Tom Hyser was born into the Quad culture of the rinks around Atlanta and went from rink rat to skate rat. His family’s move to the Midwest was life-changing—He first discovered inline skating there. Tom is an original X Gamer, a product visionary whose designs have sold millions of units, an internet pioneer, and through it all he’s lived the struggle of being an inline skater. On the show, we talk about the love of skate, the hate received for it, and everything in between. The podcast ends with a laugh out loud “Inappropriate Questions” segment with Andy Kruse. Photos: Hyser Archives.

Check the podcast on Libsyn | Itunes | Thepowellmovement.com.

TIMECODES: 4:00: Covid travel, skateboarding, and Wisconsin 17:00: Jamie Thomas, skateboard hate, and incidents 21:45: The decline of inline, growing up outside of Atlanta, roller skating, and wrestling year-round 26:00: Getting sponsored, high school, qualifying for the pro tour, and college 33:00: Hoax 2, blowing his knee at the first X Games, and going in house at K2 41:00: Peter Glenn Ski and Sports: 43:45: The Fatty, crazy opportunities, no rules, going to Korea and recalls 51:00: The end of K2, Skatepile, Fiziks, and the scary future 61:00: Rollerblade and business is booming 65:00: Inappropriate Questions with Andy Kruse

Master of Delusion, the one and only Fiziks Team Video. Produced by Misled Media & Fiziks, directed by Tom Hyser, edited by Doug Urquhart. Motion graphics by Frankie Loscavio and Jeremy Stephenson.

Music: Cyne - Steady.

Master of Delusion Full Video - PLAY: Vimeo | Youtube.

Featuring Colin Kelso, Billy O’Neill, Dominic Sagona, John Starr, Robert Guerrero, Julian Bah, Scott & Kevin Raser, Eric Schrijn, Dre Powell, Will Gordon and Walt Austin.

Tom Hyser is a product designer, Marketing manager and team manager of Rollerblade Inline Skates Brand. In this Skate Talk you’ll get to know a bit more about the man behind brands like K2 skates, Skatepile, Fiziks frames, Epoch frames AND Rollerblade. Hope you enjoy the 107 minute talk with one of the most influential skating individuals in 2017. - Ricardo Lino.

Content

• 01:25 - rollerblading or inline skating?
• 02:05 - Who’s Tom Hyser? For how long have you been skating?
• 08:30 - How did you got into K2 Skates ? K2 Fatty’s ?
• 11:19 - getting payed 5K per month to skate at 22
• 17:50 - How did Skatepile started and why it ended
• 19:41 - FIZIKS frames problem
• 24:50 - What happened to Epoch Frames?
• 27:50 - Ford or Rollerblade?
• 30:20 - Rollerblade First Big Wheels UFS frames
• 31:05 - Your first opportunity to make an hard boot skate
• 33:00 - Skate brands trying something new.
• 34:50 - blank WARLOCK concept skate
• 37:20 - Richie Eisler 125 skates idea made by ROCES
• 38:50 - “If we keep fighting instead of supporting each other..”
• 40:55 - What do you think of the whole big wheel thing?
• 43:45 - Did k2 had Roller Skates?
• 47:45 - Tim Robot from backjack project tour with VANS
• 49:20 - They avoid skating when they get famous
• 50:33 - Some aggressive skaters should be doing freeskate promo videos
• 52:05 - Just look at it as someone who doesn’t skate
• 55:14 - Greg Mirzoyan
• 57:56 - I wanted to modify Sven frames for FISE
• 59:19 - Skaters need to understand why rollerblade lost their BEST TEAM.
• 1:02:22 - Andy Kruse was on a whole different level of creativity
• 1:04:10 - what do you think of skate competitions?
• 1:05:02 - what do you think about Winterclash?
• 1:06:20 - Pro with the a Bad attitude
• 1:10:10 - You can be a really good skater without challenging life
• 1:12:35 - Is there any skater getting payed 1500 US dollars Right now?
• 1:14:00 - When is skating coming back, and what do we need to do for that to happen?
• 1:21:07 - the FIRS Skating Marathon World Championships.
• 1:23:50 - Rollerblade Team
• 1:26:50 - A Big Group of cool dudes used to make fun of David Sizemore
• 1:27:30 - David Sizemore on VALO
• 1:29:00 - New Rollerblade Skates?
• 1:35:26 - Rollerblade 2017 Video Projects
• 1:36:40 - What happened with Matthias Ogger?
• 1:40:30 - Who was the best skater you ever worked with?
• 1:42:20 - What is your favourite skate product on the market right now?

At Rollerblade, we only work with the best people in the sport. Either they have an outstanding background knowledge of the industry or they are professionals with a history in the sport.

Some, like Tom Hyser, have both. Tom is an OG from the early 1990s, and, together with a handful of skaters, brought street skating where it is today. Tom visited Winterclash in Eindhoven in February and we had a chat about his role with Rollerblade.

Please enjoy: Inside the Brand with Tom Hyser: Product Marketing Manager – USA.

Interview on Rollerblade.com

Can you reveal to us, who is the originator of the Warlock skate?

I had the basic idea for this skate. My good friend, Kyle Sola, is a very talented 3D designer and skater. He and I have always talked about crazy skate design ideas. As of last year, Kyle is part of the innovation team at Rollerblade. He also works in the design world for a few different brands that have nothing to do with skating.

This work experience gives him access to the new wave of design processes. We got to talking about a concept skate that I’ve had in my mind for a long time. I skated Xsjado skates for about 3 years prior to my employment with Rollerblade. I really liked the skate, but always felt it was too wide, unsupportive, and aesthetically unappealing.

Kyle and I both like to speed skate and skate marathons, so we’ve spent time in high end race skates. Once you skate a heat moldable race skate, you realize how a skate should fit and react. I test all of the skates Rollerblade makes. I am also lucky to be able to purchase just about every skate that every other brand makes to test as well.

I have all these skates in my head, and this influences what I want out of a great skate product. Kyle also tests a lot of different skates and ideas. Together we are making some magic with our skate designs and innovations. I’m blessed to have the opportunity to work with Kyle. Our collaborative ideas are always progressing. […]

Tom Hyser – Full Interview on Fsknews.pl.
Polish language, scroll a bit for the english version.