Must Watch season continues with this absolute belter from Japanese flatland lifer, Akihiko Takahashi who celebrates 25 years of riding.
If you don’t already this guy is one of the best in the backwards game, there are some mindmelters packed into 5:59, which is definitely a contender for the hardest stuff done this year.
Category Archives: News
Dope Ammo 665 1/2 // Not Quite Evil // 1992
So good to see this classic video in good quality, worth sitting down and grabbing a cuppa and enjoying Dope Ammo 665 1/2 with great parts from the likes of Chase Gouin, Jesse Puente, Pete Brandt, Kevin Jones, Andrew Arroyo, Gabe Weed, and many more.
Thank you Snakebite BMX for uploading this!
Must Watch: Austin Luberda / Some Things Never Change
It is funny how somethings work out, yesterday I was having a conversation about flatland in the USA. And we talked about Austin Luberda, and I wondered what he was up to, having seen a little glimpse of him at the Aggro Jam in St Louis that I posted yesterday.
This morning I got my answer, Austin and his wife have been busy welcoming a new born baby into the world in September. Congratulations to you both.
Today we have this amazing new edit from Austin, with a couple of new moves he has been dreaming about, I especially loved the development of his signature can-can style pedal junkyard move at (1:07, 1:50, 4:23 and the ender around 4:50), that you can leads to other moves like the multiple opposite forward pedal g-roll turbines jump to pedal time machine at 2:48.
Throw in the opposite backwards spin stubble duck at 3:18, with that smooth flow state Austin is renowned for. Some things never change, and long may that continue!
Loved the old footage of Austin shredding his GT back in the day mixed in with the modern day, great feel to this edit, editing on point, music fits, camera work, it’s all here!
It’s officially “Must Watch season”, loving this, thank you Austin!
IT’S TIME TO VOTE! THE 2025 FLATMATTERSONLINE YEAR END AWARDS
IT’S TIME TO VOTE!!
It’s that time of year, the Flatmattersonline Year Awards for 2025 are upon us. The readers of FM have around a month to vote, so plenty of time for you to consider your votes for Rider of the Year, Edit of the Year, Female Rider of the Year, Contest Run of the Year and the most difficult one, but a fun one to break down, Line of the Year. As always have fun with it!
Reader Choice: (that’s all of you at home!)
Rider of year
Edit of Year
Female rider of year
Contest Run of Year
Line of Year
Editorial Vote: ( just for me )
Rider of year
Must Watch Edit of year
Outstanding Contribution
Breakthrough Rider of year
Brand of the Year
How do you vote?
Send your “reader choice” votes through to: effraim@flatmattersonline.com – entitled Flatmattersonline Year End Awards 2025.
***Please vote only by email only , it gets too complicated with DM’s, facebook messages etc.
When’s the Deadline for voting?
Voting closes Sunday 11th January.
Nominees announced:
Sunday January 18th
Year end award winners announced:
Sunday January 25th.
Please note:
Voting only counts via email. Plenty of time to go through edits over the new year, and look back via the site on the highlights of the year that will follow over the next few weeks, take your time and good luck and most of all enjoy the process of voting!
Have a good Christmas everyone, and happy new year!
Thanks to everyone who supported the Flatmattersonline 17th anniversary, by dropping a comment, DM or whatever, I appreciate the love!!
Effraim.
Flatmattersonline.
Must Watch: Flat Sessions #2 the Park
Alberto Moya teams up with arguably the heaviest crew in modern day flatland for amazing edit at the Park Samukawa. Insane lines from the likes of Yu Katagiri, Naoto Tamaru, Alberto Moya, Nina Suzuki, Shu Sugawara (worth a rewind at 1:56!), Ayuna Miyashima, Ryo Katagiri, and saving the best for last at 3:30 with Takato Moriya! The only one missing is Ucchie!
Thanks Moya for documenting, it’s been an amazing few weeks for edits!
Must Watch: Julien Baran X Jean William Prévost | SINGAPORE BMX
Feel good edit from Julien Baran’s and Jean William Prevost’s recent trip to Singapore, Fise had a test event out there and JB and Dub took the opportunity to film together, and put this together with a bonus Calvin Tan appearance. Anyone else loving the increase in good edits, as we get into FM year end awards season?
Battleground 3: Cleveland Ohio USA
Besides being a great rider, Dustyn Alt is a very talented videographer. Dustyn put together this great edit from the third Battleground contest in Cleveland, Ohio that really captures the BG vibe interviewing key riders.
Must Watch! Yu Shoji: Welcome to Far East Cycles & IGI FLAT BMX
What a week it’s been for flatland this past two weeks, with the Fise World event in Sasaki, Japan, followed by Whiteski’s masterpiece, and now this amazing edit from one of the best in the game, Yu Shoji delivers some NBD’s for us all at his home spot in Matsudo, Japan!
Must Watch! James White: In Control
It’s hard to put into words what I want to say regarding James White’s new, incredible “In Control” edit. I feel there is so much to cover, of course, I am compelled to give it my best shot!
Whilst many are only posting clips to Instagram and concentrating on contest riding, James — at the age of 55 — is arguably one of the most active flatland riders on the planet outside of the contest arena over the past several years. When you consider his regular Instagram posts, the quality of his creative, no compromised riding style, and the standard of his filming and editing, it’s truly a whole package.
Back in the summer, at Bob Haro’s iKonix launch, I said to James — tongue in cheek — “You’ve been quiet on socials in recent months, what’s going on?”
He replied, “I’m working on a big edit, around 13 minutes. It’ll be coming out in November.”
James is one of the most influential riders on the flatland scene, and I hope that by going the extra mile on filming this video part, it inspires others to do the same on their own journey.
I’ve just returned from my trip to Japan today, so I realise I’m a little late posting this — but it’s really good to see a video over four minutes being shared and watched over and over. Is this the start of a shift in social media trends? People do have attention spans after all judging by the view count already!
Top marks to Whiteski, one of the best edits of the year!
Yu Katagiri wins Fise World Sakai, Japan / UCI Freestyle World Cup 2025
Congratulations to Yu Katagiri, winner of the last stop of the UCI Freestyle World Cup out here in Sakai, Japan.
Yu was followed on the podium by his brother, Ryo Katagiri and young buck Ren Oshima in the third place podium spot. What a level in the final as you would expect in Japan.
Yu Shoji won the year end ranking followed by Yu Katagiri and Julien Baran.
Men’s Elite final result:
