The tyre debate will go on and on, individual to individual. I never really took much notice of this until Level Vibes last year, I was running Frequency G tyres (P lytes) front and back, and was riding on marble leading up to that event, sometimes in the wet, which I thought would help with adapting to a slippery floor, to cut a long story short it didn’t help. So I’ve been experimenting ever since.

In late January I finally after many years trying, I finally after all these years and winters got a chance to have a regular indoor spot to ride, so I tried the KHE tyre on the front, that’s another testing story though. Fast forward a few months, At Jomopro, Odyssey released a few prototype frequency g tyres to Pat Schoolen, again I had the normal frequency g tyre on the back, Khe on the front, the Khe was a lil slidy but generally fine, but on the back wheel I was sliding out a lot!!, I normally use 120 psi, but I had it down to 100 psi to try and get more grip and I was still sliding out when I pumped on the back wheel too hard, there was no room for a lil’ extra speed. This problem was solved when I switched to the softer prototype tyre, immediately I noticed that the tyre is sticky in my hands as I put it on, it took a few mega spin turbines outside the contest arena to wear the tyre in, and it was ready to go.

The traction and grip the tyre gave me was immediately noticeable. My confidence on the back wheel rose at jomopro as a result and my consistency, less hesitation. I ride on marble and wood predominantly so this tyre is perfect for me, it does what its intended to do, whilst its also sticky, it’s not too slow, infact it didn’t feel much different to a regular frequency g, I’m fussy with tyres and surfaces, and this tyre was great from the get go! And this tyre has been great for helping me adapt to surfaces slippier than what I’m used to, the only difference being that it grips, at jomopro and my indoor spot, I haven’t slipped out once! I’ve been using the tyre for two months now, and its only a lil’ worn (see photo), if you ride rougher surfaces regularly then you may want to think differently, I have only used the softer tyre a few times on a rougher surface and its been fine (a regular frequency g I would presume last longer), whereas my Khe tyre shredded to pieces in a day at the Green Mile for example. Bear in mind this softer Odyssey tyre was designed for indoor slippery floors, so it does what it says on the tin, so to speak.

It’s great on turbines, grips well on the indoor spot, grippy on backwards spinning when your really leaned over, responsive on quick pivots, it feels nice and responsive if you scuff, or one kick tricks, a major plus if you don’t have to let the tyre down to get more grip, or coke the indoor spot, it’s durable. For me so far this has been my dream tyre, it’s helped me overcome a major problem and concern!! Riding indoors is now not so much of an issue! Thank you Odyssey! (and Pat for the tyres-still on the first one).

I see this tyre as a major competitor to the Khe tyre, so to compare the two from my experience, the Khe tyre is instantly rideable as a plus point, but it is slippery at first on an indoor spot, the Khe tends to get grippier after a few sessions, but not as grippy as the frequency g, sometimes I slide out on backwards spins on the khe, the frequency g takes a few mega spins on a rough surface to wear in and it’s good to go, and I found it more durable if you go to a rougher surface than the khe tyre. The khe tyre is lighter, but I don’t care about that, the difference is hardly anything.

Pat at FF said at Jomopro, that the tyre will be available in around four months, and that was two months ago, so I hope its in stock at FF soon, I know I’ll be ordering mine.  Thanks to Odyssey for listening to the demands of the riders, so if your riding an indoor spot, I’d recommend this one, a reliable sticky tyre, I have however not tried the Ares tyre. Anyone have any feedback on that tyre? If so write a review and send it in.

It is widely regarded amongst flatlanders that Japan leads the way in flatland culture, jams every weekend, the sheer number of riders, flatland only shops, awesome spots, independent flatland contests and of course the King of Ground series, Yasu, aka Green G, the producer of the King of Ground has put together a beautiful booklet celebrating the ten year anniversary of the KOG series.

Whether you’ve been to Japan or not, you will have at some point been inspired by the riders and the scene there, the Flatland Manifesto videos spring to mind in the earlier years,we saw new riders with fresh ideas, Shane’s videos helped expose their scene to the rest of the world, now in the modern day, there are countless you tube videos and websites/blogs that pop up from Japan. And this entire scene is built around the KOG.

The book focuses on the riders and personalities that have contributed to ten years of the KOG, with great insight from the likes of York Uno, Takashi Ito, Kotaro Tanaka, Akira Okamura, Yammer, Hiroya Morisaki, these riders are collectively referred to as the “top six”, who not only competed worldwide regularly around 1999 onwards, but have contributed to the KOG during the last decade.

Takashi Ito discusses how the KOG began.. “Everything started with York’s misunderstanding. His positive speculation and action actually drove the idea forward. One day, I talked with Kotaro (Tanaka) and said something like, “I wish we could have the Japan flatland championship”. This was a mere “pipe dream’ of the Japanese bmx scene. York called me a couple of days later and said. “I heard you guys are coming up with a great idea!”. His misunderstanding drove the “pipe dream” to reality. It was a time when we could have a new perspective since all our mission was only in he improvement of the riding itself”.

Interesting to look back at the introduction of the battle format, Yammer’s domination worldwide, the effect Nathan Penonzek’s visit to Japan had on the riders, was an interesting one for me “The first and most memorable winner of KOG was Nathan Penonzek (Canada). It was very valuable for Japanese riders to see one of the world’s top riders with their own eyes as their was not much information on BMX let alone having an Internet. Nathan lived up to their expectations as he rode with explosive skills and incredible consistency”.

I found this book motivating, just how a group of riders made this happen, it makes me think what you can do in your scene, if you combine and get together with other riders, food for thought. I know there a lot of riders there, but the constant motivation for many surounds these KOG events.

The chapters continue on in the KOG story with Round 2 and 3 (the final of the world circuit fast approaching), these riders have made their dream reality, Ten years of KOG. Respect! What will the next ten years hold? What’s your dream? Make it happen!

Review by Effraim.

Simon’s second DVD “déjà vu” arrived almost two weeks ago, and I’m still taking it in, there has been a lot of hype after Simons classic first solo DVD release “Made you Look” and rightly so.!

This had me thinking along the lines of the dreaded second rappers album, they are never normally as good, can they maintain, I was worried about this for Simons second project. I’m happy to say that this isn’t the case, they are a few changes to the production of the DVD from “MYL” (which is included in the extras!!) In places the presentation is a lot more corporate friendly, I can foresee a lot of people outside of flatland liking this (which is not a bad thing), whilst it still retains a lot of hardcore riding from Simon.

The intro is glamorous, lot of special effects, great opening title sequence shot, familiar opening track from Trickstars 6 (cant go wrong) leaves you wondering what “Déjà vu” leaves in store. The quality of the moving shot, and general filming is much more advanced than Simons first project. Simon enlisted the help of Mason Rose. This almost looks too good quality of flatland. Simons raised the bar for sure. The first riding section opens with a classic tune from Gangstarr “rep grows bigger”, one of my favourite tricks in this opening section is his two footed dump truck turbine to x foot forwards upside down wheelie as he pivots to the upside down there’s a subtle barflip, looks incredible!! Simon mixes his sections really well, besides the variety in riding, there’s a lot of different riding spots on show, there’s whopper lines, regular to cab whopper, g turn 360 manual to whopper to pedal, and one of the gems of the DVD in this section, pedal 5 360 boomerang to right arm halfpacker bar flip to backwards x foot halfpacker flapjack to steam x foot mcicrcle bar scoot mccircle out, epic!!!

I love his whiplashes to direct no handed teakettle, he also shows a g-string variation into tea kettle combo, the man may have more tricks than any other flatlander rider on the planet!
Check this one out! One of the lines of the DVD! Carved short nose manual to xft mccircle whip to halfpacker to kickflip halfpacker!!! Insane!!! I love how they have included the slams and frustrations of Simon filming these epic tricks, it’s realistic, and gives you an idea of the work gone into it.

The section ends with Simon getting kicked out of a tennis court, humorous scene!!! This flows directly into a nice funky track, and starts with a banger, xft karl kruzer full boomerang to x hand steam pivot to xft inside steam stubble duck to backwards right arm halfpacker!! Jump to backwards karl out, I screamed when I first watched this trick!! Flows so good!!

There’s no way I can list everything that Simon drops in this video, I’m on overload already, Simon kills it on both wheels, arguably to a higher standard on both wheels than any other rider, who else does this to such a degree? xft spinning turbine lawnmower turbines scuff out to peg wheelie opposite whopper out! Hang five turbine jump to halfpacker to xft bar scoot mccircle, this section ends with a whole bunch of those Chase gouin inspired forward backwards chick whips, Simon does a ton of em. I believe like the kickflip halfpacker sequence, this was shot in his backyard. Unbelievable quantity of varied tricks so far and only into section 2. Wow!

The next two sections, ala “Made you Look”, focuses on his friends, Chris O’Donnell, Luke Goreki, Kenny Raggett, shredders in park, surfing, and motorbikes, flows quickly with shots of Simons homeland..

The next section shows Simon riding park, with tech level as you’d expect, multiple et nose manuals, for example, mixed in with super long tech whiplash combos, and lifestyle shots. Getting back to more detail, one of my fav combos from this section, forward karl to halfpacker boomerang round bars to halfpacker right arm halfpacker bar flip to backwards backpacker pivot to xft hitch to xft karl to xft halfhiker to halfpacker boomerang to right hand halfpacker jump to karl out! Did you follow that?? The depth of Simons riding skills keeps this flowing, without ever getting boring, this is some achievement. I don’t see many that could do this..

The next section returns to a hip hop flavour, great variety in shots, lighting, diff locations, hang five whiplash to backwards spinning teakettle 360 varial to hitch to karl 360 flip to halfhiker! Links nicely from Simon riding in beach, to friends section with a mixture of surfing, and Corey Bohan shredding, style for miles!

The next section is dedicated to travelling, arty shots all over the globe with various riders and friends, Bashi, Alex Jumelin, Terry Adams share their experiences and what they value about travelling, of course Simon himself gives some insight.

The next section devoted to b-boys, a whole bunch of incredible breakdancing goes down in this section, this made me think about similarities between b-boying and the current battle style of flatland, lot of parallels here.

The last section is mindblowing…set to a acoustic melody, girl in chair singing, Simon opens with hang five whiplash turbine backwards whiplash backwards karl to halfpacker kickflip backwards backpacker juggler xft hitch out! Hang 5 to 360 flapjack steam mccircle 360 stubbleduck to backward halfpacker jump to karl out, unreal techanlity from Simon, the ender is ridiculous, a 360 backwards kickflip halfpacker!! Wtf!!! He lands it in circle k, then effects, then back to circle k, and leaves the DVD on a bit of a cliff-hanger, with the editing effects did he pull it? This was my only gripe about the DVD, the special effects got in the way of that one, nevertheless, its incredible!!! All that’s left is the credits and of course the bonus section which is a treat!

This DVD lived up to the hype that Simon’s riding fully deserves, this may well be Simon’s last solo DVD project, this DVD has almost every style of flatland I can think of, the decade variations I haven’t mentioned were also a nice surprise. I cant even imagine how much work he’s put into making this happen, the highs and lows, there’s random clips of Simon’s bike throwing skills, to give you an idea.

You get the feeling Simon just loves bmx in all forms, this comes across in his flat riding, his park riding, and showcasing his friends talents, his travels have exposed him to a while range of cultures and lifestyles, and he communicates that through the DVD.

I don’t even have to tell you to go buy this do I?

Available at Flatland fuel, New circle, Kunstform, support one of the best riders to ever grace a bicycle. This is beautiful! What a treat!!! Same thing daily 2 and Deju Vu in one month!!

I feel like I should give this DVD a big intro, it might not be what you think though…I asked Dane if I could get a copy of Same thing daily 2 after I saw it advertised on his blog, I’m sure your aware you can buy a t-shirt as well along with the offer ($32). Dane offered me a copy if I review the DVD but I had to pay for t-shirt…. I had a change of heart, a free copy doesn’t help at all, I thought to myself, “I’m part of the problem here”, so I paid for it and I’ll review it…

These DVDs help flatland grow in the motivational and progressive sense, and if we want these projects to continue we should support these people, whether it’s Dane, Intrikat, Simon O’Brien, Martti or whoever, let’s not let the flatland DVD die of a sad death. Whilst I’m shooting myself in the foot for a free copy, I’m looking at the bigger picture here! Flats small enough as it is…

The rider list for Same thing daily 2, is a varied one, contrasting styles, out of limelight riders (Markus Redlberger, Brian Tunney, Sebastian Grubinger), and you have the contrast of more well known contest featuring riders (Shintaro Misawa, Chad Johnston, and Dane Beardsley of course), add Jody Temple and Akira Okamura which helps make for an interesting mix.

Jody Temple gets the opening section, riding to a feel good tune, The Avalanches “Since I left you”, sets a good tone for the DVD. The only time I ever see Jody (with exception of recent his jomopro appearance) is on Dane’s DVDs, so it’s always a real treat to watch Jody’s smooth style. Standouts for me on Jody’s section were the opening line, xft halfpacker pivot to backwards hitch, rolled super long, and buttery as you’d expect from Jody! Jody has a lot of intricate lil switches in between the bike throwing, one of my favourites was Pedal hang 5 step thru whip to halfpacker 360 pivot out. The ender right hand halfpacker jump over frame to hitchhiker is sweet! Most importantly looks like Jody enjoyed making this section!

The next section falls to Shintaro Misawa, filmed in some great locations, Shintaro is finally getting the props his riding deserves, it’s easy to overlook what he’s doing as he moves effortlessly between complex front wheel switches, a lot of this section is based around the halfpacker position, and with a contest rider, its hard not to know his riding, the standout combo for me was the turbine whip to right foot mccircle to left arm halfpacker 360 pivot to spinning halfhiker to no handed messiah step over no hands on bar to two foot steam spinning halfhiker out, all laced to The cardigans, super nice section.

Brian Tunney gets the next section, the opening text as his section made me chuckle, “sorry if this sucks”. As always with Brian, ultra smooth, mad skills, long ass one handed hitchhiker jugglers as opening line. Mixed in with street footage, gives you a feel for what Brian’s riding is all about, you might say refreshing. There’s a bunch of one handed jugglers lines, as well as a long backwards hitch juggler line, my personal favourite was the super long backwards xft pedal five flip to tomahawk backwards crackpacker line with a super nice backdrop, I’m going to guess it’s a Manhattan skyline, but could be wrong, whatever, it def adds to the clip and section…

The next section, Chad Johnston kills it at his home spot the Long beach underground, defintely putting in some work, the pornos for pyros track fits well with Chad’s mix of street style and powerful style. First time I watched this DVD, it was Chad’s section that had me hitting the rewind, whether its a whopper linked straight into backwards pedal straddle walkover out, or my personal fav, the g turn backwards pedal five scuff forwards pedal five in circles ET the cranks opposite foot scarlo squeaks ET cranks back to pedal five turbines, this is crazy!!! And so smooth!!! Pegless of course!! Hit the rewind, hit the rewind, yes Chad!!! (editors note:ET refers to switching cranks around..)

The next section falls to an underrated Sebastian Grubinger, this guys riding is awesome, really well thought out combos I thought. And nice to see this DVD part give him the platform to showcase his skills, the opening whiplash to double around bars whiplash is beautiful! Sebastian has mad skills, backwards around bar whiplashes, multiple one handed whiplashes forwards and backwards, and my personal favourite multiple halfhiker right foot mcicrcle walkaround to crackpacker, so nice!! Great section!!

The next section goes to Akira Okamura, this section is a mix of flat and street, lot of lines, unedited feel, it’s raw! Akira rides up stairs, half cab down, Akira’s always been one to do his own thing and looks like he’s having great time, it’s ironic he rides street and flat on that frame, it looks like it will collapse! No offence Akira! Flat wise there’s mega spin to perverted to peg wheelie perverted out, whopper to back pegs landing whopper out, his riding is really edgy.

The next section is dedicated to Georgia, laced to a nice Roots track.. Nice clips of John Dowker, Aaron Behnke, Alexis DeGrassa, Shane from Neon Media (amongst others) busting, mixed in with street and trails clips, my favourite here is the clips of Andrew, this guy is awesome, double foot brakeless squeakers step over to double foot backwards kruzer, insane!! Liked that a lot! Looks like amazing scene in Georgia!

Dane Beardsley follows next, and never disappoints, I love this guys riding, his section falls into two parts, first part is a mix of skatepark, and street . His street style is a lot more raw than technical, I guess he leaves that for the flat.

Cream 38 is out and bursting with great flatland content.As always, setting the bar high, these magazines are like collectors items for  flatlander!

Terry Adams gets the content page, cracking shot of a studio lit whopper.

The first main flatland related article is an interview with Taka, with great shots from Green G, I don’t really know much about Taka, so that makes for an interesting read, although the interview was a lil short…

The caen extreme contest gets 4 pages, with good write up on the flatland side of the contest.

Bobby Carter and Richard Agauyo take you on a “day in life in LA”, sunshine, burritos, hanging out at bike shop, and riding of course, nice full page shot of  Bobby C laying it down….I miss LA…

By far the highlight of this issue, is the 6 page interview with Raphael Chiquet, when was this guy ever interviewed?  Beautiful photography by Anna Gorvits, shot right at the Louvre, and great interview by Alain, discussing his life change now he works for Monster, “Now I am really busy, I have responsibilities, a team of 10 people to manage, pressure, emails coming all day and night on my blackberry, you know a real job…This new occupation has obviously led to consequences for my other job as a professional bmx rider.”

Raphael is a breath of fresh air, a real character, lets not forget he is the current world champion, I find that sad that he is the world champion and working full time, that’s a sign of the times I guess, but also sounds like he enjoys his life to the fullest, which is great…
“World Champion! The world, damn it…Fucking World champion! It’s pretty crazy! I think I still can’t wrap my head around it, or maybe I haven’t had time to get my head around it.”

The rest of this great interview discusses how important contests are, where he thinks his riding will go, how much music plays a role in his life, the Parisian lifestyle. Great stuff!! Very good read, if nothing else, Cream 38, is worth it for this 6-page interview. But of course there’s more flat..

Luis Elias Benavides writes on the annual Ticos jam, which also features in La Gazette along with Circle Cow 11 report..< There’s a great article on Simon O’Brien and Australia by Nathan Penonzek, interesting story on Simon’s lifestyle, and family life. Bo Wade has full page shot of perverted decade in a bar, pretty cool! Of course there’s much more besides, but lets keep this short and sweet, go get this for the Raphael interview, amazing stuff from the Cream team. Bravo! I’m feeling the sunset cover! Lets go ride!