Review: Effraim

I am a bit late reviewing issue 7 of ART Magazine, but anyway here it is. I am sat here with a cuppa, and lets get on with it…

So What’s inside flatland related?

– The first flatland related coverage is Chase’s two page editorial this issue is “Hybrid Fleeting (The trend of flat/streeting), an interesting and timely subject we all talk about. There is a lot of text, the parts that stuck out to me were…

“Let me remind us all that combining street and flat is not a new concept. The only difference is that now it may be brakeless and done in a different way. It used to be a odd flatlander or a general BMX rider or two doing something unique by combining different disciplines. And don’t get me wrong here, nobody needs to be labeled as a member of one single discipline of BMX, or confine himself to certain styles.”

“Personally, I always considered my speciality to be Flatland and I set up my bike in a way to maximise any foreseen Flatland possibilities. I would look at my bike and ask myself if any specific feature might hinder certain types of flatland tricks and always tried my best for this not to happen….”

“flatland never assimilated into the mainstream, have flatlanders changed the look of their bikes and styles of their tricks in order to seem closer to what is popular..street? If (and I stress IF)this IS what’s happening, would it be a form of selling out? If this is indeed happeningand it still doesn’t work, would that be considered a failed sell out attempt? We’ve even got announcer’s at contest’s saying “this is what flatland is supposed to look like”…further convincing themselves and others at the same time. Whether the announcer means the flow of a rider or the actual street/flat look, he is still being dogmatic in TELLING people what an individual form of creative expression is supposed to look like.

Chase goes on to discuss, following the leader, and how flatland could progress much faster if people were open to the vast amount of tricks and styles available to them, he goes back to mention Bill Nitschke first doing the whopper in 1990, and riders such as Jay Miron and Joe Johnston riding with high seats, and not getting tangled up.

The topic of lightweight bikes comes up, and Chase argues.. “I think it’s partly up to the pros and companies to work together and assess the trends for what they are and come up with a wise and a reasonable compromised solution that creates the type and strength and functionality. Chase believes it is possible to accommodate the current flat/street style without changing flatland components.

The editorial is thought provoking, and worth buying the magazine for, on its own! If your open to what Chase is saying, if not….

– Fat Tony has a six page interview, featuring some of his photography work. The interview discusses his worldwide travels, his previous job at Transworld as Online editor, the flatland calendar. There are some great photographs of Bo Wade, Pete Brandt and Terry Adams, amongst others, including Fat sending it down a massive drop at Woodward West. Art always covers all sides of BMX. Not only the riding side, but the media side as well, which is a good thing!

– You all know the name Pete Olsen, infamous for his killer groundtactics entries a few years back. Pete is now on S&M (great news, and hugely deserved, the mean is ` beast!), and is definitely not slowing down anytime soon.
Trevor Oleniuk and Luis Elias interview Pete, the interview discusses his latest “The last ten” part, what tricks haunt him… “It’s the one that’s not in the video actually. The video didn’t come out exactly how I wanted to and I was definitely missing some things I was hoping for, but I’d say the backwards cross foot in general has been a real pain for the last six or seven years. I remember back in 2006 doing backwards backpacker jugglers, wanting to do that cross footed and really straggling with it. I had a mental block up until this year. It’s a territory that hasn’t really been tapped into by many guys so I just wanted to start trying to do some original things with it.
The interview goes on to discuss groundtactics, his creative motivations ” to which he sights Ross Smith, Steve Mulder, Garrett Reeves and Ruben Alcantara”, quite a broad list that kind of shows where he is coming from in general, Pete is open to lots of styles reflected in his riding. They discuss his hook up with S&M via Chad Johnston, which is great to hear.
I must confess I’m always disappointed when riders such as Pete only get 3 pages! This happened with George Manos. Perhaps a magazine policy with the face interviews, in turn I would argue these type of riders that are changing the game deserve more!

– Fise Costa Rica has a three page article, Viki Gomez and Raul each get a small photo.

– Manu Massabova writes about Caen indoor event, with photos of Romain Georges, Yannick Chauvel. Matti Hemmings has a sweet full page advert from Flat Squirrel…

– French up and comer, Melvyn Masson has a three page face/interview.

– Viki Gomez reports from the Voces contest in madrid, Spain.

– Chris Bohm gets a five page interview, with one of the most honest intros I have read in a long time! Alain Massabova writes ” Chris is spectacular, Chris is handsome. Chris the strongest of them all! This amazing rider is a total phenomena. Those who are lucky enough to meet him shall remember the encounter their whole life. This pretentious individual is the type of guy you might hate at first but who you’ll end up loving. His motivation, his ambition is so strong that nothing can stop him. Chris give so much of himself, sure, he’s loveable. Sometimes a bit too much, but he doesn’t cheat. He’s generous to a fault but loves the glory, which is a good thing for us, for bmx. By putting himself under the limelight, BMX has everything to win.”

– Tostivant Malo has a 4 page interview about his bmx brand, PIR Malo.And that finishes anotehr good issue of ART!

ART continues to go from strength to strength, as always theres so much more than flatland in the magazine. But it is great that ART continues to source a wide scope of writing styles and subject matter, the magazine is growing, and seems sustainable. Try get hold of this if you can. Definitely one for the collectors out there.

Related links:

http://fingerprintdistribution.blogspot.co.uk/

http://www.artbmxmagazine.com/

Review by Effraim.

It is pretty much a given that every week we see a new amazing flatland edit or a clip come out of Japan. The land of the rising sun is widely recognised as leading the way in flatland. As much as they do that in terms of contests, jams, bmx schools and video edits, we have never seen much in terms of printed media. I recall there was Dig-it magazine in the 90’s, that was almost impossible to get ahold of. With that being said. It was with great pleasure that I was asked to review a new magazine out of Japan, called “Encounter”. The magazine is currently on its 2nd issue.
I hear you already, is it written all in japanese… No, there are english and japanese texts to all the articles in the magazine, all articles are translated!

First impression?
The magazine is very cleanly laid out, full colour magazine, on a really nice glossy paper. Clean cut. Simple design. Perfect binding. Very professional. Gave me the feel of an up market BMX magazine/booklet.

So what’s inside?

Intro – Editor, Yasu “Green G” Takeo writes about the concept of Encounter.

“Recording Challenges, struggling at creation, finding out something through BMX and travelling, a general theme of life is found in it. I believe this point of view would lead our magazine to being timeless”.

Flatland related articles:

The BFWC Groundforce contest in Singapore gets a great double page spread, really nicely laid out collage of photos, Yasu captures the contest well with typically a great photo of Moto with Matthias Dandois pondering his next move after. The text largely focusses on the background going into Groundforce, it was however the text that went into the contest mindset that stuck out for me “Matthias Dandois and Moto Sasaki faced off. Moto’s concentration was unusual. Moto totally mimicked Matthias combo after Matthias’s run gave him pressure. Matthias failed to fight back in his run and Moto pulled off his harder tricks dialled. Matthias was totally stumped. That’s the game.” No one really talks about the psychological in flatland, so I found this although, just a short text, it was great to read.

York Uno and Calvin Tan both have full page photographs on the following page.

Great double page spread “Smile for future” a project supporting the victims of the Tohoku Region Pacific Coast earthquake. Put together by Yohei “Ucchie” Uchino who himself was a victim of the Hanshin earthquake in 1996.
Ucchie teamed up with fellow rider and great friend, Kotaro Tanaka to visit several disaster areas in Tohuku, and joined volunteer works to help support the local community. Personally I found this very moving, and another great side of flatland and bmx, helping others in greater need. I’m sure this article could have taken up the whole page. It is great to see professional riders giving back! Brilliant!

Without a doubt the highlight of the magazine for me, is a seven page article entitled “A Theme and answers”, riders discuss memorable tricks. The article features riders such as Chad Degroot (who has been a massive influence on the japanese flatland scene! Check Baco 7 below this review!), Alain Massabova, Shinichiro Hara, Hiroshi Uehara, Takashi Ito, Hiroya Morisaki, amongst others.

Chad Degroot discusses the “Darkside” – and also the decade, “It was a good session one random day. Then I was falling and didn’t want to put my foot down so it hit the bars and the backend swung up. Almost naturally I jumped to the pegs. After a few tries it was easy and looked cool as hell. It then spawned the front to back and back to front variations. To this day I still do that trick almost every time I ride, it just flows and feels sweet.
Therefore the most memorable trick in my eyes is the Decade over 20 years ago. While the most memorable trick for myself personally is the Darkside.”

Alain Massabova discusses the Time Machine, and it’s origins. “A man named Jesse Puente made history by doing the time machine on the pedals in 1994, he was the man! Thanks to Kevin and Jesse for pushing this trick. We’ve come full circle, a time machine on the pedals is just a like a spinning cherrypicker or pedal picker!”

Shinichiro Hara writes about the whiplash turbine, he recalls how a friend called him from the USA and broke the news Kerry Gatt was doing something similar. he talks about stopping the trick for five years when it became popular. It took him 5 years to realise a different way to do the trick, to make it his own again. I think as flatlanders we can all relate to that moment when your heart sinks, yes somebody already did the move you’ve been working on for so long. Its documented, it’s out there. This case in point, Kerry Gatt, Baco 9.

Hiroshi Uehara of 430 clothing and Hiroya Morisaki discuss the decade, the decade appears to the most popular choice for memorable trick in this article. And you can understand why. “My most memorable and favourite trick would be the “decade”. It was the first trick I mastered. As my friends were trying this trick, I knew how strong the accomplishment felt after you pull it. Eager to learn, I swore to myself that I wouldn’t stop riding until I mastered it.

Hiroya recalls “I was in a football club and had trainings after school. I would later practice tricks under the lights at the car park of a local electrical shop. With lots of injuries on my legs, I practiced everyday and I mastered the “decade” in 3 weeks. The feeling of achievement was something I had never experienced. One of the motivations when I try new tricks is this feeling of achievement. Yes I did it, but strangely I did not know the name of this trick, so I named it “CC Lemon” after the TV commercial.”

Takashi Ito has deep roots in the growth of flatland in Japan. Unlike everyone else, Takashi talks about the “Waving move”, “The rider who polished up the ” and “waving movement” and completed it as a historical concept was Yanmar (Ryoji Yamamoto). He tried “Paddling” which was also similar to waving earlier than any other riders and integrated them into his combos. From then on, Flatland started evolving into a “new era”.

Takuma Kawamura Izu Road trip through the picturesque Izu peninsula, has 6 pages which relates back to Yasu’s intro…”Recording Challenges, struggling at creation, finding out something through BMX and travelling, a general theme of life is found in it. I believe this point of view would lead our magazine to being timeless”.
Takuma writes “During travelling, “gut feeling is the key. Right or left, to stop or go, to talk or leave, you always have to choose. This sense will probably be more developed the more you are on the road. I want to encourage all of you who hesitate to set off. Why don’t you develop your own “travel sense?”

Keita “Kane” Uchino has a full page bio to round up the flatland coverage in issue 2 of Encounter magazine.

As with all reviews on FM. I concerntrated on the flatland side of things, there is of course much more content besides. It is great to see a legit magazine come out of Japan. What is even better is the magazine is available over here! I hope to see more issues in the future! This is definitely one for the collectors out there!

Hit the links for more information on how to get hold of Encounter Magazine.

http://fingerprintdistribution.bigcartel.com/

http://fingerprintdistribution.bigcartel.com/product/encounter-magazine-issue-2

Review by Effraim.

I feel kinda weird reviewing this what like a week and a half after I reviewed Issue 5, but whatever…. Issue 6 is out now. And I have to say right off, there is a lot more flatland content than Issue 5.

So whats in this issue?

-Up and coming Pro, Joris Bretagnolle has a really cool double page spread about his Khe A damn bike, which also kills two birds with one stone with a mini interview also, they discuss new tricks, the french scene, his opinion about the street/ flat phase to which Joris comments “personally I’m not a big fan, but having said that, It might just revamp flatland……I can’t see flat runs being made up of just street tricks. And let’s be realistic here, we haven’t done half the tricks you can do in flat yet…”….

– Chase Gouin has another editorial type piece, this issue is not flatland related, its about “vowels”, A E I O U and sometimes Y, I’m going to need a lil’ more time to digest this one…

– Viki Gomez in Egypt – Viki takes flatland to the pyramids, a place I thought I would never see flatland, great double page spread with story by Viki himself.

– George Manos has a “face” double page spread, I personally was expecting more pages for one of the most original riders in the game right now, but nevertheless its a great article by Luis Elias, that discusses his riding roots, his motivations, riding pegless, his thoughts on originality, “Let’s be reasonable, it’s always been the same, so it’s not a matter of nowadays and I’m afraid it will never change because this has deeper roots in the human behaviour and consciousness. But concerning our particular type of living, I’ve seen lately more examples of character than I could imagine, and I’m happy for it. Everybody has their place in this thing and one should accept the other as he accepts himself. There should be respect and reward for one’s good qualities and skills, no need to say and point out the negative things (it gets worse) because everybody knows that “action speaks louder than words”. Great words from George, the interview continues to discuss his influences, the flat scene in greece, his experience at the rebel jam “I would like to consider myself more as a craftsman. I see the contest as another opportunity to present my work. Presentation and reactions are my concern/factors. The first is about my critic on my work, the second is about others critic on my work. “Rebel jam” was my second pro contest and concerning the two above factors I have both mixed feelings”… Sadly the interview finishes two questions after, just as the discussion was warming up. Still sometimes less is more, this certainly left me wanting more!

– Lee Musselwhite show company “Inspire promotions has a great three page feature, with some cracking photographs of Lee by Jonathan Williams, with words by Lee, he tells his story in riding from inertia bikes to sales rep for skate show brand, and how he ended up making his living as a show rider, how he branched out further than flatland, and added MTB, free running…Very few can say they are a making a living off flatland in the UK, Lee made it happen!

– Cartoonist Niko Del Real has a two page interview, if you are on Facebook, you may often see his drawings of the likes Chad Johnston, yours truly, Lea Dobrowski, Chase Gouin, Pete Brandt, and many more. Great to see this guy get some coverage.

– The next article with flatland is a three page story on the “Reunion show”, Reunion island is the south east of Africa, they sent pro flatlanders Chris Bohm, Raphael Chiquet, Adam Kun, Takahiro Ikeda and Alain to promote the Fise event, along with a whole host of ramp riders, the article has some great shots of Ikeda, Adam and Chris, looks like fun in the sun, really appealing in this cold month of February.

– Jeremy Pavia has a six page photography portfolio, with some great shots of Ryan Russell at Malibu, and Tono…

– This week we featured Blake Hicks and the Electron Bike, the chaps at Flat Web TV put together a small interview for ART, which is interesting, as I don’t know anything about him, it was news to me that Blake earns his living off flatland, supporting himself by doing circus shows, or any type of event that wants to draw a crowd, the interview also discusses his Electron video and of course the latest video, nice short piece, good to see Blake get some coverage.

– The next article surprised me, that is a good thing! Chad Johnston and his table designs gets a double page spread along with interview, his tables for example are made out of bike parts, you can two pairs of bars and forks with a wheel between as the main structure with wheel on top for table top, really creative, its Chad through and through, one of the best articles from this issue, different form the norm.

– Dominik Nekolny has the stand out article in this issue, a dope 6 page interview, Dom is rarely interviewed, and I was curious what he would have to say, Matti Rose and Thomas take care of the interview and do a great job, as this really opens up and is a fascinating read. I admired Dom’s honesty/outlook on riding in this interview, they discuss his motivations to ride. to which Dom replies “I take flatland as a sport and only as sport and in sports it’s about crossing your line to be better and better! So this is my motivation, to reach my limits!”.. They discuss his similarities with Justin Miller which relates to the last quote, who is one of Dom’s favourite riders, “I think he took it like really sporty and not like “fashion awesome cool guy”! He wanted to show everybody that he could do the hardest shit with his bike, and he did not care about super originality and style or silly fashion shit…”..
The interview goes on to discuss his riding focus, throwing bikes, riding backwheel, riding brakeless, his job, cad drawings for a big company which builds powerplants, the interview gets more interesting again when they discuss Dom being straight edge and into PMA “Positive mental attitude” and so on, his plans for future etc, the interview went way past my expectations, I was waiting for this issue for the George Manos interview if I am entirely honest, but it was the Dominik Nekolny interview that really grabbed me, it is brutally honest, you can’t ask for more than that!

– The last page of flatland is a small repo on the Flatlive contest in Argentina, across the page is a dope full page of Pete Brandt for Quamen Bikes, check the photo.

There’s so much more than flatland to this issue, but I will be writing forever if I comment about all of ART magazine, whilst I was disappointed with only a double page spread for the George Manos interview, the Dominik Nekolny interview is a must read! One of the best interviews i’ve read in a long time! ART continues to get better and better, great depth in articles, dope adverts, Matthias Dandois has full page G shock ad on the back page for example, and as I already mentioned Pete B’s quamen ad, is so sick! This is issue 6, and ART continues to grow, exciting times ahead for this magazine. Try and get hold of this if you can.

Review by Effraim.

ZiZai No 4 comes in 12 chapters and sections flow back and forth between park/street/flat riding, which reflects Akira’s riding style at the moment, at the recent Rebel Jam Akira was the only rider to enter all three disciplines! BMX!…This review would be over 5000 words if i described all the park/street moves, but what interested me about the street, was that as technical as the flatland is, the street goes down a more burly route, its seems like an escape, pedalling around fast, big drops (Akira throws the bars down 5 stairs hop 3’s etc) , gaps, grinds, not as you might expect w/ flat tech related moves, although they are some. It actually makes for a nice contrast in riding styles and breaks up the dvd nicely. For the purposes of this review I will only talk about the flat in any length though…

Morichi kicks things off flatland wise with a killer back wheel flow in what looks like a loading dock type of spot, spinning lawnmower with hand crossed round back turbined and pivoted to upside down wheelie pivot to mega spin to spinning dump truck caboose to multiple body varial one kick to junkyard to lawns to mega spin out, so much style and power! They move into a shopping mall and drop a nice multiple line before getting kicked out by security, with no editing back to back, the way this move is shot gives you a real idea of how fast Morichi is carving into his tricks, inside switch ft dump truck to inside two footed dump truck on pedals drop down to caboose to two footed dump truck pivot to gliding junkyard and out, then he drops a really nice inside switch ft dump truck opposite side 360 flip to time machine,ump truck pivot to gliding junkyard and out…This back to back line was sick, a short opener, but really well shot, and had me wanting more!!! His riding seems more refined, powerful and smoother than the last time I saw him ride.

The next flat section is huge! It covers a lil’ KOG action, plus features underground riders such as Kyoro killing it on the front wheel, really nice opening combo, turbine cyborg to fire hydrant barflip to hitch juggle to steam flips to fire hydrant bar flip to x bar pumping cyborg to spinning cliff and out, the next combo flows so well, one handed karl turbine balancing foot on the pedal pivot to xft pumping steam ala Alex Jumelin to yammer xft spin back to steam flips fire hydrant whips turbine to one handed karl turbine walkaround ride out, he follows with a short but killer whiplash variation, xft ankledeath whiplash hop over the frame to hang five regular foot whiplash out, his riding buddy Ryouhei drops a hammer back wheel combo! Winds up an xft mega spin inside circles right into backwards spinning g-roll flip to caboose body varial to junkyard to time machine, we are only a short way into this dvd, and my thoughts were about the variety of riding styles in japan, so good to see, you see dudes killing with brakes or without, taking old tricks and making them new! Not afraid to scuff, or bring back an old classic…
Takuma Kawamura kicks in with a really nice rollback to spinning walkaround pedal decade to open, the DVD flows rider to rider very quickly, Tanman and Inga follow with a few clips each, Inga has a few Degroot type of lines, whist Tanman flows around the bike, flapjack style, its impossible to mention all here.

Taikou Kaneda has only a few clips, but oh my god! So killer, style for miles, his back wheel finesse is groundbreaking I would say! Mega spin bikeflip to xft backwards carving two dump truck no scuff body varial backwards spinning caboose ala Raphael Chiquet and out, the next link blew my mind, I have hit the rewind so many times, and it gets better each time! Xft backwards spinning lawn pivot to backwards spinning two footed upside down on the opposite side flip to spinning greater to two footed backyard pivot out..Amazing, definitely one of the most cutting edge riders on the planet right now!

A short clip of Jigechan follows, so steezy!!! Multiple xft karl pivot backwards steam back to xft karl, never seen that before! Kappa drops some nice multiple inside hang 5 turbines, as well really nice walkaround steams pivot to xft steam walkaround again, dope! Theres a lil’ old school flav dropped by a guy named Robo, megaspin to spinning hopping pedal picker, and forward side glide to quick spin!, that made me smile, and further gave me the thought about diversity in riding styles you see coming out of Japan is one of the best things about their scene!
A guy called Hinagotti drops a new move I haven’t seen before (there are quite a few on this DVD!), X-ft one handed hangfive to inside one handed xft steam turbines! so nice! Im sure this one will get copied very fast, but for now, it seemed so fresh, how he held the long slow turbine x-fted and one handed, skills!
Couple of really nice clips from Takumi, My favourite was an Inside carving opposite side dump truck bikeflip to two footed caboose turbine come out of the turbine xft upside down wheelie pivot to time machine, I screamed at the screen when I saw how good this was!!! Not only because this was dope, but i had been trying part of this move….
Morichi returns with a hammer combo! Xft spinning lawnmower pivot to opposite side rope-a-roni turbine to regular side spinning g-roll to gerator to two footed backyard and out!

A couple of clips follow from none other than Martti Kuoppa, pedal 5 full bar flip out, and a few from the KOG practise session, stem whiplashes, 180 skid to footjam decade, the boss looks like he’s having fun, plenty of smiles, and a nice surprise to see him on this dvd! This section is going and going, Russia follows with his infamous flapjack style, then flows right back to more underground riders, Manabe and Takuji, xft opposite side pedal 5 stood on the stem jump to steam jump round to regular steam hang five round xft jump over to xft steam full flip round rideout, most of these clips are shot at night, giving a real feel of the flatland culture in japan, riding after work!

Takuji Kasahara follows in the pitch black, with camera flash looking like the only light! Takuji drops a really nice inside spinning hang 5 with so much tweak, such a good style! I cant get over how dark the footage on his small section, no idea how he is riding like that! Most riders seem to be getting two clips, then the next rider, it flows really nice you get used to a riders style and it’s onto a totally different riding style, and the next rider is Hiroya Morisaki, and the trick is what have already seen blowing up online! Now when I saw this for the first time, I screamed outloud, you know the move, Mega spin full whopper (no scuff) mega spin decade, so much power and recision, Hiro is dope as fuck! Different level! The section ends… And I need a tea break……Heavy stuff!!

The next flat section, is shot at a local jam, with some short clips of Akira and Moto before going right into a big section with Akihiro Takahasi, this years groundtactics winner, fresh on Junglerider, the section opens with a few slams, then a ton of backwards whiplashes, so controlled! I really like where Aki is taking his riding,his backwards pumping technique has no increased the possibilities and flow of all his combos, take this following combo as an example, backwards crackpacker pivot to backwards guillotine to xft forkwheelie bar flip regular fork wheelie flip to backwards whiplashes to backwards forkwheelie back into backwards whiplashes to backwards xft peddle 5 jump to backwards guillotine and out, Aki’s riding as whole seems so much smoother as a result of the execution of his backwards pumping, the section builds up with a ton of guillotine whiplashes, jumping back and forth between them, and finishes with an amazing ender, downside carving inside backwards whiplashes to backwards karl to backwards halfpacker step over backwards crack bar flip to backwards crack and out, Akira is stoked! Aki is stoked, banger section!

The next flat section falls to style cat Ikko! Wow! The lowest seat in flat im sure, so steezie! This section I found one of the most exciting to watch, I had no idea what would come next, the section opens with fast jumplashes to fire hydrant turbines, whipping back and forth, front scuff pinkies brakeless ala Osicka (uses this style a lot in the section), but he uses them to go back into whiplashes and keep the move flowing like that, incredible. Forwards and backwards and xft jumplashes follow, I got the feeling this guy freestyles, combos are not planned! Perhaps one of the tricks of the dvd and somes up the japanese scene well I thought, he does pinky squeaks like a jumplash technique, they so fast they are almost rolling even tho he’s touching the tyre, just beautiful! An old trick became new! So so fresh! Really stoked on Ikko’s riding!!

The next section features the riding of Keisuke Tanigawa, one of my favourite riders right now, all shot at a flatland contest, there so much to take in, the first main combo, xft spinning hiker pivot to right arm halfpacker pivot as if to go to opposite xft hitch to steam but misses the xft hiker, direct to spin, complicated, but executed so well, the combo continues stepping back into hang 5 to halfpacker in xft inside steam pivot to steam and front scuff out, it could be the fact he does so much xft stuff as to why i like his riding so much! Xft carving juggler pivot to halfpacker whip to xft hitch xft boomerang xft hang 5 jump to spinning crack to steam to x bar mccircle step over crack steam so quick and effortless and out, perfect aesthetics to his riding, unreal! Jimalog follows, in front of bars coasting frontyard drags his foot in this position as if to go into infront of bars whiplashes but delays it, and coasts round a cycle in front of bar one foot front yard then lets it go into in front of bars whiplashes to left arm halfpacker boomerang to right arm halfpacker jump to crackpacker and out, shame there wasn’t more Jimalog footage, short and sweet, Zizai style!

Akira’s section follows next, and is a collection as you’d expect of street/park/flatclips, his street clips are so raw, his flat stuff is short and quick, coasting dump truck had round the back stubble duck out, and a banger, xft carving wheelie, full 360 stubbleduck and out, so nice! Simple idea, never seen before! Street wise stand out for me are bump up 5 stairs 180, 180 bunnyhop over rail to backwards manual, Decade airs on ramp! Akira’s riding is incredible, one unique rider!

The last section goes to the one and only Hotoke! The section opens with a loose hop to curb ride down a mellow curb at a really scenic location, quick time lapse of some clouds and boom straight into the real action! Xft pedal whiplashes xft whiplash to xft steam, flowing back to pedal 5 and out. The camera work is spot on in this section, following and flowing with Hotoke’s riding. Whiplash to side pedal 5 xft steam boomerang jump to mccircle to fire hydrant frontyard walkaround to steam varial xft rideout, incredible control. He follows with xft inside karl jump over the frame to halfpacker pivot to opposite hitch pivot to steam fire turbine out.
Hotoke’s classic xft ankledeath inside karl 360 stubbleduck to halfpacker pivot xft hitch steam and out follows, he follows this with the same combo till the halfpacker, where he adds xft inside jump over steam so quick and out, Hotoke rides like he has brakes, so many big jumps! You don’t see this kind of stuff from brakeless riders! he rides a really tight stage area, then drops a really nice rolling combo, long fast multiple whiplashes to side pedal 5 and coast thru a tiny gap that cant be much than a wheel wide, this section kind of made me see Hotoke a lil’ differently, you could see he had fun making this section with Akira, theres fun stuff as well as intense combos, a really nice mix I thought! Hotoke continues, with a really nice ankledeath whiplash step over xft whiplash to xft karl turbine pivot to spinning crack to steam and out, The ender is a opposite xft carved long turbine whiplashes into xft ankledeath inside karl 360 pivot to halfpacker inside steam quick jump regulate steam and out! Hotoke’s riding is incredible, Akira did a great job documenting his riding, a real treat to see!

In summary, Akira’s filming and editing skills have progressed a lot, I really liked how he shot a lot of the riding moving, you got a real perspective how fast the riders were going into their tricks, the dvd is worth it for the extensive middle flat section, the action flows so quickly, Aki’s and Hotokes sections stand out of course, but theres so much more as I have mentioned! Besides the riding, the dvd stands out in my mind, because its not trying to be anything it is not, 90 percent japanese soundtrack, Akira’s friends having fun doing what they do on the daily, it seems really natural and fun!

If your into the japanese scene, and fancy watching a DVD with a lot of diversity, that is lacking in modern day flatland, then this dvd is for you!

To order contact:

Price is 24 euros + 1.90 shipping flat rate worldwide!

And a new bundle offer for 35 Euros you can choose two of the four Zai DVD: http://distancecycles.bigcartel.com/product/dvd-zai-ultra-zai-bundle Same shipping cost.