As Marton Szilagyi celebrates his 48th birthday, I think back to meeting Marton for the first time when I was riding alone in the skate rink at Southsea Skatepark, I must have been 14/15 years old at the time.
Marton was working in the circus down towards the fair ground, and we hit it off right away. He was at the time riding at a basic level, a year later he came back and was an absolute monster.
As I watch Marton’s 48th birthday edit I think about this guys contribution to the sport, he’s done so much it’s hard to really capture it, but whether video parts, making full videos (Trickstars, KHE videos), mentoring riders (Adam Kun, Denes Katona, the list goes on), running OG bike Co and a bike shop and distro. Marton is one of the most skilled riders out there in my opinion, this video is well worth watching, good production and even better timeless riding. Thanks for all you do OG Marton!
What a week here on Flatmattersonline, so many amazing edits and also some great stuff from the flatland archives. And today, we have another belter from Adam Guild. I recall having a video tape of this contest back in the day from Armen Djerrahian, anyway today it is great to see all this footage together from the 1993 Shimersville, PA BS Contest featuring Brian Tunney, Bill Nitschke, Gabe Weed, Dennis McCoy, Chad Degroot, and Chase Gouin. Thank you Adam for the upload and trip down memory lane…
Yesterday right as I posted Brandon Derbowka’s amazing new edit, I got a notification on instagram that Yu Katagiri had dropped a new edit. Rather than post 2 banging edits at the same time, I decided to give Brandon’s edit some limelight on the site for 24 hours, well deserved in my opinion. Today, is all about this wonder kid from Nagaoka,Niigata Japan.
I had the pleasure to watch this 13 year old prodigy at two contests in the summer, BMX Cologne and Urban Waves and the kid delivered in both contests and is the real deal. What were you doing at 13 years old? This level of riding, creating tricks, being consistent, beating established pros double your age? It’s easy to say Yu Katagiri is the future, but he’s already here and smashing it hard!
As with all Must Watch edits I like to highlight why I chose this edit as Must Watch, and before I get into details, regardless of age this hits the spot really hard and can only inspire you for today’s session!
1:22: Carved peg wheelie flip to pedal g-roll turbine flip to opposite foot turbine ice cream shove it xft ice cream turbine flip pivot to spinning lawn bike flip to xft mega spin turbine pivot to g-roll flip back to spinning lawn bike flip to pedal turbine g-roll out! (that last switch is insane!)…
2:03: Xft carved peg wheelie pivot to two footed backyard pivot direct to backwards ucchie spin bike flip to xft pumping ice cream backwards xft ice cream spin pivot peg wheelie to xft ice cream (that switch rewinding to understand) to backwards spinning x-ft cream to backwards foot pedal time machine out! Thats’s two massive lines already with so much creativity within, this kid!!!
3:00: My favourite line of this amazing edit, the beginning just has me hitting the rewind. So rad!
Go watch this and admire this kids technique, I feel like I have typed enough over the past few days. I’m left thinking various thoughts…
If Yu is this good at 13 years old, what happens when he is 18 years old and so on…. Thank you ZOLS ETM for sharing this kids amazing talent with us all, flatland just went up a notch and then some! Hitting the rewind and watching in awe of this kids abilities.
Can we please see some footage of his brother, Ryo!
Paulo Gepulango recently made the trip from the Philippines to Malaysia for the Rider vs Gravity contest. This contest by the look of it has the feel of KOG back in the day. Enjoyed watching this one and you may well do too, flatland is alive and well in Malaysia!
Joel Schallhorn is out living the life in Japan, and just dropped a fresh “Eclectic Concepts” edit. Joel for me is one of the most interesting riders to watch, you never know what’s coming and all techniques within riding are open. For example in this edit, a hand scuff to go from crackpacker to backwards crackpacker at 00:15 and so on. Thanks for sharing Joel!
Footage from the archives is flowing out it seems this week, and this morning we have the pleasure of watching one of the fastest riders in the game rip it up back in 1997 and take first place at the RPM contest in Buenos Aires, Argentina!
It feels like a minute since a fresh Kobe scene edit by Kenshiro Ojima dropped from Japan, today the wait is over! So much good content already this month it is crazy right now trying to keep up with what’s going on across the globe. The scene is looking healthy in Kobe, Japan and today we have the YBF Vol 2 featuring Fumiya Wakabayashi, Kenshiro Ojima,Toshiaki Chiwata and Kouhei Okuda. Enjoy!
It takes a lot to move the Heresy Tour video off the top spot here on Flatmattersonline today. You just know when you hear the name, Brandon Derbowka that this is going to be really good and this does not disappoint.
Right from the off, working a really tight indoor riding spot, 00:05 a straight version of Martti’s xft hitch full body varial. Starting opposite xft Karl to opposite xft hiker to backwards backpacker for a second literally pivot regular side xft hitch, beautiful. Literally everything hits hard in this edit, so this might be a long description. But I wanted to show this video some deserved love, so bare with me.
00:18: Xft opposite halfpacker pivot hitch pivot regular side xft halfpacker, how he flips that hitch to xft from an almost straight angle is amazing!
00:47: Xft whiplash to xft hitch jugglers, crossing his feet regular and opposite on each rotation of the juggler, watch this one again and again. So technical!
1:14: Might be my favourite line of the edit, xft half hiker to halfpacker pivot opposite xft hitch and he comes out straight (that’s the key point), to opposite backwards backpacker switch hands regular backwards backpacker pivot xft half hiker to the Martti Kuoppa xft hitch body varial this time in circles! What a line, difficulty levels off the chart here, wow!
1:47: Xft half hiker pivot to halfpacker bars straight pivot xft hitch xft whiplash switch leg to regular xft halfhiker pivot halfpacker pivot opposite xft hitch! Are you following all this?
And the final move, that I wish to highlight because it’s so damn technical! At 2:15, opposite Karl entry to opposite backwards backpacker hitch to regular side backwards backpacker pivot xft half hiker uncross leg switch to opposite xft half hiker backwards backpacker pivot xft hitch out!
What an edit, I realise today the Heresy edit will get a lot of attention, but do not sleep on this one. Holy shit! Take a bow, Brandon Derbowka this is truly inspiring!
This past September, the Heresy crew chose to embark on a week tour in the south of sunny France where they also filmed their last team video “GROUP ASPHALTANIC RITES”, and took part in jams with the locals in Bordeaux, Toulouse and Montpellier. Good vibes throughout, plus head over to the DIG BMX website for the story and photos.
Up until today, I don’t recall seeing Chad Degroot’s full run from Hoffman Bicycle Stunt Contest at Scrap in Chicago. Don’t sleep on this, almost all the combos stand up still today! Absolutely amazing creativity and execution, respect!
