Must Watch – Matthieu Bonnecuelle / Raw 10

RAW 10 from NUAGE BMX on Vimeo.

We are starting off the week with an absolute treat from Matthieu Bonnecuelle, ten years of his riding from 2005-2015! At just over 40 minutes long of raw clips, it’s time to grab a cuppa and enjoy one of the most creative riders on the planet at work. The progression throughout the years is inspiring to watch, I got a great feeling watching Matthieu just experiment with an open canvas and it is interesting to watch his creative process over the years. Here are some of standouts for me:

From the earlier years 2005-2009, watching contest footage from Circle Cow at 00:20 with basic moves through to bringing original moves like the step in kick pedal death truck at 7:37, you really get a sense that Matthieu experiments with all styles to get where he is today. Great to see in a rider so young.

Fast forward to 2012, and you really see a huge step in progression. At the 10:40 Double fork lash, that I don’t think I ever saw before. Just amazing!

A year later, and perhaps Matthieu’s most pivotal year in progression and creativity! There’s so much to talk about it is difficult to pin everything down without writing an essay. I really liked the backwards double steamboat whiplashes, another NBD at the 10:49 mark, this quickly follows with an Alexis Desolneux esque x-hand backwards hang 5 to backwards facing messiah backwards whiplash out at 11:03. At 11:25, x-hand backwards facing whiplash! This still hits hard now!

At 14:40, we see the no handed whiplash out of nowhere, theres not really a trick before it where you see this coming?!

15:21: In front of bars multiple whiplash turbine line, which of course has now been taking to new levels by one of his friends Thomas Noyer.

16:40: The much talked about double no handed whiplash (we are now in the Heresy era), that has opened the door to so many possibilities.

2014. What you may or not notice throughout the video is that Matthieu seems to have an abundance of massive indoor riding spots at his disposal. And in 2014 it looks like he switched to a indoor tennis riding area, at 18:52 again kind of out of nowhere with regard to the clips that come before, a backwards facing seat stand manual! That balance point! At 19:15, I loved what became kind of his signature move for a long time, the two footed fork rolling front yard backwards whiplash out, still a very untapped area of flatland creativity.

Back in 2012, I mentioned the double fork lash, two years later at the 19:44 mark, we see the turbine fork lash. I don’t recall this at the time, but again like I probably will say a lot during this review of his video.

Around summer 2014 Im guessing Matthieu was experimenting with downside whiplashes, at 22:44 there is a really nice turbine whiplash step over switch directions kind of half whiplash boomerang type of deal jump to peg manual time machine out, totally unexpected! Definitely a rewind moment for me.

Between the 23-27 minute mark there is some interesting styles being experimented with future of 8 downside whiplashes and that kind of style. Then boom at the 27:16, a move many of you will know! The no handed turbine whiplash! Still so crazy, and amazing to see it archived like this.

We are into 2015, the last year documented here and at 30:44 at what looks like the tennis courts in Toulouse. We get to see what may go down as one of the hardest tricks ever done, the double backwards facing xft whiplash. Time will of course tell, but I don’t see two years on anyone messing with that. So good!

The styles change again, its an open canvas after all! And now Matthieu is experimenting with what I called the no comply style, you variations from backwards hitch, backwards crack to forwards, and vice versa plus many more. A true artist, just experimenting.

If you needed some inspiration to start the week, this is it right here. Loved the raw footage feel to this edit, almost like a mix tape vibe I got to this and really inspiring to see Matthieu’s riding grow over the years. Merci Matthieu if you are reading this, mind blown!

18 thoughts on “Must Watch – Matthieu Bonnecuelle / Raw 10

  1. You have to be joking ???!! Just started watching this after reading BIG Es review………………TALK ABOUT a natural talent , reminds me of Terry , I’m STILL STUCK / BUGGING on his combo starting at 2 minutes !!! BACKWARDS KNEE stance steam ,MID -LINE ??!! This edit is gonna blow my mind ALSO !! Hes like a little kid when he filmed that combo !!! RIDICULOUSLY RAD !!

  2. Yes Rodney! I can remember Matthieu from the early Circle Cow contests (as shown in edit) or is this a full video? And you knew this kid had a lot of talent, I loved the raw feel of this and seeing his creative process throughout, the straight up raw feel fits what he is doing perfectly. Very inspiring to watch, my Monday started off rather well 🙂

  3. Totally Awesome !
    He rides like Giannis with no rules and no boundaries. Anything can be done, and there are no limits or restrictions.
    This is Flatland not about competitions and Ego maniacs.
    This is Flatland about Creativity.
    Every Flatlander should watch this.

  4. Wow…I was in a slump for a while but now I am genuinely inspired to ride my bike stronger than ever. This video was 100% FREESTYLE.

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