Thursday, December 19, 2013

2013 Scooter Trends

Another year has come and gone.  Scooters have continued to progress in multiple ways, from Ryan Williams pushing the limits on the Nitro Circus, to new, innovative products being designed, to more and more riders taking filming seriously.  As in any other year, certain trends have emerged from the wildly diverse scooter world.  Some may pass into 2014, others may not.  This is a short list of a few of the trends I thought were the biggest.  Keep in mind that this isn’t a “best” list, nor a “worst,” just what I found to be popular in scootering over the past year.

-Starting a “Crew”
There have always been different crews of riders in scootering, but most of them were of OG riders who all eventually parted ways, to go on with life or a pro career.  I think the first crew to really set off the new generation was Friendly.  These guys were affiliated only by friendship, rather than because they were sponsored by the same company.   The pictures and videos they’ve dropped show how fun scootering can be.  2013 saw full lengths and other montages by more crews than I could name.  Do I think it’s necessary for a group of friends to call themselves some fruity name?  No.  But do I back the time and effort they put into making videos?  You bet.  Peachy, Concrete, Trend, Basic, Venture, Kooky, Funky…the list goes on.  So while the number of scooter crews got bigger, so did something else…

-Big Scooters.
There was a time when having tall bars made you wack.  In 2013, if your bars were less than sack height, you might be considered the odd man out.  The bar height trend is directly related to deck size too.  Demand for bigger, more comfortable decks increased, and to compensate, bar height was raised.  There are still plenty of shorter decks for the younger, smaller guys out there, but with the advent of decks like the 22 inch Threshold, more and more riders are opting to upgrade their size.  And why wouldn’t you?  Girls love a big deck

-Handrail Hucking.
Over the years, there’s only been a handful of riders willing to toss themselves down gnarly rails.  But over the past year, we’ve seen tons of younger riders on the come up, looking to prove themselves.  The result?  Thrashing unlike what we’ve ever seen before.  It was just a matter of time before we started to ride handrails on a more regular basis, but the progression we’ve seen over the past year is remarkable.  Who would have thought that Zack Martin, a relative unknown until 8 months ago, would be backlipping Rincon?  We all know Jessee Ikedah is on another level, but his peg abilities down rails are unrivaled.  And let’s not forget Mr. Backlip himself, Tyler Bradley.  Anyone can wildly huck themselves, but when you watch T-Brad ride, he makes it look so easy and natural.  I could keep going.

-S4S
This is one of the more annoying trends I’ve seen.  Instagram is my favorite social network.  It’s extremely popular among scooter kids, and mostly everyone under the age of 30.  It allows you to share your pictures, short video clips, and connect with those of similar interests.  Many riders instead choose to use it as a popularity contest.  Giving shoutouts in return for shoutouts to gain followers…it wouldn’t be so bad if it was only once or twice, but there are riders perpetually doing this.  This type of thing has been going on for years (remember the sub4sub comments on Youtube?), but that doesn’t make it any less wack.  Ya’ll be thirsty.

-“Trippy” Editing
You all remember the film burn.  Popularized by the likes of Nickeh, it was imitated by a legion of aspiring filmers and editors across the world.  This year the cool thing to do was adding in trippy visuals with a psychedelic song.  Nobody did it quite like clothing company Satori did.  Of course, you can say they just copied skateboarding’s Pyramid Country/Palace, but they were the first to really do it successfully in scooters.  There was also another kind of “trippy” that swept across the scooter world.  Juicy J’s army of codeine fueled riders produced more videos than I could count.  This wasn’t the only trend in video editing either…

-Old Movie B-Roll
To add onto this, we also saw a lot of videos with footage from old movies as b-roll.  This originally seemed like a cool idea- Tyler Wheeland’s Nimbus fork edit featured pictures from WWII because Tyler has always been interested in wars.  And McKeen’s Addict So What part had a lot of footage from old b-list horror movies, and it felt like it fit the vibe of the part.  I’m not sure if the same could be said for a lot of the videos of 2013.  It’s different when you’re bombarded with images that you have no idea what their relevance is to the rider.  But kudos for trying. 

-Fashion
I wasn’t going to include this one after discussing the topic so thoroughly in my last article, but there were some aspects I didn’t include.  A lot of guys, myself included, have been into dressing nicely over the past year.  I do it because I think it’s good to look good, others because they are so “into fashion”.  White button ups, dress pants, parted hair, it’s all a part of the look.  Some have even gone so far as to start tucking in their shirt. The fashion trend seems to have kept mostly in the circle of OG “street elitists” but I wouldn’t be surprised to see it more widespread over the next year.  Insert Dylan Rieder comment here.
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So there you have it, a list of what stuck out to me as the biggest scooter trends of 2013.  Honorable mentions include:  The myth of the Tilt wheels, crewnecks, standard definition, Miley Cyrus, hurricane fullcabs, drinking, motorcycles, and kickless rewinds.   Agree?  Drop a comment and let me know.  Disagree?  Drop a comment so I can delete it.   

28 comments:

  1. I could not control myself when the bunny picture popped up hahahahaha!

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    1. ^^^^^^I'm pretty sure this guy has been the most prominent trend on edits^^^^^^

      :-)

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  3. you should be a buisness man jordan. fuck yourself

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  4. The fashion trend has gone FAR beyond the OG's Jordan. With that being said, I think it is a good thing that kids have riders they can look up to and try to imitate. Hey we all did it when we were younger!

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  5. Hahahahha "codeine fueled riders"

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  6. amen.... what happened to originality?
    i hate seeing scooter kids looking like idiots dressing like faggots i'm sorry but some of you just look straight up retarded. i'm really tired of cuffed pants and 5 panels and i'm tired of these fake crews you niggas don't chill other than to film once in a while you not homies and no you don't smoke and drink and do drugs so why the fuck act like you do?
    what happened to riding for fun? i'm sick of seeing everyone trying to do the same shit same lines same rail shit all to look cool but can't even ride like that. everyone stealing everyone else's steeze i'm so tired of seeing this. all the real heads who ride for fun who really do it for the love dress like they want as long as they're riding and killing it not just copying all the same bullshit. some kids trying to do everything but still can't double whip, it's almost 2014! and with the big scooters some kids looked so stupid and uncomfortable, i thought you get bars to accommodate yourself why the fuck some kids riding bars bigger than them i hate seeing them throw barspins and not even catch it on the grip, why can't you just ride bars that fit you?!?
    and for some of you ugly mother fuckers stop with the zooming in the face shit it's stupid and annoying and no one wants to see it in a video and word to Jordan stop throwing shit in your video that is beyond irrelevant to you and your life that shit is lame and corny. btw shout out to OG scooyork for being part on putting that crew shit on the map, even though most of the original team doesn't even associate, they were what a scooter crew was especially at the time they came out.


    i really love seeing the younger kids that don't give one fuck about any of this and just ride don't care about what they're wearing to impress people at the park or to ride a certain way cuz this and that, the real youth riding learning tricks everyday progressing. that's what scooters needs more even though those are the little kids at the park that all the skaters and bikers hate and so do i but fuck this.... i don't even give a fuck bout scooters and caring about scooters anymore. ride for fun yooooooooooooooooooooo NYC NIGGGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

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    1. Yeah dude you're right it is "almost 2014," and yet here you are still using homophobic slurs to spread hate about others clothing choices? Real mature bro. I apologise for all the people wearing "cuffed pants" and "5 panels" and other items that fit the image set by the older and more recognised riders, but actually I don't. Those who wear items to cater to this particular image are just exercising their freedom of expression and choice - "dress like they want" if you will. Furthermore, they are channelling their influences and interests regarding scootering through their clothing, and if you seriously think that that is a bad thing then at least do us all a favour and keep your out of date attitudes to yourself. Fashion has trends, so does scootering, some choose to follow or appropriate them while others choose to steer away from them - either way people create a personal interpretation of these trends to suit their desired image or way of life, and these are absolutely none of your business.

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    2. just expressing how i feel no hard feelings dude.
      you don't need to apologize for all the people wearing what they're wearing cuz some kids just look plain stupid, if you don't understand what i'm trying to say some people try hard for this specific look and it doesn't really fit everyone. i'm not talking about the older and more recognized riders.
      idk why you feeling some type of way, like if i was talking about you or some shit... i don't care how anyone dresses, it's just annoying seeing a bunch of scooter riders looking like fools. but anyways like i said i don't even care, just felt like expressing how i also felt about seeing the trends of scooters all through out this year after reading what Jordan said.

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    3. ride your scooter and do what you want. Its their choices to do whatever they want and you aren't involved so why rant about it?

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  7. I love the trend into rails and getting more creative with grinds. That's the way I have always been riding and I find park videos to be entertaining because guys are throwing some insane tricks, but I used to get sick of park videos without one grind or lip trick in them and I still do. Nothing beats a video, street or park, with a bunch of innovative/techy grinds.

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  8. this was so accurate, only thing you forgot was the trend of starting a clothing company

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  9. I don't notice this occurring in other sports/past times as severely as it occurs in freestyle scootering. It sucks you in, and the trends get so carried away that it actually becomes a trend to be original. This is the main reason I faded away from the sport a year ago; it got old. I love how Jordan nailed all of these trends though, I thought I might have been the only one noticing.

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    1. Jean-Yves RandriambelsonDecember 20, 2013 at 3:31 AM

      What about BMX riders between 2006 and 2011 wearing skinny jeans that were raping their ass and legs as they were doing sexy tuck no handers? I've even noticed that too many pro riders started wearing them which led bmx riders to think it's better and cooler to dress like this and being into rock music from the 90's. They did that so much during those years that whenever you saw a young man wearing skinny jeans at the park you knew he rode bicycles.

      The Deadline video just came out and so do many edits using the exact same effects. And they also got a good amount of riders wearing wider clothes and putting music like Juicy J in their videos (way numerous than in the scooter game trust me ) and it's been the case for more than just a year.

      So YES there are trends in other sports as well !

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  10. the only other trend i could think of was powerslides

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  11. The trippy videos are getting shitter and shitter, Satori does them alright tho. But all you kids trying to do them stop, just make fun videos dont be srs, unless its a proper video part. Also all the 420 kids who dont even smoke. Stop that shit, unless you do smoke. Shot gunning soda is gay and you should shotgun yourself in the head. Crews are cool tho, if you have a solid bond with one another. They is nothing wrong with dressing nice. Lastly get bars that feel nice to ride, not the biggest you can get cause all the bigger kids do.

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  12. Luckily you have a website that allows you to have your biased opinions on things to be heard. Most of this seems like it was influenced by who you hang out with and what you and your friends like to follow in the scooter world. Jordans posts are digging a grave for Inside.

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  13. Such a good post. I think kickless rewinds are fading out. Definitely hurricane to 360 is the new trick trend. Or whoring out pegs slaps in one combo (Not saying i could ever do them but eventually they turn into more than just slaps - thank you Jesse for making this a realization to others). 2013 was a huge year imo. So glad to have seen it all go down.

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  14. the fashion trend is just ralphy and stef hahahah shit

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  15. God everyone is getting butt hurt ... it's not supposed to be drilling anyone. Get Tom K to fuck yall up

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  16. www.biastonesidedopinions.blogspot.com

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  17. what about the heelwhip trend?

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  18. fuck a nigga who dont like it

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