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Maxime Bouzid: Flavor edit

A young man with brown hair, glasses, black t-shirt and camo pants charges towards the steep side of a small park bridge. Resolute, he forces his scooter upwards the side and makes a wallride on the top beam of the small concrete bridge. He lands safely back on the ground.

The young rider's name is Maxime Bouzid, and the sick wall ride on the bridge is a part of his new edit for Flavor. We’re only in January, but this video might already be one of the best scooter videos you’ll see this year.

We talked to Maxime about how he gets the inspiration to keep pushing the boundaries, and how important "finding the right spot" is when you’re doing an edit.

Look to the community and beyond

The wall ride on the concrete bridge mentioned above is only one of many sweet lines that takes place in Maxime's new edit, but what inspires him, and how does he get his ideas? According to himself, it’s all about what you can learn from others.

“As a beginner, I only looked at scooter videos. I still do, but nowadays I get a lot of my inspiration from BMX and snowboarding videos. They’re good at finding spots, which we would never think about. The wall ride on the tunnel was inspired by a BMX video”, says Maxime.

He points out that another important factor in finding inspiration to do the perfect run is talking to his friends and fellow riders.

“When you’re out on the spot you only think about the trick you planned to do. In the video, I’m riding a big metal structure. I started out with only doing a Toboggan, but my friends said, that I also should do a manual followed up by a grind. It was a crazy idea, but it’s was worth it”, he states.

Spots - The star of any edit

Photo by: Mathieu Demichel.
The Flavor edit features a lot of awesome spots in and around the capital of France from The Louvre to the suburbs of Paris. No matter where Maxime is, he’s using the city's walls, curbs, stairs and rails to perform his sick lines, and to him, it's always the spot that plays the lead role in his edit.

“To me, the tricks aren’t the most important part. Everybody can do a lot of barspins or 360s if they practice. To me, it’s not about doing the craziest line possible. I’m more into doing a few clean tricks on a challenging and awesome spot”, he says.

Since the spots play such a vital role to Maxime and his friends, they're always on a treasure hunt for new places to ride in and around Paris.

“When I have a night off I take my car and cruise through the suburbs looking for new spots with my friends. It’s the best feeling when you find a good one. We take pictures of it so that we can prepare, and then we come back to skate it a few days later” Maxime states.

Putting the gear to the test

Photo by: Mathieu Demichel.

There’s no doubt about that Maxime's scooter takes a lot of beatings and this is also the case in the new Flavor edit. But how does his style of riding affect the parts he has chosen for his scooter?

“An important thing to me is the bar. I’m a tall guy, so I want a bar where I don’t have to bend forward too much. It’s important because if you ride as much as I do, you’ll get back pain if you bend over all day long”, he says.

Unlike many other pro riders, Maxime prefers an SCS clamp. He points out that it has several advantages compared to other kinds of clamps.

“I use the Flavor SCS clamp. It holds up well and is super light. Furthermore, I personally feel that it gives me some flex to the bar, which I like", he says.

You might also wanna read: Buying scooter compression

Looking at the video, you can see that Maxime puts his gear to the test, and one of the parts that get pressured the most is the deck. So how does he choose a deck that’s up to the task of getting exposed to so much stress?

“I need a long deck, this gives me space for my feet. I also want a stiff deck. I don’t like a deck with too much flex. I'm into doing big gaps, so I want a deck that gives stability and holds up. I use the Flavor Jasper Russell Dennis V2 Pro deck. It’s a versatile deck for both park and street. It’s light and not too flexy, and it's durable”, Maxime states.

Want to ride Flavor like Maxime does? Check out our selection of Flavor parts here.

Photo by: Mathieu Demichel.