Freestyle scootering (also known as scootering or scooter riding) is an
extreme sport
Action sports, adventure sports or extreme sports are activities perceived as involving a high degree of risk. These activities often involve speed, height, a high level of physical exertion and highly specialized gear. Extreme tourism overl ...
that involves using
kick scooter
A kick scooter (also referred to as a push-scooter or scooter) is a human-powered street vehicle with a handlebar, deck, and wheels propelled by a rider pushing off the ground with their leg. Today the most common scooters are made of aluminum, ...
s to perform freestyle tricks. This is done mainly in
skatepark
A skatepark, or skate park, is a purpose-built recreational environment made for skateboarding, BMX, scootering, wheelchairs, and aggressive inline skating. A skatepark may contain half-pipes, handrails, funboxes, vert ramps, stairsets, q ...
s but also in urban environments on obstacles such as stairs, hand rails and curbs. Freestyle scootering gained popularity following the ''Razor craze'' in the early 2000s after the invention of the foldable aluminium scooter by
Micro Mobility Systems
Micro Mobility Systems Ltd, known as Micro, is a Swiss company that produces urban vehicles such as kickscooters and the Microlino, a small electric car which was first presented at the Geneva Motor Show in 2016. In the United States, Micro's ...
in 1999. Since then the construction of pro scooters have progressed immensely, making it a big business with many brands solely focusing on creating trick scooters world wide.
Early years
After the first version of the foldable kick scooter, invented by Swiss banker Wim Ouboter (founder of Micro-Mobility Switzerland), hit the market in 1999, scooters became extremely popular amongst kids worldwide. Micro was the first to produce and sell these scooters. Shortly after, Micro licensed their new invention to JD Sports who would go on to sell the scooter under the name
Razor
A razor is a bladed tool primarily used in the removal of body hair through the act of shaving. Kinds of razors include straight razors, safety razors, disposable razors, and electric razors.
While the razor has been in existence since before t ...
in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
and under the name JD Bug in parts of Europe. The invention of the foldable scooter was made with easy transportation in mind, however, some people with roots in
skateboarding
Skateboarding is an extreme sport, action sport originating in the United States that involves riding and performing tricks using a skateboard, as well as a recreational activity, an art form, an entertainment industry Profession, job, and a ...
and
BMX
BMX, an abbreviation for bicycle motocross or bike motocross, is a cycle sport performed on BMX bikes, either in competitive BMX racing or freestyle BMX, or else in general street or off-road recreation.
History
BMX began during the earl ...
quickly started to realize the potential of using scooters to perform tricks in skateparks.
Razor Scooters were the first company to form a legitimate team of scooter riders, including some of the best riders from the United States in the early 2000s. This team included riders such as Josh Toy, John Radtke and KC Corning.
Videos like Razor Evolution (2000) and the RVM series (Razor Scooters Video Magazine) helped grow the interest in freestyle scootering, as a copy of RVM1 was included in the box with the first Razor A-model scooters. The popularity of the Razor scooter also resulted in the release of the video game
Razor Freestyle Scooter
''Razor Freestyle Scooter'', known as ''Freestyle Scooter'' in Europe, is an extreme sports game released for the PlayStation, Game Boy Color, Dreamcast, Game Boy Advance and Nintendo 64.
Gameplay
Licensed by RazorUSA, a company that makes scoot ...
(2000).
Since the sport's inception in 1999, stunt scooters have significantly evolved. As the sport progresses, businesses and systems have been created to support the growth of the scootering community. An example of an early support system is the ''Scooter Resource'' (SR) forum founded by Andrew Broussard in 2003, which helped grow the scootering community by connecting people interested in scootering across the world. A similar forum for the French scooter community, ''Trotirider,'' was created by Fabian Delos
around the same time. As scootering became more popular, there was a demand for stronger aftermarket parts and for scooter shops to carry those parts.
The first ever scooter competition was held in
Montreux
Montreux (, , ; frp, Montrolx) is a Swiss municipality and town on the shoreline of Lake Geneva at the foot of the Alps. It belongs to the district of Riviera-Pays-d'Enhaut in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland, and has a population of approximat ...
, Switzerland in 2005.
Compression systems
With the introduction of the threadless fork there was a need for a compression system to make it work together with the rest of the scooter. The first iteration that was used is what is known today as the Inverted Compression System (ICS), which featured a long bolt going in through the bottom of the fork reaching up and threading into the star nut at the top of the fork tube. Although being affordable and lightweight, ICS was rather tedious to use as one had to remove the front wheel to make any adjustments to the compression. After realising the short-comings of the ICS, Andrew Broussard sought out to create a new system that was easier to use. He came up with a large clamp that lets you tighten the fork and bars together by a bolt and top cap into the star nut from the top of the fork tube. This allowed for easier adjustments and increased strength. So much so that he named it the Standard Compression System or SCS for short. In later years there has been several additions to the list of compression systems, mostly to reduce weight by not utilising a clamp as large as the SCS. These systems include HIC (Hidden Interal Compression), IHC (Internal Hidden Compression) and the Pytel Compression system.
World championships
In 2012 the first scootering world championships was organized by the International Scooter Association (ISA) (now known as the International Scooter Federation, ISF), won by
Dakota Schuetz
Dakota Schuetz, (born 19 March 1996) also known as Kota, is an American professional freestyle scooter rider. He is the three time world champion in the ISA Scooter Competition (2012, 2013, 2014). In addition to winning several Competition, conte ...
. Since then, the world championships have been held annually, with exception of the year 2020 due to restrictions as a result of the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
. From the year 2019 there has been crowned a winner in three categories: men's park, men's street and women's park (prior to 2019 there was only one category, men's park). The winners are listed below:
Rider of the year
The title Rider of the Year (also known as ROTY) is awarded annually by the online scooter media outlet Trendkill Collective.
The award is given to the scooter rider voted the best or most impactful that year based on things such as the video footage produced, performance in contests/street jams and overall presence and impression. It is the members of the freestyle scooter community themselves that vote for their favorite rider based on a list of scooter riders that is hand picked by the staff at Trendkill at the end of every year. The tradition started in 2019 and is the only award of its kind in the freestyle scootering community. So far all the winners of the ROTY award have been from the United States.
References
See also
*
Ryan Williams
*
Dakota Schuetz
Dakota Schuetz, (born 19 March 1996) also known as Kota, is an American professional freestyle scooter rider. He is the three time world champion in the ISA Scooter Competition (2012, 2013, 2014). In addition to winning several Competition, conte ...
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