Niall from Royal Sports

Royal Sports helped us out a ton last year during the stop in Winnipeg for the Metro Am Qualifier and they're at it again this year helping us host the Re-session Tour with the Kink team. I hit up Niall Mossop, one of the main guys at Royal, and he answered a few quick questions.

How long has Royal been in business?
This is Royal’s 30th year right now. They started out as a hockey shop, but as Greg and Gerald (then owner’s sons) got into BMX racing, Royal got into bikes.

What made you want to get into owning/running a shop?
I just started out wanting to be involved more with BMX. I enjoy building and fixing bikes, so it just seemed to fit. Started as a bike mechanic and worked my way up.

You helped us out a lot last year at one of the Metro Amateur qualifiers, how important do you think events like the Re-session Tour and other local events are to the BMX scene?
Small, grass-roots events do a ton for local scenes. They bring the whole town together, and get kids out to experience more of BMX than what they see every day.

How's the scene in Winnipeg these days? Do you see a lot of riders riding everything or a lot more street or park riders?
Brooklyn said it the other day. The Winnipeg scene is rad because it’s not always about getting sponsored or who can do what. It’s about a bunch of guys just riding bikes. Winnipeg is super chill, everyone’s just out to have fun. We have really good parks, and some amazing street; I’d say most guys ride both.

What are you most excited for when the Re-session Tour rolls in to town?
I’m just stoked to go hang out in the sun and have a good time, the weather for the Metro qualifier sucked last year and we still had a good turnout, it's supposed to be a beautiful day so hopefully everyone comes out for this.