Jona Humbel pumps TSI

You all know the kinda stuff Jona is doing these days from the Instagram videos.  Check out this footage filmed over the past six months, before he became handrail Jesus (not that he wasn't good at them back then).  He's on TSI now but I feel like he'll be picking up another sponno soon enough...

S-K presents: Jan Laranjo

If you're into long combos, this is the video for you.  Jan brings an array of feebles, manuals, nose manuals, heelwhips, whips, and scooterfakies together in this part.  The combo with the scooterfakie to 360 off the ledge was tight, wasn't expecting that at all.

Film/edit by Max Kernmayer.

LAMBERT JUDITH AOSCOOTERS

Lambert kills it hard.  He came over to America from France over winter to ride with the AO guys and this is the footage he got.  Super dope clips.

Phoenix at D-Block

If you didn't already know, Pol Acena was down in Oregon with the Phoenix Team. When you put someone like Pol, together with Dan Barrett, and Cooper Klaar.. it goes down. And it was definitely going down at D-Block recently. This was clearly just a chill sesh, but with these guys, even a chill sesh looks damn good. Check it.

The Philly Files: Hep Greg

If you don't think this video is the raddest thing ever, then you're just wrong.  Hep Greg's TPF part was the ender part, and its good.  Greg's timeless style is always fun to watch.  Combine that with some super crazy spots and you get this.  Great way to start off your day.

The Wise Video Teaser

From the description-

"The premiere will take place on May 3rd 2014 after the Paris street jam at the Dissidence warehouse. Featuring: Martin André, Travis House, Antoine Delcampe, Balthazar Neveu, Alexis Cuvillier and Jules Couderc. The video will be available:
- as a limited DVD edition with an additional photo book
- as a download link in HD available after credit card payment."

Looks like it's gonna be rad, I'm looking forward to it!

Jon Archer | TILT VIDEO TRAILER

If Jon's part consisted of only 180 heelwhip variations, I wouldn't even be mad, bro.  Nobody does em better than he does.  He also does lots of other cool tricks so make sure you get a hold of a Tilt DVD to see em.

PROTO at Woodward 2014

Alex Steadman, Chema Cardenas, and Zach Martin all tripped it up to Woodward last weekend and wow, they killed it.  Alex's creativity, Chema's peg abilities, and Zach's rail madness really make for an entertaining video.  Zach's whip nose manual was so solid looking...and that last trick was really somethin too.

Lessons from Rollerbladers.

A rollerblading website recently posted a conversation between a few bladers discussing the relationship between blading and scootering, and their respective pasts.  They raised a lot of good points, and it was cool to see them respecting us for choosing a different vehicle to ride and have fun on, despite how easily they could hate on us after years of receiving hate themselves.  Rollerblading’s history was brought up, and it made me think a little.  Blader Sam Cooper said:

 “Unlike blading the sport grew slowly at first, managing to build a small but solid industry of brands just before the boom hit. It’s the brand owners who have handled the boom in a much better way compared to kids who owned the majority of blading’s biggest brands in the early nineties. It’s these freestyle scooter brand owners who have made the difference and continue to grow the sport and industry with their business acumen and passion for the sport.”

Over the past few years, there has been a growing emphasis on supporting “rider-owned” companies and rejecting those “corporate, businessman-owned” brands.  I’m not gonna pretend to be an expert on rollerblading, but from what I can tell in this article, that’s how it was in the 90’s for them…except it was the rider-owned brands who made up the majority of their industry.  So not knowing how to handle their success, not being able to sustain the incredible growth they had, the bubble eventually burst, and the industry basically died out.  They hit the top of the actions sports world- -X-Games- and were kicked out in 2005. 

So how do we prevent this from happening to us?  These rollerbladers say we’ve already avoided their mistakes by having a core group of solid brands before our own boom hit.  The first big companies include brands like Phoenix, Proto, District, Lucky, Tilt, Envy, and Madd, the majority of which are not owned by riders, but are still all around today.  It seems like these bladers would embrace the “big business” brands…Looking at the other side of the coin, consider skateboarding.  The biggest action sports industry has perhaps the biggest anti-corporate movement, and not without good reason.  Skateboarding has had multiple booms and crashes throughout its history, and they will all tell you that corporations are part of the reason for it.  So where does that leave scootering?  It seems to me that we fall somewhere in the middle.  We don’t actually have much for corporate money wanting in on our sport yet- look at Red Bull.  They posted the Devin Supertramp video of Dakota Shuetz and the other Lucky guys on their Facebook, and took it down almost immediately.  Whatever interest they had in supporting scootering was quickly extinguished by a legion of couch commenters.  And these guys are spending upwards of a billion dollars per year in marketing (900 million in 2010).  Hooking a guy like Kota up would be a drop in the ocean for them.  If they don’t think that’s worth it at all, I think we still have a long way to go before we really have to worry about the implications of corporate takeover. 

Is the bubble going to burst like it did with rollerblading?  Are our roots strong enough to last through a drought?  These bladers seem to think so.  What can we do to make sure we don’t experience the same crash they did?  John Adams says it perfectly:

“We shouldn’t be trying to have the largest industry possible. We should make sure the industry we have is healthy and sustainable. Absolutely we should be reaching out to the youth and getting them excited about rollerblading scootering, but we ought to be able to do that without tearing others down.”

The bottom line is that all companies, regardless of their participation in the sport, are vital.  It’s been said before that they’re all pieces of the puzzle.  If we want to have a sustainable future we need to have brands who have a true passion for scootering- they need to care for the riders and the industry…but they also need to have proper business know-how to handle their growth responsibly.

Enzo Commeau for Elyts

This guy is really good.  I got to see him ride a bit at the SD comp, and he was doing some messed up stuff. He's super tech and super gnarly too.  Front board uprail 270 down heel was too crazy.  

Lucky Scooters | Kenny Griffin Start of 2014

Kenny has been gaining more recognition lately as he's transitioned from your average kid at the park to an outstanding young shredder in the streets.  He's definitely got that youth mentality, not afraid to hit any rail you put in front of him.  Props to Damion Black on the film/edit as well.

Charmingly

I always forget that Tom Mattingly exists.  Probably because I have him blocked on Facebook.  He is good at scootering though, and you can see that in this video filmed at Charm City skatepark by Nsalfs of the Fat Cat Crew.  The rest of the crew is featured as well as some heavy hitting friends (McKeen, Hep Greg, Steve Fales).  Fun stuff.

New PROTO Team Rider - Zack Martin

Zack has been coming up so fast for the past couple of years. It eventually got to the point where you simply couldn't ignore Zack's skills in the streets. He might have started out with AO, but he eventually moved onto a TSI Thresh, and I think it helped his riding a lot. Apparently so did PROTO because he is now officially part of the Team. His welcome edit is everything you've come to expect from Zack. Gaps, rails, and full speed lines. Check it out.

New 5Starr Rider : Mike DeJong

Looks like 5Starr has snagged another one. Mike's riding is really clean, and he keeps his tricks nice and simple. Makes for a nice edit. Definitely a good addition to the 5Starr Team. Check out his Bio on the 5Starr website below, and his edit below that.


http://www.5starrscooters.com/our-team/






Also don't forget that 5Starr is currently having a Presidents Day sales. More info on the flyer below.

Sky High Presents: Devin Heald

Shorty Lo comes in hot with this one, filmed over the past year.  You remember his last video, bar brakeless manny 3?  Just wait for the ender to this one, it shouldn't be physically possible but he did it.

Jeremy Malott Welcome to Madd

"I want to ride new spots that haven't and should not be ridden." Bold statement for the most controversial rider in our sport over the past few months.  In this intro, Jeremy talks about what he wants to do, and that he's going to do it with Madd.  For as much shit as he's gotten over that time period, you gotta hand it to him for coming back and winning SD8, the biggest comp of the year. It'll be interesting to see how the future plays out for him.

The Philly Files: Matt McKeen

Steeze McBeem on the track for the Philly Files video.  So many gnar, grimey spots, and so much amazing riding.  You know its good, so watch it again.

Cameron Poe | Flavor Scooters USA | 2014

Cameron Poe is gnarly.  From that first clip, hopping over the little wall to that giant rail, hitting Santa Monica triple set (bout time someone did that), and the last clip....I'm psyched to see him on Flavor and I'm psyched to see what Flavor can come up with in the future, considering they got one of the best teams full of young blood.  Watch this one, then watch it again.

Friendly HD parktage

Been too long since the last clip from these guys dropped.  This time we have a heavy crew of the Hat Gang.  Royce is a monster and it was awesome to see Aaron on a scooter again.  Full roster includes:
Royce King
Kevin Austin
Aaron Bransdon
Jayden Hogan
Jake Turner
Darcy Altavilla
Moey Ahmad
Nathan Clark

The Don; 2013

Coedie Donovan.  You all know him.  One of the best riders ever, currently riding for District.  This footage was filmed at the end of last year and is just now making its way online.  Tech wizardry like you've come to expect, check it out.

SDL Montage

Another upcoming crew, this one from southern California.  The first and last guys, Gerardo Gonzales and Logan Crawford, both kill it.  Although I'm not sure how I feel about Logan's bar size.  A little much there, but it doesn't seem to hinder his riding.  That full cab was sick.

Terry Price | MFX

So Terry hopped on one of the new MFX decks, and filmed this video to show how it rides.  If you're not aware, the MFX is more of a "street" deck, with boxed sideds and a flat bottom.  He shows the tech rail/ledge side of his riding, and of course includes some of his signature park moves.  Last clip really combines the two in a way you've probably never seen before.  Don't miss that clip.

Bamboozle Shred Edge

The current Bamboozle guys all got together over the winter break to film this one at Skater's Edge skatepark.  The lineup includes Georgie Louis, Nick Liburdi, Tom Cirbee, Zach Fuller, and Dennis Levesque.  I don't know if I've ever seen clips from Nick before, but that guy merked it.  He needs to come out with an edit.

Chase Robertson's Concrete Ritual

Conor Davidson put this one together of Chase Robertson.  He's got a rad style, hitting rails and ledges with simple but butter tricks.  Just wish it was longer!  He also just left a position working at Phoenix to work for TSI, so good luck to him with that!

Lucky Scooters | Kenny Griffin Promo

Kenny has been going out with filmer Damion Black lately and stacking clips.  This is a promo for the video which will be out soon.

Josh Young | TILT VIDEO TRAILER

Josh "Young Money" Young is the biggest homie around.  Born in the Midwest, transplanted to sunny California when he took a job working for Proto a couple years back.  While work does keep him busy, he does have access to tons of spots being down there, which is the biggest difference for his part in the Tilt DVD compared to his previous videos.  This is only his teaser, but it should help you get hyped for his part in the DVD.

IS Exclusive: Zach Johnston for Sky High

As you might be aware, Sky High's team was recently switched up, and Zach made the bump up from the "local" team to full on pro.  He had this footage stacked up, so I put this together for your enjoyment.  Watch this one a time or two.

Throwback Thursday: John Radtke DXG Section

Most of you probably know John Radtke as the guy behind the Razor/Phase 2 dirt scooters.  Before he was into riding dirt scooters, he was into riding regular scooters.  While doing that, he became a pioneer with flip combos and nunchucking.  DXG was a crew/video that was in the making for such a long time, but most of this footage was shot in 2008/2009.  A lot of it is still enjoyable today, so, enjoy this.

The Philly Files: Parrish Isaacs

This is Parrish's part from the full-length Philly Files video.  He has a unique approach to riding with a remarkable rail ability.  Not too many people are doing the hard spins out of boardslides.  That plus one of the best songs ever makes for a good section.

Win a free TMS Fork from 5StarrScooters!

5Starr is running a contest from now until Feb 10th. One random person will be chosen to win a free 5Starr TMS Fork. For more details you guys can check out their Facebook. They will also be holding another contest, this one on their Instagram...follow the rules on that photo as well to be entered to win.


https://www.facebook.com/5starrscooters

http://instagram.com/5starrscooters

UA | Le Baron Red Carpet

That's right, Maxime LeGrand is now on UrbanArtt, just a short time after it was announced that fellow ex-Addict rider JD was on.  Makes UA even more of a powerhouse team now.  Roots Boy with film and edit once again, doing it proper.  The video is a mix of park and street clips.  Maxime's so raw he rides with leaves coming out of his scooter.

ADVCT l Parrish's Undesirables

Parrish is ADVCT's Northeast shredder.  These are his "undesirables," which I'm assuming means throwaway.  This guy comes up with tons of footy, always sick to see what he can come up with.

ToquedTage

The Youtube description of this video claims these guys have "swog on a stick."  If that's true, then they must be good.  Noah Foley, Patrick Schneider, Canadian Jayden Lee, Brent Ikedah, and Tim Hogan are all featured, with Tyler Bradley as a guest.  I hope these guys follow through with the whole crew thing and actually film street videos, because they're all pretty good, and I can only stand so many plaza/park montages.

New Root Industries and Apex at Scooter Hut USA

Scooter Hut USA recently got in a big shipment of Root Industries and Apex products. Scooter Hut USA is currently the only place you can get the full line of Root Industries products. Follow the links below to check out the new Apex gear, and Root gear.


http://www.scooter-hut.com/root-industries/

http://www.scooter-hut.com/apex-pro/



Root Industries Grips

Royce King Signature Wheels

TEXAS JAM v.1 (2 Videos Up)

This video of the Austin Street Jam was filmed by Mike (Hunt) DeJong.  Rad spots, rad riding, rad video.  Shoutout to Andy Koke for being that dude.  Its pretty crazy how casually McKeen hit that 18 rail.  Just like it was nothing.



The first Texas street jam went down in Austin over the weekend.  McKeen showed up, the locals shredded, and Alex Donaldson was there to film it all.  Looks like it was awesome.  Props to Matt Ogle for putting this on.

Dylan Becker for Reality

These are the clips that Dylan filmed while he lived in Chicago working for Sky High, aside from a couple.  They might be throwaway for him now but his clean riding style never gets old.  He rides for Reality Clothing.  Josh Smukal with the guest clip.

RENDEVOUS AT RAMPAGE

These guys have dope swag.  Peep their sweet skootin skillz.  Basic4lyfe.

A Weekend with Madd

Madd Gear is a household name in the sport of Scootering. Whether you are an OG or brand new in the sport, you most likely know about Madd. They have had some of the best riders in the world ride for them, and currently still have some of the top guys and girls in the sport representing them. They’re sold all over the world, go on numerous tours across the globe, and set the standard when it came to complete scooters out of the box. However, even after all of that, they find themselves lacking the respect they should be getting. For what reasons, I don’t know. Is it because they have money? Because they can do what your company can’t? Because their riders ride park? Maybe all of the above. Recently Madd Gear invited me out to Las Vegas for their 2014 Product Launch. Below is my experience during this past weekend.

 

When I first got the invite from Madd Gear, I was thinking, regardless of how the product launch is, at least my family and I will have a good time. We made the drive out to Vegas, and I settled into the hotel room that MGP got for us, a damn nice room I must say. I woke up Saturday morning to head down to the meeting room where the product launch/meeting would be taking place. I have to admit I expected to sit there and quietly mock the people behind MGP as they stood in front of the other shop owners and invited guests and babbled on about their new scooters which they probably in fact knew nothing about, except for what was on their flash cards that they had rehearsed before. Some of the MGP Team was there, and Twan was there snapping shots the entire time. Along with a gang of other shop owners, including the owners from Inward Scooters, Barking Spyder, The Vault, and Scooter Zone, and plenty of other people as well. It was a full house. After meeting some of the guys I have worked with from MGP, I settled in towards the back as the meeting was about to begin. I had no idea that by the end of the day my opinion on a company I thought I had all figured out would be significantly different.

 

Now I’ll be honest, my problem with Madd Gear was probably the same as a lot of you. Only I’ll actually admit it. I was in a way, envious. They seemed to have endless resources, and flew their riders all over the world. Who wouldn’t want that? I’ll also admit I never touched their scooters. I just wasn’t down for the look of them. Graphics all over the place, the deck design, etc. It all turned me off, and I know it kept a lot of other older riders from ever riding them. My problem was never about the whole “They’re too corporate” or not rider owned or whatever. I guess some people still have a problem accepting the fact that the sport is bigger than them and their street crew, and is in fact fueled by kids, not by themselves.

 

I learned a lot about the company, it’s roots, and the owner and founder Mike Horne was present and it was great to hear from him as well. I started realizing more and more as these people spoke that they weren’t these corporate robots focused on one thing and one thing only, Money, but in fact had a passion for what they did for the company, and that was pretty eye opening. They truly wanted to help each and every business owner in there, and do whatever they could to make things easier for them and their businesses. Not to mention always being focused on helping kids get into the sport through demos and shows. R Willy, and James Foster stopped by the meeting for a bit as well, and we got to check out Ryan’s signature Gold MFX deck, which unfortunately won’t be available to the public. Madd actually auctioned one of the decks off at the meeting, and the proceeds went to a charity of the buyers choice. Ryan also signed the deck. The winner was someone from NY, owner of  a shop I never heard of. But I thought that was pretty cool. Eventually it was time to actually hear about the new VX4 Line. The new scooters are the VX4 Pro, VX4 Team, VX4 Nitro, VX4 Extreme, and the MFX 4.8 Deck. One thing to note about all of these, is that they ALL have flat sides and flat bottoms. I was under the impression at first that only the MFX deck would have flat sides and flat bottom. But it looks like they are doing it with all of their new scooters, a smart choice on their part.

Starting us off was the VX4 Pro. The VX4 Pro is their complete scooter aimed at the younger market. One of the things I liked about this is that all of those graphics you see all over the deck and bars are completely optional. (See below) As they come in a sticker pack, and you are free to design your scooter as you see fit. Kids will definitely dig that. Another thing to note about the VX4 Pro, and all of the other scooters I mention, is that all the forks are now threadless, and use HIC compression with an FSA threadless headset.

Next up was the VX4 Team. Again, with the flat sided and integrated deck. Along with some other cool features as well. Wasn’t sure if it needed the graphics all over the bars, but it’s all good. They also have their new TPR grips on here, which were pretty comfortable and feel very similar to ODI’s. The other thing that had my attention was their new Blitz Brake. The Brake is composed of what looks like a black plastic material, and has an internal steel backbone that prevents the material from deteriorating or melting. R Willy has been running this same brake for over 6 months with no issues, I was sold at that. A solid complete scooter, for what will be a killer price.

Moving on to the VX4 Nitro, which might possibly be my favorite of the group. The first thing you’ll notice is probably the two toning they did with the colors of each scooter. I know it’s not for everyone, but some of the color combos look really good together. I was especially feeling the Black/White, Black/Red, and Gray/Black. Deck will be coming in at 4.5 wide, full integrated, TPR grips, new Filth wheels, and the Blitz Brake. There are a lot of colors to choose from, maybe even too many as I have a feeling some of these colors might not sell too well.

The VX4 Extreme is their new top of the line complete, and it’s exactly that. One of the things you’ll notice on the Nitro and Extreme, is that there is no skulls logo that we are so used to seeing on an MGP scooter. Instead you will see their new sleeker, cleaner logo. Madd wants to differentiate the VX4 Pro and VX4 Team, from the VX4 Nitro, and Extreme. The Nitro and Extreme shed themselves of all of the flashy graphics, and instead sport the new logo on the front of the headtube. I was really feeling this decision. The Extreme screams high quality. The chromo bars were an excellent touch, and the new Vicious wheels looked sick. If you need a solid, reliable, complete scooter, this should be it.

Finally, what I had been waiting for… The MFX 4.8 Deck. That’s right, it is 4.8 wide, and it is a beauty. Coming in at 21 long it is going to be a serious contender in the deck game. I mean the main thing to note is that Madd is actually releasing just a DECK for sale. You no longer need to buy a full on complete scooter just to get an MGP deck. Another thing I was stoked on was the 84 degree headtube, I was always hoping to see more companies use 84 degree headtubes, so this was a plus. The colors look great, and the deck is going to come in at 3.28lbs. I can already say right now, I will be getting one of these decks, and seeing exactly how it rides. But then again, when you’re sending it off the Megaramp night after night for Nitro Circus, and it’s still holding up fine? I’m guessing it will be good, haha.

 

After the meeting, I continued to speak more in depth with some of the people behind Madd Gear. I even admitted to them that I had serious doubts about the whole meeting, and the company as a whole. But I also told them that that had changed. We ended the night in the VIP section at Nitro Circus watching R Willy, James Foster, and the rest of the Nitro Circus athletes throw down. It was a good weekend for sure, and I look forward to the official release of the VX4 line. I know that some people are always gonna hate on other companies, the funny thing is it is usually the same riders who say, “Just ride your scooter, who cares what other companies or what other riders say”. I think some people need to take their own advice. Just ride. Don’t support a company? Then don’t. Want to support a company? Then do it, and don’t let other people’s opinion sway you in any direction. MGP deserves respect, and so do the riders that ride for them, and from here on out, they definitely have mine.