Slow down on the rider owned rant

[.Gerrit]

bumpppp
Yeah, I'm bringing the argument back up.
The reason I don't support non-rider owned companies, is because, it just doesn't feel right.
I ride my scooter, I fucking love riding my scooter, so much I can't even describe it, and I want the people behind my parts to be riders too. I don't want just any scooter rider behind my parts, oh no, I want someone who loves the fuck out of this sport, someone who rides every chance they get. I ride my scooter whenever I can, and I will ride until I literally cannot walk, I will destroy myself, all day trying a trick, and still love standing on my scooter. I will go to the skatepark sunday morning, hungover, puddles everywhere, its cold and shitty out, and theres not a chance of anyone else showing up, knock the water off my shoes and just ride. I try as hard as I can when I'm riding, even when theres no cameras there, nobody to see that cool trick I've been trying for hours, no scooter kids to comment on my video on youtube, but just for the love of it, and thats the kind of person I want behind the parts I ride, and it just doesn't feel right any other way.
/rant

 

[J dub]

^^^^
Someone better respond to that well thought out comment.
Now who's it gonna be?

Doesn't even make sense. Why do you give 2 cents what the owner does? You think his/her passion for riding (btw you can still love the sport without riding in it!!!!) is going to make one iota in difference in how they produce parts? You produce a product to satisfy a need. If there is a need for a stronger part, a businessman sees and recognizes this, and he creates a product to satisfy that need. A businessman knows that the more R&D that is put into a product to make it satisfy the end consumer, the more potential sales he will have because the consumers will be MORE HAPPY WITH THEIR PRODUCT. Thus a 100% businessman with no experience in the scooter industry, can step in, and within a year start a company that could blow away most of the competition. He does this by using RIDERS to gain PROFESSIONAL input on just what to create. This is business 101.

You will have better luck getting quality parts from a guy with $ and experience in business, than some OG scooter guy who decides to take out a loan against his yugo to start making some bars or clamps.

Think Tom from Phoenix or Marcel from Eagle ride a scooter everyday? **** no. But they are 2 of the industry LEADERS because they actually know how to run a business.

 

[Grant Schofield]

I respect a company based on what they've made and the quality they produce. Pheonix IMO is rider owned AND produce top quality. Tom may not ride scooters on the daily but he deffinetly understands the riding environment and the abuse his parts will be put through. He's ridden bmx well before Razor scooters were ever an idea, as well as other sports he's listed. That is more than enough experience to understand what people will be putting phoenix parts through. Not to mention the rider feedback he receives from his team.

On the other hand he also has years of engineering/manufacturing experience and resources to make it happen.

Now i know you all consider RAD as a rider owned company but look at how little I've been able to do in comparison. I make bars. And it has taken ALOT of time and money just to get to the point i am now. I sold T bars for a few years before i even had the money to buy a TIG welder<(to keep up with quality of other companies) and tube bender just so i could make CrowBars. which were an idea years before i was able to make them, it just cost me a lot to get setup in making them myself. And it will take another decade or two before my garage shop has the same capabilities that most big companies in this sport already have.

Just cause it is rider owned doesn't mean it is going to be successful. Obviously rad is less successful than most other companies. But at least were original.

what pisses me off is that after all the time and money i put into being able to make crowbars myself, companies who already start with full manufacturing facilities come in and copy the designs we made popular and offer nothing in return. These companies I do not respect in our sport because they are hurting my company and any other company they steal designs from. MADD copies... lucky pry bars?.. at least karma got lucky in the form of vertX lol how un-lucky..

I think situations like this are what causes the whole rider owned debate in the first place.
If they came in and worked with the originals instead of stealing from them i think both the small rider based companies AND the big oem factories would profit more.

Thing is these companies are manufacturing companies who found some easy money in our sport. They are already setup with advanced machine tools.. most are scooter kids dads who happen to own or work in a shop. Or big china OEM factories.
Companies like RAD TSI and PROTO however started in garages at home and have had to try to build up their own manufacturing facilities which sucks up literally ALL profits. Or they decide to outsource their products to other fabrication shops.

I'm pretty sure tilts a garage company. If not its still legit like tsi proto rad

 

[Hunter Treviranus]

yea tilt is garage company

 

[btyczki21]

Tilt has a warehouse, I've seen pictures....

They are definetly one of the most legit companies right now. I'm running their forks pegs and SCS.

 

[Grant Schofield]

Wel so is proto now I think they started in a garage

 

[BenJelinek]

bumpppp
Yeah, I'm bringing the argument back up.
The reason I don't support non-rider owned companies, is because, it just doesn't feel right.
I ride my scooter, I fucking love riding my scooter, so much I can't even describe it, and I want the people behind my parts to be riders too. I don't want just any scooter rider behind my parts, oh no, I want someone who loves the fuck out of this sport, someone who rides every chance they get. I ride my scooter whenever I can, and I will ride until I literally cannot walk, I will destroy myself, all day trying a trick, and still love standing on my scooter. I will go to the skatepark sunday morning, hungover, puddles everywhere, its cold and shitty out, and theres not a chance of anyone else showing up, knock the water off my shoes and just ride. I try as hard as I can when I'm riding, even when theres no cameras there, nobody to see that cool trick I've been trying for hours, no scooter kids to comment on my video on youtube, but just for the love of it, and thats the kind of person I want behind the parts I ride, and it just doesn't feel right any other way.
/rant

This. Parrish I love thou.

 

[Rob.]

Stupid argument. If a part feels right and costs the right amount, as i've said before, it doesn't matter if it's made by robots, aliens, or scooter riders.

When I think about riding, I think about tricks I want. Not who made my parts. Not anything to do with how they're made either.

 

[coryM]

^ agreed

and i think tilts an awesome company. i just didn't mention them cause they are kinda newer. but they deff got a good amurrican vibe goin on and make high quality stuff and got a kickass team thats what matters.

 

[Joey Wallace]

Parrish is right lol.

I say that if a company makes good parts, and helps the sport, they are a good company.

Ex.

District
TSI
Phoenix
Proto
MGP

I don't think anybody ever notices it but, i see DSA at ALOT of comps too. And they support the scooter scene very well.

 

[DavidBryson]

and anyway, riders may not know the best designs and materials used for parts. someone who has researched extensively would know more. i just buy a part because its good, not because its rider owned.

 

[Jordan Jasa]

yea tilt is garage company

Tilt is much, much more than a garage company. It has some of the hardest working people in the industry today.

And yeah, there is a warehouse where their parts are designed, manufactured, and shipped. And where everything else needed to run the company happens.

 

[Bennett_J]

Buy what works for you, or what is good quality. Don't fuss so much over who owns what. I ride a district deck because IT WORKS FOR ME, I bought a Tilt SCS because tilt routinely puts of quality parts (and as they are newer I felt like it would be better to help them out over proto who has a stronghold on the market, although I did order VIA Freestyle depot/proto because they are also excellent). I don't spend my time worrying about who owns what because it is pointless, if people support quality companies the market will become primarily products of similar caliber. These companies with the high standing in the market will get to the point they are BY listening to the riders.

Instead of uselessly arguing about who you should support, find who makes quality parts and support them. Phoenix isn't the devil, they make products for park riders, and now street riders. Addict caters to the street crowd, and Tilt to both. Support them because they care about the sport, who cares about the owner?

TSI
Tilt
Phoenix
Eagle/district/addict
VertX
ECX (retail)
Inward (retail + parts)
Proto

All are good, the parts are quality. Stop bitching over who owns what.

 

[btyczki21]

thats the point i was trying to get across by bringing up the fact that Addict isnt even technically rider owned but they are rider oriented. but i fucked it all up and it just looked like i was bitching about it, but i think Addict is legit.

i was just tired of everyone hating on companies just because they arent technically owned by a rider.

 

[keons5]

yea tilt is garage company

Haha, I am soo bummed on this comment.

 

[Dom Marconi]

Haha, I am soo bummed on this comment.

Warehouse tour would be sick haha. I love it when companies put out behind the scenes photos/videos.

Anyway, rider owned doesn't mean high quality. I've found that 99% of the time, USA owned/made does equal high quality parts.

 

[TomK]

yea tilt is garage company

Tilt is about as far as you can get from a garage company. They make some of the best, if not the best quality parts in the Scooter Industry. I have never in my life broken ANY Tilt parts. Also, how many companies actually own their own CNC machine and make all their parts in house? To my knowledge, about 1, and that company is Tilt. If Tilt was selling shitty MIG welded T bars, or shitty pegs, then yes, it would be a garage company, but Tilt makes high quality machined parts, not one thing is a low quality "Garage company" part.

 

[Dom Marconi]

If I'm not mistaken, what he meant by "garage company" was that it was started by one rider and his own supplies, without investing like $100,000 in startup costs. Whether that's the case or not, I think that's what he meant.
But yeah, Tilt makes some super nice stuff for sure.

 

[Hunter Treviranus]

uhh yea Doms right i meant it in a good way like tilt started off small and makes some of the best parts now like proto thats why the both have so much respect sorry for the confusion

 

[TomK]

That was my bad man, sorry about that.