From New York to London, Paris, Dubai, Miami, Tokyo, Las Vegas, LA, and back, Nigel Sylvester knows his way through an airport. He also doesn’t shy away from an adventure—most times, he’s traveling with his BMX bike. Hailing from Queens, New York, the professional BMX athlete has traveled all over the world and gave a first-person point of view of his life in his travel series GO. The web series transports Nigel and his bicycle to thrill-seeking experiences, including jumping out of a plane over the Dubai desert with his bike in hand.
Sylvester’s career doesn’t stop at BMX, though. He is also a content creator, entrepreneur, filmmaker, and fashion enthusiast, recently walking in Colm Dillane’s KidSuper Men’s Spring 2023 Paris Fashion Week show. In 2021, he became the first professional BMX athlete to be signed by Jordan Brand.
Since BMX is still a fairly niche sport, there are challenges that come with carrying a bike around the world. In the past, Sylvester would repurpose standard golf bags that worked best for his travel needs, but now, thanks to a new collaboration with Rimowa, he’ll have an easier time getting his bike around.
I caught up with Sylvester to find out what inspired him to create a bike case with the storied luggage brand, hear more about his travel experiences from his global travel series Go, and find out which Air Jordan shoe is his favorite to travel with.
When did you start riding BMX and what were those early days like?
I started riding BMX seriously around the age of 12; those days were great. I’m a kid growing up in Laurelton, Queens, with Caribbean parents, both my mom and my dad are from Grenada. I’m first-generation. The household was kind of strict, but they gave me flexibility to go out and ride as much as possible as long as I was doing well in school. I was very curious, I would always make ramps out of old plywood and cinder blocks or old tires. I would go to my local park and grind the benches and ride around my neighborhood and hit curb cuts, jump off the sidewalks and pretty much anything I can get my bike on. Those days were fun, carefree, and just full of exploration.
Was there any diversity in BMX when you got started? What challenges came with being a Black BMX rider?
BMX is a predominantly white sport. My first touch point with a professional BMX setting was watching it on TV or going to my local store and buying a BMX Plus magazine. As I got more and more into the sport and started to understand the different verticals within the sport, I started to find more BMX athletes of color which was super dope. There were kids in my neighborhood and we all rode BMX bikes, but that was very niche and very singular to my neighborhood. As I started to venture outside of my neighborhood, I found more BMX athletes that looked like me and started to get introduced to BMX pros who came from similar neighborhoods and had similar experiences. They allowed me to come into their circle and helped raise me in a sense and teach me about the world of BMX. That forced me to step my game up tremendously.
