An Inside Look: Modifications and the Aftermarket Parts Industry [Part Two]

[Editor's note: the following is the second in a series regarding common modifications and the aftermarket parts industry. You can view part one here.]

As the freestyle scooter scene started to grow, the demands of the riders began to become more apparent. Gone were the days of one footed manuals and sketchy tailwhips on flat. Now riders were starting to become more serious, pouring more time and dedication into their riding, and with that, becoming more skillful and daring. With these skills riders kept pushing the limits of what was possible on the aluminum parts of a stock scooter. And that often resulted in a broken part. A few riders recognized this, and decided to do something about it. Two west coast riders would soon become the first freestyle specific scooter parts manufacturers, and impact the industry forever.

Now, before 2005, one-piece bars were nonexistent. If you broke your bars (which is something that would happen often to most riders, as Razor made their handlebars, t-tube, and steertube out of aluminum), you would be out of luck. Then, a little crew, tired of breaking their own parts, decided to do something about it. The R.A.D. crew, at this point, had been around the scene for awhile, and had already established its riders as some of the best. So, naturally, they wanted to make some decent bars for themselves. Cory Mosbrucker, the older of the Mosbrucker boys, welded together some basic T shaped bars. According to Cory, "...I made some for Cary, Alak, David and myself. We all just painted them to match our Skoot's. Each of us always just painted our own stuff. They weren't as nice at first but they were still MUCH better than the shitty stock bars we were all used to." Pretty soon kids at the local skatepark were noticing RAD's new bars. And so, they started asking for pairs of their own. Cory realized that they could start selling bars, that's just what they did.


At the end of this video, you can see a short advert for the original RAD bars.

After RAD bars (as they are commonly known now) began to catch on in the northwest, people from around the country, and even the world started to notice. Cory started selling his bars online on the Scooter Resource. After having success with this, he decided to start the RAD Skoot Co. But selling bars didn't last too long on SR. Andrew, the owner of SR, had taken notice that Cory was basically using SR to make money. This resulted in the rule number nine: No "profit" advertising in the forums. So, RAD had to resort to using other ways to sell their bars, such as by email, MySpace, etc. As time went on, like all good companies, RAD released new versions of their bars. V.2's, some of the strongest bars to ever have been released, featured a slightly different design than the previous v.1's. They sold v.2's throughout 2006, and later produced the v.3's in 2007. Each design was enormously popular, and were basically the only aftermarket bars you could get, until a little company named WEE popped up. Today RAD Skoot Co. sells a few different types of bars, forks, and even an original compression system, with plans to release complete scooters. The team is currently filming for a video to be released this summer. [Interviews of Cory and Stan Smirnoff can be found here and here.]

And now, another small (in the sense that it is run by one man, and one man only) company needs to be discussed. Run by Andrew Broussard, Scooter Resource parts put out their first scooter part in late 2006, with the very first aftermarket forks being released in time for Christmas. But the SR store had been around before then. In the store, you could buy wheels ranging from Low Profiles, Drive metalcores, and of course the amazing original YAK's. Additionally, there were SR "Bling" tees available. Having a scooter parts company is something Andrew "Buff" Broussard had been planning, and working on, for a very long time. As you know today, he has made a very successful business out of it, built on plainly amazing parts. The next SR part to be released were the ADA BUFF bars, in April 2007. These were a one of kind pair of bars at this point, being constructed of a stem, steertube, and crossbar, rather than the standard welded T bar. With this unique design, riders could easily change the dimensions of the BUFFs at will. However, they weren't without their faults. Many riders have complained of the weight, and that it is easy to hit your hand on the stem.

An original SR v.1 Old A compatible threadless fork.

Throughout the next few years, SR Parts would release several more products, assemble a team, and even change their name to Proto. The full Proto product line today includes several kinds of bars, a clever "Brass Knuckles" threadless compression system, and metalcore wheels, with forks in the works. The Proto company has become extremely popular throughout the past few years, and that seems like a trend that won't ever stop.

As more and more people began to ride aftermarket parts, their scooters would become heavier. Previously, the general scooter community was in favor of having light parts. However, once riders started to notice how solid and longer lasting heavy (aftermarket) parts were, they slowly began to switch mindsets and not mind the extra weight. Now that they could have better bars, forks, and wheels, riders looked towards ways to improve their decks. A few riders had been reinforcing their decks for years, but it wasn't until recently that reinforced decks became widespread. Riders such as Matt Dibble and Alex Steadman popularized the use of reinforced decks; Matt by uploading a "How to Reinforce your Deck" video, and Alex by selling square box reinforcements. With strip reinforcements, and especially square reinforcements, one could extend the life of a deck by several months. One specific deck of Matt's lasted about a year, if not longer. With the addition of deck reinforcements, riders could have nearly every part on their scooter modified or replaced to be longer lasting, something unheard of just a few years before.

Square "Pirate" Reinforcements

With the success of RAD and SR, more and more scooter companies began to pop up. And not only in the United States, but in Australia, China, and even the Netherlands. Each of these companies would help expand the sport to what it is today.