Although he has an X Games Freestyle Moto X bronze medal from 2013 and an X-Fighters podium from 2012, Wes Agee doesn't identify himself as a competitor and he was never a racer. At age 27, Agee is the youngest in the Real Moto lineup. He grew up riding in Ocotillo Wells, learned to backflip at age 17 and has made a career out of record-setting flip attempts. Agee already holds claim to the longest backflip, at 190 feet. Not only is he gunning to extend that, he wants beat Ronnie Renner's quarterpipe height record as well. The Metal Mulisha rider is currently wrapping up his latest film, "Project Lone Wolf."
Cinematographer: Jay Schweitzer
Bike: KTM 450 SX-F
X Games: What story are you trying to tell with your video?
Wes Agee: My goal was to hit locations that have not been filmed before. We went to Maui and San Francisco, and those jumps, after we built them and jumped them, were torn down and will never be jumped again. Me and Jay Schweitzer were already filming "Project Lone Wolf," so we were already out filming. We were also trying to link it together with our film to try to promote that as well.
It definitely felt like the video was building toward something that has yet to be released.
We didn't want to release all the banger shots in Real Moto because it really wasn't a big budget and we had already spent so much of our own money filming, but I still put a big flip in there and a few bangers.
As far as "Lone Wolf" goes, we're still filming. I built a quarterpipe at Pala Raceway. I'm going to do a big flip into a world-record quarterpipe attempt. I'm going to try to beat the height record. That'll be going down in late August.
You're talking about Renner's record of 63 feet, 5 inches?
Yeah, Renner has had that one for a while now [since July 2009]. That was off a 23-foot ramp, I believe. We built one 28 feet with the same guy that built his ramp, Matt McCaul. Pala Raceway stepped up and paid for it. I've always been comfortable going big in the quarterpipe.
What's the world record flip that you reference in the video?
That's a ramp-to-dirt record at 170 feet. That was kind of a test flip. I just did that a couple of times because that was a brand new ramp and landing. I want to go 200 feet. That's my goal. That was a kind of warm up. I didn't want to do it in front of nobody. We're trying to make a big event out of it, maybe at Pala. We're shopping around.
You were the only guy who got off the mainland for his movie. How did you find that spot in Maui?
I've been to Hawaii a few times. This local guy named Joey Clark showed me some pictures of land he had and pictures of himself jumping. He's a pretty good rider. I was stoked to see that there is a freestyle moto scene in Hawaii. Some local boys got some tractors together and we started pushing dirt. We expected to have some hills to work with but we didn't have too much elevation change. We just started building big doubles right off the ground. We built three 110-foot doubles in a row going up the hill in Lahaina in Maui, with the city and ocean in the background. It was unreal to ride dirt bikes in the day and then hop in the water.
Where were the East Bay shots?
That was in Castro Valley at a buddy's ranch. He had been trying to get us up there for a while. I guess they had never ridden dirt bikes on that ranch. There was one hill to work with that had the San Francisco Bay in the background. Right after that was filmed we tore it down. It will never be filmed again.
When do you hope to release "Lone Wolf"?
We're pretty much done. We just have the Pala event and maybe one more road trip. We were shooting for November, but that's coming up quick. It probably won't be until next year, realistically. I don't want to release it until it's ready.
How was the whole Real Moto experience?
To be able to compete and work with some of my idols was rad. I've looked up to all of those guys -- still do. I just wish there were more tricks and flips in the other videos. I didn't see too much progression in the other parts. Maybe it's because they're older. [Laughs] It was X Games. I was trying to be progressive in my riding and I let Jay handle the filming and editing side of things. I'm stoked to be a part of it.