Interview with Danny MacAskill: "Building a balance bike is like therapy!"

Scotsman Danny MacAskill has been one of the top stars on the bike scene for over a decade. It all began in 2009 with spectacular street trial acrobatics. Also in his latest clip "Postcard from San Francisco" he shows his incredible skills and creativity with tricks that are impossible for mere mortals.

What many people may not know: Danny worked as a mechanic in bike shops before his career as a YouTube star. We spoke to the prodigy biker about the joys and frustrations of wrenching, the meditation of wheel building and the role of good music - and learnt what can make even a superhero like Danny MacAskill lose his concentration.

BIKE: Danny, before your career as a trials star, you worked as a mechanic in bike shops in Scotland for seven years. What brought you to this?

DANNY MACASKILL: It came about quite simply: through biking. I was already doing crazy things on my bikes at the age of eight. I rode cantilever brakes with plastic grips. Something broke almost every day. I couldn't take the bikes to the garage every time. So I repaired them myself. At the end of school, I didn't really know what else to do other than anything to do with bikes. I was keen to become a bike mechanic. So I started at Bothy Bikes, in Aviemore, where I'd often spent my holidays. The mechanic there, Martin Macbeth, took me under his wing and I was soon building custom bikes for customers. I learnt a lot in the process. I later moved to MacDonald Cycles in Edinburgh.

Which workshop moments do you still remember?

Back then at Bothy Bikes, I once wanted to show a girl how to change the oil on her Magura Louise disc brakes herself. I had rarely done this myself up until then and was probably not fully focussed, and the oil splashed directly into my eye. Luckily it was mineral oil. Another time, one of my workshop colleagues in Edinburgh was supposed to change the oil on a suspension fork. He had forgotten to let the air out beforehand. The inner workings of the fork flew through the workshop and around my ears.

Was the workshop also a place where you dreamed of new bike tricks and new adventures?

But of course. At the same time, the workshop was the place where I hung out with my friends. I worked five days a week, but I was also there on my days off. It didn't feel like work. It was my passion.

You spent your lunch breaks in the bike shop very actively and creatively.

Yes, that's right. It was 2008 and we filmed for a whole winter for my first video. I needed particularly dry conditions for some of the tricks. My boss at MacDonald Cycles always allowed me to take long lunch breaks when the weather was right. The video made me famous. It was the start of my trials career. I soon gave up the workshop job. But until three years ago, I even built my own wheels. And I'm still passionate about building them. I would love to be a World Cup mechanic one day. Well (laughs), but I have a few other things planned first.

Building wheels can be quite nerve-wracking.

Or the opposite! For me, spoking wheels myself is one of the supreme disciplines of wrenching. Of course, there are also frustrations. For example, if I have calculated the spokes to be a millimetre too short. But basically, it's an enormously satisfying process to see an incredibly stable part grow from the delicate individual parts of spokes, rim, hub and nipple. Lubricating the nipples, slowly building up the tension, adjusting the spokes. The end result is a feeling of satisfaction. I use a tensiometer to check the spoke tension. But I also orientate myself to the sound, striking the spokes like the strings of a guitar. This requires an almost meditative immersion - and is of course not the most communicative way to work.

Do you prefer to screw alone?

Yes, I prefer to do it alone. I also like to go biking alone. It helps me get into a flow state. It's similar in the workshop. Building a wheel or a custom bike can be like therapy, it makes me really happy.

Bikes don't talk rubbish and don't contradict you. I plug in my headphones, listen to music or a podcast and off I go!

What sound do you treat your ears to?

At first it was electronic music. I played Blood on the Motorway by DJ Shadow up and down. But also heavy metal classics like Judas Priest. At my first job as a bike mechanic, a colleague gave me a taste for it. After that, I worked in a dark basement in Edinburgh, and the music turned it into a friendly place. Music is pure pleasure, just like food or sport, but for the brain. It accompanies me from the moment I get up until I go to bed. When I'm biking, new songs give me the feeling of being in a new place, even if I've already ridden there umpteen times. These days I listen to a lot of electronic music, including 90s trance and techno when I'm e-biking.

You talk a lot about music. It seems to play an important role in your life.

Yes, I had piano lessons as a child. But I wasn't good at reading music. Nevertheless, I dream of making music for my videos myself. I've already bought equipment for it. But I'm not there yet. I prefer to work with people who are professionals. It's not easy to start from scratch. Maybe I should produce music rather than play it myself.

You never stop learning. Do you see parallels in the learning curves for biking and screwdriving?

This can go hand in hand. The more you ride your bike, the more often you have faults and the more urgently you want to be able to repair them quickly yourself. Wrenching on your bike is not rocket science.

The better you get at screwing, the more you can push your bike, the more fun you have because the brakes grip better and the suspension works smoother.

How often do you still work on your bikes today?

I get support from my sponsor Santa Cruz. But I still like to build the bikes myself. Not everything has to be new. For example, I often screw the brakes from my old bike onto a new one. Never change a winning team. Why should I adapt new parts when the old ones work perfectly? It takes me just four hours to assemble a bike. I sometimes spend more time a day on my smartphone.

What can ruin your day when screwing?

Messes with tubeless sealant (laughs). It can be annoying with all the different standards for bike parts. This makes many things more complicated today than in the past. Re-routing cables in the frame can also lead to nasty surprises.

What is important when choosing tools?

High-quality tools really do make a huge difference. My most important tool is a big hammer (remains silent for a moment and then laughs out loud). No, I'm just joking! I use a small multi-tool for most screwdriving jobs - even for unscrewing the pedals. After all, I travel a lot and don't always want to carry a heavy toolbox with me. At home I have a small workshop with a workshop kit from Lezyne. It contains the most important tools. That makes a lot of things easier. For my trial bikes, I usually don't even use an assembly stand.

Which mountain bike model are you currently riding?

A Santa Cruz 5010 CC - an agile 27.5-inch trail bike with 140 millimetres of travel at the front, 130 at the rear and a generous standover height. The brake levers on my Magura MT 7 Raceline point almost vertically downwards. I'm used to that from my trial manoeuvres. I have also fitted large 203-millimetre brake discs. My suspension setup is a little harder than normal. The suspension travel is almost borderline short for the kind of trails I like to ride, but that's exactly what I like. It allows me to explore the limits of the bike.

Show me your bike and I'll tell you what type of rider you are. What does your bike say about you?

There's not much bling-bling. I have a concrete idea and then I realise it. My mountain bike looks pretty down-to-earth. No frills. I chose the parts on the bike strictly according to functional criteria. You won't hear anything rattling or creaking on my bike. I'm pretty picky about that. My bikes may have a lot of scratches, but I still want everything to work properly. The gears shift smoothly, the handlebars fit perfectly, as does the position of the brakes, even if they are a little idiosyncratic. Seems like I'm the right type, doesn't it?

What tips do you have for a quick bike check before setting off on your next bike adventure?

Of course you should check all screw connections. Also: Is there still enough sealant in the tubeless tyre? Make sure the cockpit is clear and easy to use. Do the shift and brake levers harmonise with the lockout lever for the shock or fork and the adjustment lever for the remote seat post? Check whether the brake pistons are working properly and whether the disc runs exactly in the centre of the brake calliper. Turn the wheel upside down or hang it on a stand and check the tension of the spokes. Especially with brand new wheels, it is worth tightening them a little after a week.

As a bike pro, it's not just your bike that breaks down from time to time. Your body suffers too. How many times have you broken your bones?

Probably about 20 times. I don't even know exactly. But when I think about how much I ride and how often I push myself to the limit, that's not a bad ratio. I've never been injured for long.

Superstar Danny MacAskill

Around 113 million views of his stunt video "Cascadia" on the rooftops of Gran Canaria, 1.9 million followers on Instagram - Scotsman Danny MacAskill has been one of the top stars of the bike scene for over a decade.

Danny became famous with his five-and-a-half-minute video released in 2009 with the title "Inspired Bicycles"which was viewed around 350,000 times in the first 40 hours alone. In January 2018, the video reached the incredible number of 38,349,367 views.