Are you guys stupid? He wears pads because of all the stuff he does. Go find me a rider who is willing to do a footplant frontflip into a quarter without wearing a helmet.
I wasn't keen on him like 2 years ago but when you've rode with him you'll realise how into the sport he is (which is fine) and how stupidly good he is.
I'm pretty sure Kota has easily as many merits to flatland as Noah Risser. (They're both awesome anyway)
"I" thought I'd be able to own him on flat, and when I actually did have a flat sesh with him, I had about 3 measly tricks on him- Bar to tailwhip (which he could probably do if he wasn't riding 20.5 wide Rad crows) Whip front scooterflip (again, with the width) and Whip to fingerwhip.
He had about a dozen flat tricks on me- 360 Bri to whip, Triples and Fakie Triples EVERY shot, 720s and Whip Rewinds (which surprised me). He even matched my MacWhip hahaha (I was kinda stunned but oh well haha)
The kid is unreal.