24 Nov The Seshin Years
Seshin Bikes had a stacked Canadian team for years. Ted Efthymiadis had a skill for finding shredders across the country before they blew up, at a time where web edits were still at a minimum. Between 2001 to 2008 Seshin had a lineup consisting of Corey Dewey, Greg Flag, Jeff Evans, Zane Hudson, Dillon Lloyd, Drew Bezanson, Matt Walser, Sam Lowe, Brent Webb, Kean Fougere, Jared Chilko, Mark Lockhart, Andrew Gobbo and Steven Moxley. Check out this feature for some Canadian bmx history.
Ted Efthymiadis
What made you start Seshin?
I started Seshin because I was just fed up with BMX companies charging far too much for BMX goods. Essentially I found a way to source out manufacturing first in Canada, then in Taiwan and Canada, and keep the cost down much lower than my competitors because I was selling online rather then seeking large scale distribution. In 2001, I remember a good quality BMX frame selling for $420-$600 Canadian. My first frame came out with equal quality and sold hundreds of dollars cheaper with a similar or better warranty.
What was the highlight of Seshin for you?
That is a hard question to answer, I had a lot of them over the years. Honestly I think the day I put out the press release about the fact that I was leaving the BMX industry, that was the highlight. I had thousands of people e-mailing, calling and blogging the best stuff about myself and the company. It was extremely rewarding. The thing that stood out was that people knew we wanted to listen to the customer. I always took time to poll riders for months before coming out with a new product, and that earned me a lot of respect.
Seshin always seemed to have a stacked team, how did you have such a skill at finding awesome dudes across Canada?
Honestly some of that was just good old luck. I used to ride night and day, I was a huge part of the BMX scene here in Atlantic Canada for more than ten years as I started doing BMX jams and competitions back in the late 90’s. So being everywhere, riding with everyone I got to know personally the kids who were coming up in the scene. Drew Bezanson, Greg Flag, Sam Lowe, these were all dudes I was riding with on a daily basis, so it was 100% natural for me to put a t-shirt on them and get them on Seshin. In later years Freak in Montreal helped me get a few guys on the team like Corey Dewey and Jared Chilko. I guess it came down to having my eyes open every time I went out to ride, and having people do that for me around the country also.
What was your favourite Seshin product?
I think the Seshin Shithawk V1 was my favourite. I can still remember the day I rented a massive U-haul to go and pick them up at the container terminal. After loading them in the truck I opened one up and I almost cried. That frame was dead on perfect. Not a thing I would change to this day. I think I did a run of at least 100 of those frames and only saw two or three come back for warranty.
What do you think of BMX today compared to 2001 through 2008?
I still follow bmx very closely, most people have no idea because I don’t comment and ride much less than I used to.
I think the biggest shift has just been an increase in BMX becoming more mainstream and less of a brotherhood. I can still remember the first 10 years I was riding, everyone knew every other rider in the area and we all had an immediate connection. That no longer is the case unfortunately.
Jared Chilko
What were the Seshin years like for you?
1) The Seshin years were pretty chill. It was really relaxed riding for Ted. At the time I was super stoked to ride for a Canadian owned/based company. The products were straight forward and clean, the team was full of rad dudes, and “Freak” was a crazy but cool TM.
What was the highlight for you?
2) For me there are a couple highlights. Filming/editing a welcome to Seshin Web video for Walser. Matthew is so dialed. Also, Ted hooking me up with a signature handle bar. It was awesome getting to tweak every spec to make something exactly how I wanted it at the time.
Any words for Ted?
3) Words for Ted. Thanks for the Seshin times man. Wish it could have still been rolling. Getting parts to kids for cheap = more kids riding BMX.
Sam Lowe
What were the Seshin years like for you?
Seshin years were awesome man. Ted was always one of the older dudes that i looked up to because he was super nice and could shred. over the following years i got to be good buddys with him. i remember him telling me he was starting up a company and he needed some t shirts made. I would sit in the back of my english class with headphones in trying to draw up designs that he could print on tees. they all sucked so it never happend. the seshin years for me were highschool, not a care in the world exept going riding after class, no responsibility.that era was one of the best times of my life.
What was the highlight for you?
Highlight would probably be getting my first cassette hub for free. I couldnt believe that any company, regardless if I was friends with the owner or not, would want to give me a bike part for free. iIremember waiting and waiting for the first shipments of hubs to come in and when if finally arrived I immediatly dropped what I was doing and got to his house as fast as I could to pick it up. I took it home and stared at it for so long, I was fucking stoked!
Any words for Ted?
Ted will always be a friend of mine. We don’t see each other very often and we have definitely taken different paths in life, but I have alot of respect for someone who can accell at anything they set their mind to like he has. whether its starting up a bike company out of his parents garage, or a bmxshop in a city that is in dire need of one and helping the scene grow to what it is today, or earning a living shooting photos of models.. and now i believe he is training k9 dogs. all of which he started up on his own. he is a super determined person and when he sets his mind to something, he makes it happen. Thanks for the good times ted!
***see below for some old footy of Sam (4:55) from the Seshin era***
Corey Dewey
What were the Seshin years like for you?
Seshin years were sick, I never thought anyone would want to hook me up with frame and ask me to film a for a web vid which there wasnt 100000 a day at the time). So iIwas really stoked on that.
What was the highlight for you?
Riding with greg on a regular basis and filming for that vid were definetly the highlight.
Any words for Ted?
Ted’s a good dude who helped out alot of Canadian dudes and I have a lot of respect for that. Never got the chance to hang with him more than once, but he was an awesome guy for sure. Thanks Ted.
Matt Walser
What were the Seshin years like for you?
I was on at the end year or so I think, It was pretty cool being involved in a company that was canadian. I had already known alot about it from reading posts on bikeguide.org, and was pretty into it. Ted used the forum like a focus group getting concepts and ideas, and afterwards feed back from all the dudes.
What was the highlight for you?
The highlight for me would have to be when Jared got to design his own signature bars. Jared is a good friend of mine and has roots pretty deep in our scene, I was pretty stoked for him. It seemed like almost every kid here had a pair here, seshin was happenin! I still have a pair that ill always keep.
Any words for Ted?
Thank you for helping me out with everything! I would really proud to be involved in what you were doing, I’ll definitely never forget seshin!
Drew Bezanson
What were the Seshin years like for you?
The Seshin years were great, It was when the Nova Scotia scene was probably the strongest. It was before everyone either moved away or started traveling so there were always awesome sessions around.
What was the highlight for you?
Highlights for me was definitely getting helped out with product and then going to the last Vancouver Metro Jam. It was amazing to get helped out with a few products at that point because then I could spend money on other parts of my bike and actually get it running decent lol.
Any words for Ted?
Ted man, I can’t thank you enough for all the help in the beginning. Hope all is rocking and god bless.
Greg Flag
What were the Seshin years like for you?
The seshin years were rad dude, so much fun. It’s allways fun to think about all the dudes that rode for seshin, and meeting up with guys that use to ride for Seshin from all over the country. I will finish this for you later
What was the highlight for you?
The highlight of being on the seshin team while i was on it was.. being on the team with all the guys that were like family to me, we didn’t really travel that much back then, but now that i’ve been travelling for the last few years i realize that there is soooo much good stuff to in Nova Scotia, and the maritimes in general. It’s really too bad that Seshin isn’t around anymore.
Any words for Ted?
As for Ted, I miss the feller a lot man, wish i could get together with him every time i go home. Such a rad dude that did so much for all of us on the team, as well as the community, dude had the only bmx specific shop in eastern canada, hell maybe even canada entirely. It was the best place to hang out, just a stones through from the halifax park. The world needs more guys like Ted man, best kind right there.
Matt Desson
What were the Seshin years like for you?
The ten months I was on seshin was a good time. I had just won the Vancouver metro jam and was still in high school when Ted asked me to be apart of the team. I was super stoked on seshin before hand so I couldn’t say no.
What was the highlight for you?
High lites for me were being apart of such a small Canadian based company that did real well.
Any words for Ted?
Thanks Ted for hooking me up and getting me started. And letting me be apart of Canadian Bmx history.
Jeff Evans
What were the Seshin years like for you?
Seshin years were fun, I was young, I met some good friends I still have to this day through seshin.
What was the highlight for you?
Highlight of seshin was going to Halifax to meet Ted and see his shop Noble BMX, good times..on the last day of the trip I broke my leg and spent an extra week in the hospital. Ted hooked it up with magazines and candy the whole time..that was sick, thanks Ted!
Any words for Ted?
Hope your still doing his thing, entrepeneuring and such, cheers bud.
Kean Fougere
What were the Seshin years like for you?
Riding for Ted was pretty awesome he never made much money off seshin but he hooked up quite a few riders with frames and bars, trips never happened really but I didnt care it was just awesome that he thought I deserved free stuff.
What was the highlight for you?
Highlights.. I would have to say the day I took a 3 hour drive to Halifax to ride park (closest park from where I lived) I knew ted a bit before, He came up to me and said “So, you wana be on the Seshin team?” It was an awesome feeling, just being part of SOMETHING in the bmx industry was pretty cool to me back then, I would say that was the highlight.
Any words for Ted?
Ted’s a sick dude and good friend. He ran a frame company and a bmx shop something no one else was prepared to do in nova scotia.
Andrew Gobbo
What were the Seshin years like for you?
The seshin years were great for me. I was in university most of those years, so I had lots of time to ride and was full of energy and motivation. I feel like I was one of the few that really loved Seshin as a brand, I was rootin for them, and I actually felt that if Ted stuck with it it was about a year away from taking off. In my opinion the Seshin years in Canadian bmx ended too soon.
What was the highlight for you?
well my memory isn’t too good, but I do remember one year at the metro jam in toronto, Ted had a booth set up, he had things and clothes and I think some bike stuff. Anyway I was excited to kind of meet him (I had only ever met him in a rowdy lineup for a video premiere the metro before that in vancouver), anyway I went up to his booth to say whats up and he instantly started going through some boxes and grabbed me a fresh Seshin hoodie, it had a pegasus on it (which he had to explain to me it wasn’t a gay unicorn) anyway I put it on over the hoodie I was wearing, and was warm enough that I decided to go out riding around toronto that night with a crazy gentleman I had met just minutes earlier, Le Freak.
We had an awesome night out cruising around neighborhoods I didn’t know and riding some cool stuff in the below freezing Toronto night before trying to pawn off “le Freak” at some sort of hotel so I didn’t have to bring him back with me to my friends place to sleep (I think his original plan was to sleep in the Seshin van but he had already screwed himself on that one by leaving). Ok sorry that was so long winded im on t3s and very very bored right now.
Any words for Ted?
As for Ted, I dont know what words I have other than thanks for thinking I was worth hooking up with free stuff, it actually meant a lot to me. I was genuinely saddened to hear that you werent going to do Seshin anymore. People had actually started talking to me about it like it was a real company, which believe me, took a couple ofyears.
Steven Moxley
What were the Seshin years like for you?
hahaha the seshin years thats amazing, seshin years for me were when we had the toronto warehouse. It’s pretty much where I did all my winter riding and put out some of the first edits I was ever stoked on.
What was the highlight for you?
Highlights of riding for seshing were having a frame that I actually liked and trusted underneath me. I was stoked on both of them and the chilko bar was my first “big bar” so I’m stoked I got into that as well haha.
Any words for Ted?
TED? where the hell are ya get back in BMX lol and thanks for helping and supporting me when you did it was greatly appreciated.
***Also check out a very young and dirty Dillon Lloyd from the Seshin era below.***