Writing on the Wall

Writing on the Wall is a BMX video released by Nike 6.0, the action sports division of Nike, in November 2008. It was Nike 6.0's first BMX video, with a full part from each of its four riders: Garrett Reynolds, Nigel Sylvester, Dennis Enarson and Mike Spinner. It covers street riding above all, with park and dirt alongside, and it is remembered for being given away as a free download and for Garrett Reynolds' section, which showed where technical street riding was heading.

Background

Nike entered BMX in the mid 2000s through its 6.0 line, which covered action sports including skateboarding, surfing and BMX. The brand put together a small crew of young riders who were about to become some of the most important of the next decade. A team video was the standard way for a footwear brand to present its riders, following etnies, whose Grounded had come out the year before.

The four riders filmed for over a year. Nike premiered the video on 22 November 2008 and made it available as a free download two days later, an early sign of the move from paid DVDs to free online video. It arrived at the end of the DVD era, when brands still released complete videos but online clips were beginning to take over.

Contents and sections

The video runs to about 30 minutes and is built around four full parts, one from each member of the crew.

• Garrett Reynolds. A street section from a rider who was then still a teenager but already changing what was considered possible on rails and ledges.
• Nigel Sylvester. Street riding rooted in New York City, filmed with an eye for the city as well as the tricks.
• Dennis Enarson. A section that ranges across street, park and dirt, reflecting a rider comfortable on any terrain.
• Mike Spinner. The fourth full part in the video.

Compared with the raw, handheld style of East Coast street videos such as Can I Eat?, Writing on the Wall is polished. The filming is steady, the colour is controlled and the editing is clean, in keeping with a brand that was used to producing high-end skateboarding videos.

Standout parts

Garrett Reynolds' section is the one most often discussed. Reynolds was already winning contests, but this section showed the depth of his technical street riding: grind combinations, switch and oppo variations and tricks on rails that few riders had attempted. It is one of the sections that established him as the dominant street rider of his generation, a position he held for more than a decade afterwards.

Nigel Sylvester's section stands out for a different reason. His riding is fast and fluid, but the section is also notable for how it presents New York City, treating the setting as part of the appeal. It points toward the direction Sylvester would later take, building a career on video that blended riding with the culture around it.

Dennis Enarson's section is a reminder of how broad his riding already was. Street, transition and dirt appear in the same part without any of them looking like a compromise.

Impact and legacy

Writing on the Wall is a marker of how far BMX had come commercially by the late 2000s. It is remembered as a high-profile project from a global brand, which backed more than a year of filming and then gave the result away rather than selling it.

Its lasting importance lies in its riders. Reynolds, Sylvester and Enarson all went on to be among the most influential riders of the 2010s, and this video is an early record of each of them. For Reynolds in particular, it marks the point at which his technical street riding became the reference against which other riders were measured.

The video also sits at the end of an era. Within a few years the web edit had replaced the DVD as the main way riders saw footage, and large brand videos became rare. Nike's choice to release Writing on the Wall as a free download pointed in that direction. See the web edit era for how that played out.

Related

• Garrett Reynolds
• Nigel Sylvester
• Dennis Enarson
• Grounded: the etnies team video from the year before
• Street and park
• Oppo and switch