Episode 30 - Bill Nitschke

Space Brothers Podcast

The Whopper, also known as the bunnyhop tailwhip, is one of the coolest BMX tricks ever invented, and it's hard to believe it's been around for almost 30 years. The first time Bill Nitschke pulled it off in 1990 in a Burger King parking lot in Greenwood Indiana, he had no idea of the long term impact that trick would make on the sport of BMX. In fact, 5 years after Bill showed this amazing trick to the world, only a couple of people, all flatland riders, were able to pull it off. It wasn't until several years later that street riders started to throw down the Whopper and include it in their bag of tricks on a regular basis. Nowadays it's a common trick, and street riders far outnumber the amount of flatland riders able to pull it off. I've known Bill for over 30 years and in addition to being good friends, we've done a lot of riding, touring, and traveling together. While inventing the Whopper would be enough for most riders, there's a lot more to Bill, than just creating one of the most well-known tricks in BMX. We sat down with Bill at the Master Blaster Planet Studios and talked about his first idol, some of the guys he grew up riding with, becoming an all-around rider, his first BMX components company Pulse Products, riding for Haro, the time he helped start a bike company called Standard, creating Indy Industries, his stint on the GT summer tour, his 22 double decades video project, performing school shows for his company Wonder Wheels, traveling to BMX events around the country, and was he the first person to do a tailwhip on dirt over a set of doubles? So get comfortable, crank up your speakers, and get to know one of the most important riders in mid school BMX history, it's Bill Nitschke... JA!