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.