UNIQUE is a word that usually doesn't go with many riders... Riders usually have a few tricks that belong to them but usually you see links and combos change very little from one rider to the next. Michael Steingrabber is one of the exceptions. His style is one of the most original in the flatland world today. It is a flowing, super technical style that is based almost entirely on rolling stubble ducks and undertakers with some unique barflips thrown in to make your jaw drop. Even his bike is easy to identify as unique. He was the only rider in either of the first two X-Trials that runs a completely straight handlebar fork combo. Zero offset forks hooked directly to no-sweep handlebars which don't even have a stem but are linked straight down into the fork. Dragonfly, his sponsor, has hooked him up with a bike that he has figured out how to take advantage of and he has done it well. Crazy technical tricks have usually cost him the big wins at contests because if you are going for technical you either hit the trick... or you don't. Richmond was one of the biggest ones for him ever and he pulled down a third place finish and an invite to the X-Games. With a great attitude about riding and towards others in general... I don't think he stopped smiling the whole day....

~P~ Congratulations! Third Place!

Thanks very much. I'm really stoked!

~P~ What's your name, age, where are you from, and if you are on the Internet do you have an e-mail address?

My name is Michael Steingrabber. I'm from Germany... Hamburg Germany that is. I'm 27 right now I'll be 28 in ten days.. I think. My sponsors are Dragonfly Bikes, Vans Shoes, Mutation Clothing, and Animal Watches and Bags. My e-mail address is mike_s_one@hotmail.com .

~P~ How long have you been riding now?

I started in 1983 so it's about 16 years now.

You've got a crazy original technical style. A lot of swiveling on the pegs, the straight handlebar/fork setup from Dragonfly. How do you creativity going and what inspired the setup and all the tricks where you rotate and pivot on the pegs that link so many tricks together?

Actually what motivated me to do this bike varial/body varial stuff is when I saw Wheelies where Edgar Placentia rode and he did a lard yard and then bike varial out of it. I wanted to do that cause it was so rad and then I just kept on doing more of that stuff. I don't know it just comes to my mind all the time. New stuff and I'm trying it.

~P~ You're pegs... The Dragonfly pegs? Where do you get them in the States?

You cannot get them so far. We talked to Dan's Competition just the other week and of course he said "No one in the U.S. wants these pegs." But a lot of people ask me about them so I think he was probably wrong. We don't have a distributor so far. We might sell to Dan's soon... we are working on that. These are the Dragonfly pegs for 1999.

~P~ Have you talked to Wes' BMX yet?

Ummm.. No, I don't think so.

~P~ They aren't as 'corporate'... maybe a little more into the sport. I will try to get you their e-mail address.

Great thanks a lot.

~P~ Who do you ride with?

I ride Chris one of my sponsors who does Mutation Clothing and Hamburg locals mostly. I guess their not to known over here. But their good friends of mine and fun. In the mornings I ride by myself and in the afternoons they come and ride with me so that's pretty good.

~P~ What do you think your favorite trick is right now?

I couldn't tell... Maybe it's... Geez, it's hard to explain- This whiplash thing spin, jump over the bars to inside spin...

~P~ Inside swivel, to barflip, to inside swivel?

Yeah, that's it. That's my favorite move. But in general I would have to say that it's the undertaker. Because many people don't realize it these days, but the whole idea behind the hitchhiker is that. Go in on one side and come out the other side. So the undertaker is maybe the most important trick so far that was invented. All the tricks that we are doing right now it's going from one side of the bike to the other... going under the bike. I think it's very important.

~P~ You're riding a Dragonfly bike. What's the difference with the Dragonfly bike compared to others?

We're trying to make stuff that's pretty strong and affordable. It's made in Taiwan. That doesn't mean it's bad. I mean most of the bikes you can buy are made in Taiwan anyway. You just got to tell those guys what to do and they can do it very good. Don't tell them you want the cheapest stuff then, of course, you get crap quality. We have a big team in Germany so all the team riders have input on what we are making. A lot of the stuff we are making I think is really good. Especially on the frames we have the cold forged chromoly dropouts. I think we're the only manufacturer that does stuff like that and I think their the strongest dropouts on the market. We have street frames too!

~P~ When you say "WE" how much a part of Dragonfly are YOU?

I'm not financially involved with the company. But the two guys that own it are... I consider them good friends of mine and I try to support them as good as I can. So I really feel like part of the company even though I'm not financially.

~P~ All the X-Trials this year and the X-Games. Are you going to every contest this year? Are you going to the Burning Bike Festival as well and how are you getting out here?

Dragonfly got me over here so that was pretty cool. I guess I'm not going to have time to go to the Burning Bike thing. But I'm definitely going to the X-Games and am going to try to come to the second set of X-Trials too. I've got a lot of stuff- a couple of competitions I've got to do shows there so I don't have time to come over all the time.

~P~ Where do you think flatland is headed?

Maybe it's headed to the underground because ESPN doesn't want it to be in the comps. But now you see all this bunnyhop tailwhip/whopper stuff. I think what's going to happen is not this boring scuffing all the time in circles then when you feel like it you do a switch... It's more quicker switches, rolling... I think that's what's going to happen.

~P~ What do you do when flatland gets you down?

I ride mini-ramps. We have a mini-ramp in the Dragonfly warehouse. I don't know- I eat junk food. (laughs)

~P~ What do you think of the flatland coverage on ESPN?

I don't see much of it cause I'm not here all the time. But, I'm stoked it's still there- in the competitions. I hope it's gonna stay here. Definitely- you see the crowd here today- they loved it! It was a really tough competition today. That must be good for TV too so they should keep it.

~P~ Do you like the new flatland format?

I actually like it. It's impossible to judge thirty guys. I think it's way better to judge just five guys or six and see who are the top two to go to the next round. You can have bad luck if you're in a tough group but I think it's still a good thing.

~P~ What's the worst injury you've ever had?

I was pretty lucky so far. I broke my finger when I was in Australia and I haven't seen a doctor I don't know what's happenning with that. It's still swollen and hurting a little bit. I rolled my ankle pretty bad, but that's a long time ago I had surgery on that. But I'm not really injured much.

~P~ What do you have to say to beginners or people interested in getting into flatland?

If you think you're interested in it, try it. It's gonna be hard at the beginning. If you don't like it do something else. It's going to be tough at the beginning, that's all I can say. Try your best and if you like it keep doing it.

~P~ What kind of music do you like?

Nothing in particular actually. Mostly radio. I like that and also classical...

~P~ Country? Opera?

Not really opera. I don't like the singing in opera. But really classical music with violins and stuff I like that!

~P~ Any other jobs besides riding?

No, I'm stoked my sponsors can help me. I do a couple of shows a year. I can't even afford a home. I sleep in Dragonfly's office so it's not much money I'm making but I'm doing what I want. So that's cool. I spent for months in Australia last winter and I'm doing it again this winter. So it's all going fine so far.

~P~ You're favorite riders and why?

I'd have to say Chad Degroot. He's coming up with so much stuff and he's pretty relaxed about the contest and I'm not. I was all nervous in the first round second round was a little bit better. I was kind of relaxed today for the finals which is why I did not too bad. But I'm always getting nervous. I think he doesn't really care and that way you're not so nervous. He's learned so much good stuff and he came up with a lot of tricks.

~P~ How much time and dedication do you think it takes to where you are today?

I don't believe these stories where people say they ride eight hours a day. I try to ride two and a half hours in the morning and then again another two hours or so in the evening. I'd say if you ride two hours a day you can get pretty good. Just try to make it everyday and you can get good.

~P~ Any last words or people you want to thank?

Of course I'd like to thank my sponsors. I'd especially like to say hi to Jo... a good friend of mine from Australia she's probably going to read this on the Internet.

~P~ Thank you very much- congratulations again.

Thank you!