Brian Chavez for Satori

Brian Chavez is one of the best kept secrets in the Midwest.  Hailing from Lake Geneva, over the past year he earned himself a spot on The Satori as well as Sky High.  With a style reminiscent of Jona Humbel, Chav keeps it simple but gnarly.  I'm super psyched on him and can't wait to see what he does in the future.

Phoenix Pro Scooters in Russia

Roomet Saalik, Kassu Palen and Dan Barrett took a trip St. Petersburg and Moscow to ride at a few events.  These dudes all kill it in their own way and it's sick to see the scene in Russia thriving.  Totally called the last trick, and was psyched Dan did it.

Sky High Davenport Takeover Video

I posted an article about the Sky High Davenport Takeover last week, and now here's the video.  Justin Lacosse, Devin Heald, Brian Chavez, and the rest of the dudes shred the park and a bunch of fans get in on the action too.  This was super fun and I hope Sky High does more events like this soon.

FRIENDLY'S LUX - SHARED SECTION II AND III

One of the best parts of homie videos is that you can put whoever you want in it, there's no division of riders by brands.  This two song shared part of Friendly's LUX features some old and newer names, including: Nathan Clark, Jayden Hogan. Sean Furze, Jami Chan. Adam Rouse, Brad McManus, and James Bull.  Tons of variety and unique styles from all these dudes.

Jack "The Ripper" Colston | Welcome to the Team

Jack Colston is a comet, hurtling through space with no regard to what's in his way or what might happen should he come across a new obstacle.  He goes at it full steam, unpredictably, because why would he want to go slow?  The dude is so fun to watch and I'm psyched he's on River now.

Lucky Scooters | Blake Bailor at Woodward

Lucky put together this little edit of some clips Blake filmed the last time he was at Woodward.  It's so good to see him still killing it.  His briflips never seem to get old, but he's apparently aged 20 years and has children?  Can someone indeed confirm that he is a father?  Congrats to whoever the lucky lady is.

TSI Shop Tour

TSI is unique to most scooter companies in that it manufactures all of it's products in house rather than sourcing it out.  They employ their own riders, such as Hep Greg, to produce their parts.  The end result is a high quality, American made scooter component anyone would be proud to own.  This video takes us through the TSI shop, giving us a look at what goes on on a daily basis.

Justin Carter - Welcome To Madd Gear AUS

This guy is one of these Maddgear hybrid riders that has all the crazy park flipperoo tricks but can then hit big handrails and sets in the streets. Donoflip down the double set was rad.  He's also a wizard on the front wheel, 180 front bri fakie hang five?  No comprendo.

Sky High Davenport Takeover

“WIIIIIIILLLL!  WAKE UPPPP!”  Barely an hour into the trip, the van shenanigans had already started as Will Weske was in his own world with earbuds in while Brian Chavez and everyone else yelled at the top of their lungs to wake Will up.  Will and Brian, along with Sky High riders Christian Dean, Jack Chaney, Devin Heald, Justin Lacosse,  Sky High Manager Ian Johnson, Tilt Salesman Shane Malecha, homie JJ Powell and myself, packed up into the Tilt van for a weekend mission to Davenport for a jam and to film.

The van selfie is always crucial.

The first stop resulted in the crew finding a perfect handrail, right across from a gas station in the middle of nowhere, Illinois.  However, time was limited, and we had to get to Davenport Skatepark by 3:00 for the jam.  We made a mental note of the location and decided to hit it on the way back home the next day.

Chav is a chiller.

5050 master Jack Chaney hit the fs 180 out of this.

We finally made it to the park where legions of scooter riders had gathered to witness the carnage the Sky High team was about to inflict.  Davenport is a huge concrete skatepark filled with bowls, ledges, handrails, hubbas, and so much more.  It wasn’t long before the crew started throwing down for the camera.  We also held a few mini contests- we had all the kids ride one obstacle and gave away prizes to those who were shredding.  Davenport local Demari “DC” Nicholson was one of the standouts- bar back lipping a stepup bump to rail gap, 360 whipping the 8 stair, etc.

Chavdad loves to hit the bowl.

Eventually the prizes ran out, and the hunger levels increased, so the crew decided to hit up the local pizza joint from some grub.  I always feel bad for the employees and patrons of restaurants when a big ol smelly, dirty group of rowdy scooter riders shows up after a hard session.  After filling up on ‘za, we headed back to the park for a sesh under the lights.  Originally, we had only planned to stay for a short while and then go light up spots.  However, things were heating up in the bowl, and the session was on for the long haul.  Chavdaddy, Shorty, Justy, and Kirk were all tearing it up.  Highlights include Chavs’s whip lip on the deep end, Shorty blasting whip and heelwhip airs, and  Justin’s endless lines.  Even Big E was blasting a hip, but that came to an end when a failed whip attempt ended up in an ankle gash needing stitches.

Heel back lip fakie by Shorty.

After a little motivation from myself, we decided to check out a spot since it looked like it was going to rain the next day, which was when we planned on riding street.  We headed to River Rails, a chill 5 stair rail spot next to the Mississippi.  We set the lights up and tricks started going down.  Shorty banged off trick after trick like it was nothing.  After everyone landed their tricks, we packed up and drove to the next spot. It was probably 1:30 AM when we got to the JB Young manual pad.  This iconic spot has been ridden by all the Iowa homies, most notably by Shorty for his physics defying bar manual 360 tailwhip. The guys really had to go in on this tech spot.  Shorty closed the night of riding out with yet another manual combo that just should not work.

After navigating a treacherous muddy and flooded driveway, we arrived at Christian’s grandparents’ cabin where we would stay the night.  After riding nearly 12 hours straight, you’d think the boys would have been all tuckered out, but the bro-time lasted til after the sun came up. I think I slept less than an hour before driving Ian in the morning to an urgent care facility to get stitches on his ankle.

Christian with the buttery skid.

As the rain fell we left Davenport at around 3 in the afternoon.  We managed to escape the rain and get to the gas station rail spot off the interstate in dry conditions.  It wasn’t long after the cameras came out to film Brian that the clouds caught up and started pouring on us. It was an insane moment, with the rain coming down and the urgency to land the trick before the ground and rail were completely saturated.  Brian ended up taking a hard slam on the rail, but not before he got the clip. We pushed on.

Brian 5050 in the farmland cuts.

Warmup front 180 by Weske.

We made it out of the rain again, so we decided to check out a bump to bar in Joliet.  With the clouds fast approaching, the guys were sending it as quickly as possible to get their clips.  Devin, Will, and Justin were all able to clock some clips before the clouds rolled back in and the rain fell down.  After that, we headed for home, satisfied with our work and ready for some rest.

Enjoy the rest of these photos documenting the trip.

   

Follow Sky High on Instagram @skyhighscooters as well as:

Ian Johnson @ianknightj

Devin Heald @shorty_elo

Christian Dean @christiandean3

Shane Malecha @therealsugarshane

Will Weske @will_weske

Brian Chavez @chavdaddy

Jack Chaney @captain.jack.chanabis

Kirk Svennson @kunductor_kirk

Justin Lacosse @busty_justy

JJ Powell @_llewop_jj_

Jordan Jasa @comissioner_gordon

Inside Scooters @insidescoot

Reece Jones in Sydney

Reece might be the best scooter rider right now.  5050 game is unreal.  Put him on one of the best decks for 5050s, the TSI Sledge, and in one of the best cities for spots, Sydney, and you have one of the craziest edits of 2015.  This kid is on fire this year.  Watch this now.

Luis Oppel TSI

Luis Oppel is a dude who's been lowkey killing it on Instagram.  TSI hooked him up and this is his first real video for them.  Front hurricane the handrail, fakie 5050 downside, fakie front feeble to fakie back feeble, so many rad tricks.  It is a bummer though when your self filmed Instagram clips are filmed better than the clips in your actual edit.  Hopefully next time the production side will improve.

FRIENDLY'S LUX - DARCY ALTAVILLA

Darcy Altavilla brings smooth, creative lines to the next section of LUX.  Gap to rock ride to down whip was tight.  Tap to tap on the poles also got me hyped.

Mike DeJong | Downside

If you haven't heard, Downside Scooters, a company out of Australia, has entered the US market once again and one of the first riders to be put on the team was Mike Dejong.  Hailing from Texas, Mike has been really progressing over the past year or so.  You can even see the progression in this video.  He's got a solid base of squeaky clean tricks and is starting to come out with some seriously sick clips (bs half cab manual fs 180 heel!).

SDL Boyz- The Return.

One of the unfortunate things about crews is that they get older, they get sponsored.  Their clips to go individual edits for their sponsors, which is still cool.  But the crew videos tend to disappear.  Crew videos always have a way different vibe than company videos.  The SDL Boyz bring back that vibe with this "Return" video, featuring guys like Zack Martin, Gerardo Gonzales, and more.

Logan Fuller & Friends L.H.S RAW

Not only is Logan Fuller one of the gnarliest dudes on a scooter, he's also one of the coolest.  Here's some footage of him and a bunch of homies he's collected over the past year or so.  Logan's clips are all pretty much DVD section worthy, would have been sick to see them edited with a song.  All the homies kill it too, there's even a couple Noah Risser clips, for those who remember him.

Leader grinder 2015 Didine Terchague

This whole edit is mindblowing.  Game-changing peg tricks, amazing spots, and Roots Boy behind the lens.  I could list off the tricks that stood out but I'd end up listing every clip so just watch the video.

DrewBoy

This was super tight.  Part of the CoCrew, Andrew Cordova has a super smooth, unique style.  Lots of BMX influence.  That 360 flat was so gnar.  Ian Herncjar also does a great job with every video he films and edits, including this one.

Tilt Scout Bars Out Now

Tilt has finally released their long awaited bars, both T and RAD shapes.  This is the promo for the T bar style, called the Scout Bar.  A few clips from the boys are featured, giving us another taste of whats to come with Tilt 2.

Waka Wednesdays Ep. 2

Waka Wednesdays Ep. 2 from Patrick Ring on Vimeo.

Brian Chavez is the real deal.  At just 15 years old, he's doing tricks with a style many pros wish they could have.  These Waka Wednesdays videos are just a taste of the real stuff he's been filming in the streets for Sky High and Satori.  Be on the lookout for those...

Justin Phillips for Anaquda

Justin Phillips is one of the few East Coast street power players.  He rides for Anaquda and his latest video just dropped.  He brings the European peg style to the US in his own way.  The two clips at :26 were super sick, that is a proper example of how a feeble should be done.