Origins
Mass-produced metal-framed scooters with pneumatic tyres were mass-produced by companies such as Radio Flyer and BMX and in widespread use by children until being eclipsed by the rise of the affordable higher status push bike and skateboard through the 1970s and early 1980s. The heavy and inflexible design and construction of such earlier scooters generally precluded the performance of tricks. In the 1990s, Gino Tsai with the Micro Mobility Systems and the JDBUG manufactured the first modern scooter. It was first distributed by The Sharper Image in 1999 and became popular in 2000. Razor USA was then founded in California,and quickly began to distribute Razor scooters as their own products. The company took off, quickly producing a lot of stylish and higher quality products. The first sponsored team was created in the same year, and released their first video titled "Razor Evolution." the scooter revolution began to get popular but then there was a noticeable decline in popularity of scootering in late 2001. Some riders continued and the sport began to grow again with a different image. One first major scooter competitions, SD1, was held in San Diego in 2006 and continues to one of the biggest scooter related events and competitions to date. After 2006, the most notable change was the physical evolution of the scooter. TSI Scooters was known to be the first company to produce the "One Piece Deck." This meant that the folding mechanism was replaced with a solid metal headtube which is usually welded directly to the deck of the scooter. From then until now, scooter companies continue to innovate with new techniques that make scooter parts lighter, stronger and better suited for the rider. The level at which professional scooter riders ride at is also constantly being raised in both skatepark and street riding. A "Maturation of Scootering" is currently taking place with more innovative parts and riding, as well a bigger and stronger community to back it up.
Terrain
Park
Kick scooters, due to their construction, can use most structures, or any structure that bikes or skateboards use,including rails, boxes and even vertical ramps that one would usually find in a skate park. Many riders enjoy riding 'flyout' to learn new tricks. Riders then take these tricks to different obstacles throughout the skatepark such as quarters, flyboxes, spines, rails, stairsets, ledges, hubbas, A-frames, banks and eurogaps. Some scooterers are notable for having more of a park style. Dakota "Kota" Schuetz is the current, unbeaten, three Time World Champion and the winningest rider in the sport. Some of the most talented park riders are Ryan Williams, Max Peters, Brendon Smith,Dylan Morrison,Vincent Kudrna, and Clayton Lindley. Many advanced tricks usually performed in a park setting include briflips, kickless rewinds, and flips. Anyone who scooters doesn't strictly ride street or park, but some riders find park riding more enjoyable than street riding.
Street
Inner city riders use structures such as stairs, ledges, hubbas, handrails, speedbumps, and gaps. Some street riders tend to get technical with tricks while others focus on sliding down large stair sets and handrails. Some of the most notable professionals who ride street currently are Matt McKeen, Erik Feenstra, Robert Mcmoran, Josh Young, Tom Kvilhaug, Jon Archer, Greg Cohen, Logan Fuller, Chema Cardenas, Jack Dona, Issac Miller, Zig Short, Cory Van Lew, Zack Martin, Elliott Arnold and many others. Streets are a versatile location to ride because they give the riders interesting obstacles to perform tricks on such as gap jumps, rail slides, combinations and lines that they would not normally do in a vertically styled skatepark. Whilst street riding, most scooter riders focus on cleanliness of tricks, or how easy it looks for a rider to do them. Street scooterers also focus on their style or original way of doing tricks. From late 2013 to present, there has a been a notable push for more people to ride ‘street’, much like skateboarding in the 90's. People still love riding skateparks for fun with their friends, but many scooterers ride street when they want to film a video part.
Flatland
The ‘flatland’ genre of freestyle scooter riding takes place on flat surfaces such as parking lots, driveways, or tennis/basketball courts. Flatland riders prefer to link smaller tricks up in "combos", or combinations, such as barspins, tailwhips, manuals, hang fives, fakies, scooter fakies, sliders, and more.
Dirt
Dirt Scootering is becoming increasingly popular. Many companies are releasing a model of scooter equipped for use on dirt jumps. These dirt scooters feature inflatable tires and intertubes much like BMX bikes.
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