Luxembourg is a foreigners’ hub, so no one is surprised by riders from around the world. Nevertheless, one of them really stands out – Eddie “from da Bronx” Navarro, tattoo artist and owner of BMX webshop “LXB BMX Store”. Piwi named him to be next in line so check out his story below.
Let´s start with a quick introduction.
Alright, here we go: I am Eddie Navarro. Born and raised in Bronx NY, I moved to France only when I was 29. Now I am 34, so I have been around for 5 years already. When I was 13, I moved not too far from the famous skatepark in NY, called Mullaly.
Is that why you started to ride?
I started riding because my cousin lived close to the skatepark – that`s how I knew about it. That and for the fact that my cousin`s friend sold me a bike just for 20$.
It must have been great to grow up in NY, there is a pretty awesome BMX scene there.
Growing up in NY was rough and quite.. scavenger-y. You simply have to ride the parks that are nearby, because if you work you don’t have the time to ride, and when you ride you are not working. NY has a very big BMX scene, with so many different types of people who ride in NY and so many others that come to NY just to ride.
Did you ride mostly skateparks or street?
I started riding BMX in 2000. It begun with dirt jumps and occasionally some skatepark. Later I went full skatepark, with a bit of street – when the skatepark was closed. At one point, for about 5 years, Mullaly was shot down by the government. I remember that day when I went to the skatepark and they were breaking it down. To get to the skatepark from my apartment you had to go down a steep hill, sometimes we were going down at 40 km/h. That day I looked down and from the top of the hill I could see the bulldozers. They looked like tanks on the ramps. It was horrible, I cried when I saw it. It was like “Man, that´s the only thing I have!”. That´s when I started riding street. Fortunately, there were also some homemade trails, so transitions have always been part of my riding.
What brought you to Europe?
I met my wife in NY, she was a French teacher. I had 2 businesses then – I started a cleaning company, who was providing services in the French school and I was also tattooing. She asked me for a tattoo, or – to be precise – it was her friend who asked, as she did not speak any English back then. In the beginning our relationship was a bit tricky – she spoke to me in Italian, I spoke to her in Spanish, and in the meantime, she was learning English. After a while she had to come back to France and I decided to shut down the company. I came to visit her and I never left.
No regrets about leaving NYC behind?
Tattooing in US was just a side thing for me. There are many people tattooing in NY, so competition is high and prices are pretty low. It is not enough to pay the bills. On the other hand, I have been in NY for 29 years and I needed something new, something different. I’ve always stuck to BMX, back in the days it was my escape from normal life. Now BMX is my normal life and “normal life” is not normal anymore. It is pretty awesome over here; though BMX scene is obviously smaller and there are not as many people as in NYC – the love of BMX is the same.
Now you have the tattoo company ‘American Ink’, and you have also started a BMX shop.
Yes, I´ve got permission to sell BMX parts and I run an online shop now. It is called LXB BMX Store. This is my way to get more people to ride. For the moment, Lux community is pretty small, but it’s also a really cool crowd. The other cool thing is that there is a skatepark every 10 minutes.
Where do you usually ride?
If the weather is good – the place I ride the most is Dudelange. But my favourite one is Wasserbillig – that place is heaven, and the concrete bowl there – just amazing. From time to time I also go to Remich, it is nice and – to be honest – it is pretty close. Another good spot is Bertrange. Things are a bit more complicated during the wintertime, there is not as much choice. So between November and March I try to ride in the Zuppermarkt (Trier) at least once or twice a month.
With whom?
My partner in crime is Luca. This kid really inspires me. I am 34 years old but once he starts to roll I don’t feel 34 anymore. Instead I am like ‘I am going to do this big-ass wallride because wtf, why not, I don’t want to be left behind!’. Don’t get me wrong here – I have nothing to prove, but I love learning, I love riding, and I don’t want to stop. Luca gives me a huge motivation to try new stuff. Of course, I need to ride more carefully now because the risk is pretty big – if I get hurt it takes me about a month to heal (so I cannot work). Living on the edge, bro 😉
Fire of questions
- Vans BMX Pro Cup
Street or Park?
- Park
Brake vs brakeless
- Brake
Freecoaster or Casette?
- Casette
4 pegs or no pegs?
- Sht….I’m gonna go with ‘no pegs’. It is fun not having pegs, it makes you think outside of the box.
Best of Lux BMX?
- Strong community
Worst?
- The weather
Who should be the next person?
- Luca
Shout-outs?
Erwan…he is the one who brought me to Luxembourg and to Dudelange. And in Dudelange it instantly felt like home, it is very similar to what I used to ride in the Bronx. And that`s where I met Luca. Also shout out to Marc Dubois from Metz.. and Pierre for always turning shit up!