After a spectacular performance during the Beirut Bike Festival last weekend, we took KTM’s factory stunt rider Rok Bagoros aside for an interview. Rok talked about his beginnings as a motorcycle enthusiast and a stuntman, his contract with KTM, his career-threatening injury and the visit to Lebanon courtesy of ANB Motorcycles.
Rok, it is great to have you here in Lebanon, it’s a great opportunity for the Lebanese people to see you. You have many fans here, especially KTM riders. Let’s start with your beginnings; how did you start performing stunts?
I always wanted to do motorsport, but I came from a poor family so they couldn’t afford to buy me a bike, so I waited and waited, I always used to look at bikes in showrooms and dream about them. I needed to wait until I was 17 years old so I could work after school, washing dishes, taking newspapers out, anything that would earn me money. I eventually bought a scooter, but even before that, when I started to work, I saw this stunt riding sport on the internet and I told myself that I would like to do it, and then I saw Chris Pfeiffer, he was my biggest idol in terms of riding style and also the fact that he made the sport a profession, that he and his family could live off. So I worked after school to try and make this dream come true; I rode my scooter for years and I got my first sponsors as I got better.
My first show came up in Germany, and I made a few shows with Chris; I warmed people up on the shows for him. Those were at the beginning of my career. Later, I met KTM in Germany and I have been riding for them since 2010.
Was your first bike a KTM or a different brand?
My first real bike was a Kawasaki ER-6n; I only had it for 3 months because I met KTM just after having freshly switched from the scooter to the bike. I didn’t convert the Kawasaki into a stunt bike, so I bought it and sold it. My first stunt bike was a KTM 125 Duke; it was still a prototype back in December 2010, but then I got a production version of the bike in 2011 and I started to do live shows all around the world. It changed my life.
So you became a partner for KTM, or a protégé for KTM…
Yes, I’m the ambassador for KTM street bikes, especially the naked bikes, the Duke range. So yeah, I’m the guy who promotes the street versions of their bikes and I’m the factory rider for KTM’s street bikes.
How do you describe the relationship with KTM throughout the past 4 years? How did it develop, and how does it feel to have their trust?
It feels amazing. You think you’re still dreaming because you get stuff for free, before, I had to buy everything. Now, if something breaks [in the bike], you just call or write an email and they send you new parts. Everything looks nice, but on the other hand, you really need to work hard because the bigger the sponsor is the more pressure they put on you. If you’re not good they can change you. They give you stuff for free but you need to work really hard for that. A lot of people see the nice picture, but behind the picture is a lot of work, a lot of times when friends invite me to a party and a lot of times saying “no”. You need to remain professional all the time, in practice, in the shows.
In the beginning, KTM gave me chance: “Okay Rok, you will ride for us for one year, we will see if it [your performance] is okay and you will tell us if you would like to continue.” So the first year was a test, and then we signed for another two years. So yeah, I’ve been trying to keep up with new projects since the first year. My name is now really strong in the company, whereas during the first two years I was just a young rider for them, and now I am a big name and it’s harder for them to say “no” to me because I am a good brand and they sell a lot of bikes because of me. It’s just getting better and better.
Rok, you had an ACL injury in your knee some time ago. How did your recover from the injury and how was the support of your sponsors?
This injury was my first big injury; I never broke a leg or anything. I’ve had a lot of small injuries, but you know sometimes you can go for a month doing shows with a lot of pain but then it goes away. You learn stuff like that when you are a professional; sometimes you need to keep pushing. However, I had to stop with this injury. When you tear your ACL, you need to wait for 2 months; you can continue riding but I move a lot with my legs so I risked injuring them more, and that is why we decided to cancel my tour. I had a big tour in China, India and South America, it was a lot of shows and a lot of money, but we had to cancel everything and think about the future. We made an operation and I had to go through rehabilitation for 7 months. It was a really stressful time for me because I’m used to moving every day, on the motorcycle or on the bicycle, always in action, but then I had the doctor tell me to do nothing and just sit on the couch and wait. This was the hardest part, totally frustrating.
The sponsors did not stop their backing, but they just stopped calling because they were waiting for me to be back, so there were no action, no photo-shoots, nothing. It was a really weird moment, but the sponsors stuck with me and they never backed off, I still get the money from the contracts so I could still live. They are used to it, they have a lot of athletes, a lot of injuries, so yes, they are used to it.
It was a different story with KTM because they were used to see me in action all the time and suddenly everything stopped.
Especially for the KTM 690 Duke, the bike you used to ride.
Yeah, yeah. Everything calmed down and when I came back I needed to push and get back to the required level, and now it’s even better than before. I have more experience, I train totally different in the gym, and I eat totally different because I had time to think about myself and to appoint a new personal trainer. In the beginning, I thought it was over but it was a good thing in the end because I had so much time for myself, to reflect and to focus on new projects and new goals.
Rok, you tour around the world, we’ve seen you in South America, the Far East and Europe. What brings you to Lebanon?
I have so many countries that I dream of visiting, and I don’t want to be rude, but the less the countries are developed the bigger my interest is in them because the people are much warmer and crazier during the shows and Lebanon is one of those countries that I’ve always wanted to visit. I had a few Lebanese people on my Facebook page always asking me: “Hey, come to our country”, when they see me visiting countries like Colombia.
So KTM Dubai, the headquarters for KTM Middle East, called me and they asked me if I would like to go to Lebanon, to which I agreed. Seeing that I was free this weekend, Nicolas Boukather from ANB Motorcycles contacted me. That was 3 to 4 weeks ago, I was on vacation with my brother and Nicolas called me, and I told him: “Yes, let’s do this”, and then I called my mechanic who prepared all the parts, and now I’m here.
How do you find KTM Lebanon’s reception with Nicolas, Yves, Michel and all the guys?
I didn’t know what to expect. The police and the security guys were really nice to me, I don’t know why, everybody was really nice. The team here is super nice! Sometimes, you go to a country and you stay at a hotel, you do the show and then you go home. It’s a little bit different in here; they wanted to show me the culture, the food and they made sure my stay is as nice as possible and stress-free.
So are you enjoying it? How do you find the country?
I didn’t see a lot, just a little bit. It’s totally different to what I was expecting. My friends are joking with me: “Hey, are you already throwing bombs with your Lebanese friends?” and stuff like that, because TV is brainwashing us. You have some issues on the borders but not in the cities and I feel totally safe. You have a lot of nice girls, I have to say (laughs), and people are always friendly and smiling.
Rok, we see a lot of unprofessional riders here in Lebanon. They perform stunts without any helmets or safety gear, but we see you fully protected in your shows. What would you like to say to these rides?
It’s good that you asked this question. I don’t really have any nice words for them because I got really pissed when I saw riders in the opposite lane on the highway from the airport, without any helmets on, with their girlfriends at the back and doing wheelies. Okay, maybe it’s cool and gives you an adrenaline rush but you only have one life and the helmet is not so expensive to buy. You’re cooler with the helmet on; you really look dumb without a helmet. In Europe, people will laugh at you if you’re not wearing a helmet because they’d think you don’t have the money to buy a helmet, you’d be an ***hole. Wear the helmet; you only have one life, at least a helmet if you can’t afford gloves or stuff like that, the helmet is most important. The more protection you have, the better it is and the cooler you look.
Rok, we would like to thank you and we look forward to your stunt show this weekend. We hope the Lebanese crowd will like it and take the right impression. Thank you very much; it was a huge pleasure!