“I met Johann for the first time on a sunny eve @ Camden Bowl in London. I defo remember his old school Kashimax seat and SKYWAY sticker, as well as his gold shimano DX hub, we chatted fondly about the OLD SKOOL. My first impression was that Johann was a really pleasant guy and over the course of the last year or so I have spent time with him, he hasn’t disappointed me in the “really nice guy” stakes. We have shared a few beers (probably not enough) on Wednesday nights after riding the bowl and well frankly, Johann is the type of guy who always makes you think “I could be a better conversationalist”. He’s really interested in what you think about stuff, asks stuff about what’s happening in your life a lot, which leaves you thinking ‘ah fark, I didn’t ask him shit’. Johann is especially keen on anything 1/2 related to old school BMX and his passion shows through longevity in such a creative lifestyle – It took me a while but I realised Johann has been in the London BMX scene for many, many years and that I once was captivated by an article he did on the flatland crew for Ride BMX UK magazine. Johann has bike skills, I remember one time he turned up, dropped his bag next to the fence and dropped into the bowl, cruising smooth as silk, flowing some really nice lines while jamming a toboggan and eggs up’s (x-up’s in bicycle union speak) out of the deep end! I also remember his first session at ‘THE SPOT’, a very difficult but fun as hell place to ride, it usually takes people a few sessions to link and flow there but Johann had it dialled. Johann is an accomplished flatlander and there’s not enough that can be said about the type of dedication and commitment it takes to be mildly proficient at this discipline of BMX. It wasn’t till the last few months I locked into his website to discover he is an extremely talented designer/illustrator, and you know what, I am not surprised. His lines are equally as smooth, clean and impressive at or on any medium he commits to. Cheers Johann for being one of the good people!” – Yoco Life
1) Who is Johann Chan? (Age, location, etc) Well… I’m not getting any younger, I live in London with a flat full of BMX’s and my girlfriend, and I work as an art editor/designer in publishing.
2) What motivates you? Good music, genius design and creative people; I have a cool friend who used to ride flatland called “Seb Lester”, who’s pretty inspiring with his progressive design stuff. There’s also a cool group of creative people I ride with at Cantelowes; Chris-Hill Scott, Ben Richardson, Chris Gordon, Rob Loeber, Ross Tepperek, Mad Mike, Ed Salter and George Marshall. Some of the Green Mile, lot are pretty cool too.
3) How many hours a week do you ride? Not as many as I’d like at the moment – I try and get lots of short sessions in; Sometimes just 30 min’s, here and there, at lunch times and stuff.
8 ) Would you describe the last 10 years of your creative life as; A) a strictly forward progression, B) a lateral progression/evolution. It’s progressed on a professional level definitely. On a creative level it’s a compromise with time and a team. It’s hard to match the time and creative freedom, which you have at college,so the conceptual results can be very different.
9) What trick will you be trying to perfect next? Turndowns today, well I’m trying to learn turndown airs, and flatland wise – pumping stuff.
