Monthly Archives: November 2012

2012 Highlights : Rider/Industry perspective (Part 1)

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As I began reviewing the year, and realising just how many good videos/contests/interviews/scene edits there have been. It hit me that in addition to my review it would be cool to get the opinions of some of the riders/and industry heads that have made these highlights happen. Theres a real sense of things are on the up this year, read on to the first part of this 2012 Highlights article.

“2012 has been a great year for flatland. What has been the highlight of the year personally riding wise for you?”


Photo credit: James White.
When James White dropped this incredible bikeflip on “Whitelines” the whole flatland world took notice. As I look back on the year, this is without a doubt one of the standout moves of the year! Find out what his highlights were right below.

James White: Haven’t really travelled this year so my highlight is pretty restricted but it’s also a very easy one, The return of the Jaffa! Let me take you back to the close of 2011. It’s dark,cold, miserable weather and I’m pretty down. I get a call from Sam, when ever we get to catch up it’s so much fun putting everything to rights. So great I think this will cheer me up, but this call was different. Sam wasn’t riding said he wasn’t into it anymore, my heart dropped nooo can this year get any worse I was thinking. But I didn’t let on to him just telling things like, ‘well if you ain’t feeling it then that’s cool. don’t worry about it just concentrate on enjoying life and see if the motivation comes back, just take it slow with no pressure’. It was a hard phone call. It was like losing a family pet! (Sorry Sam, best I could come with on the fly)…
Anyway fast forward a few months and there’s rumblings of Sam riding, out the blue he goes to that redbull comp and with little practice smashes it. I speak to Sam shortly after this and asked what happened with the not riding? He replies ‘oh, well after our phone call I went out the next and the next day messing about and really enjoyed it, went out the the next and the next and been pretty regular since’……..Bastard!!! There’s me at home worrying about my boy giving up and all the time his out behind my back riding!
Anyway then comes the banging edit by Chris Massey at the Manchester jam. And my year is made!
2013 will have to have Sam’s return the contest scene to beat this year!!!

Sam Foakes: Highlight of the year for me was watching Hiro vs Ucchie on the COB livestream and seeing Hiro go off! COB was the event of the year. Don’t forget to invite me next time Red Bull 🙂 Personal riding highlight would be the Manchester jam. Nice weather and great atmosphere.

Alex Jumelin: Yes it has been a really coooool year for flatland and worldwide I can say that flatland as never been so big. In the number of contest and riders, I just hope that now big sponsor will follow ??????
My highlight of the year was of course to win the FISE.

Bart de Jong: The riding at the Red Bull COB was off the hook!


Without a doubt the most popular choice for highlight of the year. And who would argue really? The Red Bull COB went off! It was a huge honour for me to host the livefeed show!
Photo credit: Naoyuki Shibata/Red Bull Content Pool

Martti Kuoppa: Seeing / Feeling Viki being one with his bike at the COB.
Seeing DUB busting out at the COB.
Hearing Chase Gouin getting rid of illness and getting back on his bike.
Learning to ride flatland just sometimes and be happy about it.

Simon O’Brien: I would have to say for me the highlight was ‘Circle of Balance’. Not only was it an amazing event, but after being away from the scene for a while, it was great to get amongst it and be around so many riding friends again. I didnt realise how much ive missed it! And the event was in Japan….so just an amazing time!

Jean William Prevost: COB for sure!

Tom @ Sevisual: I couldn’t pick a specific highlight, but there were some great moments in the 2012 season for sure!
I was able to travel a lot with Adam; we hit lots of contests this year and had so much fun. Hanging out and filming with Viki and the Madrid crew…JFB was a guest of mine for several weeks…Vienna with my friends Michael and Sebastian was priceless with great memories! 
Flatland wise the best was the high number of Hungarian flat contests this year. Keep organizing guys!

Matthias Dandois: Riding wise, 2012 has been such a turning point in my career, My point of view on riding has changed a lot the past year. I started not give a shit about contest, actually stopped practicing for contest, started riding everything (street, flat, park, dirt, whatever) and I’m more happy in my life than ever before. The highlight of the year are all the tours/trip I did with some of the coolest people: Odyssey trip in the Californian desert, The Frenchys distribution trip around Lyon, The dawn tour all around France, visiting the Jumelin’s family in New Orleans… Theses trips are more fun than anything else, you just have to wake up, go ride, film a couple clips and have the time of your life. BMX is, before everything: FUN, let’s just not forget about it! 


Amazing photo of Matthias Dandois shooting with Soul BMX mag #77… Photo credit: Hadrien Picard

Peter Olsen: I’d say just feeling really comfortable on my bike and not feeling entirely stagnant was a main highlight of the year for me . I can’t really think of any particular tricks or days or anything that stand out, but just the overall feeling that you can go out and learn what’s on your mind has always been one of favourite things about riding. 

Scott O’Brien: Emcee Voodoo, Dew Tour and COB in Japan. But nothing will beat a session with my homies in New Orleans. I had a lot of progression this spring and it was a lot of fun. Lets see what the winter will bring?!

Stay tuned for Part 2….

John Yull Flatmatters exclusive!!

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So much content coming through right now to celebrate 4 years of Flatmatters! Quite fitting that I interview one of the riders that I grew up riding with on the Hutch team, John Yull! John is of course paving his own way, fair to say he is one of the exciting riders to watch right now! Keep an eye out for this FM interview really soon! For now peep this lil’ bit of decade innovation.

Editorial: 4 years of Flatmatters!

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Editorial: Effraim.

“It’s a full time job that you don’t get paid for basically” Anthony Buglio at FlatWeb TV said recently during a recent Skype conversation with me for an up and coming Interview. It summed up my commitment very simply. Flatmatters started 4 years as a blogspot site to gain a creative outlet that I felt I lost even before the FM page in UK Ride was dropped.

Today, Wednesday November 28th. 4 years on, the sport/artform has changed a lot. Edits were not as commonplace as they are now. By and large “content” it is a lot easier to come by now daily, riders know they have a place to showcase their work, not just FM but many other sites. This week as we hit the 4 year mark, I am consumed with a mixture of emotion. last year was a great year for me riding wise, producing around 30 progressive videos. This year due to injury after injury, currently nursing a back injury, I am bummed I haven’t been able to create what I wanted to. So my apologises to all those that have “Hey Effraim, wheres the 4 year edit?”, my answer in the positive form is good things come to those that wait, for now how about a repost of my 3 year edit?….

2012 has been I think the best year for flatland since I started Flatmatters in 2008, I am in the process of reviewing the year and believe me the selection process is tougher than ever before. Every week it seemed an amazing edit dropped, that made me think wow this is a must watch edit for people!

So whats in store for the 4 year anniversary, well…

As well you will already know, Fat Tony kindly contributed the Behind the Scenes scoop on the 2013 flatland calendar. The Shuichi Osada interview dropped yesterday. Today I am publishing Part 1 of the “The riders perspective on 2012”, Part 1 of the Viki Gomez interview drops Friday, theres also a big John Yull Interview dropping, so plenty to look forward, not to mention, maybe a surprise edit here and there….
So it’s somewhat forced, rather than this being about me, although one of more ideas all along was to have a whole bunch of varied exclusive content drop over the next fortnight or so, as a celebration of 4 years. Rather than just one day.
Last but not least, thank you to all the riders that have supported flatmatters over the last 4 years. The original intention was for FM to be a source of motivation for riders worldwide. And I am proud to say I feel like it has more than done that.
The question really is, whats next?

Leave us a comment and let me know what you think.

Flatmatters

Effraim Catlow

The Shuichi Osada interview!!

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Intro: Effraim.
Interview: Effraim & Takuji Kasahara.
Translation: Takuji Kasahara.
Photos: Takuji Kasahara.

So Day 2 of the Flatmatters 4 years anniversary, and today an interview with one of my favourite current riders, Shuichi Osada!
The task of interviewing someone you quickly realise you know nothing about is an interesting puzzle to start with, you could say well thats everything to learn, but in reality where do you start? The following interview with Shuichi Osada is the result of a few months going back and forth with my friend Takuiji Kasahara in order to find out more about a rider I admire so much.
In 2011 as I looked through in access of 2,000 flatland videos. Shuichi’s riding stood out like a breath of fresh air. I had to know more about him, so I sent a few questions, and asked Takuji to chip in with a few questions that would help the flatland world know more about this amazing rider.
Thank you Takuji and Shuichi for putting the time into making this happen.
I’m really stoked what Shuichi has to say about his combos, and the concepts behind them. Hopefully you learn a lil’ something about this japanese shredder! I cannot wait to see his part on the new Zai DVD! Read on…

Firstly introductions, your age, how long riding, whereabouts in Japan are you from?
Shuichi Osada, 29 years of age, been riding 12 years is from Kisarazu, Chiba.

How did you get into flatland riding?
Back in the days when I was seventeen, X Games was big here and flatland got featured on magazines often that’s what got me into flatland. There was not much information about the bikes and I knew nothing about BMX so I bought my first BMX was for street and I was practicing flatland on it at first. 

How is the riding scene where you live?
Not many riders and riding spots here, not so good. 

Has the riding scene got bigger since you started riding where you live?
The scene was bigger when I started riding, since then it had been getting smaller and smaller and it hasn’t changed past five years.

Tell us about your new company, Buoyancy, what does the name mean? What’s the company all about?  
I wanted to name my company something related with fishing. Of course I’ll produce BMX parts other than that, hoping to organize enjoyable contests or events for riders.

Do you have any riders representing Buoyancy?
Takumi Matsumoto, Takuji Kasahara, Naoki Watanabe, Yorimitsu Miyata, Shinichi Kiba (Russia), Hiroki Iwata (Tang meng) and myself. 

Are you only selling Buoyancy in Japan, or will your products be available worldwide?
So far it’s only handlebars and basically available only in Japan, but if there is a demand for the products hopefully it will be available internationally.

Your riding really catches the eye, tell me about your riding style, what’s your vision for flatland?
The originality and riding-styles are very important things in flatland and that is what has been attractive to me. In the past few years I’ve been working on switches with swinging a frame and pivoting on the pegs at the same time because I wanted to create switches which is impossible to do with back wheel tricks.
The contest and the result are given a huge weight in current flatland scene in general and riders take difficulty in the first place, due to this, a lot of simple and cool tricks or unique tricks have been slept in our mind so I want to enjoy flatland with free thought.

Are you into contest riding, or more about pushing yourself outside of the contest environment? You compete as an Expert rider right?
I’m not a good contest rider. It’s hard to get a motivation for the constancy, also I get nervous at a contest.  I normally ride without caring about a contest. I compete as a pro. 
 
What inspires your riding?
My favourite riders and music.

What do you do besides riding?
I like fishing and lately been into candle making.

What if anything provided the hook to keep you riding flatland?
It’s like a cycle of that the images on my mind get realized then new images/ideas derived from it, this continues endlessly. I’m not the kind of riders who pick up tricks instantly, all my difficult tricks hasn’t come up suddenly, those came slowly from passing through the repetition of the cycle. I feel I’m enjoying flatland more than ever because I have a special feeling towards on my tricks and new ideas on my mind. Even though I’m getting aged and suffering from chronic pain on my body but it’s still ridable so I will continue to ride for a while. 

What in your eyes is a pro rider?
The riders who compete pro class that doesn’t mean they are pros. Pro rider is who earns money from riding and makes living off from doing something related with BMX. But in my opinion, doing demos/shows are different it doesn’t require high skills or it requires different skills I say. They are making money as performers. The definition of the pro flatland rider is a rider who makes whose living from the income from sponsors or making money from making parts or other BMX related things. 

Who are your favourite riders in japan?
It’s too many to list though. I like riders who has originality and own style or silhouette on their riding.  Takumi Matsumoto, Takuji Kasahara, Naoki Watanabe, Yorimistu Miyata, Shinichi Kiba, Hiroki Iwata. I asked to them to use my handle bars because I like their riding. I also like Takuma Kawamura and Hirokazu Miura and Yosuke Shibuya.  

Tell me about your bike set up? What are you running besides the Buoyancy bars?
Frame: St.martin FOOT JAM 18.8″
Fork: Magic Fruits Straw V2 Fork
Bar: Buoyancy 
Stem: Camacura makuross stem 35mm
Headset: FSA Impact
Crank: Profile mg crank
BB set: ARESTIC SPANISH BB
Sprocket: Magic Fruits Jellyfish V3 25T
Pedal: Primo balance Mag pedal
Seat: We the People Bel Air Pivotal(short)
Post: S&M Bikes_Long Johnson Pivotal Post
F Peg: Hommage P38
R Peg: Hommage P38
F Hub: Nankai 500AFS
R Hub: Nankai 9T
F Rim: Odyssey 7KA (36H)
R Rim: Sun Rhyno Lite
F Tyre: Ares A-Class 1.90
R Tyre: KHE Mac 1.5 
Grip: Deco logo grip
Bar end: Odyssey Par End
Grip Stop: Hommage ring grip

Who are your favourite riders worldwide?
Martti Kuoppa and Stephane Royer and others.

What kind of music are you into?
I like instrumental rock bands such as “Soft” and “Special others” and others. I’m choosing the songs according to my mood of the moment while I’m riding. 

Interesting concept (about your riding style), do you see yourself ever riding back wheel as well? It seems like in japan, riders are either front wheel or back wheel? Why do you think that is?
Even if I try back wheel tricks it’s going to be just the moves using my front wheel skills, that is a deterioration in the quality of my front tricks.  In the other words, it’s possible to create new front moves with taking new ideas from back wheel tricks done by others, so I don’t think I will try back wheel.
Like you said, you see a lot of riders here in Japan limit ourselves either front wheel or back wheel, I think it’s because of the bike setting. It’s simply the best bike setting for front and back is far different. Also I think originality and style are important things in Flatland so delving deeply into single subject is more suitable for flatland, rather than being just a jack of all trades or master of none. 

Do you have a winter spot for riding?
It doesn’t snow often in my town. It won’t be a big problem although daylight hours gets shorter and my night riding spot isn’t so good and I have my knee and elbow pain. I take it slow and I’m thinking to go to the gym to fix my body in this winter. 
 
Do you put a concept on your combo? If so please explain how’s it like.
Yes, I put a concept on my combo. 
My combos I created a while ago was inspired by Yammar’s tricks. I was impressed with his smooth combos which is linking a few tricks without loosing a momentum. It’s not interesting if I do same things as what he was doing so I came up with the idea which is linking many tricks by using pivots with a good tempo to make it looks like one single trick.
I thought if I could do that it would be greater. And these days, I like laid-back style music and clothes and been thinking if I could express these kind of styles on my riding. So I’ve been working on around the world style tricks with pivots these days. They are still in the works and need some time to combo them up although I think I can show it to you next year. 

Getting towards final questions. Any plans for the new products?
Yes, I have plans to produce products other than handlebars. For instance rail-seats, these days the pivotal seat is the standard and it became hard to find rail-seats even a lot of front wheel riders still prefer to use it.  


Sponsors:
Hommage & 
Buoyancy.

Last words?
I’ll keep on riding and do my best for my brand at my own pace. 


Related Links:

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/3edge-works-ls-trailer

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/shuichi-osada-starts-buoyancy

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/syuichi-osada-edits

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/shuichi-osada-shreds