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Kriss Kyle: Why he loves a wallride

Kriss on his favourite wallrides, living at Unit 23 and what life’s been like post Kaleidoscope.
Written by Rachel Verity
4 min readPublished on
Kriss Kyle chilling in front of the MK spot

Kriss Kyle chilling in front of the MK spot

© Rutger Pauw

Kriss Kyle, Milton Keynes drainage ditch

Kriss Kyle, Milton Keynes drainage ditch

© Rutger Pauw

Off the back of the wallriders project you’re inviting the public to submit their own wallrides for the chance to win a session with you at Unit 23 – are you personally going to be judging these wallrides? Yeah it should be sick. I get to pick some kids to come ride, hang out and have a good time. It’s pretty sick because it’s fricking good to give back to the kids. If I’d have had the chance to ride with one of my favourite riders when I was growing up I would have been so stoked. I remember meeting them and being like ‘I can’t believe that I’ve just met them’, let alone a lock in at the unit and getting to ride.
What will you be looking for? Creativity for sure and style. Just anyone who looks like they’re having fun on their bike – it doesn’t have to be anything amazing.
Any tips for riding a wall? Just go fast. You can never go wrong with going fast – it’s the best way to do it.
What’s been your favourite ever wallride? The one that went viral was the one that I did in Rush Skatepark – quite a lot came out of that one little clip. But the best one I have ever ridden is in Israel – it’s just perfect. Whoever made that... it’s unreal.
You lived at Unit 23 in Glasgow for eight or so years – what was that like? It still feels like home every time I’m there – I’m there almost every day when I’m home. There was me and 12 of my friends who lived there, and they still live there. It’s more like a band of brothers, it’s not like friends; it’s more than that, because we were with each other every single day for 24 hours, partying at night. There’s always someone who’s up for doing something. We had the whole skatepark to ourselves and Chick Mailey who runs it is one of the boys. He’s always up for doing stuff, he’s super nice and cooks us dinners – he’s like a second Dad pretty much.
I just bought my first house and so I couldn’t be more stoked. It’s crazy that all this has just come through riding my bike. But it’s nice going away on all these trips to come back and I’ve actually got my own house.
I heard that you had a tattoo gun kicking around at Unit 23. Were a lot of your tattoos done there? Yeah, I’ve got a few from there. Quite a lot of people’s bodies are ruined. I tattooed one of my friends and pretty much destroyed his leg. Honestly, it was so bad. He was like ‘It’s fine’, but you can tell he was like ‘Shit, my leg is ruined’.
Kaleidoscope was obviously massive for you last year. How has life changed for you since then? Life after Kaleidoscope has definitely been a wild rollercoaster. The amount of people who have approached me with offers and other project ideas… as soon as it was done my phone was non-stop doing interviews for all these people, like Mexican TV shows and all this crazy weird stuff. Even till this day I’m still getting loads of emails – I actually just got offered to be in a movie next year. So many doors have opened since Kaleidoscope, I might as well make the most of these opportunities. I’m just along for the ride and enjoying every minute of it.
Submit your own wallrides for a chance to win a riding session with Kriss himself at Unit 23, Glasgow. Simply upload a clip of yourself riding your best wallride via Instagram and tag @RedBullUK, @KrissKyle and include #redbullwallriders.
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