James "Jimmy" Couwenberg
37 - married with 3 kids
Melbourne rider - mostly Sundays at Imax.
My favourite all time Australian riders would have to be - Brett (Stumpy) Mason, Grant Cruise, Chris Carver, Lindsay Brown, Nick Watts, Matt Hodgeson, Raiford Stott, new skool Paul Chamberlain, Michael (Frenchy) Husser, Karl Hughes, Koichi (Japanese rider) and all the guys at Imax for staying true too the sport.
I started flatland in 1988 until 1993, then on and off till 2008. The guys who got me started were Grant Cruise, Matt Hodgeson & Raiford Stott. They introduced me to the city square scene and I met a lot of guys: Chris (Tristan) Carver, Brett (Stumpy) Mason and many more. We rode there every Saturday from 11am to late then on Sundays we would go to Nunawading skate ranch where we would get a 2 hour session on a roller skating ring. That was pretty mad times: I met a lot of people there especially Matt Holmes (founder of 2020 magazine), Nick (the legend) Watts who was only 11 years old at the time and his riding at the time was at an American pro level. We would head off to knox bowl after the ranch session, many would tag along including Trevor (the king) King, Dave Scott, Scott Hodgeson, Lindsay Brown and an insane dude called Jason for which for the love of him I can't remember his last name.
My 1st flatland bike was a 88 Haro sport black /chrome, nice bike but I never liked the rear dropouts as they would restrict you from doing certain tricks.
My 2nd was a 88 Haro Master the green /chrome with hp 48's and knee saver bars. I learnt hang 10's on this bike.
My 3rd was a prototype General designed by RL Osborn and made for the Australian freestyle team, it was actually a frame given to Matt Hodgeson (the co founder of Little Black Bike) from Dennis Caddy. I've got some pics so i'll upload them when I hook my scanner to my PC,
My 4th was my babe: an 89 GT Pro Freestyle Tour full chrome. I ended up trading this bike with Nick Watts for a Skyway Street Beat (yes huge mistake).
My 5th was a 93 Haro Master I bought in Adelaide when i visited Kim Fielke (an ex - Adelaide flatlander I met at the skate ranch during a comp).
My 6th was a GT/Dyno from Grant Cruise in 1998. The 1st day I rode this babe I broke my wrist at the Swanston street skate park rofl...
So that was my old skool/mid skool bikes...
I started to ride again in 2008 and started on a Hoffman Rhythm EL2. Was great to just ride again but way too heavy. I then bought a Dragonfly Alex Bender frame and that was a good weight but the TT was too long. I then bought the Sick Child from Mik and it was nice but I wanted back brakes so I ended up buying the Colony Cube from Michael (Frenchy) Husser: the one he won at the D.U.G 2 in Melbourne. That has been an amazing frame to ride & I have bought many Colony products and have come to rely on their quality. I have now bought a Mankind Alive from Troza for which i'm now getting powder coated white and should have that babe up and running soon.
ps: just a brief word to my fellow rider Grant Cruise, without you brudda, my flatland passion wouldn't have as much flavour: props to you bro.
My current set up consists of
Frame - Colony Cube
Forks - Odyssey 08 zero offset
Cranks - Colony 160mm
Sprocket - 25t Snafu
Pedals - Primo plastics
Seat - Colony
Seat post - Thomson 330
Headset - Colony internal
Bottom bracket - Colony
Headstem - Quamen Macross 26mm
Handlebars - Suelo v2 170
Grips - Eclat with Odyssey barends
Rims - front Gsport rim with latest Fly hub
Rear: Gsport with giesha light 9t
Tyres - Odyssey plyte foldables 1.75
Pegs - front Fly
Rear - Colony one ways
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