Tyler Bradley Welcome to Phoenix Video + Interview

The Scoot Mag cover photo, shot by Shelby Grimes.

Hailing from Sammamish, Washington, Tyler Bradley began his scooter journey like any other.  Riding the local park, doing the trendy scoot kid tricks, basically a completely different rider than he is today.  Lucky for him, Tom Kvilhaug moved to the area and started riding with him.  Showing him what scootering could be, Tom lit a fire beneath Tyler that today rages like an inferno.  Flavor picked him up in 2013 and it was clear that Tyler would be a force to be reckoned with.  His rail game, specifically back lips, was on par for the standard back then, if not surpassing it, all the while with his own nonchalant, machine like style.  Flavor USA sadly fell apart and he was on his own again.  Tyler kept at it, and found himself on Phoenix earlier this year.  Tyler does things on a scooter that might seem possible to most people, but have such a small margin for error that nobody else really even thinks of trying them. The way he applies 5050s is unmatched by anyone in scootering.  His efforts have come to fruition today with his first video part for Phoenix.  Read on for a look into how the video came together, then watch it below.





Jordan Jasa:  So this is your Welcome to Phoenix part. How long in the making was it?

Tyler Bradley:  I spent about 8 months filming for this video part. I started filming about a year ago after my foot and ankle were completely healed, but ended up switching over from SD to HD and did not want to mix the footage so I just started over.

At what point did you get on Phoenix? How did that happen?

I started talking to Cooper in May or June about sending him what footage I had at the time for him and Dan to check out and they ended up being hyped on it. And after talking a bunch and making a few trips down to Portland to film this summer I ended up getting a spot on the pro team, which I am super stoked on.

Word, definitely psyched that you found a sponsor after the whole Flavor thing fell off. So you go to school at UCI yeah?  How is it riding in SoCal compared to the PNW?  Who all do you usually ride with now?

Same dude. Its going well, I only have classes two days a week right now so I ride almost everyday and there is definitely a huge difference between riding in the PNW and SoCal. The scene is so much bigger down here and the weather is always good, so you never have to worry about not being able to ride or film. Usually the crew is Nick Donatelli, Ralfie Gracia, Eddie Cuellar, Shelby Grimnes, and Andrew Zamora and I, but lately the AO/Elyts dudes, and Zack Martin have been coming up a bunch so theres usually like 15 people at each spot on the weekends, which is rad.

One hefty lip by Eddie Cuellar.

It's awesome to see the LA street riding scene growing so much.  Does that push you, having so many people to ride with?  Or would you be doing crazy fucked up tricks anyway?

Its great man. And yeah, having a bunch of people to ride with all of the time definitely pushes me. When its just me and one or two other people, there's a good chance ill overthink the trick and psych myself out, but when theres' so many people at the spot, you just feed off of everyone else's energy and don't really think about what you're doing and just do the trick.

So you said that 5050 uprail hard 180 took three hours.  Did you just keep eating shit or how did that go down?

Yea I got there and ended up doing the backlip 180 whip up pretty quick, so i started joking around with Blake saying that ill 5050 up it and then when I got into it first try messing around I just started going for it. I actually only missed a few times, but it was the speed that I needed in order to get passed the last step that was killer. I probably landed on the top at least 25 times and the rest of the tries I either wasn't running fast enough to make it up the rail or just didn't try it.

How did it feel to land it?  Come to think of it, there's like zero emotion shown in your riding haha, besides a few frustration scoot throws it seems you do this shit with a machine like mindset.

Honestly, I kept trying it for almost another hour after I landed that one until I could hardly ride anymore because I didn't think it was good enough, but had to settle with it because it was my last day in Washington.

Textbook 5050 by Shelby Grimes.

That's insane. You recently got the cover of Scoot Mag.  How's that feel?  Also where's the footy of that?

It's pretty surreal. I knew I was going to have an ad and a few page spread inside, but I had no idea that I was going to get the cover until a few days before it was released. And it was only a lip popover so I wasn't really hyped on the clip haha.

Ahh for sure. How's your back these days?  Is the brace just a permanent fact of life for you?

Aha its pretty shitty, some days it doesn't hurt at all and others just a bit, but either way I ride and its something I just deal with haha. I actually haven't worn a brace in like 2 years since it doesn't really do anything at all.

Can you tell us what cheat code you used for  your ender?

Haha Tom Kvilhaug has been telling me to do it on a double kink for awhile now, but I just kept saying it's not possible. And then a few weeks ago I ended up going to that rail in Dana Point thinking I was going to do 5050 to lipslide, but accidentally landed in a 5050 on the second down so I knew it was possible and just kept trying.

Backlip through the drop by Dom Dimatteo.

Really though, how does that work? Is there a certain technique you can share with us?

Everyone always says 5050's are easier on square rails, but that's definitely not true haha. On a round rail you can completely lean into the 5050 and just sit in it, but for my ender I had to jump into the second down part so I kept missing or landing in a feeble or whatever it's called haha.

I always felt the same about the round vs square rail thing.  So now what's next for you?

Right now, I'm just going to keep going to school and riding a bunch. I'm about to go film the first trick for my next part today, so expect another part in a few months haha.

Ya'll need to make a Phoenix DVD.  Speaking of, are there any Phoenix trips planned that you're going on?

Yea dude, i'd be hyped to film for a DVD. And I think were doing some sort of tour in SoCal for SD10, which should be rad.

I'll prob see ya down there then. Let's wrap it up.  Congrats on the part and thanks for pushing scootering to a new level Tyler.

Hell yeah, hopefully i'll see you there. And thanks a lot man.

Another huge 50 by Shelby Grimnes.

And now, feast your eyes on the insanity that is Tyler Bradley.