Defining the Ineffable with Eric Spinney

Fun times.

I like to imagine that, had I somehow stayed in Canada after being born in Toronto, that Eric Spinney and I would be friends. Who knows, maybe we still could end up hanging out some day.

Spinney, 31, lives on the East Coast of Canada. He rides bikes. And he makes videos and puts them up on YouTube.

His channel, Spindatt, has amassed a respectable following after seven years of recording, editing and uploading. It’s a fun channel, and, from time to time, offers me a few minutes of pleasurable escape as I watch him ride BMX, make weird upgrades to his arsenal of bikes, train for a gravel race and build a ramp in his new garage.

He’s one of those people that have a natural ability at being entertaining whilst talking into a camera. He’s got a knack for it.

Spinney is also a cyclist’s cyclist. I’m not sure exactly what I mean by that, but he’s the type of person who grew up riding around the neighborhood. That led to riding BMX, which led to road/urban cycling, which led to mountain biking, which led to gravel riding. The dude just likes riding his bike, whichever form it takes.

But he’s not someone who goes out and buys the most expensive type of bike for each type of riding. He’s worked in a bike shop, so one of the things he does is make content around putting different/unusual parts on bikes to retrofit them into the type of riding he wants to experience.

For example, the Monster Cross. Dude wanted to bar spin a gravel bike. So he slapped some BMX bars on it, set up it as a dingle speed and … learned some things.

“I definitely feel like I’m taking a very capable bike and reverting it to a particularly uncapable (sic) state. But … for the dream of bar spinning it, I think it’s all worth it.”

Mr. Spinney has a sense of humor. I like it.

Oh, yeah, there was one time he turned an old GT mountain bike he bought for $70 into something he called the GTMX.

Anyway, I like his stuff. You might, too. I’ve followed him for a couple years on YouTube and one day it occurred to me that I should ask him if he’d be willing to be featured on Cycotherapy. He was quick to oblige.

Here’s our Q&A.

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PROFILE
Eric “Spindatt” Spinney
Age: 31
Family: Fiancée, Angela. Border collie: Norton.
Occupation: “I make videos and put them on YouTube.”
Road or mountain bikes: “Today I love MTB.”
Miscellaneous: Favorite food = pizza. (“But also anything that’s not very healthy honestly.”) Favorite songs on his playlists right now = “I gotta get drunk” by Willie Nelson; “You’ve Got me Running in Circles” by Sonny Cleveland; “Loaded and Lonely” by Midnight Evils; “Before the Day is Over” by Joji. Music, he says, is the real spice of life.

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What’s your earliest memory of riding a bike?

I remember my dad taking the training wheels off of my first tiny bike, and me giving up pretty quickly on riding without them so he put them back on. One of them kind of worked its way off while I was riding on the sidewalks in our neighbourhood but I remember not wanting the one that was still on to be taken off for a few days. Eventually I think I gained the courage to let my Dad remove it and give riding without training wheels another try, but at that point I was just... able to ride a bike haha. Leaving the one training wheel on was probably more of a hinderance than help.

Just based on the content on Spindatt, I assume you've worked in a bike shop. True? If so, how'd that transpire? (If you haven't worked at a shop, how did you become knowledgeable in bike repair?) 

I did work in a shop! The shop I worked at was actually quite the character in early vlogs on the channel. That shop closed though and I moved to a job using my engineering diploma for 2 years or so and eventually made the jump to full time YouTube.

Scrolling to the very bottom of your Youtube channel, I see you've been posting videos to Spindatt for seven years. Congrats for being consistent! (Seriously, no easy task.) What was your hope with launching Spindatt and how, if at all, has that changed since?

Thanks! Yeah it’s been a while at this, it’s fun to be able to go back and see the different houses we’ve lived in, and how my bikes and interests have shifted over the years. Originally I thought it would be cool to make some videos like I had been watching on YouTube and cross my fingers that one day it would find an audience. The arbitrary goal was 10K subscribers and get some YouTube money to get some bike parts outside of my pay cheques, haha. Now I just want to enjoy the time I get to have as an online creator and try to make some cool content that I can look back on later. 

How many bikes do you own and what are they? Which is your favorite to ride?

There’s got to be more than 10 right now, maybe more. Likely not less.

Fun Norton Hardtail
Fast Norton Hardtail
Poseidon Gravel Bike
Sunday BMX
WTP BMX
Rawnstercross
Steel FS MTB
Poseidon Redwood
Tracklocross
Cinelli Vigorelli
Ride 1UP E Gravel
Ride 1Up E Moped
Specialized Rock Hopper
Trek 8500
Dirt Jumper

My favourite to ride … "Fun Norton" (but like it’s not a fair question cause I like riding them all and doing all the different things and writing run-on sentences inside these parentheses).

What's an ideal ride on the bike for you?

Currently, it’s generally a day at a bike park of sorts. 

See, where I ride locally, it’s hard work — road or MTB. It’s always such a nice treat to just get a full day in lapping some purpose-built trails. Ending the day a little less smoked compared to hammering through chunky tech or punchy climbs. It’s also nice to get a little bit BMX-y while riding too, and bike parks lend themselves to that pretty nicely.

Describe the joys of cycling.

I just have so much frigging fun riding bikes. Sometimes it’s during a ride or session, and sometimes it’s after. SOMETIMES I actually get extremely frustrated during a ride, and need to come back to re-do it, which can be extra fun the second go around (though I’d prefer the frustration never happens to begin with lol).

I can cruise the same line at a concrete bowl on my bmx all day, scare myself on a rock roll riding MTB or race through mud on a cross bike and the result is typically the same: fun times.

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Agreed. “Fun times.”

The fun Eric has on his bike and on his YouTube channel is evident. And contagious. Check out his content and, dammit, remember to have fun on your bike.

Thanks, Eric, for taking the time to define the ineffable today.

PSA! Next Sunday is Mother’s Day. Get your mommy something nice. Or do something nice for her. Here on Cycotherapy, we’re going to feature some kiddos’ answers to the question: why do you like riding your bikes? Here’s how it went when I interviewed by 3- and 5-year-olds.

Please send in your kids’ responses. I think it’s going to be a fun little piece of content. And then you can share it with your mom. Moms like kids saying cute things. (Well, OK, not just moms, but you get it.)

Send me your kids’ responses to brazdill DOT 25 AT gmail DOT com. (brazdill.25@gmail)