Krt, Th' Link Magazine, june 2008: My first “real” BMX bike was a black P.K. Ripper with gold parts and black Skyway Tuff Wheels but before that I had a Murray that had 3 gears and you could change the gears by twisting the right grip. It was the greatest until you jumped the thing and the chain flew off. The P.K. Ripper was my favorite but a guy I used to ride with stole it out of my parent’s garage. Figures…
BMX RACING.
Krt, may 2005: I started racing BMX in 1981.
Krt, Th' Link Magazine, june 2008: I met a kid in the neighborhood who raced a little but wasn’t good at all. I remember seeing flyers for races at some of the better bike shops I begged my father to take me to. I had my first race at a long gone track in Brooklyn Park, MN. The track officials sat me in front of the thing they referred to as a “gate” although to me it looked like a “wall”. I finished fourth but that was only because most others in my heat had crashed.
FREESTYLE.
Krt, Th' Link Magazine, june 2008: There was a huge race called the “Rondo Classic” in St. Paul, MN that I went to. The “track” consisted of a few metal ramps and the corners were covered in Coke-a-Cola to make them sticky. While I was riding around the track (I never could sit and watch the races because I was too hyper) I rode past the finish line and there was a guy magically hopping on his back wheel. When I say magically I mean it. I seriously looked to me like an illusion. From then on I never wanted to race again.
Kurt, may 2005: Soon after I met a friend that gave me some BMX Action magazines with pictures of R.L. and Buff doing some incredible things. I immediately bashed my lightweight BMX bike into the ground. Sometime in the next year Hutch produced the "Trick Star" bike and I grabbed it the day it came into our local shop.
Krt Schmidt, krtschmidt.com, march 2008: When the first issue of Freestylin’ Magazine reached my door I immediately wondered if that magazine was going to do a Number One Rider award for freestylers like BMXAction did. So I sat down at my fathers old typewriter and banged out a letter to the magazine. By the time the May 1985 issue was printed I barley remembered my suggestive letter until I opened page 27 and saw that they had not only received my letter and had not only printed my letter but they had taken a photo of my letter and printed it! Surreal. I was in a magazine (sort of) for the first time and I felt pretty great about it. Even though Freestylin’ Magazine is gone the NORA Cup lives on and it’s a nice feeling to know I had the teeniest footprint at the conception.
Krt Schmidt, krtschmidt.com, june 2008: This is in my backyard in 1986. Check out the Zeronine leathers and the Dyno. Too hot. My friend Rich put this image on shirt back in the day. I like this image. It reminds of those days when the snow finally melts, the ramp is dry enough and the temperature is hovering around 35 degrees. Today my bones would scream at me for such a foul but back then it was pure awesomeness.
AFA Masters 1986 round 4, june 29, 1986, Madison Square Garden, NYC.
Krt Schmidt, krtschmidt.com, april 2008: When I attended my first national competition I was about as excited as I can ever remember being. My father, Dale Matson and myself took the long drive out to New York to what was reportedly the largest AFA Masters ever. Over 300 entrants turned out and I was overwhelmed.
Rick Moliterno.
Krt, Th' Link Magazine, june 2008: When the first Hutch tour came to Minnesota we all were expecting Mike Dominguez and Woody Itson but as soon as the smoke filled Hutch tour van rolled in we found out that Woody had broken his ankle and some weird guy from Bluegrass, Iowa (Iowa??!!) would be taking his place. Needless to say we were all really bummed but that frown soon turned upside down as soon as Rick started his routine. Not only was he amazing at flatland but he was getting almost as much air as Mike! Rick has never forgotten how mean we were to him when he first showed up which I will always regret but that’s what young dumb riders tend to do. I haven’t spoken to Rick in while. Our lives are so different that staying in contact would be difficult but I still consider him a good friend.
Kurt Schmidt took second place in the amateur class at the very first King Of Vert contest in LaSeur, Minnesota, november 14th, 1986.
Krt Schmidt, krtschmidt.com, june 2008: Here’s another from the backyard this time in 1997. That’s my best buddy Scott on deck. I really should have worn a helmet more often back then. Not that I ever wrecked on my head. As a matter of fact I’ve never broken anything except for a rib at the first Hoffman BS Contest (crashing on no-handed 360’s over a 7-foot spine hurts… a lot). I was lucky and lucky people take things for granted. Wear a helmet.
Co-sponsored by Haro.
Krt, Th' Link Magazine, june 2008: I was co-sponsored by Haro in 1987 for a year but then I lost touch with my Haro contacts for a while till my friend Rich Hansen started working for them in ‘89. I started competing more and I traveled to California to film for Eddie Roman’s Head First and to hang out with Rich. Not long after that Haro and Vision Street Wear picked me up for 1991.
Bio by Terry Nourse in Go october 1991.
Krt Schmidt... What can I say? I've known Krt for over five years now and I've seen it all. I could get into all the times that we've almost been arrested or nearly killed ourselves. Or I could tell you his story.
Krt has been a free bird and not too caring about things in general. He lives with his parents, works part-time summers (of course), full-time winters (but takes off time to venture to Rampage in Iowa), and rides ground, street, ramps, or just about anything.
I guess his versatility is why he just picked up a full sponsorship from Haro, and Vision's support also has proven his hard work and dedication to the sport. When asked about being BIO he got a little confused. "Bi? Oh, BIO. It's great... I never thought it would go this far." Even after the recent sponsorship, his parents are still bugging him to grow-up. Don't get them wrong-they are supportive, but it's his habits. Kit's been known to stay out all night and sleep all day.
"My favorite comic book hero? I don't know. I like the villains a little more than the heroes." He still collects comic books and toys, and the toys are for pure enjoyment. Krt's also a video freak. Besides buying a video camera and two VCR's for editing and taping everything, he's also featured in the Ride Like a Man video. He's the one in the Rampage contest footage who does the 540 transfer from a spine to the big half. That wasn't over a canyon, but at an angle and distance of about 20-25 feet. It was sick.
Krt has been known to be unbeatable at the local comps in Minnesota which has pushed him to compete elsewhere. Krt's first 2-Hip experience was in Minnesota where he placed 2nd in Expert and earned his short-lived nickname "Canyon Man". Krt's recent contest placements are high at the Rampage street contests. He's even beaten the King of Kansas (Dennis McCoy), whether or not Kansas locals will believe. Krt was in Kansas and was going to do a Pro demo with Dennis recently, and the people running it wanted to know if Krt was qualified. When Krt told them he beat Dennis in a contest once, they wouldn't believe him.
Krt insists that friend Mark Murphy "should be sponsored", while stating in the same breath that he himself never went out looking for a sponsor-it just kind of fell into place as he progressed. He names John Wold, Dale Matson, Ricky B., Jamie McPharland, Joe Hurlburt, Al, and Scott Anderson as good chums to ride with. And ride like a man he does.
The life of Kit Schmidt is best summed up in his famous last words: "Don't let school get in the way of your education."
Rick Moliterno, Krt Schmidt, and Bill Nitschke started Standard in november 1991.
Krt, Th' Link Magazine, june 2008: The bikes we were riding were falling apart every month. During that time biking was going through a transition that added, “street riding” to the mix. Riding “street” was all about discovery and all that innovation was a lot harder on bikes than ever before. Riders wanted to take riding in new directions but the frames and parts were limiting creativity. I’ve heard this time referred to as the “over-built” period of biking, which is not an entirely true statement. It was the single greatest time of discovery and progression ever in our sport, which in turn changed the way that bikes were made. I had made my mind up to move to California in 1990. I was planning on turning pro the following year and I felt I had to be closer to the media. I went out there in August to find a place to live and while I was gone Rick called my house and left a message that it was imperative that I called him as soon as I got back. When I called Rick back he told me that him and Bill Nitscke were thinking about teaming up to do a bike company but he wanted me to be involved. I was so blown away that Rick wanted me as a partner that I moved to Iowa a few months later.
Standard Rogers Garage video.
A look at freestyle finest including Kurt in BMX Plus! july 1992.
Tricks invented ? Rocket nosepick.
Motto ? Don't let school get in the way of your education.
Krt, www.vintagebmx.com, december 2007: Some Mom wrote to BMXPlus in the next issue and said how we all should be ashamed. BMXPlus backpedaled like there was no tomorrow and SBC even got a few nasty letters from parents! Also, I was so honored to be named one of the top twelve riders in the world but boy Rick was really pissed they left him out of it. They told him it was only for riders that still entered contests but that was bull since Kevin Jones was listed and he wasn't entering contests at the time. After that Rick refused to advertise in BMXPlus ever again.
Baco 4 video.
Trip to England.
Krt Schmidt, krtschmidt.com, june 2008: I had such a great time on this trip except for when Degroot crashed the rental van. Of course they drive backwards there so can you blame him ; ) Other than that we were able to ride some classic parks and it didn’t rain once while we were there. Nice. I’d like to go back but with a bike that weighs less than 45 pounds.
Fakie tricks.
Krt, Th' Link Magazine, june 2008: I only rode freecoaster for a month. I’ve always ridden with a straight coaster brake. Some of my favorite riders like Wilkerson, Moliterno and even Tony Murray ran coaster and loved the possibilities it opened up that is until manuals came along. That took some time to work out. Rick was always messing around with backwards riding early on. It looked so impossible that it took me years before I tried it myself. Back then many riders thought progression was building a bigger ramp or doing more than one flip. Rick and I always looked at riding differently. We felt that instead of pushing the limits of our guts we would push the limits of technique and we treated our tricks as more of an art form than a stunt. With that in mind we always tried to find a new way to express ourselves when we were on our bikes. It always seemed a little anti-climatic to me to land a big fakie trick and then just do a rollback out of it. I thought back to Rick’s fooling around while in fakie and decided to see I if could do a nosepick on a spine backwards. I could! The rest was well…
Krt Schmidt rides Rampage with plenty of stuff to barspin, eg toothpick.
Ells Bells Ring the gack video.
Standard Style cats video.
Krt Schmidt spends a lot of time going backwards into tricks, like fakie to 180 tyretap to fakie on mini ramp.
Ells Bells Release the grease video.
Step back from Standard Bykes.
Krt, Th' Link Magazine, june 2008: My father was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 1995 and I have always been close with my father so I moved back to Minnesota to be closer to my family. Over time communication broke down between the company and myself. The distance was just too great, e-mail wasn’t wide spread and cell phones were still pretty expensive so in a fast paced business I wasn’t as available or able to move as quickly as the company was.
In the summer of 2002, SBC and Rick Moliterno invited some the team riders on a road trip that would follow the course of the Mississippi River. Beginning in Minneapolis, Minnesota and ending in New Orleans, Louisiana the Standard Army invades almost every major city along the way.
I try to ride every weekend or at least once or twice a month. Mostly local street stuff but there are at least three city skateparks within 3 miles of me so I try to ride those early in the day to avoid all the rugrats.