMX industry is somewhat surprising, considering the athlete is often on television while participating in the X Games and Dew Tour. Instead of finding the BMX industries capitalising on the opportunity to gain more
recognition by getting their names on the bikes, it is normally the energy drink companies who end up clinching the chance to market themselves.
The surprise of him with no sponsor from the industry increases in magnitude after taking a look at the numerous achievements of the BMX rider. While he started off with participating in both park and vert competitions at the age of 17, he switched his focus
solely to the latter and big air competitions in 2003 and has been making waves in the two disciplines ever since.
For nearly a decade, the Californian has been posing the greatest threat to the legendary BMX rider Jamie Bestwick’s domination in the BMX competitions. His fearless attitude during the contests has allowed him to collect 12 X Games medals to date, which
includes the Vert gold in 2006 and Big Air gold in 2008.
The Gilroy-based rider recently earned himself a bronze medal in the Vert competition at the KIA X Games Asia a couple of months ago even though he was riding with a broken hand.
Other than collecting medals in competitions, Kagy has been making huge contributions to the progression of the sport. He also spends some time with the Nitro Circus family, giving live performances to exhibit his skills and talent. This not only earns him
more respect, but also helps to develop interest of more people in the sport.
Even with such an impressive career, Kagy is sitting without a bike sponsor. It is difficult to comprehend why the BMX industry is not taking more interest in the athletes who are unarguably the ambassadors for their products. Hopefully, the industry will
wake up soon and take the riders under their wing instead of losing them to the energy drink companies.
To find riders of Kagy’s calibre without a bike sponsor underscore the fact that there is something seriously wrong in the BMX industry.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are solely of the writer's and do not reflect the official editorial policy of Bettor.com
Tags: