Review by Effraim.

The 4th issue of ART (attitude, riding and travel) is out now. As I sit here on this damp November’s morning here in Southsea, I can’t help wonder the future of the traditional printed magazine. Recently magazines such as The Albion, and Case have raised their game to such levels in terms of editorial writing, quality of interviews, that you would buy the magazine and they are free!

The problem with the printed media is accessibility compared to the internet, information right at your fingertips, i’m lucky enough to get sent ART magazine, but are you? I doubt that. How do you get ahold of the magazine? I guess i’m on a rant already here, but my point is simple, The Albion is free, is the best magazine out there, and its accessible. It’s created quite a following already!

Without further a due, Art 4, in terms of flatland content in the printed bmx media, ART leads the way. Of course you have all seen the incredible cover, Chad Johnston dropping the elbow glide on the fork for the first time on a cover, that is dope! Props also to ART for having the balls to put flatland on the cover.

“Community” this issue covers the fundraiser for Chase Gouin, with words are the original press release from Chase himself. Many people throughout BMX in France will see this editorial and be made aware, thats a good thing!

Bo Wade gets a nice 4 page interview, discussing his life in Redondo Beach and the LA flat scene, his influences, bike set up, some great shots by Christian Van Hanja.

The next flat article up is the scene in Argentina, 7 pages are devoted to their scene, you may recall the Flatlive videos that dropped a few months ago documenting the scene there, this article focusses on 4 riders who each bring something different to their scene, really well researched article by Luis Elias and it’s great ART covers scenes like this, last issue Brazil had a dope article, one part that stood out to me was Antonio Pagani talking about accessibility of getting bike parts to their country.

“To be honest,bringing parts from overseas is very expensive, and sometimes the price exceeds by far so it’s impossible to get flatland products. I started making my own parts because in Mendoza, where I live, it was almost impossible to get flatland-specfic parts, even videos. Then, the local riders started asking me to make frames and handlebars for them, and thats how I started with my company. Now without realising it, I see many people who started riding with my frames or bars. I think many guys are able to start using one of my frames, which are more affordable, than buying in another country.”

Following from the cover, the main cover article in this issue “What’s Up California?” by Kai Kuusisto who 5 weeks there, an awesome 8 page pictorial with side interviews from various key people discuss their scene, great insight from the likes of Chad Johnston, Pete Brandt and the Clocktower in SF, and Bobby Carter. As I look at out the window, then look back at the Californian sunshine, I think “oh man, winter is coming…”…

Groundforce has a nice double page , with words from organiser Calvin Tan and a dope shot of Moto mid backwards spinning karl, Calvin writes about the stress of finding sponsors for flatland in singapore and leads to more what goes into making an event rather than what happened at the event, interesting stuff!

King of Southsea has a page (see above), which surprised me, wasn’t expecting that at all, thanks to Alex Romain for writing the words on the flatland contest!

G shock Real Toughness has a page, with nice shot of Ucchie.

Of course if the magazine was flatland only, it would not survive, other articles include:

-X Games – what a photograph of Chad Kagy flair whip!
-BMX Masters- no flat coverage though?
-Roots jam.
– Urban Kreation
-ASA Megaramp
-Fise Costa Rica
– Lords of Dirt

and much more.

ART continues to grow, great to see flatland adverts in a magazine, Quamen, the World Circuit, Flatland Fuel, for example.

Time will tell if ART will survive, I applaud Alain’s efforts to keep flatland in the magazine, and having the balls to put flatland on the cover. One sad thing to me is that due to the fallout with Alain and Matthias/Alex, these guys don’t feature in the magazine, thats not a good thing for the future I don’t think. Both coverage wise and sponsor wise.
Regardless, another good issue of ART, I just hope people can get hold of this easily and without much cost!

The first impression as ART came through the post, was “wow, this is a thick issue!”, in its third issue, the magazine is steadily growing, packed with all types of BMX, even racing. This of course hurts the amount of flatland coverage in the magazine, in order to survive to sell the magazine, you gotta do, what you gotta do., magazines such as The Albion, Ride Uk, and Case after all barely cover flat, maybe an advert or two.
I was curious what would be inside this issue after what happened at Fise, would Alain voice his opinion, or would he stay quiet? So without further due, what is inside Issue 3 flatland wise?

-The first feature and one of the best of the issue, is a page entitled “My Bike” with St Martin rider, Romain Georges, a great piece by Manu Massabova that has short interview plus bikecheck, the piece is brutally honest, “At a time where we glorify riders who are not always worth it. It is always nice meet riders who (not) only have a low popularity, but a big talent…..Let’s hope he stays that way so he can set a good example for the other big headed French riders!”. Shame this article wasn’t longer!

-Nao Yoshida has a two page interview discussing his decision to drop one form of art for another, this interview needed to be longer, for my part I thought it was just getting interesting then it was over, great article nevertheless.

-The Fise contest has 8 pages, that focuses mostly on the photos, JF Boulainne has a photo on the opening spread, but in terms of flatland coverage, that was it, somewhat disappointed I have to say.

-The Flamenco Contest has 3 pages, with text by Viki Gomez, some great photos by Alberto Lessmann, Viki reports “ Everyone loved and enjoyed this new concept of contest, this has been the best concept ever made in flatland for the public, for the TV and everyone! Kids and elder people loved and enjoyed this show and I am proud to say that so far this has been the best flatland competition ever! It has been in 120 countries worldwide now and its unstoppable! Next year we are planning to make it in Japan!”.

-My favourite article of the issue is entitled “The Peruvians” by Luis Elis Benavides, a nice 4 page article interviewing three riders from Peru, Camillo Gutierrez, Antonio Marrache, and Jorge Nazario, they talk about their limitations, the contest scene, and Jorge’s flatland brand “Supreme Bykes”. The photography is great, and reminded me of Cream Magazine when it was at its peak!

Towards the back of the magazine, flatland starts appearing a lot more, interesting!
-Paul Dezeix from Montpelier, has a two page interview by Louis Nassar, his comment that “The French scene is the best! Well that’s a bit of debate there!” was amusing. Its great to see new faces featured in the magazine. Really like the dark shot of Paul in xft steam position.

-Fise Shanghai trip gets one page, nice shot of Takahiro Ikeda doing the seatpost time machine, editor Alain is pretty much quiet in this issue which is a shame, here he writes “that Fise maybe in China so you’d better be ready to accept a different way”.
-The Barcelona Extreme contest that happened the day after Fise, gets a page, with Viki Gomez once again reporting, great to see Viki writing more about flatland!

-The last feature is Adam Kun’s Monster Whip, with Adam telling his story “I pictured the trick in my head a thousand times, played as a film and I felt its was possible to pull it (the voices in my head told me, yes Adam you can pull it ahhahaha!.) So after 3 days of hardcore practise and hundred of tries it became reality. I pulled the upside down whopper that was one of the happiest days of my riding career.”

Issue 3 of ART is done and out in the news stands now, and continues to grow, more pages, more BMX, in summary not much flatland that sadly seems to be a commercial reality. At least ART covers flatland more than anyone other printed magazine.

As the “Document, Share and Progress” movement continues to grow, it is very easy to forget the “new trick” clips, due to the sheer volume that are getting produced weekly, like or not we live in a very disposable culture, contest results are forgotten as quickly as the latest Martti Kuoppa clips are.
Without probably even realising it, I think with the introduction of the “MK Bootleg DVD” we may have just reached a new era in flatland, although this DVD is not available to everyone. (The DVD is free when riders buy the Junglerider frame in Japan I believe). The potential is there for all to see in the future as well as the physical DVD.
The flatland purist wants to re-watch these clips over and over easily, as I sat down with Martti at Fise watching the DVD for the first time, I had the sudden realisation that this is sustainable for the flatland audience, essentially the “Underground Mixtape”. It’s cheap, it requires a blank disc, and the clips are already there. Just the editing time required.
This is as pure as it gets, giving away a DVD for free is not for everyone. I’m sure everyone knows there is no money to be made in DVD.
Bootleg covers some of the best clips Martti has done during the last 2 years, it makes incredible viewing. Hammer after Hammer, some people I’ve heard even find this depressing, I see it as inspiring!
Trying to describe Martti’s progression during the last two years especially is a daunting task. Tricks appeared in such a spontaneous way, it was mindboggling, remember the steam kickflip jump through the frame to halfpacker for example? X handed brakeless decade? Mega spin half bar whip one-handed whopper? The list goes on and on, conveyor belt style. The last thing Martti is generic though!
Many of you will have watched in awe during this time period, and perhaps wondered, “What is he getting out of this?”, the answer aside from personal satisfaction and more recently guerrilla advertising for Junglerider, is nothing, I see it more as an artist showing his work and trying to inspire flatlanders worldwide. It’s very pure. Who else in flatland lands a trick, and then never does it again?
To document share and progress movement, is a very unselfish way to look at riding, its raw, tricks get lost on watered down filler edits. The good thing on the flipside with regard to the Bootleg DVD, is this short and sweet, just over ten minutes in viewing, it’s something you could pop in your DVD or laptop before you go riding, and fuel the fire for the session ahead. It’s kind of like Martti’s first junglerider album if you like. The next episode, might appear whenever, there is no schedule.
You may not get hold of this “Mk Bootleg DVD”, as there were only 45 made, but I have a feeling this is just the beginning.
Welcome to the future.

As you might guess Ultra Zai is the sequel to Zai, I’ve been sitting on this one for a few months now. So it’s about time that I reviewed it. Slack I know.
The video begins with a photo montage animation of various flatlanders worldwide old and new mixed with pencil drawings, kind of reminded of the Reality Tv animations if you have ever seen those.
The editing right away looks slicker on Ultra Zai, perhaps hence the name, I don’t know, the dvd retains a similar format from the zai dvd, I could describe it as one big huge collage of japanese flatland, park, and street…

So who’s on it?
Akira Okamura, Alexis Desolneux, Matthias Dandois, Kotaro Arai, Tomokazu Morinaga, Taiko Keneta, Ucchie, Tsutomu Kitayama, Moto Sasaki, Daa, Hiro Morisaki, Keisuke Tanigawa, Russia, Yuki Itoh, and many others…

The first main section goes to Akira Okamura blasting around a skatepark, jumping the box, down whips, pocket wall rides, handrails, downside 50-50’s, street riding, generally looking like he’s having the time of his life! There’s only one flatland clip in this first section, a gliding dump truck both hands on the bars (what Ucchie does sw ft he does regular).

The next section is a collage of partying footage, Chuncheon games in Korea, ton of great footage from Takahiro Ikeda, Viki Gomez, Keisuke Tanigawa drops an insane combo- xft ankledeath ride in whipped to xft hang five to crackpacker to left handed halfpacker pivot to opposite xft hitch pivot and whip to left handed halfpacker inside xft steam pivot to steam pivot juggler hitch and “bail”, awesome practise combo tho!, few riders I don’t know round out the section..

The next section flows into more underground non-contest footage, once again there are a few riders I don’t know ripping it up, mostly night time filming sessions, gives you an idea of the real Japan. Russia is perhaps the most famous rider in this section, developing his Osicka style further, mixes some highly complex moves such as g-turn bar flip x bar hang five 360 flip to steam and repeats, effortless flow. The video goes back to some street/ flat hybrid action, nose manuals, x up manuals, curved wall rides to toboggan, manuals to whips, as you might expect the japanese are getting uber tech on the street!

The next section begins with more street, then quickly flips into a killer back wheel combo from Takio Kenata, Liquid style, xft carved peg wheelie to multiple turbine upside down g-rolls to backwards spinning g-roll flipped to two footed backyard back to carved g-roll two footed turbines x’ing bar flipping and out, back wheel skills to die for! the dvd goes back to some street, then flows into an unknown rider, who does a really nice carved halfhiker step round to halfpacker, you have to see it i guess…He also drops a lovely xft karl 30 pivot to halfpacker as well later on in this session, which lead me to think, why’s no one done that??
The section into a collage of footage of Matthias Dandois, you see so much of Matthias week in week out all year its kinda hard not to know his combos, matthias has a good healthy sized section, the highlight for me was the steam to teakettle turbines jump to backwards spinning xft steam opposite side (infamous yammer style) no scuff jump to steam crackpacker boomerang to pendulum (ala Mr Foakes) to halfpacker inside xft steam out, monster combo!

The video flows into a big street riding section. The next flatland section goes back to the undercover spot in Tokyo, Ucchie and Tsunari session in Zai. Yuki Itoh opens the section with a big combo, steam to leaned left handed hitch turbines steam reach thru the bar to crackpacker steam hang five turbine kick bar flip to spinning cliff. Really tight looking. Tsunari bunnyhops straight from pedals straight to steam and out, I love the shortest of this combo, shows how hard the trick is! The section flows into a bunch of KOG Finals 2010 footage, featuring a bunch of am before Taiko returns with a beats of a combo, two foot xft peg wheelie pivot to two footed backyard pulled up to forwards g-roll into backwards spinning g-roll pivot to two foot backyard pulled back up g-roll turbines to pedal time machine, dope steez, could watch this guy kill the back wheel all day! So dope!!!

The next section is without doubt the best of the dvd, and it belongs to Alexis Desolneux, everyone knows Alexis is an absolute beast, and his section had me yelling at the screen, his section opens with a nicely carved double opposite backwards whiplash where he stalls out in between each xft whiplash in a backwards guillotine, so sick! The next trick I couldn’t even tell how hard it must be, a backwards facing turbine whiplash!! Alexis continues with a whole load of in front of the bar whiplashes with epic control, before dropping the hammer or so at least I thought! Four backwards facing whiplashes to backwards no handed messiah backwards whiplash out! Unbelievably he tops it with long carved backwards facing whiplash to turbine then backwards whiplash again! So technically hard, what a treat! High 5’s all round from the locals at the spot! Mind blowing level from Alexis!

The next section shows the Chuncheon game Street contest, followed by an underground flatland contest with nothing but slams, featuring Moto Sasaki, Akira, Shinde, Hiro, it gets pretty wild here, im not sure what the deal was here, best crash maybe?!

The dvd goes back into another street section before going back to Ucchie and Tsunari’s spot, Ucchie kills with a nice carved rolling lawnmower pivot to xft pumping backyard, Tsunari pops the infamous pedal bunnyhop to steam, this flows right into some combos from Hiro, classic Hiro style! A whole bunch of KOG/Chuncheon Games footage continues, focussing on Am riders which I thought was a nice touch!
The next section is Daa, you may remember him from Diversion, ‘my style….Magnetic”, super nice xft 360 pivot ride into halfpacker,such a nimble style, killing this undercover spot, really liked his whiplash jump to and pivot to steam hitch juggle steam body varial rideout, the lights get turned out on the session, this flows into some underground dudes shredding jumplashes hard, a sick ending to a great dvd! To sum up, some awesome clips of underground japan with a mix of KOG footage, with an essential bit of Alexis Desolneux thrown in for good measure. Sound like your cup of tea?

Available in Europe from:
Distance Cycles Works- Laurent-email:- info@distance-cycles.eu

Like you probably were, I was bummed when I heard Cream magazine was no more, but curious what “Art” magazine would do differently than what Cream already did to survive.

First impressions?
The first issue has just reached the news-stands, and by now you will have seen the red cover of Mat Hoffman, my first though when I picked up the magazine, was “wow!”, the magazine is bright red, it captures the eye, the glue binding gives the feel of a collectors item, the paper quality is really good, this in my mind is not a magazine, it feels like a book. It is an object of beauty that will rightly sit on my bookshelf at home.

What’s different than Cream?
The format is slightly different, it’s smaller than A4, has more pages than the last Cream magazine had (over 144!), and the cover has a waxed paper feel, like I said, doesn’t feel like a magazine.
What I noticed immediately, was that “Art” covered all types of bmx, even racing, thus the circulation I would presume is much bigger, lot more advertising too, this can only be a good thing to keeping the magazine afloat!

What’s inside flatland wise?
The main big flat article for the first issue discusses is “Flat is dead?”, editor Alain Massabova asked a wide spectrum of pros/industry types in the scene there thoughts on the topic, Alain’s intro discusses the hot topic of the flat/street crossover “Today’s shame on flatland riders is pushing us toward street/flat in order to get closer to the public. But is this a solution? Scarifying flatland to make it a ‘sport’ just like Skate did? Rails became park, funbox tricks are considered as dirt, aren’t we turning back to what it was before? Does flatland must go through all those sacrifices?”…
The article is six pages, with translations in French and English (this runs through whole magazine)-interviews with myself, Martti Kuoppa, Jesse Puente, Trevlon Hall, Chad Johnston, Hiroya Morisaki, and Thomas Goring gives an industry perspective, a really interesting read, and differing perspectives on what we all love, the flatland!
I was particularly interested in what Hiroya had to say, “each individual should pay attention to the rest of the world besides riding. Although our community is still small against society, each of us has so much potential. Organizing riding lessons or performing shows are some examples of activities to expose ourselves to the public to improve our scene better. You can contribute to the scene somehow with your skills and with something that you are comfortable to do. The more riders notice their own potential, the more youth would get involved in BMX. Increasing population develops the BMX industry and eventually it brings more opportunity to riders to be able to make living off BMX. That’s what I’ve seen in the Japanese BMX scene.”

So what else is in this issue flatland wise?
-Ticos jam and War jam both get some love , hot chicks and flatland, nice mix!
-Circle Cow 12- Really nice report by Emmanuel Massabova, focussing on the appreciation for what event organiser Pascal Mintovt has done for the flat scene in France, “I’m one of those who think that the Circle Cow is to the flat what Chabel is to the rugby, that is to say Circle Cow is a mainstay of the flatland scene. It’s always the first contest that kicks off (the year) with pros and amateurs”. Emmanuel’s writing style is brutally honest and very refreshing to read, he discusses the Adam Kun and Joris “So yeah sure on the paper the world champion (edit: Masters Champion) is probably better than our friend from Lyon but on this 2 minutes of the battle he was just better. Too bad Adam wouldn’t consider the fact that Joris is also good maybe he would have done something better than a spin to a spinning hitchhiker. That’s the way things are.”
I conclude this was a breath of fresh air to read, brutally honest, maybe harsh even, but compelling reading. It is also great to see that Alain and Emmanuel have it appears squashed their personal beef, and this really shines through here, that these two brothers working together for Art magazine, can only be a good thing for BMX in France. St Martin also ran a full-page advert in the magazine, great to see!
-Portfolio with Yuta Yoshida from Tokyo Japan, really nice zoom shot of Dominik Nekolny.

What else is in the mag?
So much stuff but what stood out to me was the really well written article/interview discussing with Mat Hoffman the birth of the big air, Mike Hucker Clark who has some the best nose dive 3’s in the business gets an interview. Simpel Session quite rightly gets a few pages. There’s so much stuff in this first issue, BMX is alive and well. And I really like how the first issue of Art has come out, is it better than Cream? That’s hard to say, I would say this magazine is more liable to survive, its depth of coverage is much greater, thus advertising appeal is bigger. I feel honoured to have been asked my opinion on “flat is dead?” article, “Art” I hope is here to stay. RIP Cream, Long live Art!

Review by EC.

Who’s on it?
Akira Okamura, E, Kotaro Arai, Tomokazu Morinaga, Ikko Tanaka, Mao Yuasa, Ucchie, Tsutomu Kitayama, Takuma Kawamura, Hotoke, Moto Sasaki, Oni, Chuboy, Hayato Kobayashi, Takamatsu, Kishin, Doko, Fumiya Sasagawa, Zen crew, Kroche and Ares crew + more.

What about the content?
This is quite a hard dvd to review I must admit, as you watch the dvd it flows, from one section to the next, but sections feature multiple riders, not just dedicated to one rider, this is actually one of things I liked about this dvd. I got the feeling this was the real “japanese” scene, the editing is raw, some tricks are left not pulled, the crashes are shown, most of the footage are from local riding spots, its realistic.
The first real section of sorts falls to Kotaro Arai, for all those in the know, you will recognise the name, and think “jumplash”, this guy shreds the lashes of the jump variety , try plasticman (on right foot) to jumplash land on right foot, he continues with xft multiples out of it, insanely beautifully hard trick!
The next section is mix of contrasting riding styles, Tomokazu Morinaga killing the backwheel, Ikko Tanaka backwards jumplash combos, Mao Yuwasa does a really nice invisible hand (elbow glide seat grab) multiple turbines, and Akira Okamura who we all know about! One thing seems to be in common, two piece bars and the double diamond frames, straight up BMX look. Tomokazu does a really nice inside forward rope to no- handed inside gliding gerator/backyard to frame manual exit! Some combos are pulled, some aren’t, AI drops smooth multiple stubble duck backyard combo, so smooth! Lot of riders on the Zai DVD I have never heard of before, its fresh to watch! You have no idea what’s coming next!
Takuma Kawamura is a rider whose name you may recognise, a few years ago he won the KOG series I believe, super unique style on the back wheel, inside two footed dump truck pivot to xft upside down wheelie pivot to backwards spinning lawnmower flip to upside down peg wheelie on the pedal and rides out backwards from there! Inside double footed mega turbines to foot jam walkover decade out on the pedal! Xft multiple switch foot dump truck turbines flip to spinning g-roll, really nice combos! The section ends with inside switch foot dump truck pivot to backwards g-roll turbine to forwards g roll and somehow full flip the bars exit!
The next section is a mix of flat,street,park and trails, it gets interesting again when Tomokazu drops a inside switch foot dump truck 360 bike flip to spinning lawnmower turbine out to pumped peg wheelie to dump truck glide arms round his back turbine to xft upside pivot out, sick sick combo!!!
Throughout the video, theres street footage, which Akira features in, and holds his own, bunnyhopping wait high obstacles, hang fives, and generally looking like hes having the time of his life!
KOG round 1 features next, really like how this section is done, again realistic, some guys pulling combos some not, some footage is back to back, Hotoke, Moto, Ucchie, Tsutomu Kitayama, Jimalog, Takahiro Ikeda,Yu-ki, Hiro Morisaki, Taikou, and Russia, the music is off and on here, rather like “lil” samples, only way I can describe it.
There’s a small section of a young kid, Shoukun, riding street, 180 hops, ET jumps etc to break up the flatland footage. I have to be honest, compared to the killer flatland footage the ramp footage is not at the same level. Sorry if I offend anyone with that.
The next section of note, is for me the best section of the DVD! This belongs to Ucchie, and Tsutomu, riding at nice undercover spot, these two guys ride together yet have totally different styles, Ucchie kills the back wheel, Tsutomu kills the front, Ucchie opens the section with an obscenely good combo, opposite carved dump truck 360 flip to two footed opposite dump truck pivot to xft upside down pivot out to mega spin turbines pivot to pedal g-roll and out! There’s a few combos that we see from both riders in contests regularly, Ucchie comes close to his backwards spinning xft junkyard on pedal out to manual whopper out, next time! He hits a really nice multiple upside down two foot turbine to backwards spinning x handed xft dump truck to x handed time machine, really technical to say yet alone follow, few rewinds to bring that one to you!
The section ends with the trick of the video, I screamed “yesssssssssss” first time I watched it and still get stoked now, forward karl to halfpacker pivot to left foot backwards spinning tomahawk step over to x-ft crackpacker step over x-ft steam other side, I would go so far as to say that’s one of the best, and most beautiful combos I’ve seen in a long time.
Akira has the next section that stood out for me, a mix of him cruising the streets, and flat, Akira kills all, backwards can can spinning mega spin to forward can-can mega spin to backwards wheelie downside whip out! Akira is unique, how many flat riders can do that combo then go do a huge manual to a big sized handrail, not many! His section is similar in feel to his Same thing daily 2 section, lot of moving camera footage, really like his spinning lawnmower hand round the back of bars pivot out to x bar mega spin bike flip to mccircle, so creative! You might call him the Japanese Chad Degroot!
To sum up, Zai is a mixtape of the underground scene and the well known riders of Japan, its fresh in its production and feel, it motivated me to ride, and may motivate you to! If your into collecting flatland dvds, you will want this!

Available in Europe from:
Distance Cycles Works- Laurent-email:- info@distance-cycles.eu

Ramón López Colón is the proud new owner of the Terry Adams Flatware Waltz frame and did this lil edit and review, English is at the end for any of those wondering half way through…

Odyssey Flatware Waltz review from Ramon on Vimeo.

This is a first for flatmatters. Testing a complete bike. I can remember always reading bike tests back in the day in Freestylin’/Go, BMX Plus, Invert,etc.
This time I was at the front line if you like, Chris asked me to test this Deep Blitz that he built up with parts available from his Function flatland site. What I did through the course of the last few months I’ve had the bike, were make lil’notes and comments after each session I rode the bike. The second part of this test will be a conclusion of all the parts on this bike. Before I have to give it back. Sob sob.

First Impressions.
Chris brought down the bike, on the Thursday leading up to the “King of Southsea” contest, the bike looked the “real deal” right from the off. The frame especially stood out, I had the feeling of having a new bike even though I was only testing it, couldn’t stop looking at it, the finish, matt red was so nice, the embossed deep logo on the headtube impressed me (nice touch), black deep bars reminded me of the old haro fst bars(although seemed too wide),flatware stem, odyssey forks, the bike was dialled and decked out with great parts, I was impressed. I couldn’t believe Chris was giving me this to test, I recall even asking him, “are you sure about this?”…

First session.
I’m always a lil wary of my first rides on a bike, tentative you might say! I tested the bike first with a hang 5, which for about the first time ever I think, worked easily. This kind of made me think “hmmm cliffhanger turbines I wonder how they would be on it”, so I spent the first session playing with cliff turbines, the balance point seemed real stable, I was hitting multiples 2-3’s fairly easily, the frame felt very responsive, and effortless to ride, the bars did however feel too wide, keep catching them on any pivots or step thru the frame type moves. An easy problem to overcome, too long is better than too short to begin with.

After the first session, the seat was loose on the rails, this concerned me, and was flexing a lot after each front wheel ride out. Odyssey Frequency G’s tried and proven to be a great outdoor tyre.The khe freecoaster also caused some concern, the cranks moved as I cranked into every trick, I have adjusted a few times, and still the same results, this was driving me mad already! I personally prefer the Nankai hub to the KHE freecoaster. The blitz handled really stable on the back wheel, I loved how beefy the back tubing was, the offset forks felt very twitchy to me, super fast, and would take me a bit of getting used to.. The pegs were too small for me, a few years ago I used small diameter pegs and they caused a lot of pain on the sole of my foot, since switching to a larger diameter peg (fly Gomez), I haven’t had this aching pain, if you’re a younger rider you might want to consider this for your future! (and also better for pivots). Function over fashion!

The Odyssey cranks felt great, no sharp edges to catch on rideouts, tricked out with chainring with no bolt to come loose!.
The flatware stem felt solid, and the 26” reach, seemed just about perfect for me, no sharp edges (like my bizhouse has)..This bike really is for the most part, with minor adjustments, as good as its going to get.

Deep frame: 18.7 tt.
74.5 deg head tube angle.
Spanish b/b – included.
Internal headset – included.
Fully heat treated sanko cromo.
Machined head tube logo.
With or without removable u brake mounts.

Fork: Flatware 16mm offset.
Headset:Deep internal.
Stem: Flatware 26mm reach.
Bars: Deep escobar 8.25″ x 27.5″, 5 deg upsweep, 5 deg backsweep.
Grips:Flatware.
BB: Deep Spanish.
Crank: Flatware.
Sprocket: Flatware rhode island – 9 sided interface – no bolt!
Chain: Khe half link hollowpin.
Pedals: Odyssey twisted plastic.
Seatclamp: Proper.
Seatpost: Suelo.
Seat: Khe watanabe.
Tyres: Odyssey Frequency G 1.75″.
Rims: G-sport ribcage.
Spokes:Odyssey.
Front hub: Khe geisha superlight.
Rear hub: Khe geisha lite freecoaster.
Pegs: Khe plastics with griptape.
Brakes: None.
Tubes: Generic.

http://functionflatland.blogspot.com
email: tongebikes@hotmail.co.uk

Review by Effraim.

Issue 39 of Cream is out now, and of course full of flatland content! This issue has a lil theme to it “you’ll see the love in bmx. A feminine aspect that makes you feel good.”

So what’s inside you ask?

Adam Kun gets the contents page photo, super nice shot, I’m guessing taken in Paris, although not sure.

The editor, Alain Massabova has a great editorial, discussing how his attitude has changed since he had a kid with his wife “If someone had told me that one day I wouldn’t eat meat, and I would like kids, I would not have believed them. It goes to show, you need to be able to live some things to be able to judge them”.

The first main interview falls to Lea Dobrowski, Lea gets three pages in the best flat magazine in the world, so I know she’s psyched! Luis Elias interviews her, and they discuss her influences, her contest experiences, and of course the topic of girl riding flatland comes up which I think gives the most telling quote of the interview, “I know this may come as a shock to some, but I don’t want to see a girl’s class. I honestly believe that all girl riders should just ride in the class they belong. It is more motivating to ride against men.”

Nathan Penonzek writes about the Flamenco flatland contest, three pages dedicated to this experimental contest, beautiful photography, almost like paintings. You have to see the quality to believe!

The Jomopro and Thailand extreme jam both gets double page spreads, great Jomopro write up by Bryan Huffman!

This issues “portfolio” showcases the photographic work of Anna Gorvits, who takes very subtle beautiful photos, and fits nicely with the tone of this issue, what with Lea’s interview, a story of Barry Kohne and his girlfriend, seems kinda fitting.

The Fise contest gets three pages of flat! Which wraps up this issue of Cream, yet another issue to add to the collection.

Good job Alain! Nice outlook on the sometimes brutal world of bmx. Cream is able to do that, and that alone sets them apart in my eyes. This is the magazine that matters!