The year was 1986. The place was a suburb in the Midwest. A ring of children surrounded two furiously grappling teenagers. One of them was a lanky, misshapen fourteen-year-old; the other a sturdy, All-American-looking fifteen-year-old. Slowly but surely, the ugly kid started getting the better of his rival, throwing him down and kicking him in the stomach repeatedly. As the local children watched in horrified amusement, the ugly kid screamed, punctuating each word with a harsh boot right into the gut of his enemy, "I... TOLD... YOU... REDLINE... IS... JUST... AS... GOOD... AS... HARO!" Wacky, huh? But that's how I felt, I mean, that's how that anonymous kid felt.
Everybody wants to belong to something. For young riders in the
old days, that meant picking your favorite bike maker and defending
it against all comers. For the "grunge" dudes in the
early Nineties, it meant looking exactly like all the other guys
who didn't want to look like anyone else. And for a group of guys
in Georgia, it meant creating their own factory when no "real"
factory would have anything to do with them.
I wish I had a dime for every rider who has said to me, "Our
local scene isn't any good, but I don't know what to do about
it." The unfortunate fact is that no local scene gets any
better unless the local riders themselves pitch in and make it
better. The following is the story behind some dudes (and dudettes)
who have done just that.
"Many years ago in a galaxy far, far away... a group of four
guys decided that they were hopelessly mediocre and were destined
to go unsponsored for the lives of their BMX careers." So
begins the latest issue of the Sweet Bros. GreaseRag
, a magazine dedicated to chronicling the checkered careers of
Brad Sweet and his merry band of men. The Sweet Brothers are a
group of riders who have gone from the bottom of the barrel to
the top of the heap by following the philosophy, "Powered
by local riders".
Brad and Chris Sweet (their real names) started racing in 1980
and competed on and off into the Nineties. Like all young riders,
they dreamed of factory sponsorship, National rankings, and signature
frames. By 1992, however, it was apparent that no factory in their
right minds was ever going to give them a free sticker, let alone
a full ride. They also couldn't help but notice that their local
scene had lost the excitement it seemed to have had in the Eighties.
They could have done what most riders do---that is, gripe and
bear it. They could have quit. What they decided to do was create
their own factory team. They didn't have anything to sell, or
any agenda to promote. They simply wanted to have a good time.
Brad and Chris created some black and white jerseys, bought some
"factory"-style pants, and hit the road.
On their way out of town, they picked up locals Jeff Dein and
Rob Potter. Packed like the proverbial sardines into an old Dodge
Ram 50, the four Sweet Brothers toured the South spreading their
own brand of... what?
The idea behind the Sweet Bros. was that anyone could belong.
As the Brothers toured the National circuit in 1994 and 1995,
they invited anyone and everyone to be a Sweet Bro. Somewhere
along the way, a wacky guy named Colin Stiles joined the Brothers'
caravan. Screaming "It's all politics!" at every National,
the Stile Man became a modern-day Pied Piper, dragging a mob of
sticker-clutching children behind him at every National.
It's not hard to understand why so many people got excited about
the Sweet Brothers. Since the dawn of BMX time, the message behind
most BMX factory teams has been, "Buy our stuff and you can
be like us... well, kind of like us." The Brothers' message
was, simply, "You are like us." It was
a message of inclusion. It was something to belong to that didn't
cost anything more than a cheap jersey. Brad, Chris, Jeff, and
Rob were touring for all of us.
Two years of carrying the torch for local riders everywhere proved
to be more than enough for the Brothers. Rob and Jeff left to
race mountain bikes. Colin Stiles, just like David Lee Roth, had
become too big for the group and left to pursue his own goals.
Chris Sweet joined the Coast Guard. Which left Brad, all by himself,
the last Sweet Brother.
I sat down with Brad recently to relive those salad days of Sweet
Brothering and to ask him about what he's been up to lately. I
think the answers will surprise you as much as they surprised
me.
Q: Brad, what happened to you after the Brothers
broke up in 1995?
A: After the two years of National touring, I
felt burned-out on the sport. I didn't want to leave BMX; I just
wanted to accomplish something different. What I did was to kind
of go local in 1996, stay out of the National scene. I got together
with Ruth Asci, who is really one of the most motivated people
in the sport, and I got involved with the local program. In addition
to that, I'm opening up a brand new track in the Hampton area.
We'll be racing for the first time in July.
Q: I understand that you've recently fulfilled
a lifelong dream of yours and opened a bike shop...
A: I'd always wanted to run my own bike shop,
but I never took any steps towards accomplishing that. What I
didn't know was that my wife, Tammy, was taking those steps. She
signed the lease and set everything up without telling me. Then
she said, "I've got a surprise for you", and drove me
out to the space she'd leased. When she told me that we were going
to open our own shop, it was unbelievable. It was really a dream
come true. I never dreamed it would be this tough, though!
Q: Where is your shop?
A: The shop is in Hampton, Georgia, close to
our new track. Hampton's where I grew up, and this is where Tammy
and I thought we could make the biggest difference.
Q: You've been committed to creating local excitement
for local riders since Sweet Brothers started touring in 1992.
What are you doing as a shop owner?
A: We're heavily and exclusively sponsoring our
local track and racing series. I'm committed to doing whatever
it takes, financially and otherwise, to provide an excellent racing
experience for the local riders. What I didn't expect is how fun
it would be to give back to the sport as a shop owner. That's
why I'm still involved.
Q: What's been your greatest success in BMX?
A: That's a stupid question... laughs.
I never really thought about it.
Q: Okay, what's been your worst moment in the
sport?
A: Hyperextending both my knees.
Q: What class are you riding now?
A: 25 & Over Novice. I've raced Cruiser in
years past, but now I'm going to concentrate on Novice racing.
I'm also street riding whenever I can, but since I work a job
in addition to running the shop, I don't have a lot of time to
do that.
Q: What was the biggest problem you faced in
opening the shop?
A: Well, we're 100% BMX. We started Sweet Brothers
BMX, which is the shop's name, and we had only BMX products. But
nobody in Georgia seemed to care too much about BMX. So we had
to create our own audience.
Q: How?
A: My wife and I put our time and effort into
getting kids involved in the sport. Word of mouth, advertising
the track and shop, and not taking anybody for granted. You get
one chance to get a kid into BMX, so we tried to never waste that
chance.
Q: Brad, let's be honest. You knew that you would
never be a top Pro, or even a top Expert. Why stick with BMX if
you couldn't be a so-called "winner"?
A: I never wanted to be a #1 Pro. I started riding
BMX and something about it got inside me. I didn't want fame or
glory. When I did the Sweet Brothers, it was all about creating
something that regular riders could participate in. Nobody else
wanted to do it. It had to be me.
Q: Why'd you create Sweet Brothers? Why make
it a "factory", but a factory that anyone could race
for?
A: I wanted to get some cheap clothes so I could
wear them. It was an accident that anyone else wanted to wear
'em!
Q: You've been running the shop since May of
'96. You started...
A: With nothing...
Q: And now the Georgia scene is hitting on all
cylinders, you're not eating out of dumpsters any more, you have
an enormous Sweet Brothers truck. That's success any way you cut
it. What's next?
A: I want to rebuild Sweet Brothers Racing. That's
our product line, as distinct from Sweet Brothers BMX. We'll have
jerseys, plates, pad sets, that kind of thing.
Q: What's next for BMX in general? You've got
seventeen years in the sport. Look into your crystal ball.
A: BMX will get bigger, but probably level off
sometime soon in terms of rider count and whatnot. It won't go
back to the way it was a while ago, though.
Q: What's changed since you started racing? Besides
everything...
A: The skill levels are higher now.
Q: What about F-1 racing? Did you get into that?
A: Never considered it.
Q: What can you do to keep BMX strong? What can
all of us do?
A: Keep the new kids in it. If a kid starts racing,
do everything you can to keep him racing. A good track, strong
local scene, strong shop involvement... All of this works to keep
the new riders involved.
Q: Ten years from now, when you and I are gone,
what will people remember Sweet Brothers for?
A: Rob Potter's horse noises during the National
tour. Kids still ask me, "Where's the horse man?"
Q: Where's the horse man... All that work and
it'll be, "Where's the horse man"?
A: Yeah.
Q: What's happened to the rest of the Fab Four
Sweet Bros?
A: Chris is with the Coast Guard in California,
racing mountain bikes. Jeff Dein is racing Superclass. Rob Potter
is somewhere.
Q: Five years from now, BMX frames will be made
of...
A: 4130. 4130. 4130. Am I making myself clear?
4130.
Q: You're now one of the highest-profile people
in Georgia BMX. What's the biggest criticism you hear?
A: The biggest criticism I've gotten is that
I'm freezing other bike shops out of the local track. Well, that's
too bad. When I started the shop, nobody in the area carried BMX
parts. After we create a scene and a whole new group of riders,
everyone comes out of the woodwork and wants to camp out at the
track and sell parts. I'm not going to support that. When it comes
to bike shop involvement, I've been the guy putting the time in.
Q: Just like the story of the Little Red Hen.
Nobody wants to bake the cake, but everyone wants to eat it.
A: Yeah. Next time, they'll know to support the
sport from the beginning.
Q: Let's backtrack a bit. You started off as
a rider nobody wanted to sponsor. You put yourself out on a hugely
successful series of National tours. You make your own clothing,
stickers, plates, pad sets, et cetera. Now you have a successful
bike shop and are making BMX racing possible for a whole new generation
of riders. Give me a simple answer. How'd you do it?
A: My wife Tammy has been the backbone behind
everything. She's made everything possible, kept me going, paid
the bills, leased the shop, you name it, she's done it. None of
this would have been possible without her. She's given up her
time and our time to spend weekend after weekend helping riders,
traveling, running the shop, being a creative force behind our
products and activities. So I'd like to thank her.
Q: Couldn't have done it without her, huh?
A: Absolutely.
Q: Sum it all up. Why have you done all of this?
A: Now, as always, Sweet Brothers BMX is "Powered
by Local Riders".
Q: Says it all.
Brad Sweet is the Horatio Alger of out time. He started with nothing
and ended with the BMX dream---a bike shop, successful products,
and the admiration of hundreds of riders who are racing because
of his efforts. Yet he remains a fairly humble and decent guy.
If you are thinking about changing your local scene for the better,
you couldn't do any better than to emulate Brad.
My thanks go to Brad Sweet and Jeff Dein for permission to quote
their writing, and to Tammy Sweet for returning my calls. Next
month, I'll take you along on my voyage to purchase two of the
most annoying "lifestyle" products known to man---a
mountain bike and a "sport-utility-vehicle". Can a hardcore,
overweight, washed-up Cruiser rider find happiness in following
the crowd? Stay tuned.