Don’t think we ever really made an about page or gave our a reason why we all started 180 distribution, so I guess this could be it? We first started Volume Bikes in 1999 for frames, forks and bars and a year later we brought out Demolition parts for everything else you needed for your bike.
For 10 years we did it all under Volume Bike Corp, until we decided it was time to tackle my longtime pipe dream of doing BMX specific shoes with longtime good friend, Travis Jackson as brand manager.
During this endeavor Volume was going through some weird changes into big bikes and thought it was going to be a Haro or some shit along those lines too. Somewhere in there we also started a 700c bike parts line called Resist that produced tires and some other small parts. Lets just say my eyes were bigger than my wallet at that time, if that makes sense. With all these things happening all at once, we also decided to move into a bigger building and call the new house 180 Distribution.
Later that same year after launching Hour (shoe brand), Travis passed away suddenly of a brain aneurism. With Travis at the forefront of the brand and direction we decided to make the hard decision to let it die with him and not move forward with the brand. While I still would love to keep his legacy alive, we didn’t share that same knowhow and direction that he once had for it all. Not to bring this blog post down with his death but he was a huge part of us being 180 and felt the story should be told on how it all came about. On a lighter note; The guys in the office swear we have a warehouse ghost that is Travis, that might be another blog post though…
With Volume doing big bikes (fixed and commuter style) a lil’ over a year, we all sat down and realized that we didn’t share that same passion we had for it as BMX and felt it took too much of our time away from our true passion (porn) and cut it all right then and there and sold it all out.
While we did get a bad rap for doing it amongst our BMX piers, I was stoked we did it to get to my prized bike, the 8 sod Generator commuter bike. Giving my dad his own Generator bike was definitely a highlight in my life and to see him finally be able to ride a bike that Volume made. Sounds cheesy I know but seeing older guys on our bikes was a whole other thing I thought I’d never see.
With all these things taking a turn, we now got back to Volume and Demolition, the brands that got us where we are.