June 2010 redpenmag.com info@redpenmag.com FREE
Poster Issue Chris Kamm
Textbook: Rodeos
1) Get some good speed, this is what will give your Rodeo its height. Check your stance, square your shoulders and get ready.
2) The common mistake is to throw yourself back before you leave the ramp... not only is this dangerous but results in sloppy Rodeos and shallow landings. Leave the ramp as you would for a frontside air... THEN lean backwards starting the rotation.
3) Bring your knees up and grab your board, the knees coming upwards will also facilitate the backwards rotation. DO NOT throw your head back...this is bad form and will only make it scarier. Instead tuck your head in.
4) The spin part comes from your shoulders...you want to start it between the lean back and the grab. Dont try and 180...just give it a nudge and it will happen all by itself as long as you have decent spatial awareness.
5) On the way round spot your landing as early as possible, dont open out as soon as you see the coping...wait until you are at the same angle you started at and plant your wheels hopefully an inch under the coping. Don’t look for your feet...they are attached to your legs...trust your body to do the right thing.
6) On landing bend your legs to avoid slipping out and smashing your head. Ride that shit out, wave to the ladies and scream at god for creating a force as pathetic as gravity. You win!
P.S. Helmets are good... Concrete is harder than your head...Practice this shit with a helmet on, nobody wants to tell a nurse they are in hospital for ALMOST landing a rodeo. Also trampolines never hurt to practice on, just to get comfy with being upside down.
Gabi Muñoz Backside Boardslide - China
Alex Wheeler Frontside Indy
Photo: Daimon Jahres
What’s the most important part of a streetboard? Well, if you ask me, its bindings. Bindings open up a whole new dimension to streetboarding, and whether you use them for cruising with more control or sticking a nice noseblunt, you aren’t gonna get far without them. There are a bunch of them on the market now, each being quite different, so which ones do you choose? Here’s a quick run down of the 4 main bindings out there today.
www.redpenmag.com
Once you’re ready to start throwing down, stance takes on a different meaning. A longer stance,
Rodeos are what make the World go round. They are not as scary as you might think...and the girls always enjoy them. Im not going to deny the danger factor, but hey, thats what makes it extreme! So listen well and go and slam down some rodeos at your local park...or do you wanna live forever?
of World Champion riders, the Neobrains are probably the most advanced bindings so far. They use a combination of Neoprene and fibreglass reinforced tarpaulin to create a very comfortable hold with some movement in it so you can move your feet around just enough to set up nicely for each trick. They’re now available with a new second strap which solves the past problem of them popping open halfway through a 6ft 900 too.
www.dayonebrand.com/ reellife.
Textbook: Rodeo with Max Anderson
CK Neobrain: Designed and made by a couple
For Street and tech riding always go for a shorter stance. With your back up against the wall and only a couple of metres between you and that 20 stair rail, a shorter board is going to give you that edge on strokes per metre and maneouverability. Gotthard Pilsner’s Dimesion Pro model is the perfect stick for the job. A 540mm stance is going to get you spinning faster between grinds and down gaps whilst also being lighter giving you that extra float.
straight out of Germany, these are heavy duty. Made from super thick leather, with a full top design and security from a hidden strap that covers your upper foot, they have a solid yet amazingly comfortable hold, but they weigh a lot.
Primarily the stance that suits you will depend on your height. When you’re first starting out a shorter stance will make it easier to learn the initial movement. If you are a smaller rider, go for something like the Snakeboard Dragon or the Click Streetboard. If you are a little taller then either the Highland Flare 50 or the Dimension Nomad is going to be the one.
Respekt Bindungen: Made by Ingo Föhre,
like the Sergi Nicolas pro model from Dimension or the Cartel 56 from Highland, is going to be suited to ramp riding and big air. It’s going to help you gain more speed and give you a solid landing.
available, but also the cheapest. They offer a secure hold, though its not too comfortable as they’re the only binding without a full top design. They weigh next to nothing and come with the best hardware of any of the bindings. Also check out the similar Neobrain Base-X’s.
Finally we can confirm the welcome return of the highly successful Day One contest; “Reel Life”. This year the contest will take place in Paris from the 12-13th June 2010. The 24 hour team video contest was an absolute riot last year. This year year looks set to be even bigger with some top teams already confirmed including; Dimension, Highland, Day One, True Skool, Anti-Ductil, Addicted and Flipside. Get your team in on the action over at
Issue 5 Summer 2010. In the meantime:
Words: Alex Wheeler
So you’ve checked Gabi Muñoz’s game changing double back flip. You’re hyped. You’ve quit eating and saved up the necessary wonga. You’re ready to buy a streetboard. Which stance do you go for?
Grosso Prolinks: Made of super tough Argentine leather, they’re never gonna break. There are two different ways to set them up and, because they use both laces and Velcro straps, you can adjust them to get the perfect hold. The bolts they come with are a little short, and they’re a little heavy, but ultimately they’re an incredible binding.
The first is the long awaited release of the Neobrain Base-X. These will be available soon at a retail price of around 19.99 Euros.
With Jay Nowman
ok
Tilt Wheels are a new start-up Streetboard company. As the name
We didn’t have time to review these next two bindings, but we’ll get our grubby paws on them soon and post them on our site; www.redpenmag.com.
Editor///Distribution///Advertising///Layout: Jay Nowman Chief Photographer: Stefan Tribe Sub Editor///Staff Writer: Sam Cooke Contributing Writers: Alex Wheeler///Max Anderson Contributing Photographers: Tilo Grupp///Nicolas Bellet//// Alex Míró///Colin Horan///Joan Perramón///Paula Jane Web Design: Pete Dunsby Cover Shot: Chris Bellet///Tractor Drop Photo: Nicolas Bellet Contact: info@redpenmag.com Web: www.redpenmag.com
StanceDance
bo
www.drunknmunky.eu.
www.tiltwheels.com.
The second is the announcement that Highland Streetboards will be entering the binding market. We have exclusive pics here of their entry level prototypes.
xt
“ I did an internship in this farm few years ago. I always wanted to try a stupid drop from the tractor. At first the farmer thought the lifted area was for the photographer ! The shoot took around 15 minutes between droplets, we were so lucky with my brother (the photographer) because of the
DrunknMunky are deepening their involvement with streetboarding, which is amazing news. As well as sponsoring Gabi “Doble” Muñoz, they hosted their first event, Bowl-a-Rama at Liverpool’s Rampworx in March. They support us so make sure you support them, their wears are fresh too; check them at;
suggests they are in the business of producing high grade wheels especially for your swing stick. So instead of financing the kingdom of the nailfile, help our very own industry grow and ride Tilt;
BoundforGlory
First, we caught up with Chris Bellet to get the story behind the tractor drop cover shot:
shitty weather all week long.”.
Te
Welcome to issue four and for those of you who roll sans eagle eyes, it’s a poster issue! Not only do you get to read some interesting shit, but you also get some free wallpaper.
THE
Dimension Softcores: The most basic binding
Pillow Talk #4
Editorial
Goliath Rodeo-Relentless Nas 09
Chris Kamm
Toni Alvarez Interview:SamCookePhotos:AlexMiró///PaulaJane///ColinHoran
Gotthard Pilsner 360 to Krooks For the most part our trick-progression has happened almost in secret. History has been written time and again watched by only a handful of riders with little wide-spread coverage. Hidden in back streets, empty warehouses and in one similarly vacant circus tent in Eastern Europe, major peaks in riding have passed with but a murmur to people on the outside. And good I say, because it was riding for ridings-sake and this will always be the essence of the thing, but Streetboarding is coming of age and like never before deserves more than just a few small ripples on the surface. We need to pounce on every chance to further spread the word on what is possible on these boards. This much was clear to us all. What was also clear is that we sheltered from the rain at the foot of one such an opportunity.
Advert
Max Anderson- F/S Feeble
Gabi Muñoz Double Backflip
Luckily yesterday it had been impossible for that fickle bitch the English summer to curtail the Street Competition. Unhampered by her moods we had descended on the main hall. To rank highly in World Street these days you’ve really got to push your riding on every bit of playground apparatus and the finals had rung-out for the regular band of skatepark aficionados. Vianney Merinville laid the smack down with some raw Parisian power-skating. Gotthard Pilsner spun 360 to Crooks 360 out. Chris Kamm floated about with massive switch and regular spins. Thomas Kienle killed switch-ups on the big rail with a smile on his face and Thomas Trefzer banged out his standard styled rodeos. I wouldn’t have liked to be the one to call it at that point. Then last rider stepped up...If you’ve ever skated with Max Anderson you’d be forgiven for thinking that he’s never chilling when he rides. He’s actually chilling most of the time no matter what he might say. It’s just to him chilling is to stomp any kind of upside-down business like he’s rolling off a curb...and so Mr Anderson dropped in; Wiping sleep from his eye with a flowing 360 and straight air through the rhythm section followed by an effortless rodeo and huge misty-7 leading into a deft front 5 and a disaster 5oh. He then finally put the judge’s decision to bed in inimitable style with a ridiculous pole-jam back flip. He landed in an undoubted first place and we careered into the night on a heady wave of broken boundaries. Many an eye was still not for public-consumption as we gathered under brooding clouds for Big Air the next day. That death-slide looked fun too...I didn’t even have to climb up there to know I wasn’t up for it though. I suppose I could have said I considered myself more of a jungle-gym specialist, but the truth is those kids were way braver than me. People had been finding their feet during the few dry-spells and it was now only determined looks that raced back up the tower and confident faces that appeared on the roll-in. It still didn’t look good for the competition though, the rain had slowed, but the sky and horizon were still grim. We watched people pace up and down mopping in the drizzle.
Cristian Dedeu VandenBerg Back Smith
As it stands, I’m confident any one of us could contact a rider on the other side of the globe whom we’d never met and they’d be happy to go skate with you and offer some floor to sleep on. The Streetboard scene right now is a close-knit band
of worldwide cosmic gypsies with a ceaseless good vibe and boundless energy for the cause. There was an experiment with good vibes conducted in Washington DC once. It was hypothesized that the level of violent crime would drop significantly with the creation of a four-thousand strong group engaged in transcendental meditation for two months. Presumably more than four thousand as they’d need to work in shifts. Obviously there are a lot of variables that could affect the crime levels from humidity to police actions over those two months and these were all taken in to account by the beardies at the helm. The final result was that there had been a 23.3% drop in the number of reported incidents during that period. Now if it’s possible for a bunch of people humming mantras to stop people beating each other to death then surely the Streetboard scene’s annual tribal gathering and its powerful urge to hit this big-ass kicker could will a break in the clouds over Shepton Mallet? Anyway…for whatever reason you want to put on it, lunatic mopping appeasing the rain gods, accrued positive energy or just good luck. When our time-slot was just over half gone and it seemed like it just wasn’t going to happen, for the first time that weekend the clouds broke and the sun blazed down in fine style. The people with the mops got frantic and within a few minutes the ramp was bone dry. The Big Air World Championships were suddenly rolling. I’ve tried and failed to do every piece of giant killing justice in writing. I would of really liked to as well. Each one of those riders stood tall on the edge of our obscurity lashing dirtygreat rocks into the pond and since NASS 2009, I’ve felt the waves in whispers from outside the scene of things witnessed that afternoon. Maybe that’s enough. Its definitely enough from me. Here’s a roll of honour and one last word 3rd - Thomas Kienle - Switch Rodeo to McTwist on the quarter. 2nd - Christian Kamm - Soaring double tweaked rodeo to switch 3 Japan. 1st - Gabi Munoz - Double back flip to rodeo.
Forward
Photo: Paula Jane
“Puta lluvia..!” I couldn’t have agreed more with my Spanish friend as we dodged the fresh downpour. I was out of cigarettes. I was hungry and my feet were wet from shoes sodden through having spent three nights in a soaking field with no fires allowed. The only thing really bothering me at that moment however was our time-slot on the Goliath Ramp slowly trickling away.
Chris Kamm y Now
iew: Ja
Interv
What’s up man? Nothing really, just hanging around at university the last month.. Roll off your sponsors. Highland, Ositos, and I’m in the Neobrain B-team, I think.. Where you at right now? At home in the misleadingly named Ositos headquarters, which is actually the Neobrain headquarters.. What do you do when you’re not riding? I´m still learning for my exams which needs the most time at the moment, but in the foreseeable future it will turn into more skating and party time. I also do a lot of other sports like volleyball, soccer, kiteboarding and ultimate frisbee.. Neobrain has stormed the binding market, what’s in store for the future?
p
o Grup
o’s: Til
/Phot man//
ays sealed
Toni’s lips are alw
You like
to skate
fast yea h? Yes I do , somet imes wh available en t , me reall I ask them to g here is a car e y fast. T he faste t r the be tter. What d oy the scen ou see as the im e needs to grow portant steps ? Good sp onsors f or fuck’s Well, in sa m will nev y opinion the s ke.. er be as treetbo ard scen big as th we have e ee a difficult t the moment, xtreme sports because learning o that str process , but I a f the eet m sure the wor boarding will tak ld right no and it will be a e a place in w. I rea nice sce lly love n I also th this fam e as it is ink that ily. it´s in a to make ll th th Everyon e sport becom e riders’ hands e e has to go out a more popular. enjoy th nd skat e time, e and and peo you can ple will have. P see the eople ar by the s fun ev po of peop rt, I´m always ery impressed le of ev stared a ery age when I’ t by lots m riding I will make the Neobrain business increase at You o . nc the beginning of next year, so that Neobrain at Wo e had a fist figh rlds in 2 t with M 000, ax Maie is available in every streetboard store. After rematch r this yea are we going t that there will be lots more models for each r, a deca o de later see a ? season in different colour and styles. Haha, y e More promodels are planned, but everything believe s we did. I rem e m that yo u remem ber. I can’t needs time. ber this . I don’t What you riding mostly nowadays?
pots, s e e s we ck `em” i k o t t n a “When we just w
Tweaked out Rodeo
Worlds@NASS09
Photo: Joan Perramon
Relentless
There’s so many spots here, what’s your favourite? For me, it’s Sants Estacio. Because all the pro riders go there and we are like a family. The Spanish scene seems pretty sick... Yeah the Spanish scene is doing good. Sergi Nicolas opened two Drop-Inn stores, which means a lot of people know about the sport now. We need this in the whole world you know? How long have you been riding? Since 2003, but had a 2 year break as I was working as a DJ. What kind of music did you play? Máquina music, it’s like hard techno, but with melodies. AKA Toni Montana. Explain… Toni busy cutting rocks Ah, ha ha. Sergi Nicolas and Kai Hammen came up with that name. Because I look after the riders who come here. I show Montana shifting weight them the good skate spots. The good shit you know. What‘s a typical day for Sr. Montana? I love my life now, I can skate lots of hours a day, I have money because I work and I study. I wake, go to class, work then I go to skate, I love skating at night. Are you filming for anything? I’m filming for the new Drop-Inn video, which will be an line video this year and also every time Kai is here for the Barcelona Streetboarder video series. You’re on Addicted now… Si, it’s nice. Kai Hammen is a good friend of mine, he asked me to be on the team after only a year of knowing him. He’s a big influence on my riding, now I like much the manuals Photo: Alex Miró and tech tricks, always filming the tricks so clean. Who else has influenced your riding? “Toni...He’s always down to skate and Apart from Kai, Alex Morton was so important. He killed with more imagination than most” Sergi Nicolas, 2009 everything 2 years ago, he was the best tech trick rider for me. You like your tech tricks? Yeah I skate tech because I got injured a lot of times, that’s why you don’t see me hitting 20 stair handrails. Are you going to start hitting that stuff? Yeah the problem is I need new knees Don’t worry soon you’ll be able to get Pro model knees Ha ha yeah I need that shit. Safe. Any thank-you’s? Red Pen (Jay & Co), Team Addicted , Drop-inn, ERT shop, especially to Kai Hammen, Sergi Nicolas and Sergi Tarre, Flavio, Jofre, David, Eric, Cris, Adri, and especially to my mum, my dad and my sister.
think that we will make a fin al battle one decade la ter. In the mea ntime he moved in the Neobrain head quarters, lived there a long time, we had a good time together and got into lo ts trouble. This is the way it go of es when you live in on e area.I turned from a little kid in 20 00 to a 15 cm bigger guy than Max. Now he started to mak martial arts, bu t we are still go e od friends as we have been th e whole time.
I am mostly skating vert and a nice bowl we got. From time to time also street. I often go downhill skating, we have nice hills and I really like to go super fast. I also learned to control a kite so I started kiteboarding with a streetboard what is super fun.
“I dont
think t
hat l make a final battle a decad e later. ”
What is it you love so much about Streetboarding?
we wil
It´s just the board I love in whatever disciplines. I like each kind of riding, also just for cruising around cause you always feel free when you are riding. That’s why I have a freestyle board and a downhill board for cruising.>> B/S Tweak
Backside Blunt
I’m sure everyo ne out there who loves your skating is dying to kn ow whether we will ever se e your best ri ding, are you ever goin g to film a vide o part? The thing is, th at we go out and don’t care about fil ming. When we see spots, we just want to kick `em, an d if these spots are nice we ask for Tilo to make some shots. W e are trying to find a filmer who w ants to come skating with us.. This is a hi nt to Flo Frie dl who is the best filmer in our area, pl ease Flo come with us to get an Osito s and Neobrain vide o part soon!
What’s up in
Germany?
We see that th e sport is grow ing, the profits ge t higher every year. Thomas Kienle should be a ri ch man, but he al ways wastes his money on drin ks and girls..h a ha. Any last words ? In the middle of 2011 I am go ing to skate arou nd the world for about one ye ar and need so me stops, where it is possible to skate with friends an d hang out, to make party an d stuff.. is ther e anyone who ha s a sleeping pl ace on his couch for a while..? Let me know ! Thank yous? What do you
mean with th
at??