Author Archives: Effraim

Must Watch – Matthias Dandois / The Instagram Side of Things

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We are getting to that time of year, where the banger videos are coming in thick and fast. This new one by Matthias Dandois, that is full of clips from Instagram wouldn’t normally get the “Must Watch” tag as I have obviously seen it before. Matthias Dandois posts a lot of great videos online, and watching Instagram sometimes becomes a blur for me with so much content coming so fast, swipe and can be forgotten easily, and in truth I forgot half these videos which I realised Matthias filmed across the globe when he had a break from his work life (whilst the norm would be to stay at home and film), the man and his work ethic is literally quite amazing. Watching all these together is a treat.

At 7:57 mins long there is a lot to highlight and my UK Champs weekend is about to begin but I will highlight some of what stood out to me. The rest we can discuss on the site…

00:18: Switch handed spinning two footed steam x-hand pivot round bars to xft steam without holding the seat, super nice switch that I could Matthias taking to the contest floor!

00:57: Nose half cab nollie to nose, this one must be crazy hard on the wrists, whole lot of techniques going on through out this edit that ticked a different Must Watch than for example James Whites “Eye of the Tiger” edit. I love all the styles Matthia shows, and his tricktionary is vast, the hitch kick flip thrown in is a nice touch.

1:34: 180 hop to xft steam turbine flowing into spinning half hike dragging the bars that brought back memories of Darren Pelio in the 80’s hitting the bars on backwards Karls.

2:54: I had to rewind this clip a fair bit to understand it, backwards flail to backwards 5 for a moment, downside whip out to pedals. Possibly my favourite clip from the edit.

3:27: Xft pedal mega spin body varial two footed backyard, this is a good example of a clip I forgot all about and the tricks keep coming.

Like I already said, plenty more to discuss about this edit, and I am always left wondering. Which lines will appear at a contest soon?
For now let’s pay respect to Matthias who works so hard to be where he’s at. More power to him.

Umikaze jam clips FT Kio Hayakawa

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YouTube glitch seems to be sorted today, phew! Back to regular updates here on Flatmattersonline and so much going right now it is tough to keep up. Japan as always is popping with content, a couple of nice clips here from Umikaze Jam and Kio Hayakawa’s amazing new backyard line once again plus the first riders line which I cannot rider ID.

Masashi Itani – Meriken Park

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After trouble all day with YouTube, hoping I had ecome up with a way to load YT videos, excuse the sizing as I work out what the hell is going on with YT…

After a 9 hour day of filming some of the best Japanese flatland BMX riders, both old and current generations, at Chimera A-Side Round 2 in Kobe, Japan, Sunny Singh headed to the legendary spot at Meriken Park with Masashi Itani. This is a spot nearly every flatland rider has seen in a video. It’s a holy site where, for over 20 years, Japanese riders have gathered regularly to ride and feed off each other. Getting to visit it at sunset was a lifelong dream fulfilled. Borrowing Masashi’s bike to do a trick was another. Filming this short segment with him, an actual pro-rider, was a full-circle moment.

Start Combat Round 1, Limu Peru

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William Perez sent through this edit from Round 1 of the South American Circuit “Start Combat 2019”. The first round took place in Lima, Peru. Congratulations to Balu who took the win, peep the edit/result below.

1. Sergio Ricardo Balu (Brasil)
2. Max Aburto (Chile)
3. Arturo Garay (Paraguay)
4. Williams Perez (Peru)
5. Jonathan Camargo (Colombia)

The next circuit date is in Colombia Bambuco Jam 12 October, Brazil 01 November and finish in Córdoba, Argentina on 07 December.

Must Watch – James White / Eye of the Tiger

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Friday 13th September 2019 shall go down as a memorable day, today I woke up with anticipation for James White’s new edit “Eye of the Tiger”. After the Rocky hype videos all week, I was thinking yesterday, this is a dangerous game he’s playing here, then I thought stop it Effraim. This is James’, this has to be amazing it’s Whitey and he wouldn’t hype like this otherwise.

7am comes around and I didn’t have to wait long, James has already posted, and boy does this not disappoint.

Time and time again I say this, but James does really have that Midas touch and this edit feels once again like I am watching a Dorkin’ part for the first time.
There’s a lot to take in, during this 4 minute plus part, but a couple of things stood out to me right away. Number one, and most importantly it’s evident and refreshing to see James is having fun, cliche as it is to say. That is what it’s all about and love the way James reinvents himself every year, secondly the camera work. I am not sure what he has going on, but a moving camera whilst it appears it’s only James at the spot. I want to know more!

Thirdly, and the crucial ingredient, the riding. There are a couple of lines here that are game changers. James gets widely copied over the years, and I am pretty much you will see it once again after this edit gets widely shared across social media.

00:21: Flip, tyre grab ice cream, bike flip out (that flip out is tasty!) and what I love here is James shows a variety of concepts around that idea again at 1:07 with a half lash in and gerator body varial out and at 1:32 to James’ smith decade variation out!

2:13: Without a doubt my favourite line of the edit, here he takes an existing Whiteski line and makes it new with the concept of holding the head tube only and the execution gets no better.

At 2:57, there’s a similar idea but switches to opposite ice cream and pivot backwards switch foot dump out. There’s way more we can highlight, let the comments roll as I am sure they will.

Absolutely amazing, like a fine wine. James just gets better and better, need some motivation? This is it right here, a banging Must Watch, top marks Whiteski!