Name:
Keith Joseph Treanor
Age:
38
Birthplace:
Hoboken,NJ
Tell us how it all started…
I started riding BMX Bikes in 1980 when i saw some of the older guys from the projects I lived in all riding these awesome looking bikes (Quadangle,P.K.Ripper,JMC,Cycle Pro,ETC.) when i saw them I had to have one.My family hooked me up with a used complete P.K.Ripper they bought off a local kid for my birthday. I bought every issue of Bicycle Motorcross Action I could find and began to try everything I saw in the magazines. A few years into riding I came to realize the HUGE airs I saw in the magazines were actually 4 or 5 foot airs, so I had a few trips to the ER trying to go HUGE without much success.The local skateboarders (Shut Team,Lopez Bros) built an 11ft vert ramp behind a Shop Rite Grocery store in 1987 and that was my first attempt at vert riding.I learned how to go 6ft high pretty smooth on that ramp. I attended my first contest in I think 1988 at the AFA Wayne NJ contest.I never really saw much riding in person mostly just magazines at this point and I was very nervous and excited to be there.The very first thing I saw when I walked threw the door was Joe Johnson doing a tailwhip(FUCK).I can honestly say that was the first of many amazing tricks on a bicycle that I would see in my life. My one and only run in that contest consisted of me going as fast as I could at one of the 8ft quarter pipes and going maybe 5ft out and landing flat bottom and rolling off the course convinced i can’t do it. My friends ripped me apart for the next year. I later went to the 2-HIP contest at the Brooklyn banks witnessed Voelker’s nosepick tailwhip and 270 drop. I rode the vert contest the next day. I rode OK but crashed some tricks I never tried before and did not make finals. In 1989 Imoved to Huntington Beach,California and my life was forever changed. I met Dave Cymer, John Paul Rogers, Ron Bonner and Kim Boyle during a visit earlier in the year and it was such an awesome time riding with those guys that when my family wanted to move to California I said Hell Yeah.Dave Clymer is who introduced me to Chris Moeller and thats when i got hooked up with my first S&M Mad Dog Kit.
The Back Cover, Issue 1 Ride Magazine. 1992.
What was the story with getting sponsored by S & M bikes? How long did that last and how did evolve and eventually come to an end?
I started riding for S&M in early 1991.It started out as a frame/parts hook up.In the early stages of riding for S&M,I was offered to ride for GT which never ended up happening and also for about  a year I did demos for Haro while riding an S&M.In 1994 Chris offered to make a signature frame for me and that was when Menstrual Cycles was created.Menstrual was Chris’ way to help me make money without having to do demos all the time.It was an opportunity to create a company of my own and build something for the future but I was more concerned with riding, partying and wandering around the world than to be responsible for anything. So it was a short lived company that never really existed.I rode S&M’s until 2000 when Brian Castillo hooked me up with Volume/Demolition just because he is a good friend. These days I ride whatever spare parts that are in the Sidewall Distro warehouse.
Did you live at the POW house? For How long? and how did that affect your life… You filmed a good part of Dirty Deeds at the the POW house Right?
I was never a paying resident of the POW house but I stayed there often and rode there always.Minus a few months in the start of the house I was there till the end which was a total of like 2 or 3 years I think. The house was an awesome place to ride and an even better place to party. For me it was some of the best times of my life because the riding was good and the guys involved with the house were some of the coolest people I have ever met in my life.It was a time when there was no money in BMX and everyone rode because they loved to ride.There was no egos or rivalry’s just good times.I filmed some of Dirty Deeds there because it was one of the only ramps around at the time and it was a good meeting point for everyone to meet at.
Is it true you drove a forklift off a loading dock at a skate party? whats the story with that?
I probably should not say yes it was my hand on the Atari looking controls of the fully raised scissor lift that took a dive off the loading  dock at the Big Brother/Chocolate Skate Party but it was a site to see Jay Miron,Mike Griffin,Marvin Loiterlie(spelled wrong)and myself plus some skaters drunk driving a fully raised platform scissor lift through the warehouse aiming for the open bay door.We reached the edge of the loading dock and the crowd inside and out roared do it and it might have been my hand that nudged the controls forward causing the front of the lift to teeter off the edge and everyone in the lift started jumping out causing the lift to go over the edge.Marvin and myself grabbed the bay door above us as the lift went out from below us.Jay and some skaters stayed in for the ride and hit the ground.The door we were hanging from came crashing down with Marvin and I.We picked Jay up and ran for our cars and the whole way home Jay was puking out the window crying “Treanor I’m never going to ride again A” Any lawsuits coming my way good luck with that,I don’t have a pot to piss in or a loading dock to throw it off of.GOOD TIMES
You mentioned being more concerned with Riding, Partying, and wandering the world, versus being responsible during your pro years, do you care to talk about where that led you and how things ended up prior to your current situation?
I will take this question as a polite way of asking me about some of the fucked up situations I put myself in.This could be a long story so I will try to keep this brief.Until the end of 2001 I was able to make enough money doing demos to survive wondering around the country until I was fired from shows in Florida for being a drunken asshole.I was in an extremely self destructive state of mind.If I wasn’t blacking out everytime I drank than I wasn’t drinking enough.I just didn’t give a fuck.The day I was fired from the company I worked for they dropped me off at Orlando Airport and next thing I know I woke up in the hospital trying to get back to the airport.I made it back to New Jersey and then continued my path of destruction back to California.Nobody in Cali really wanted me around because I had no money and I was no fun to be around drunk.I ended up sleeping next to the 405 freeway for a few days before Mike Escamilla helped me with a place to stay but I wasn’t ready to stop the chaos.I ended up spending 7 months in and out of jail before I got a bus ticket back to New Jersey.When I got back my dad was in Ireland and the rest of my family didn’t want anything to do with me,so I ended up homeless living under the viaduct going from Jersey city into Hoboken,NJ.I always managed to get drunk while living under there.There was an old tire swing hanging under the bridge and I’d sit there drinking and just stare at the rope thinking I should just get it over with.I didn’t have the guts to go to that extreme so after drinking my last Steel Reserve,I walked to the nearest Salvation Army and signed into there rehab program.I spent a year in there and a year in a half way house giving me 2 years sober before getting my own place in NJ.I have now been sober for close to 7 years.I have since learned it’s not the drugs and alcohol that caused these problems I’m just fuckin’ nuts.
You are currently working at Sidewall Distro, can you tell us you ended up in Oklahoma, your job responsibilities, and where your head is at these days?
I moved to OKC in 2009.I originally moved here to help Travis Hoffman Â
with his new Boxing/MMA Gym because I’ve been training brazilian jiu-jitsu for a few years and worked at an MMA school in NJ.After being here for a few months Mark Owen from Sidewall offered me a job doing sales for him.As far as where my head is these days I’m still fuckin’nuts just sober and livin’life just like everyone else.I have a good woman in my life and a nice roof over my head.
You’ve seen BMX through more than one perspective, what gets you stoked  these days, whats your opinion on the state of things in our sport, industry, lifestyle, whatever you want to call it?
I still love BMX the same as when I first got into it.I don’t have the passion to ride as much as I once did but I am still a huge fan and always will be.It has gone through many changes since the early 80’˜s and I think the currant stage of riding is amazing.The progression of tricks just keeps getting better.The industry is over saturated with to many company’s making the same products,at the same places.As far as the lifestyle of the sport,I think too many riders are concerned with trends rather than being individuals.I prefer watching a web edit from someone doing there own thing than doing the same things they saw in someone else’s video.I think BMX is one of the Greatest sports ever and I’ve been fortunate to have been a part of it.
What Has BMX taught you?
The main thing I’ve learned is if you apply the same focus and dedication for  riding and use it for anything else you choose to do in life it will help you succeed.It taught me you can go for things you want to do as opposed to things you have to do.Anything is possible.
What gets you stoked?
Watching tricks progress and being done with some style gets me stoked about BMX.As for me in general I keep life pretty simple,if I get into something new I just try to see how far I can get with it.
Who would you like to thank or send shout outs too?
I will keep it simple and just say some names.My family,Wendy and her family,Justin,Sanford&Rich Lopez,Eliot Sloan,Brian Costillo,Povah,Moeller,Mckinney,Mcmurray,Ron Bonner,Mat Hoffman,Mark Owen,Rooftop, and anyone else I forgot,partied with,fought with,traveled with,Lived Life With.And you Crandall THANKS FOR THE EGO BOOST
