Tag Archives: John Yull

Flatmatters Review of 2012 – Part 1!

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Text: Effraim

Almost daily I get new ideas for the site, in the case of reviewing 2012 I felt the “Defining moments of 2011” didn’t really do the whole year justice I felt like I skipped a lot, in doing so, this article quickly turn into a bit of a monster!
How do you reflect on such a good year with just “Defining Moments” I thought to myself?
I do believe 2012 was one of the best years for flatland that I can ever remember.
So I started documenting all the edits and articles/news as I always do, this time I used the loose criteria, did they make me go back and take numerous watches/views.
I realised pretty quickly that this idea was a monsteras I hit rewind on some many edits, but much like when I’m riding, once I get an idea for trick/or article I stick at it until it’s done.
Two months later, staring at all these video references/notes, after much gnashing of teeth, re-edit after re-edit, here I am with Part 1!
I started brainstorming ideas best to showcase the year as concisely as possible.

This is what I came up with:
This article will come in three parts, Four months summary at a time, with a bibliography.

Let me know what you think in the comments. I am interested to see what people think. Hope you enjoy my breakdown! Anyway, enough of me rambling, let’s crack on!

Welcome to Part 1 of 3 for my review of 2012. Hold tight!

As early as January 4th, One of my favourite riders to watch, Stephan Hearn dropped an amazing ESPN profile edit dropped which kick started the year off nicely! Stephan’s riding since his Create part has always amazed me! 2012 has seen a lot of new faces come to the forefront which is amazing and much needed for our sport/artform. On January 14th, Kensuke Hamai from Japan dropped a “Must Watch” back wheel edit, with effortless switches which further pushed the foundations made by the likes of Nathan Penonzek, Raphael Chiquet and more recently Yohei Uchino.
Working on interviews as I have said many times is one of my favourite parts of putting together FM, first up for the year was Athens stylecat, Jody Temple, who kindly put together a really nice edit for coincide with the interview on January 18th. The year seems to have flown by, as this edit feels like it dropped a month ago.

On January 19th, Quentin Pelorson from France dropped some bombs on the Grenoble scene edit, the forward karl step to halfpacker (11.27) still has me hitting the rewind months ahead, I hope in time this guys riding gets the recognition it really does deserve. Really excited to see how his riding develops this year!
After the well received FM exclusive edit on January 20th, I dropped the first big interview of the year, with Jody Temple. This is most certainly well worth going back over and reading again, plus some awesome photographs to boot!
Also on this day, the first major jam of the year took place in Zuma Beach, So Cal. The One Love Jam saw a reunion of some flatland legends like Dylan Worsley, Day Smith, Brian Tunney, Cory Fester, Chad Johnston, Ed Nussbaum, and many more shredders. The One Love crew added a highest bunnyhop event that helped attract more riders and sponsors, and of course fun! Good times on the West Coast!

On February 6th was a great day for flatland! Tomoaki Yoshimura dropped a “Must Watch” back wheel edit, with his amazing two footed scuffing technique on forward puppets, Tomoaki had a great year featuring a lot across every flat website/blog on the planet. Hope to see more creative riding from this guy in 2013.
Also on February 6th I dropped the second big interview with Flatland legend, Simon O’Brien, I feel like sometimes this dude and what he’s done gets forgotten very quickly, as he’s out there in Australia, but as it turns out later in the year he featured a lot more. As we would later in the year find out.
Also, Adam Kun teamed up with his friend Tom at Sevisual to show the world his new brakeless style. Like I said February 6th was a good day!
On February 11th, Alex Jumelin joined forces with Matthias Dandois to kick start his year with a bang, 2012 was one of Alex’s most productive years yet, and this edit at his work/home riding spot in Paris set the tone of the year.

On the same day, Aleksi Ritsila dropped his Welcome to S&M edit, all I can say is Wow! Go watch that again. I wish the flatland world could see more of this style cat, but on the flipside it’s kinda nice getting brief glimpses of his awesome riding.
George Manos came over to the UK in February, and filmed a few FM exclusives at my indoor spot, but the real treat came on Feb 18th when he teamed up with the talented film maker/videographer, James Smith. The black and white tone and darkness of the edit captured George’s personality and minimalistic riding style perfectly, go watch that edit again!
Two days later, as we all recovered from Georges amazing edit, Tom at Sevisual got together with spanish style cat, Viki Gomez whilst he was over with Adam Kun for a contest in Madrid to film a sweet part in Madrid. Viki won the contest on home soil..

March always starts with the Toronto contest, now that the Circle Cow contest is no more. Toronto really is the first big contest of the year, and the first chance many of us get to see what the heavy hitters are up to for the year. And of course Canada has always historically helped breed some of the worlds best flatlanders. In 2012, Moto Sasaki took the win from Czech’s Dominik Nekolny, the result was uber close, a real tough to call, with how Dom ended the year at Texas Toast you wouldn’t bet on Dom going back this year to take top honours in Canada.

Whilst George Manos stayed at my house, I asked him if he would write an article about his thoughts on originality in flatland, on March 2nd, we released his thoughts and philosophy, entitled “Originality – a hidden identity” that gave you the flatland world some insight into this talented riders world.
Four days later, Bert Ribul had me thinking “is the guy that could step up and be the next big thing?”, so many crazy brakeless switches with nuff style, as I remember this is the first post I ever “stickied”, I may have got carried away with the amount of time I kept it stickied for. Bert’s edit was one of the best of the year, and certainly helped his invite to the Red Bull Circe of Balance later in the year. And 2013 looks like being a good year already for Bert!

On March 15th, Jean William Prevost dropped an amazing “Spring Cleaning” edit, killer back wheel pedal pivots, turbines, and so much flow, the edit had many saying “If he can hold it together he will win a contest…”… They were later proved they were not far wrong on that prediction….

On April 6th, one of the best edits of the years dropped and surprised the world, embracing the old, but making it new, John Yull’s “3 years” edit had me screaming at the laptop numerous times, it was great to see John back firing, John flipped the old and made it new! Killer foot jam decade variations, power mowers, the list goes on! As we all know John this year is working on his part for Same Thing Daily 3. Really excited to see what John has in store for us.

Hiroya Morizaki came out the blocks hot in 2012, winning the first round of the KOG, dialling in his no scuff mega spin whopper combo, everyone knows that no one rides like Hiroya, when the man is on, as I said on the Red Bull COB live feed, “get out of town”.
Shortly after the KOG, of course it was time for one of the best contests of the year and Round One of the World Circuit series, Jomopro. On the eve of the contest, April 9th, Fat Tony dropped an amazing practise edit which was really the first time we saw a lot of the japanese riders in 2012, and wow, Yohei Uchino stood out, as it turned out. Ucchie put his previous demons from the Jomopro contest to bed, and stomped his way to a well deserved win.

On April 10th, the news broke that Flatland Fuel’s Pat Schoolen was recovering from an operation to remove a tumour, thankfully Pat recovered well. But this news certainly shook the flatland world for a minute.
On April 11th, I dropped the story of the trip to the One Wheel Motion TGM jam in London, which certainly let a few of us know that Sam Foakes was back on it, and not slowing down anytime soon.
A day later, OGBikeCo released an amazing edit of the underrated Peter Sarlos, go back and watch this edit, Peter absolutely kills it!
2012 was a great year for Jim McKay, and the first main edit he dropped was the best trick contest edit from the Jomopro contest, we all marvelled at Hotoke’s insane front wheel line, not to mention Terry’s winning combo.

Also on this day, James Smith dropped the hilarious “The downfall of flatland parody” that followed on from TCU edit, James certainly ruffled a few feathers with this one, but in my opinion it is always good to reminded not to take yourself to seriously me thinks.
On April 28th, we broke the news that Alex Jumelin and his family would be moving from their home in Paris, France to New Orleans, USA. Certainly a career defining moment, and complete change in lifestyle.

Two days later, Jim McKay released an amazing edit entitled “Outside Jomopro 2012”, all to often after contests all thats available to see are the runs, Jim’s take Outside the contest, hit the nail on the head. An absolute treat with amazing riding from the likes of Viki Gomez, Hotoke, Dub, Matthias Dandois, and many more. Oh yeah that edit? Go watch it…

Part 2 to be continued Monday, does anyone see why this quickly became a monster? ….

Bibliography Part 1:

January

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/stephan-hearn-espn-profile

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/must-watch-kensuke-hamai-2011

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/one-love-jam-2012

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/jody-temple-flatmatters-exclusive-edit

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/jody-temple-interview

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/must-watch-grenoble-scene-edit

February

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/must-watch-tomoaki-b-yoshimura

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/the-simon-obrien-interview-2

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/monster-energys-adam-kun-brakeless-session-2012

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/alex-jumelin-winter-edit

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/aleksi-ritsila-sm-bikes

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/george-manos-in-london

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/viki-gomez-sevisual-in-madrid

March

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/george-manos-originality-a-hidden-identity

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/must-watch-bert-ribul-winter-2012

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/jean-william-prevost-spring-cleaning

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/chase-gouin-memes-to-an-end-response

April

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/must-watch-john-yull-3-years

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/hiroya-morisaki-wins-kog-round-1-2

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/pro-flatland-bmx-riders-warming-up-for-jomopro-2012

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/pat-schoolen-recovering-from-operation-to-remove-tumor

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/diary-of-a-trip-to-the-1wm-tgm-jam

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/peter-sarlos-og-bike-co

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/jomopro-2012-best-trick-edit

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/the-downfall-of-flatland-parody

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/alex-jumelin-moving-to-america

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/outside-jomopro-2012

John Yull – Custom Frame

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Caught this one on John’s facebook. Custom rides seem to be catching on! Heres what John is working on with Dylan Worsley!
John has done away with the low top tube that he’s running on the Fenix and theres more seat tube space which may or not give you a clue as to what he’s up to trick wise. Hopefully when this is built we will get a feature up on John’s custom ride.
John what are the measurements on this bad boy?

The John Yull Interview!

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Intro/Interview: Effraim.
Photos: Leo Furmansky.

Rewind to April 6 of this year, and John Yull dropped his 3 years back riding after a 15 year break edit. Mid way through the edit… I remember screaming “Why oh why did you quit John!”…
You see I have written multiple copies of this intro, and it’s almost impossible for me to not include the fact myself and John grew up together on the UK Hutch team. The memory of John hacking across a Parisian leisure centre floor, hitting the fastest backwards whiplash (DMC style) in 1989 on this way to a Worlds title still plays in my mind like it was yesterday.
John’s 3 year edit not to mention his latest Tempest edit is a timely reminder John still has it!
Now 23 years on from John’s World title winning run, John is continuing to use that riding knowledge and is killing it more than ever, truly finding his way. Let’s get this interview started..

Basic info first, when did you start riding, where you from originally, etc etc…Basic info first, when did you start riding, where you from originally, etc etc…
I was born and bred in Sutton-in-Ashfield Nottinghamshire. I started riding in 1983 when I got a Raleigh Super Tough Burner for my 13th birthday. My next frame was a Pink Hutch Trickstar and so began my union with Hutch. I entered every UKBFA contest I could in the 80’s and got sponsored by Hutch. I made my first trip to the San Diego in 1989 and was hooked I moved to Austin Texas in September 1992 and never left.

So John for the record, a lot of people might not know you stopped riding, what year did you stop riding and why?
So I think I stopped riding flatland around 1994 I couldn’t put a date on it it just slowly happened. I was so involved in Homeless Bikes that riding took 2nd place to making Shorts, shinguards shirts,Gyro covers & everything else we could produce for us, Play, Poorboy Allied, Little Devil & anyone else that wanted custom sewing done. We also started making frames in house for homeless & WAL. Things were so crazy back then! we would make anything! I was sewing 15+ hours a day.

When did you get back into riding and what made you start riding flatland?
So in early 2009 my wife Jessie said “hey you should get onto Facebook ” so I did and within A few weeks I was harassed by enough old riding friends (yes you too Effraim) about not riding that I was ordering a new bike from empire & so it all began!!

Riders who have been riding a long time, always seem to have what I call a “second wind” in their riding career and that very much seems to be happening with you right now, your progression and your choice of tricks points to experience, and knowledge of what has come before. Would you agree with that?
My second wind I like that, returning and staying where I left off was never an option for me. I wanted to embrace the new way of riding, but add MY personal touch to it! the fact that I can’t figure out how to pump one bloody tricks has lead me to where I am. Once the decades came I knew I had found my path and the ideas haven’t stopped coming.

After so long out, how long do you think you have left to ride, and continue pushing yourself?
I’m only 42 and after 15 years off I see no reason to stop any time soon I have so many trick ideas in my head I never want to stop again…..

Have you found filming your riding, has helped you progress quicker?
Filming has become my best motivation I can spend hours filming for 1 trick and it’s worth every minute! Some of the tricks I’ve done on film were only pulled that one time and that is ok with me. Just move on to the next one.
I have what I call my “personal motivational grudge” my 3 years edit was fueled by this. When I was done with the edit the grudge was over and it was time to move on.

What is motivating this second wind I talk of?
To be honest part of it is to leave my mark on flatland I feel I quit before I got to show my potential. I did ride for Hutch and Homeless Bikes, won the worlds in 1989 and had a part in Homeless Trash but I never had that killer part in a flatland video or entered a USA contest I regret that!
Mostly though I really have something to prove to myself and I can’t stop till I do that.

When you started riding again, did you start again brakeless?
No I started with the front brake on but one day took it off and never looked back. Well there was that day I put it back on and it lasted for 15 minutes and then it was gone for good. I think luckily for me after such a long brake from riding I wasn’t so attached and it felt great. I do have fun every now and again riding Tod and Randall’s bike with brakes but they feel restricted to me. I plan on riding with brakes for a month this year as part of a project but it won’t last.

What is flatland for you?
 Obsession, Passion, Frustration, Enjoyment, motivation, friendship, escape,

Describe your local riding scene, how often do you get out riding?
The OG!! I feel so lucky to be part of the Austin scene I’m surrounded by so many friends and so much talent I wouldn’t want to ride anywhere else in the world! Everyone is welcome and equal there’s no pro’s or beginners just family.. I ride every day! I’m as obsessed with riding now as I was when I was 15.

What do you do work wise for a job?
I started an Aquarium Maintenance business 12 years ago when I left the sewing job. I spend my days visiting the rich and famous. I love my job.

Being an English man how do you deal with the humid hot summers in Texas?
My first summer in Texas was 1993 I lived on Kevin Martin’s couch with Lee Sultemeier on the other couch we had no AC after that summer I was sorted. The next 19 have been easy. For riding my sessions start at 9-9.30pm it’s still stupid hot in the summer but we are used to it. I have no idea how to ride in daylight it totally screws me up. I’m known as the vampire.

How hard is it juggling family life and flatland life?
I feel so lucky that my family understand my obsession. I leave to ride as late as possible and don’t get to sleep as much as I should but that’s ok with me. If you want it enough you will find time to ride!
Thank you to my wife Jessie & my kids Stella & Lucas.

Thank you John! Great catching up! Check out John’s edits I refer to in the intro below:

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/must-watch-john-yull-3-years

https://www.flatmattersonline.com/must-watch-john-yull-tempest-brand

John Yull Flatmatters exclusive!!

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So much content coming through right now to celebrate 4 years of Flatmatters! Quite fitting that I interview one of the riders that I grew up riding with on the Hutch team, John Yull! John is of course paving his own way, fair to say he is one of the exciting riders to watch right now! Keep an eye out for this FM interview really soon! For now peep this lil’ bit of decade innovation.