Stunt parts just don’t grow on trees and sell themselves. They’re crafted by hard working individuals who’s passion out weighs their pocket books. Chad Vaughn from Tactical Mindz Stunt Shop is one of those guys. Assembling the finest parts in the industry in one place to shop is no easy task. We catch up with Chad and find out what it’s like to live your passion one day at a time.
- Introduce yourself to the people and tell us where and how Tactical Mindz got its start.
Tactical Mindz got it’s start as a sport bike team. There was about 10 of us, that could all trust each other to go out and be hooligans together. We all naturally progressed into stunt riders.
- Where do you see the Stunt Industry heading? Picking up, falling off or declining?
Stunt riding is definitely picking up. I feel it’s done nothing but grow. It might be slowly growing but at least it is growing in popularity.
- Do you think the recent popularity of Street Riding has been benefiting the Industry or hurting it?
Everything started with the street. The streets are the most common way for people not familiar with our sport to see it and have a connection. In my opinion there is a place for both street and lot riding. But local street riding in every city, seems to be where most people get started and really decide they want to join our community.
- Who is your favorite rider or scene to watch?
I personally enjoy watching street and lot riding. It’s been really cool to see known street riders attending and completing in the XDL series. My favorite rider is Francisco Escoto. I’ve had the pleasure of getting to watch him start from not riding wheelies at all, to where he’s at now which is just mind blowing. The guy has some freakish skills. Hoping he starts wanting to compete soon.
- What effects has Social Media had on Stunt Riding? Positive? Negative?
Social media has definitely helped bring things together, for our community. It helps grow the sport. People post pictures, all their friends see the pics and it draws people in. There has been some small negatives, like we used to be able to just go on stuntride and find most answers to issues or hickups we run into building our bikes. Now with facebook taking over the use of forums, we still have those threads as archives but we don’t new information being added. With facebook you can’t just go back and find out what someone did 5 years ago to resolve an issue as easy.
- Any Future trends or must haves for the riders out there?
This throttle lever Britton has been posting looks interesting for sure. I think we are at an all-time high with stunt parts and stunt part technology, we have a lot of options now, and that is really good for the community.
- Where can we find Tactical Mindz on the interwebs?
You can check us out online at www.tacticalmindz.com