The End of ECX? Not Quite... Article by Ryan Upchurch

Usually I write the articles on Inside-Scooters, but when my close friend Ryan Upchurch who also happens to be a Pro Team rider and former employee for ECX told me he had written one, I took the back seat. The article below discusses the recent closing of the ECX Action Sports shop.

ECX Action Sports may not be a name that all of you are familiar with, but it’s the shop that got me started, along with many riders in the Tri-state area. After enduring rough economic times as long as they could, ECX Action Sports will be closing the doors of its retail store on February 28th. It is a sad thought for me and many other riders in the area because it’s been like a home away from home. If at all possible I suggest that you try and make it in before the store closes for their blowout sales, and just to experience the ending of a legacy.

ECX Action Sports has been open since 1997, originally being a skate and paintball shop. Soon after opening, Mike Lashbrook, the founder and owner of the company, began exploring the world of scootering. To give you some perspective of how long ago that was, there were no Razor Pro Models, there were no Yak wheels, and there was no such thing as an aftermarket scooter company. From there, Mike went on to carry the Razor Pro Model and Yak wheels soon after their release. When kids started riding and tricking on the Razor Pro Model he started his first freestyle scooter team. It was at this point, around the year 2007, that I started scootering, and bought my first Pro Model from ECX. The shop was in a rather small building, but had such a friendly, upbeat atmosphere. They had a PlayStation 2 hooked up to a big screen TV that we all played guitar hero on. It was really the place to come in and hang out. For me, I had found a home away from home instantly, not just some place I bought my parts from. Seeing that it was only two blocks away from my local skate park (Newport), I was in there all the time. From this I know you all can imagine how ECX is so different from today’s scooter companies and stores.

Mike has always been a great guy to me, and everyone else he has ever been in contact with. He is generous, funny and really cares about making people happy. That’s why it was such a hard decision for him to close the store down after holding out for over a year of hardship. For me and many others in my area, we will no longer have a place to go to hang out in the summer and cool off. We will not have a place to work on our scooters or even a place to walk in and get something for our scooter when we break it down at the skate park. When I didn’t have enough money for something, he would always hook me up and keep me on my scooter, and I am so grateful for that. Mike is truly a great guy.

On a rather encouraging note, just in the past year Mike has opened up shopecx.com, an online store specializing in freestyle scooters, parts and accessories. Within a year he now has over 500 different scooter parts to choose from, which is the largest selection on the internet! He plans to continue with it, and only get bigger and better from this point on. Mike has also hinted at the idea of opening a mobile store with a state of the art trailer that he can take on the road to different skate parks up and down the East Coast to help promote and grow our sport in addition to providing support for our team when we go to contests.

Just yesterday we took a trip as a team to Black Diamond Skate Park in Moorestown, New Jersey. For some of you that don’t know, Black Diamond is a skate park that doesn’t allow scooters. Mike rented the park out for us for a second time so that we could film and ride at a great park where no other scooter riders have ever been. It was a great experience, and I speak on behalf of the team, and few others that attended, that it was a truly memorable sesh. During which we filmed for our DVD, which we titled “Butter” during the winter of last year.

Butter began as an idea of myself and Mike about a year ago, and was put off soon after it had begun due to some setbacks with team rosters changing and lack of proper filming and editing equipment. I resumed the project as filmer and editor just a few months ago and plan to have it out for sale within the next two months or so. Last night summed up the filming of the DVD at Black Diamond, and now all that is left is the editing, production, and packaging of the final product. I will release a teaser soon, and it will be posted up here on IS. From the teaser, I hope that all of you are eager to see it!

To sum things up, ECX Action Sports will be closing, but a new era will begin with the main focus now Mike's online store shopecx.com. Mike is adding new products every week and will have a new and improved site design within the coming months. Stay tuned here on IS for future updates, articles, and media from shopecx.com!

-Ryan Upchurch



Great Article from Ryan. In closing, I think Mike made a great decision to focus on his online store. With focusing on that, he will be able to sell products to riders anywhere in the US, as opposed to only the riders that came into his shop. We at Inside wish Mike and ECX all the best and all of our support, and as always for all breaking news regarding shopecx.com
and all news and updates in the sport, keep checking Inside-Scooters.