Exclusive: Pro Skater Ryan Sheckler On His Custom ‘Knight Rider’ Indian Chieftain, Scariest Tricks & The F1-Inspired X Games League

“The thing is mental. It’s got plenty of power. It’s got plenty of torque. The get up and go is insane.”

Before his 20th birthday, Ryan Sheckler was living a life that most young men could only dream of…unless they happened to catch a glimpse of it on Life of Ryan. By the time MTV’s reality show chronicling the skating phenom’s day-to-day happenings concluded after three seasons in 2009, Sheckler boasted two X Games gold medals, a $1 million home in San Clemente, a souped-up Range Rover and a Ferrari F430 parked in said home’s garage, and one of the most awe-inspiring tricks ever put to video tape—a kickflip over a fence into a 15-foot drop onto flat parking lot asphalt, aka the “Costco Gap.” Sheckler would somehow achieve even loftier heights in his 20s, adding five more X Games medals to his collection, getting sober, marrying his girlfriend, starting a family, and releasing Lifer, a jam-packed six-minute video part that’s arguably his best to date. Needless to say, Sheckler has long had the type of success that puts nearly anything within reach.

“It’s really hard to get gifts for me because, you know, I’ve had such a fortunate, blessed life,” Sheckler, now 35, tells us. “If I haven’t got it, I probably have the funds to be able to do it. And that’s such a blessing.” Even so, right before seeing his custom Indian Chieftain for the first time, he humbly says, “I still feel like I don’t deserve it. The whole time I was driving here, I was like, ‘Why are they giving me a bike?'”

As fate would have it, the latest season of Indian Motorcycle’s Forged web series documenting celebrity custom bike jobs is hosted by motocross legend Jeremy “Twitch” Stenberg, one of Sheckler’s lifelong friends. Stenberg tapped Sheckler as the recipient of his first Forged canvas, a 2025 Chieftain PowerPlus that, with a 112 cubic-inch engine producing 128 pound-feet of torque and 122 horsepower, is among the baddest baggers on the market. Fully incorporating Sheckler’s desire for a Knight Rider-inspired aesthetic, Twitch opted for a mostly black monochrome paint scheme and scarce pops of color. Several custom components include a Baja Designs LP6 headlight and flood lights, blacked-out Arlen Ness wheels, a blacked-out Two Brothers Racing 2-into-1 exhaust and plenty of carbon fiber.

Shortly after Sheckler first beheld Knight Rider, we had the chance to speak with the certified street skating legend about his role as a “founding athlete” in the Formula 1-inspired X Games League debuting in 2026, which young skater has the craziest clips, and what he loves most about his custom Chieftain PowerPlus, which he was eager to finally take ownership of. “I don’t have the bike yet, bro. I got the reveal, I got to ride it. It’s like getting a gift at Christmas. I’m patiently waiting.”

You’re coming off your 21st X Games appearance. What was the highlight of the competition?

They had an obstacle there for that kickflip Indy, and there had been so much hype going into the event, because when I won [X-Games Skateboard Park] in 2003 for the first time, one of the main tricks I did in that run was a kickflip Indy. So I had it in my mind that if there was a spot to be able to do that trick, just to tie it into the history of me being at X Games, that I would do it. I ended up finding a spot, and I landed that trick in my third run—I pretty much landed the whole run—and the crowd was just insane. I think the highlight for me was one: being there; two: being 35 years old and still being able to compete at a high level; and three—which would be the most important—was that my family was there. My daughters were there, my wife, and I had some friends from Orange County that flew in to support me, so the support system was insane. It was crazy, but now I’m hungry. I’m hungry to get a podium again, get another medal. So I’ll have like four opportunities next year with X Games to do that.

You’re talking about the newly formed X Games League.

Yeah, X Games League will have four events next year, but then Salt Lake city actually has another X Games, so I’ll have like four or five events next year, which I’m pretty stoked for.

X Games League is kind of like an F1-style traveling competition series that runs almost year-round, and you’re one of three founding athletes. Why do you think now is the right time in skateboarding to do that?

The rebuttal to that question is, “Why not right now? Skateboarding, BMX, [Moto X]—it has such a nostalgic draw to everyone because these are sports that are specific to the individual. So why X Games League is appealing to me is because we’re still all individually competing, but at the end of the day, we have the opportunity to gain points to win the Team Cup—I’m not sure if that’s what they’ll call it. For me, I’m excited to be a part of a team but also have it come down to individual performance.

It’s just cool, man. It’s our time. The people that are behind this have a good background in Formula 1 and are current members of F1 teams. Skateboarding is completely different, and I’m not comparing it to Formula 1, but the idea of a competitive team that’s going for an end goal at the end of the year while individuals also go for points makes sense to me. The funding is there, and I’m sure that they’re going to pull out all the stops to make sure that it comes off with a bang and gets the notoriety and the attention that we’re looking for. If we can achieve that next year, we should have no problem running this until who knows when.

I got into F1 because of Drive to Survive, and X Games League is going to have some Netflix-style content like that. I’m a little biased because I skated when I was younger, but extreme sports are arguably more dynamic than motorsports.

Yeah, it’s just different. I feel like if you were inside an F1 car, you would be like, “Oh my gosh, these guys are nuts.” But we can’t see all the the small intricacies of what a driver goes through from race to race, which is why that show is so important—to see the training behind the scenes of everything that they’re doing. But with skateboarding, you get what you get. You know if somebody landed, you know if they fell, so it’s pretty easy to follow.

You’ve said that getting a video part in skateboarding is the “pinnacle” of the sport, the thing that everyone wants. That’s interesting, because in most other sports, medals, trophies and titles are most coveted. Why is a video part more coveted than, say, an Olympic medal in the skateboarding community?

That’s a good question. Skateboarding started so raw, and it started in the streets with people filming a trick and then being able to show a trick that had never been done. And from the very beginning of skateboarding, it’s always been very important to have a team video part. Nowadays, teams are still putting out videos, but the individual can put out a crazy video part. I’m pretty sure [pro skater] Andrew Reynolds was the one who said it’s like an artist putting out an album—that album lives forever. And if you go to an artist’s concert, people remember it and it’s cool, but the next concert comes up and the last one’s forgotten. That’s kind of the same way I look at contests.

I have a ton of medals—it’s great, it’s cool, and they sit collecting dust all over the place. But a kid who’s not even born yet, who gets into skateboarding at five years old, can go watch my Lifer part. So the video part lives forever, but I think contest results kind of fade away. So if you want to have longevity, or you want to put your mark on skateboarding, you’ve got to go to spots that are popular and do a trick nobody’s done, document it, and put it out. And then you’ve earned your stamp on skateboarding. It kind of bums me out that people just put crazy stuff on Instagram. Instead of holding it and putting a video part together, they want instant gratification. But if you’re patient and take two years to put a video part together of all your gnarliest stuff, it will live forever. Instagram doesn’t live. It gets reposted, reshared. People talk about it for a week and it’s gone.

At the same time, some people just want to skate contests, and I’m cool with that too, man. As long as you’re on a skateboard, you’re a skateboarder. That’s how I’ve always looked at it. We share the same common bond that we want to keep getting our kickflips better, or we want to work on something. Nobody will ever win skateboarding because it’s forever changing. So a video part is crucial to showing who you are as a skater.

The first part you filmed for Lifer video after recovering from a major injury was a kickflip into a spillway in Riverside, California, which looked terrifying…even on camera. Was it as scary as it looked?

Yeah. The roll-up was so skinny—it was like an inch or two wider than my skateboard—so my roll-up had to be precise and perfect. And when I kickflip, I kind of lean out, so I had to pop really straight, and on the other side was 15- or 16-foot drop. And I was coming back from an ACL tear and putting that much pressure back on my knee…falling off of that thing definitely crossed my mind. But at the end of the day, I’m kind of like a cat. So if I felt like I was going to fall, I probably would have scratched to stay on the wall somehow.

But you can see the elation when I landed that. I had been injured, I had been out, and even though it was a kickflip, it was the act of scaring myself again and then understanding that I could overcome it. That one was big in the mental space. But I’ve been getting injured since the start of my career. I’ve spent years coming back from injuries and doing the same exact thing—coming back onto the scene, having to scare myself because I want it. That’s what makes me the skateboarder that I am, because I don’t care about getting hurt. If I get hurt, I’m coming back, period. It’s not even a question in my mind. That’s always been kind of wired into me. It’s inevitable in my brain.

Are there video clips from other skaters that scare you?

Big rails. Anything that Jamie Foy does. He’s my really good friend, and watching how he attacks these big rails…he doesn’t fall either. Most of the tricks that you see him do are first try or second try, and he makes it to the bottom every time. He’s obviously had some pretty bad step-offs that were insane. But it’s fun to watch him skate because he’s so locked in. And the stuff that he’s skating, you can’t be floundering around.

After you landed the frontside flip featured in Lifer and Thrasher’s My War series, you said wanted Chick-fil-A. Is that always what you eat after a hard session?

It depends. After a session like that, I’m sodium deficient, so I like salt, so a fried chicken sandwich is bomb. Or I’ll just destroy a bag of pretzels. After a long, sweaty session, I need salt.

I also want to get into your custom Chieftain PowerPlus. Why’d you pick that model out of Indian Motorcycle’s range?

One of my really good lifelong friends, Jeremy “Twitch” Stenberg, and his buddy, [Seth Brisson], mentioned something about the the Forged series that Indian is doing. And Twitch was like, “Dude, would do you want a bike?” And I was like, “Is that a trick question, bro? Of course.” He said they’re going to do the Chieftain PowerPlus, the bagger. And I was like, “Dope, but can set it up like a dirt bike for me? Twitch said, “Bro, I got you.” The Chieftain PowerPlus straight off the showroom floor is a stunner—it’s so sick, it’s so capable, the torque is insane. But then you put it in the hands of Twitch and Seth and the thing turned into a monster, bro. And what I wanted was like Knight Rider. I kept telling him, “Just make it Knight Rider for me. Like every variation of black and carbon fiber that you can.” They did that and then some.

It’s interesting that you chose a monochrome palette but incorporated a lot of flowers, which are usually rendered in bright colors. What was the inspiration?  

Most of my tattoos are black and gray, and I’ve always loved the look of complete black and gray sleeves or leg sleeves, and Twitch is obviously a big tattoo collector. The flowers being black and gray can definitely be attributed to tattoo style.

I especially like the rose on the clutch cover.

I’ve got rose tattoos all over the place, bro. And I always get my wife roses—they play a big part in some of the stuff that I like to gift to her. We could have done a red one, but when you have a black and gray palette, you’ve got to stick to it.

Is there a custom touch on this bike that you particularly love?

There is something that’s super special to me. When I’m sitting on the bike, and I’ve got my hands on the handlebars and I’m looking over the front of the bike, when I glance down, it says, “Olive and Lilah.” It’s a constant reminder to not do anything stupid or ride over my head because I need to get home to these girls.

Was that your idea?

No, Twitch asked me for the exact spelling [of Sheckler’s daughters’ names]. I was curious to see where he was gonna put them, but he put them in the perfect spot. Just where I see it every time I get on the bike.

What mods stick out to you most while you’re riding?

They did the exhaust, and the exhaust bark is pretty epic, but the bike comes stock ready to rock and roll—the thing is mental. It’s got plenty of power. It’s got plenty of torque. The get up and go is insane. There’s really nothing you need to change on the bike. I would have been happy with the stock one, you know, but they wanted to do me up. It’s a rocket ship for sure, and the only time the bike feels heavy is when you’re stopped. The second you start going, it feels like a dirt bike to me. That’s just the way that Twitch and Seth set it up, so that my handlebars were pulled back and my clutch is set up moto-style. When I’m sitting on the bike, I’m not reaching. It’s so nimble.

Have you always been into bikes?

I started with dirt bikes when I was a kid, I raced dirt bikes from 9 to 13 years old, and I was pretty quick. And my dad, who’s been on a bagger for as long as I can remember, gifted me a street motorcycle when I was 18 or 19. I rode that for a while and my brother and all his friends—they all ride Harleys and Indians. I’ve just always been around bikes, but I got rid of my last one five or six years ago because I just wasn’t riding it, and it felt like a sin not to ride the bike. So I sold it to someone who would ride it. But now I’ve got time again.

Where does the custom Chieftain PowerPlus rank in your garage?

I mean the only other bikes I have right now are Murf electric bikes, so I would say this trumps all of them. This bike sitting next to my [Ford] Raptor R—it’s gonna be a good combo. I’m stoked.