Rider Spotlight: James Curnock

James has clearly dedicated himself to his craft, and it shows in his performance. Whether he is landing massive tuck-no hander front flips or effortless double truck drivers, his skill level is remarkable.  It has been impressive to watch him transition his BMX background to the big bike, and we are thrilled to have him on the team!  

We caught up with James after his recent Crankworx win at the Crabapple Hits event to learn more about his mindset and what's next.

Chromag:  Let's start at the beginning. How did your love for biking begin?  

James:  I always loved being on a bike. When I hit 10 years old I started going to the local jump spots and messing around on my department store bmx. From there the obsession began. 

Chromag:  When did the transition from concrete to dirt happen and what made you make that decision?  

James:  My transition from 20” wheels to big bikes happened when I moved to Canada in 2017. Working to adapt the technical tricks from my BMX world to the bigger bike was a new challenge that was so so fun! 

Chromag:  Living in the Sea to Sky corridor gives you endless places to ride. What does a perfect day look like for you?

James:  Me and a few of the local freeride crew have pioneered and rebuilt a few bigger jump spots in the S2S. The perfect day would be a cruisey morning and a lake dip, a sushi lunch followed by an evening session at RedJump or on the 12 at Nesters! Cherry on the top would be a icy bottle of Corona.

Chromag:  What are your favorite Chromag components and apparel?

James:  Components wise would be the FU40 bar and Overture seat. I love a higher rise bar and the overture is the perfect size for all types of tricks. Apparel would have to be the new Atwell pant. Big fan of the cargo style pants and the slightly more relaxed fit is epic, Massively comfortable!

Chromag: Huge congrats on your Crankworx 2026 performance! What did the lead-up and preparation for this event look like?

James:  Thank you! It was an epic year at Crankworx Whistler for me. My prep was pretty varied aha. I had RW invitational a couple of weeks prior and pushed myself to get a line I was proud of done in the best trick event. I then spent a week at Shambhala listening to music and being with my amazing girlfriend and friends.  I came back feeling super motivated going into Crankworx.   I wanted to treat WhipOff as a little bit of a warm up for the Crabs event, so did a couple of tricks, then the idea was to push hard to get the line I had in my head done up on the line! Everything fell into place and I’m so stoked on the line I put down.

Chromag:  Taking the win at Crabapple Hits with a huge fronty tuck-no was awesome. Can you tell me a bit about that experience?

James:  Yeah I couldn’t be more stoked! Conditions were a little wild when we got up the hill, some rain ruts, braking bumps and wind definitely put some questions in my head. We did a little foot work to fill in some ruts and Mick, Jakob and some of the guys fixed the bigger jumps landing up nicely when tools arrived. I got into the flow of riding pretty quickly and was feeling really good on the bike so start to get some tricks ticked off. As it progressed I knew what I had on my head was possible and once I’d front flipped the main jump a few times I knew the fronty no hander was on. The full line was barspin out of the little lily pad up top, tailwhip the step down, backflip the setup jump and front flip no hander the main jump.

Chromag:  What does the rest of the 2026 summer look like for you?

James:  I took a week off after Crankworx to really let the win settle in. Then it’s Backwoods which I’m so stoked for! Then we go back into filming for a video project I’ve been working on this season that we will see drop sometime this fall! It’s been an epic year and there’s no signs of it slowing down!! Lezzzz gooo!!