Helmeri Pirinen Interview

Helmeri Pirinen is a close friend of mine from Finland. Helping Helmeri get onto Eagle-Sport/District was one of the last things I did while I worked with the
company, and it has paid off just like I hoped it would. He is an amazing rider with a great outlook on the sport and it's future. We are seeing a new version of Helmeri, now that he has Eagle and District backing him up as his Sponsors. I can only imagine what we are going to see form Helmeri later in 2011. I recently had time to catch up him and got a nice interview out of it. Read it below.



Steven: Name, Age, Location?

Helmeri: Helmeri Pirinen, 23, Helsinki Finland.

Steven: Helmeri, first of all, thanks for doing this interview for Inside-Scooters. How have you been lately?

Helmeri: Yeah no problem at all. Always nice to do things like this. I was in Barcelona few weeks ago and that trip was definitely one of my best trips ever. So many good riders and awesome street spots. I did few big slams there so I had to have little break after that (had some stitches on my face and things like that heh). But anyways now it's all good like you can see from my new District web edit.


Steven: I think a lot of riders are interested in knowing about other top riders set ups. What are all the parts on your scooter right now?

Helmeri: Well I rode my first years with cheap market scooters (like from 2000 to 2003) and after that I changed it to JD Bug and Razor pro model. I got my first one piece bars only one year ago (WEE <3 you Madis!) and my first one piece deck this year thanks to District. So now my set up is:

550mm AL-1 District bars
District light double clamp
District pro headset
District fork
District deck
110mm Eagle spoked wheels

To be honest I was confused with all these new parts. You know it's weird to have all these after riding many years with JD bugs hah. The feeling of riding is much better with these things compared to those old scooters.

(Here you can see Helmeri riding an Oldd Jd Bug)


Steven: You have a really unique trick list, with a lot of opposite spins, and tailwhips both ways. Are there any tricks right now, that you want to add to that trick list?

Helmeri: Of course there's always something new what you can learn. In future I would like to learn some new switch tricks and grinds. Heelwhip to bs lip for example would be so cool.

Steven: Over the years, you've gotten a reputation for being
a “sketchy” rider, though I've noticed your riding is cleaning up a bit now. Does it, or did it bother you when riders would call your riding sketchy?

Helmeri: I have got a lot of feedback concerning my style. At first I didn't care did I land clean or not. You know landing was landing for me, sketchy or clean. Now things have changed a little bit. I have started feeling my tricks more and trying to do my tricks without any pressure. Maybe that's the reason why my style is much cleaner nowadays.

Steven: Now it's well known that your passion is street riding. What is it about riding street that makes you love it so much?

Helmeri: When I strarted scootering, all my friends were skateboarders. Actually I skated sometimes too. Maybe the passion for street riding comes from the early years. It just feels so good to ride street. You can make your own lines, you can do unique stuff and of course you can go big! It's so nice to chill and ride with your friends on street. I love it!


Steven: You currently hold the record for the biggest handrail done on a scooter, an 18 set. Watching your video again, it's obvious that it has to have been hard as hell to get the balls to do that. Honestly, what was going through your head from the time you started trying that trick, to the time you landed it?

Helmeri: Hah it was a battle between me and that handrail. It took me like half an hour before I even tried to do it. Then after some kind of a test jump I decided to try to land that handrail. You know you can't try that kind of a handrail many times. It's like you will land it or you will die heh. Anyway I tried to land it but at the end of the rail my scooter slipped and I did a hard slam.

At first I though that I broke something and the rail won but no no... I came back. I couldn't even walk normally but I didn't want to give up. I just said to my friends that: ”this rail won't win this battle”. It was scary to try it again but somehow I managed to concentrate enough and I landed it. The feeling after landing was something you can't get everyday. That was unbelievable!

Steven: We've seen you really start to mature and progress as a rider in your latest videos. As soon as the weather clears up for you, should we be expecting another Helmeri street video? And if so, do you have any big bangers in mind?


Helmeri: You will see some crazy street riding for sure. I will take some tricks to street what no one haven't ever done. New rail stuff and as unique riding as possible. District might have some big plans comming up so next summer will be wild.

Steven: Well thank you Helmeri for taking the time to do the interview with Inside-Scooters, do you have any shout outs, or last words?

Helmeri: Thank you Steven! Remember kids that this sport is not serious business. Try to have fun and enjoy scootering. Don't fight with each others or anything stupid like that. The meaning of scootering isn't to be better than someone else. We all are doing this because we like scootering and the feeling what we get from it. We are one big family you know.





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