Andy Smith Interview

Over the past two years or so, we have been becoming increasingly familiar with a new brand from Arizona called Freed Bikes. For those of you that don’t know, Freed is a brand that focuses on U.S made products like frames, bars and sprockets, which in an industry like BMX has been increasingly difficult to make happen. One of the questions we hear pretty frequently is “who owns Freed?”, so we figured it was due time to get to know the guy who is in charge of the reigns of this brand who, thanks to a little help from his family, currently runs the company while going to college full-time… Let’s find out a little bit more about just what Andy is all about!

Name: Andy Smith

Location: Phoenix, Arizona

Sponsors: Freed Bikes, C4 Belts.

Years riding: 5

What was it that first got you into BMX? Any early memories come to mind when you think about it?
In about 8th grade, all my neighbors had gotten BMX bikes and were cruising around on them and my friend Mikey convinced me to come out with him on some of the weekends, so for about a year we would all just go as fast as we could and jump little dirt jumps behind our houses, and after that it just stuck.

Not a lot of people might know it, but you’re the owner of Freed Bikes. What was your biggest motivation for starting a brand of your own?
Yeah, haha, not many people know that! I had always loved the BMX scene since I started riding and this was an opportunity for me to get more involved in the industry and I couldn’t have been more stoked. It is literally a dream come true.

Was it hard starting things out at such a young age? You were around 18 when things got started, right?
Definitely.  Freed officially started when I was a junior in high school, so at about 16. Obviously I was not ready to run a company yet, so others were heavily involved in setting everything up. It took about a year and a half to get things going, design our products, get our software systems in place, finishing the business plan, and everything else. So, yeah, things got more serious when I was 18, because we were officially launching Freed then.

Freed has a big focus on making American made products from your frames to bars and sprockets. Why did you choose to do it that way versus going to Taiwan or China to get product made?
Yeah, we spent a lot of time talking about the image we wanted for our brand and always came back to the same couple things that were important. Things such as making the highest quality and strongest products out there, having control over manufacturing so we can guarantee great customer service, differentiate ourselves from other brands, and being able to eventually make unique products with product design working together with manufacturing. All of that pointed to USA made. We needed to truly be able to stand behind our products. Plus, we always felt that there is a market for USA made parts, so we made the decision to be made in the USA.

It seems like there’s been a bit of a push from brands to work with American manufacturers again over the past few years, but still it’s pretty limited. What kinds of challenges have you ran into trying to run a company that is making U.S made product? Who do you guys work with to get your frames, bars and sprockets made?
Yeah, for sure. The biggest challenge is that it costs a lot more to manufacture here than in Taiwan. Since the cost is higher, and we want to keep our MSRP low for the customers, we do our own distribution. This way we have the right margins for dealers, and a low MSRP for customers. Handling our own distro has it’s own challenges, but it has some definite advantages as well. As far as who we work with, we have worked with several companies in the past on parts – DigIt, Solid, Standard to name a few. Our current run of bars is being done by Standard. You are right though, the options are limited. Our plan is to eventually do our own manufacturing in house, here in Phoenix.  

It sounds like you guys have some new product that you’re cooking up, right? Any hints at what new items we will be seeing in the Freed product line here in the near future?
Yeah! We are having the Revolution bar coming out within the next few weeks that is going to be a little bigger than the current FREEDom bar. The Revolution bars are going to be a 9” rise and 29” width in ED Black and Gloss Raw as well as a new sprocket design that I can’t get into too much yet, we are still in the designing stages of that one.

How have things been going with shops and everything? Do you guys have any plans on getting Freed to other countries?
Shops have been great! It’s been awesome to see so many shops around the country so down to support American made products. As far as other countries, we’ll have to see. We’ve had some demand from customers and dealers in other countries, mostly Europe, and we’ve talked to some international distros, but for right now we want to stay focused on the US.  Stay tuned!

You guys recently dropped that dialed Northwest trip edit and have done a handful of trips the past few years. What are you guys working on with the team as far as trips and other projects go? Can we expect another edit sometime soon?
The northwest trip was insane, and everyone involved was so psyched on how that came out. Not really sure about trips for the rest of the year since it’s been such a crazy-busy summer, but we have a few ideas bouncing around. And our team is doing great, finally past some injuries. Corey is working on a new edit that started before his injury and Tom is working on his Welcome to the Team.

What has it been like running a bike company at such a young age? I’d imagine it has been a pretty heavy learning curve with so many different tasks from product development to team management, marketing, etc.
It’s been unbelievably hectic and stressful at times but we have a staff of consultants that handle much of the work. I learn stuff every single day. Also my dad has run several companies so he has all of the business side down, and that helps out a ton. It’s been crazy being thrown in certain positions but it all works out. I live and breathe BMX stuff.

Some how you have been able to fit college into your busy schedule. What are you going to school for? Has it had any affect on how you run Freed?
I’m a criminology major at ASU, and it’s definitely been a challenge but so far I’ve been able to balance it all out. Thankfully most of my professors are pretty understanding when I talk to them about it, and are a bit more lenient when it comes to missing class and assignments. I’ve learned how to manage my time so I dedicate certain time to school to make sure I don’t fall behind as well as time for Freed.

So you have the company and college filling up a lot of time… Do you find much time to ride? Where can you be found getting most of your sessions in these days?
Yeah, I still try and ride almost every night for at least an hour or so. Since I’ve moved to downtown Phoenix, I have been able to just pedal from my house to street spots so that’s where I’ve been lately but I still always like to hit Glendale X-Court or Goodyear park when I can.

Have you been filming much lately? Can we expect a fresh edit from you in the near future?
The heat has kept me from filming a lot during the summer, but I am planning on working on a new project with River Waldren once it starts to cool down outside.

Who are some of the riders that really influenced you early on? What about these days?
Garrett Reynolds, Bruno Hoffmann and Nathan Williams. Lately I’ve been watching a lot of BSD stuff too, all of their riders are insane.

Do you ever get burned out on BMX? What are some things you like to do to keep things fresh?
I like to just relax at home for a few days or go out with friends, and that helps keep me away from bikes a bit. I think that if I rode all day every day I would definitely get burnt out so I just try and make time for things other than BMX, and by not riding all the time it makes me appreciate it more when I do ride.

What are you usually getting into when you aren’t riding or dealing with school? Any other hobbies or things you like to do?
Mostly just hanging out with all my friends in Tempe, or chilling at the house. Between Freed, school, and riding I am usually pretty tired, so most of the time I’m just chilling and relaxing.

I know you have had the chance to travel a fair amount thanks to Freed. Where are some places you really want to get to at some point?
Yeah! I’ve gotten to go to some unbelievable places thanks to Freed, I’m not sure how realistic it is but I would really want to travel to Japan. It seems insane over there from what I’ve heard.

What kind of advice do you have for the people out there looking to start their own brand?
First and foremost to truly love what you are doing, things get stressful as it is, and if you aren’t loving what you’re doing you’re far more likely to give up. Also, create a product you can proudly stand behind.

I’d imagine you’re just getting started on making things happen. Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
Hopefully still in Phoenix running Freed full-time.

How can people keep up with you and Freed Bikes these days?
You can check Freed out at FreedBikes.com, on Facebook at Facebook.com/FreedBikes or on Instagram and Twitter @Freedbikes and you can keep up with me personally @Sndrewamith.

Do you have any shout outs or thanks?
The list is too long! Huge thanks to my parents for helping me make this happen, and all my friends that have supported me along the way. Also huge thanks to our team, the awesome filmers, riders, and photographers we have worked with. And most importantly a huge thanks to our loyal customers and dealers, we appreciate your support! Lastly Kurt, thank you for the opportunity for this interview.

Anything else you want to say?
I just want to say I am stoked to work on all these new projects throughout the next year.