Morgan Long

Name:
Morgan Long
Age:
23
Sponsors:
Stolen Bike Co, Dans Comp, CEM.

You graduated from high school six months early with your bags packed and headed out to southern California. What’s it like now looking back and realizing your in a position that would have seemed like a childhood dream back then?

When I first got into highschool I got assigned to a counsler who ended up being prettty cool, and told him from the beginning of my sophmore year that i wanted to graduate as early as posible. It worked out to wherer I finished up half way through the year senior year, worked full time for two months, saved some money and got to Cali where the sun shines asap. Looking back five years ago and being fresh out of high school with no sponsers, to now being on a pro team blows my mind all the time, to have something become a reality that had been a dream for so long allows me to not ever forget how grateful I am to be in the position Im in and how much work Ive put into it.

What was a factor in you choosing Los Angles as your final destination and what’s the transition over the past five years been like going from a full time bike shop employee to a professional bike rider?

After my Junior year of school was over i spent a month out in Cali tagging along on a roadtrip as the young guy. Durring my stay I was blown away by the amazing weather everyday and realized how big the greater Los Angeles area was with alot to offer for riding. On the trip i Meet Dave who owned Greasy Comb and Stolen and once I lived out here I stayed in touch with wich eventually ended up to Stolen flowing me parts, then months later to me being the only person on the AM team. After awhile Stolen went threw a period where they were changhing up the whole team in a short period of time and they picked up several new pros then. The process of going from working from full time at some points working 50hrs a week to were I could even work part time took the longest. Once I started working part time it helped out a ton and made it easier for me to be productive. The bike shop was an awsome gig and still allowed to have a open schedual but the whole time I was there my mind was set on just wanting to be out everyday riding and not stuck inside the shop, now i just fill in on occasion if they are missing a employee or something.

While we’re on the subject of sponsors I know you were honored to join the Dans Comp team last year and are currently wrapping up your first signature frame for production with Stolen. I can remember many days hanging out waiting on parts I’d ordered from Dans growing up. How does it feel being part of such an amazing team and knowing there will be kids waiting on your signature frame they just ordered from Dans?

Being from a small town in the Midwest with no good bike shop around that carried any BMX parts I ordered 90% of my parts threw Dans between the age of 14 -18. Since Dans is in the Midwest also, parts would always show up the next day so me and my friends would place all our orders at once together and the next day after school I would run home from school and the box would be on the porch. Working on the frame this year has been something every rider dreams of and is crazy to think there will be some kid out there like me when I was in junior high ordering my signature frame and that is excited for it to get delivered from Dans. I cant wait for the first day i run into a kid on the streets who is rocking my frame!

Not only are you riding for CEM but you’ve also played a role from the concept to getting things of the ground. Whats your interest in being involved with CEM and what’s your involvement with the brand?

Ive grown up seeing Ebens work ethic on and off his bike, as well as his passion to be crative on and off his bike. Bothe these qualitys combined with his crazy talent as a artis excites me to be involved in CEM because Eben only knows how to put in 100% effort on anything he spends his time on. My involment will be to help with the team stuff as well as trying to fuel Ebens constantly turning mind on coming up with Ideas that we think will be cool and or different than what is offered in BMX now.

Where do you see your personal life, riding and CEM as a brand in five years from now?

In five years I hope to only have more oppertunities to do more awsome things with riding and to be riding my bike even more than i do now. CEM will be a tight group by then with alot of memories and many more to come at this point, offering open ideas to work with other brands and offering more artwork in the BMX community and putting alot of effort on other visual projects like video(s). Pesronal life is the hard one to guess what i could be up to, I hope t get into racing shifter karts sometime in the near future.

Interview by Eben Fischer