Stevil Kinevil Cycling Blogosphere's L'enfant Terrible

Stevil

Stevil Kinevil; cycling maven, influential blogger, l'enfant terrible, one man web empire. Like him or not Stevil simultaneously lampoons and celebrates cycling culture and despite whatever your opinion concerning Stevil may be he is one of the more colorful characters in the cycling diaspora.

Recently Bicycle Industrial Complex conducted an email interview with Stevil and here are the results.

BiC: You’ve worked your through the ranks in the bike industry with stops along the way with both Santa Cruz Bicycles and Swobo. While at Swobo you wrote the “How To Avoid the Bummer Life” blog that later morphed into All Hail the Black Market. What made you decide to launch All Hail the Black Market? 

Stevil: Just after being laid off from Swobo I was talking with a friend of mine and he mentioned in passing that he didn’t see any reason I couldn’t do what I was with Swobo, but for myself. It was something I’d planned on attempting eventually but my hand was sort of forced. It seemed like a good idea at the right time. That and the fact that I didn’t really have any other options.

Meanwhile in Mississippi

BiC: For someone who is not familiar with “AHTBM” how would you describe it to them?  

Stevil: I try to touch on a variance of topics- music, politics, art, travel, animals, food… I don’t know. I just kinda go where my gut takes me, and cover whatever topic is on my mind on that day particular.

BiC: With “AHTBM” you’ve been able to meld together your background with art, cycling and blogging.  How did you decide on your design ideas? 

Stevil: I come up with something, and then sometimes will give it to either my friends Brad Allen or Snakehawk who are both brilliant artists and designers. I wish I could take credit for the aesthetic, but I just come up with scribbles on napkins. They are the guys who polish all of my turds.

BiC: Since you talked about what “AHTBM” is, what would you say that what “AHTBM” isn’t.

Stevil: A watermelon. "AHTBM "definitely is not a watermelon.

BiC: How important do you think the use of social media outlets have been to the success of “AHTBM"?

All Hail AHTBM

Stevil: Very. Initially I was resistant to Facebook and Twitter and all of that, but I knew I had to use those to maintain some level of presence between losing my job and striking out on my own. Since then, I use them all the time to communicate with people, or to find stuff to include in posts or simply to promote each post as it’s published.

BiC: How closely do you follow your online traffic sources, and do you adjust your content depending what sort of hits you get?

Stevil: Not very. Frankly, it stresses me out. “What if I look at analytics and my traffic’s however many hundred fewer than it was last month?” I like the process of putting posts together and when people comment or send me emails or whatever, it’s hugely fulfilling and acts as a primary motivator. Of course those numbers are of a benefit to a perspective or existing advertiser, but for me, I tend to pay little attention to it.

Where the traffic comes from never dictates what I decide to include in a post. My primary motivator is to be happy with what I end up compiling one day to the next. I love that I’ve found myself in this position and I never take it for granted, ever.

More fun when there's two

I also love that people enjoy it. Last January at the Cyclocross World Championships in Louisville, a few random people approached me and just simply thanked me for what I do. I can’t tell you how much that means to me. I remember a long time ago when I first had the same exchange with Mike Ferrentino… I had never met him, and I walked up to him as he was standing by his old Econoline van at a race, I thanked him for his efforts. It’s an indescribable feeling to know that something that you make, makes people happy. I know it sounds corny, but it’s true.

BiC: “AHTBM” sells a fairly broad product line- an “AHTBM” frameset from Handsome Cycles, hats, jerseys, shirts and other soft goods, can cozies, stickers, and so forth. Do you take suggestions from your customers and come up with a new product or do you simply monitor what sells and create variations on a theme?

Stevil: No, it’s just stuff that I would like to have, and I hope there are enough other people out there who feel the same way to justify investing in getting it made.

BiC: What’s the biggest product blunder you made and how did you correct it?


Stevil: I suppose it would have been a second run of Pace caps I had done. I’d worked with them before and I loved what they made for me. The second style I had done simply wasn’t what I thought it was gonna be. Basically, I just marked them down in price and hoped that eventually I’d sell them out. I mean, they’re great hats, they just weren’t what I had in mind. I tend to not invest too much in any project. I do small runs with independent manufacturers, so it’s easy. Big ticket items like the Smokey and The Bandit replica wool jersey I had to do pre-orders of, because one, I didn’t have enough money sitting around to cover the entire run, and two, I couldn’t afford to have that much merchandise waiting to be bought by customers. Pre-orders ensure that the people who want an item get it, and I don’t have to risk going broke.

Cozy

BiC: How important if it for “AHTBM” for you to go to events like Interbike, the 2013 World Cyclocross Championships in Louisville KY, or Meet Your Maker? 

Stevil: It gives me stuff to write about, and I suppose maintains some level of visibility, but I’d be going to those things anyway. Maybe not Interbike, but it seems like I always end up going for myself, or get roped in to assist someone else one way or another.

BiC: How do you choose what events you are going to attend?

Stevil: Whatever I can afford and/or seems interesting to me. I really wanted to go to Messenger Worlds when it was in Chicago because I had a lot of very kind people urging me to go. Plus, I hadn’t been to one since I was actually a messenger back when it was in San Francisco, but I’m pretty conservative financially. I always want to ensure I have a little buffer in the bank in case my cat goes back to the emergency room, or quarterly taxes are due, or for bills and all that other grown-up nonsense. In a perfect world, I’d travel all of the time, but I have to be realistic.

You dirty dirty biker


BiC: Would you say there is an average “AHTBM” follower?

Stevil: I don’t think there is one. There’s a broad spectrum of both men and women, kinda all ages as near as I can tell. Like I said frequently when I did The Bummer Life, I feel as though we’ve got a pretty big table, at which there is plenty of room for everybody.

Earthy, bellicose, Stevil has carved out his niche in the cycling world. Not bad for a former messenger and bike mechanic. 

For more Stevil and All Hail the Black Market check out:

Official website: All Hail the Black Market and follow Stevil through Twitter, Facebook , Flicker, Google + and RSS.