Terry Adams interviews with reporter at CSN after his appearance for his NBA rockets halftime show. Good work Terry!
Category Archives: News
Johann Chan Interview in RideUK!
Photo credit: Jonny Grogan.
It has been quite a week for Johann! And it appears to be getting better and better! Johann has an interview in the latest Ride UK entitled “Flat does matter!”. Pick up a copy if you can at your local newsagents!
Flatmatters Review of 2012 – Part 1!
Text: Effraim
Almost daily I get new ideas for the site, in the case of reviewing 2012 I felt the “Defining moments of 2011” didn’t really do the whole year justice I felt like I skipped a lot, in doing so, this article quickly turn into a bit of a monster!
How do you reflect on such a good year with just “Defining Moments” I thought to myself?
I do believe 2012 was one of the best years for flatland that I can ever remember.
So I started documenting all the edits and articles/news as I always do, this time I used the loose criteria, did they make me go back and take numerous watches/views.
I realised pretty quickly that this idea was a monsteras I hit rewind on some many edits, but much like when I’m riding, once I get an idea for trick/or article I stick at it until it’s done.
Two months later, staring at all these video references/notes, after much gnashing of teeth, re-edit after re-edit, here I am with Part 1!
I started brainstorming ideas best to showcase the year as concisely as possible.
This is what I came up with:
This article will come in three parts, Four months summary at a time, with a bibliography.
Let me know what you think in the comments. I am interested to see what people think. Hope you enjoy my breakdown! Anyway, enough of me rambling, let’s crack on!
Welcome to Part 1 of 3 for my review of 2012. Hold tight!
As early as January 4th, One of my favourite riders to watch, Stephan Hearn dropped an amazing ESPN profile edit dropped which kick started the year off nicely! Stephan’s riding since his Create part has always amazed me! 2012 has seen a lot of new faces come to the forefront which is amazing and much needed for our sport/artform. On January 14th, Kensuke Hamai from Japan dropped a “Must Watch” back wheel edit, with effortless switches which further pushed the foundations made by the likes of Nathan Penonzek, Raphael Chiquet and more recently Yohei Uchino.
Working on interviews as I have said many times is one of my favourite parts of putting together FM, first up for the year was Athens stylecat, Jody Temple, who kindly put together a really nice edit for coincide with the interview on January 18th. The year seems to have flown by, as this edit feels like it dropped a month ago.
On January 19th, Quentin Pelorson from France dropped some bombs on the Grenoble scene edit, the forward karl step to halfpacker (11.27) still has me hitting the rewind months ahead, I hope in time this guys riding gets the recognition it really does deserve. Really excited to see how his riding develops this year!
After the well received FM exclusive edit on January 20th, I dropped the first big interview of the year, with Jody Temple. This is most certainly well worth going back over and reading again, plus some awesome photographs to boot!
Also on this day, the first major jam of the year took place in Zuma Beach, So Cal. The One Love Jam saw a reunion of some flatland legends like Dylan Worsley, Day Smith, Brian Tunney, Cory Fester, Chad Johnston, Ed Nussbaum, and many more shredders. The One Love crew added a highest bunnyhop event that helped attract more riders and sponsors, and of course fun! Good times on the West Coast!
On February 6th was a great day for flatland! Tomoaki Yoshimura dropped a “Must Watch” back wheel edit, with his amazing two footed scuffing technique on forward puppets, Tomoaki had a great year featuring a lot across every flat website/blog on the planet. Hope to see more creative riding from this guy in 2013.
Also on February 6th I dropped the second big interview with Flatland legend, Simon O’Brien, I feel like sometimes this dude and what he’s done gets forgotten very quickly, as he’s out there in Australia, but as it turns out later in the year he featured a lot more. As we would later in the year find out.
Also, Adam Kun teamed up with his friend Tom at Sevisual to show the world his new brakeless style. Like I said February 6th was a good day!
On February 11th, Alex Jumelin joined forces with Matthias Dandois to kick start his year with a bang, 2012 was one of Alex’s most productive years yet, and this edit at his work/home riding spot in Paris set the tone of the year.
On the same day, Aleksi Ritsila dropped his Welcome to S&M edit, all I can say is Wow! Go watch that again. I wish the flatland world could see more of this style cat, but on the flipside it’s kinda nice getting brief glimpses of his awesome riding.
George Manos came over to the UK in February, and filmed a few FM exclusives at my indoor spot, but the real treat came on Feb 18th when he teamed up with the talented film maker/videographer, James Smith. The black and white tone and darkness of the edit captured George’s personality and minimalistic riding style perfectly, go watch that edit again!
Two days later, as we all recovered from Georges amazing edit, Tom at Sevisual got together with spanish style cat, Viki Gomez whilst he was over with Adam Kun for a contest in Madrid to film a sweet part in Madrid. Viki won the contest on home soil..
March always starts with the Toronto contest, now that the Circle Cow contest is no more. Toronto really is the first big contest of the year, and the first chance many of us get to see what the heavy hitters are up to for the year. And of course Canada has always historically helped breed some of the worlds best flatlanders. In 2012, Moto Sasaki took the win from Czech’s Dominik Nekolny, the result was uber close, a real tough to call, with how Dom ended the year at Texas Toast you wouldn’t bet on Dom going back this year to take top honours in Canada.
Whilst George Manos stayed at my house, I asked him if he would write an article about his thoughts on originality in flatland, on March 2nd, we released his thoughts and philosophy, entitled “Originality – a hidden identity” that gave you the flatland world some insight into this talented riders world.
Four days later, Bert Ribul had me thinking “is the guy that could step up and be the next big thing?”, so many crazy brakeless switches with nuff style, as I remember this is the first post I ever “stickied”, I may have got carried away with the amount of time I kept it stickied for. Bert’s edit was one of the best of the year, and certainly helped his invite to the Red Bull Circe of Balance later in the year. And 2013 looks like being a good year already for Bert!
On March 15th, Jean William Prevost dropped an amazing “Spring Cleaning” edit, killer back wheel pedal pivots, turbines, and so much flow, the edit had many saying “If he can hold it together he will win a contest…”… They were later proved they were not far wrong on that prediction….
On April 6th, one of the best edits of the years dropped and surprised the world, embracing the old, but making it new, John Yull’s “3 years” edit had me screaming at the laptop numerous times, it was great to see John back firing, John flipped the old and made it new! Killer foot jam decade variations, power mowers, the list goes on! As we all know John this year is working on his part for Same Thing Daily 3. Really excited to see what John has in store for us.
Hiroya Morizaki came out the blocks hot in 2012, winning the first round of the KOG, dialling in his no scuff mega spin whopper combo, everyone knows that no one rides like Hiroya, when the man is on, as I said on the Red Bull COB live feed, “get out of town”.
Shortly after the KOG, of course it was time for one of the best contests of the year and Round One of the World Circuit series, Jomopro. On the eve of the contest, April 9th, Fat Tony dropped an amazing practise edit which was really the first time we saw a lot of the japanese riders in 2012, and wow, Yohei Uchino stood out, as it turned out. Ucchie put his previous demons from the Jomopro contest to bed, and stomped his way to a well deserved win.
On April 10th, the news broke that Flatland Fuel’s Pat Schoolen was recovering from an operation to remove a tumour, thankfully Pat recovered well. But this news certainly shook the flatland world for a minute.
On April 11th, I dropped the story of the trip to the One Wheel Motion TGM jam in London, which certainly let a few of us know that Sam Foakes was back on it, and not slowing down anytime soon.
A day later, OGBikeCo released an amazing edit of the underrated Peter Sarlos, go back and watch this edit, Peter absolutely kills it!
2012 was a great year for Jim McKay, and the first main edit he dropped was the best trick contest edit from the Jomopro contest, we all marvelled at Hotoke’s insane front wheel line, not to mention Terry’s winning combo.
Also on this day, James Smith dropped the hilarious “The downfall of flatland parody” that followed on from TCU edit, James certainly ruffled a few feathers with this one, but in my opinion it is always good to reminded not to take yourself to seriously me thinks.
On April 28th, we broke the news that Alex Jumelin and his family would be moving from their home in Paris, France to New Orleans, USA. Certainly a career defining moment, and complete change in lifestyle.
Two days later, Jim McKay released an amazing edit entitled “Outside Jomopro 2012”, all to often after contests all thats available to see are the runs, Jim’s take Outside the contest, hit the nail on the head. An absolute treat with amazing riding from the likes of Viki Gomez, Hotoke, Dub, Matthias Dandois, and many more. Oh yeah that edit? Go watch it…
Part 2 to be continued Monday, does anyone see why this quickly became a monster? ….
Bibliography Part 1:
January
https://www.flatmattersonline.com/stephan-hearn-espn-profile
https://www.flatmattersonline.com/must-watch-kensuke-hamai-2011
https://www.flatmattersonline.com/one-love-jam-2012
https://www.flatmattersonline.com/jody-temple-flatmatters-exclusive-edit
https://www.flatmattersonline.com/jody-temple-interview
https://www.flatmattersonline.com/must-watch-grenoble-scene-edit
February
https://www.flatmattersonline.com/must-watch-tomoaki-b-yoshimura
https://www.flatmattersonline.com/the-simon-obrien-interview-2
https://www.flatmattersonline.com/monster-energys-adam-kun-brakeless-session-2012
https://www.flatmattersonline.com/alex-jumelin-winter-edit
https://www.flatmattersonline.com/aleksi-ritsila-sm-bikes
https://www.flatmattersonline.com/george-manos-in-london
https://www.flatmattersonline.com/viki-gomez-sevisual-in-madrid
March
https://www.flatmattersonline.com/george-manos-originality-a-hidden-identity
https://www.flatmattersonline.com/must-watch-bert-ribul-winter-2012
https://www.flatmattersonline.com/jean-william-prevost-spring-cleaning
https://www.flatmattersonline.com/chase-gouin-memes-to-an-end-response
April
https://www.flatmattersonline.com/must-watch-john-yull-3-years
https://www.flatmattersonline.com/hiroya-morisaki-wins-kog-round-1-2
https://www.flatmattersonline.com/pro-flatland-bmx-riders-warming-up-for-jomopro-2012
https://www.flatmattersonline.com/pat-schoolen-recovering-from-operation-to-remove-tumor
https://www.flatmattersonline.com/diary-of-a-trip-to-the-1wm-tgm-jam
https://www.flatmattersonline.com/peter-sarlos-og-bike-co
https://www.flatmattersonline.com/jomopro-2012-best-trick-edit
https://www.flatmattersonline.com/the-downfall-of-flatland-parody
https://www.flatmattersonline.com/alex-jumelin-moving-to-america
Must Watch! George Manos – A Glimpse of Madness!
George Manos-A Glimpse of Madness from alexandra koumantaki on Vimeo.
George’s riding and outlook on riding/edits stands out! He drew some inspiration “through the eyes of a madman in horror films” for his brand new edit! The double boomerang combo at 00:37 is amazing. The view as if through a window is dope, I can’t decide if George is mad, or just mad creative. Lets go with the latter, whatever the case the music draws me to this edit, a real piece of artwork! Theres more to come I feel…
Must Watch! Jean William Prevost – Chillin’ in Chile
Chillin’ in Chile from Jean-William on Vimeo.
Killer edit from Dub soaking up some summer weather in Chile. The combo at 1:13 and two combos back to back in particular from 1:36 are mind boggling! Watch out for the flatland busking too! Go watch this right now! Dub is on fire!
Terry Adams and Bentley Edwards – BMX
Terry Adams breaks this one down for ya!
“Last month I headed to Chattanooga, TN to ride with 4 year old Bentley Edwards. If you have ever seen the MTV show Teen Mom then you might recognize this little guy. I heard that Bentley was into riding bikes so I made some plans to go ride and keep the little dude motivated. Pedaling around with him made me realize the reasons I started riding. Plain and simple. It was fun.. Check out this rad edit from my day with riding with Bentley. Enjoy!”
John Yull – Mellon 7’s
Seven questions with John Yull up on the Mellon website, hit the link yo!
Repo: Battle Vibes 2013!
Text: Johann Chan.
Photos: Marcelo Nardi.
Matti Hemmings, on his way to second place in his first Pro contest!
After the first attempt of Battle Vibes fell through in 2012, the supposed collaboration of Keelan Phillips and James White returned to make Battle Vibes the first UK contest of 2013.
Last Sunday February the 3rd, the concept became a reality. Keelan unfortunately failed to make the contest, rumour has it, he was standing in for Justin Bieber for a show in Germany. James White – initially unaware of his involvement in the contest, reserved a suite at the Hilton the night before in a desperate attempt to resuscitate UK flatland for the 10th time.
Ade King the undercover man behind the jam, (no relation to fellow promoter Don King) used his extensive experience with organising old school B-boy / hip hop events, and notched up a killer sound system, DJs, and silky smooth floor at a fantastic venue at a leisure centre in Northampton.
C group
Surprisingly (and perhaps alarmingly) C group was the smallest group at this event. 7 year old Richie Spencer has had a good upbringing with riding all forms of BMX- a bit of racing, skateparks, as well as competing in flatland. Third place for the little dude. Morgan Gleave took a break from his IT to enter on his 1inch Dirt bike for 2nd, and the winner was Jake with a victory in his first contest.
Expert
Expert was the largest group. Denny contributes alot to BMX, and in an attempt to be the most productive BMX rider of all time, filmed, rode and photographed his own run whilst giving props to everyone all at the same time.
Matt Spencer tag teamed his son Richie in practice, unleashed messiahs and hang fives demonstrating a noticeable improvement at every contest.
Stuart McLaren rode a great run with some classic showmanship, getting caught up in the b- boy flava with a dancing cap magic trick, where the cap magically disappears behind his back, and then reappears back on his head all throughout preforming a surfer- great run, superb showmanship with some amazing bar presses hitchhikers and a mental rollaid thrown in for good measure.
Tom Brace disguised a hit and run on Chris job with a smooth gliding messiah across the huge leisure centre floor before revealing his true intentions. Tom almost unplugged all the DJ cables and took out the Job, but the assassination proved unsuccessful.
Chris Carter, Hang Nothing.
Top guys Chris Carter and Andy Wood displayed some nice hard long double footed rolling links. All round top bloke TGM Peter Pan Maz has a nice mix of hitchhikers, spinning lawnmowers, scuffing and decades, but gelled a bit for a third place. I left the camera at home in a desperate attempt to escape my media grommet demeanour (only to get roped into writing this piece). Cliff hanger, bwds- fwds spinning lawns, hang nothings, circle Ks and little fancy footwork on the floor for second place. Mayko Lee has improved no end, not only did he take off his two hats, but also his t-shirt. Before completing his striptease, Mayko jumped on his bike performing stylish spinning lardyards in gyrator position, with double footed rolling backyards. Another caught up with the whole b-boy vibe, Mayko ended with a no handed time machine, diving onto the floor, and went straight into an attempted windmill. A drastically improved Mayko chalks up a second expert win- well done!
Am winner and strip tease artist, Mayko Lee killing it on the back wheel.
Pro
A couple of riders made the jump to A group. Manning up to the occasion was the man previously know as Stinky feet Sal, (now know as professional male model Sal), backwards cliffhangers, jugglers, hopefully we’ll see an edit of the jam soon from this multi-talented stud muffin.
Yinka Thomas also jumped to pro on this occasion with nice spinning lawns like only he can. Like many others Yinka was another victim to the wet winter months holding him back from the inevitable glory which faces him.
Lee Wilson, Bence & Andy Hale fell victims to the cold wet winter, with a few very nice complicated moves pulled. Great to see Amos putting his 21inch S&M and four steel pegs through the motions- straight from his new found status as a dad- congratulations!
James Smith took time out from his DSLR devices emporium, filming duties and looking after his designer dog to jump into his matt black Porsche 944 to multiple whiplash, halfpacker pump and backwards manny his pink mop across the leisure centre floor.
Chris Brown was on fire in practice, once again proving T-shirt off = getting serious. Nice whiplashes into all sorts of tech brakeless pinky whip trickery ensures a prosperous future for ‘velcro feet’ .
Velcro feet, aka Chris Brown works his magic.
Norbert, switch foot pedal 5.
Jason Forde, also demonstrated a man’s worth of riding with a disgustingly stylish long link including multiple, flips, spins, hitch juggler only to slightly dab right at the very end.
Jason Forde, styling it out mid steamroller.
Josh Briars whoppered his way onto the floor alongside music which made him look even manlier than usual, great mix of time machine, whiplash, and cliffhanger variants.
Josh Briars, has Whoppers on lock! On his way to a third place finish at BV!
Matti Hemmings exploded onto the floor ready for action, whiplash into hang nothing- on the stem hang five, double footed pumping deathtrucks, time machine variants, with spinning cliff with ft on bars, blizzard like spins and turbines, gave Matti a very close second.
Fresh out of his Oxygen tank at the Hilton, James White, put ‘the white bike’ through a smooth controlled treat of one handed multiple whiplashes combined with multiple one handed jugglers, double footed death trucks multiple bike flip gyrator, dump truck combos, including no handed, switch footed etc etc. All executed with a timeless smoothness we’ve all grown to expect from the living legend’s 15th comeback. All together top job by the new S&M sponsored, MCing, semi-organising Battle Vibes champion.
Don’t call it a comeback! James White has been here for years. Two footed death truck on way to victory.
The jam was a great start to the year with a great Job being done by Ade, James, and Chris Job on the mic.
Let’s hope this is a good start to an even better 2013!
Ade would like to say thanks to: Sponsor KEELAN PHILLIPS, DJ’s MKUTZ, OP1, Aidy west for p.a. Nik Vanhasslehoff, Paddy O’Donoghue, for helping a whole bunch, and James White.
Alex Jumelin on Superstar!
Just caught this news on FATBMX! Alex Jumelin is on Superstar Parts, St Martin’s sister company. Hit the link to see the parts Alex is using!
Andy Cooper – Flatland Monster
Andy Cooper Flatland Monster from Sarah Keeker on Vimeo.
Like yesterday with the Dan Margetts Fm exclusive, I am stoked to see this Andy Cooper edit. It’s been a fair few years since I hung out with this guy during the X Trials/X games era. Andy has been amazing for a long time, but doesn’t get a whole lot of coverage. Check out this new edit filmed in his garage, he works the space for all its worth, good variety of front and back wheel, the standout for me was the turbine hang ten to backwards hang ten pivot to switch foot steam at 2:27. Hit Play!