what you on about?In our world, the pro riders are often what inspires us the most as well as riding with our friends. When you see how smooth a pro rider can throw down that nollie tres flip or bust an incredible pillow line on film it inspires you to get out, jump on the board or bike and try to whip it over the double or power through the corners.
We are huge fans of signature models of footwear and clothing here at urban summits, more often than not the riders personality comes through in their pro models, so why not find out a little bit about the guys and girls who's gear we like to have in the store?
Travis Pastrana | Rob Dyrdek | Jeremy 'Twitch' Stenberg | Andrew Reynolds
| Daewon Song | Ken Block | Dave Mirra | Chase Hawk
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Travis Pastrana 
When it comes to actionsports in general, Travis Pastrana is pretty much the poster boy of our generation. Travis started out racing in motocross and was a natural straight away. He was the AMA 125cc National MX Champion in 2000 and AMA East Coast 125cc Supercross champion the year after also representing the US in the MX des Nations. Roger De Costa of Suzuki was instrumental in Travis' success and TP has ridden for Suzuki all his professional career. Travis never really lived up to his full potential as an MX racer though, preferring to throw down tricks during his races and often throwing away the win and injuring himself in his constant bid to one-up himself.
This however led to a completely different turn to his professional career as Freestyle Motocross (FMX) was starting to become a huge force. He appeared at the tender age of 15 in one of the infamous Crusty Demon's of Dirt videos. He is regularly voted the greatest FMX rider of all time and has invented a huge amount of the tricks you see in todays FMX competitions. He started riding FMX since the inception of the eveNt in the X Games and won the gold in the first three outings, at his first appearance, he was only 15 years old. Overall he has won six FMX gold and one silver medal at X Games and countless other competitions over his career. He has also won gold, silver and bronze at the X Games best trick event, his gold for becoming the first MX rider to ever land a double backflip in competition.
Travis however, never being one to rest on his laurels, after the retirement as a professional FMX rider he has subsequently gone on to become a force in the world of rally driving. Driving for Subaru USA and subsequently winning four American titles as well as winning two golds at the Rally X event in the X Games. Travis continues to push boundaries in his rally car and on the 31st of December 2009 leapt his car into the record books by hitting a ridiculous 269 feet ramp to ramp across Long Beach Harbour to land on a specially made barge for the jump.
TP still rides a lot of mx and fmx though in his much applauded television career in Nitro Circus along with mainstays Jolene Van Vugt, Andy Bell, Erik Roner and Jim DeChamp. Created by the force behind Jackass and Rob and Big Black. The show sees Travis and the crew travelling the world hitting some crazy jumps and having some of the most fun we've seen in some of the coolest places. Travis recently landed his newest trick to add to the already overflowing bag when he landed the TP7. (backflip with 360 degree spin) on film, a huge success after bailing at the X Games when he made a return to try to stick the trick.
see all our current Travis Pastrana products.
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Rob Dyrdek 
Rob Dyrdek is a living legend in the skate scene. He is known as many things to many people, first and foremost as a super tech street skater, reality TV star, film maker, all round funnyman, entrepreneur extraordinaire, one hit wonder R n' B sensation and who knows what else in the future. Rob has been a long time mainstay in both the DC Shoes skate team and as a pro on Alien Workshop since it's inception, he has amassed a ridiculous amount of signature boards on AWS and has 14 pro model shoes to date and a new Rob Dyrdek clothing and accessory line from DC Shoes.
Although Rob has been a well known and well loved skate pro for many years, more recently his appeal has been recognised by many more as he has become the star of first 'Rob and Big' and subsequently 'Rob Dyrdek's Fantasy Factory', both reality TV shows following the daily, somewhat haphazard, adventures and goings-on in Rob and his friend's and family's lives. Over the two shows we have seen him win a horse race, jump Ken Block's rally car, attempt to time travel, break a stonking 21 skateboard based Guiness World Records in a single day, fail to become the cover star for a nutritious cereal, install a zip line in the Fantasy Factory warehouse, take 8th place at a mini horse competition and loads more to boot.
Behind the funny man exterior however lies a true business genious. Rob owns both Rogue Status and DTA (Don't Trust Anyone) clothing companies along with Blink 182 and Famous Stars and Straps stalwart Travis Barker. Rob also owns both Silver Truck company and Reflex Bearings. Rob has also written and starred in a feature film revolving around a true interpretation of the life of street skaters starring Terry Kenedy, Paul 'P-Rod' Rodriguez and Ryan Sheckler along with Rob. Rob has also released a toy line called Wild Grinders, invested in restauraunts, hotels and helped out friends DJ Greyboy and DJ Truly Odd relaunch the seventies BMX craze of sidehack (think BMX with sidecar) in the form of Impakt Sidehacks and is instrumental in his cousin Drama's clothing label Young and Reckless and record label Drama Beats. Rob has also recently launched the ISX (Instant Scoring Experience) scoring and judging system to bring more of a buzz back to street skating competitions and is putting it to use in his Street League competition series.
Rob Dyrdek is not just an entrepreneur but also helps to give back to the skating community that helped make him who he is today. He founded the Rob Dyrdek/DC Shoes Skate Plaza Foundation and made an awesome skate plaza in his hometown of Kettering, Ohio and on to build more plazas in Shreveport, Louisiana, Sunland Park, New Mexico, and Santiago, Chile. He has since launched the Safe Spot Skate Spot initiative to create concrete, true to life, street skate parks in Los Angeles, the city he lives in and the first has been created in LaFayette park.
see all our current Rob Dyrdek products.
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Jeremy 'Twitch' Stenberg 
Jeremy Stenberg or 'twitch' as he is more commonly known is one of the most inspiring freestyle motocross riders on the professional circuit today. Initially known as one of the wildest and most out of control riders on the infamous Metal Mulisha squad when he wasn't on the bike. Twitch has mellowed a bit now that he is a little bit older and a dad but still shows glimpses of the wild man but most importantly as soon as he puts the helmet on and kick starts the bike gets his game fae on. Consistancy is one of Twitch's strong points, you hardly ever see him put out a poor run in FMX competitions.
Twitch was diagnosed with tourette's syndrome at a very young age and had a difficult time dealing with it, from this he gained his nickname 'Twitch'. If you watch him in competition he twitches his head often in the run up to jumps. His dad put him on a motocross bike as a way to try to get him to focus his attention on something completely different. It would appear it done him the world of good. After claiming several X Fighters rounds he has yet to clinch the title but always comes near, he has also claimed several medals in the X Games including 2 golds in best trick. He has been Vans Triple Crown FMX champion on two occasions and 2008 seen him claim the FMX World Championship title.
Although Twitch has still to hit middle age he is maturing in the FMX world and has started to look at what he wants to do after FMX. In recent years Jeremy has put out the story of his life on DVD in the form of 'Hoodrich' and has recently started racing trophy trucks along with Metal Mulisha team mate Brian Deegan. Twitch remains a mainstay on the FMX circuit and his straight up style and balls out tricks make him a real favoutite among fans.
see all our current Twitch products.
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Andrew Reynolds 
Effectively the godfather of modern street skating, Andrew Reynolds fits the model of successful pro skater turned entrepreneur very well indeed. Being the founder of Baker Skateboards along with clothing company Altamont. Regularly named as one of the most influential street skaters of all time bu both fans and the industry alike. Andrew is hugely well respected for his massive gaps and stairsets. Originally turning pro in '95 with the birdhouse team, Drew used to regularly win and highly place in competititions in his native Florida and the world famous Skate Park of Tampa. Now exclusively a photo and video rider, he tends to keep away from th competitions he dominated in previous years. Emerica became a long term home for Andrew and he has had quite simply an incredible number of pro model shoes, not only do they look super clean and nod more than a little to Drew's love of diamonds (think diamonte studded lace holes) but prove to be some of the best skate shoes we have worn.
Drew moved himself to the skate mecca of California and proved a catalyst to become one of the pure street skaters of our generation, winning the prestigious Thrasher Skater of The Year (SOTY) award in 1998, he was not only just throwing down monster technical tricks over huge sets but became a hardcore party goer, tearing up the nightlife with the likes of Erik Ellington, Jim Greco and Ali Boulala and the infamous Piss Drunks. These days Andrew is a family man and living clean and sober, his ability to blow your mind with crazy technical trickery over some of the gnarliest sets and gaps is in no way diminishing and we look forward to seeing Drew's newest Emerica creations and street mastery in the future.
see all our current Andrew Reynolds products.
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Daewon Song 
Daewon Song is one of the most impressive street and mini ramp skaters ever seen. Along with Almost team mate Chris Haslam is responsible for pushing the standard of mini ramp riding in particular to a ridiculous level, anyone having watched 'Cheese and Crackers' can agree with that. Daewon was born and grew up in the skate mecca of California and after learning his trade quickly became a member of the World Industries team, securing his first video part at the age of seventeen.
Daewon stayed with World Industries for nine years before starting his own deck company, deca. After three years however the brand folded due to lack of growth. This didn't put daewon down though and he started Almost skateboards with Rodney Mullen shortly after. Both Rodney and Daewon are considered among the upper echelons of street skating's family, the amazing 'Daewon vs. Rodney' in the Almost Round 3 video shows their simply ridiculous skills. Daewon was awarded the prestigious Thrasher Skater Of The Year (SOTY) in 2006 and still kills it on every video and photo shoot we have ever seen.
Daewon has long been a team member of the DVS team as well and with DVS co-founder Tim Gavin started Matix clothing in 1998, designed to be a skate based brand making clothes to last. Fellow SOTY Marc Johnson also has a signature line on Matix, Daewon and Tim embraced the snowboard and surf cultures as well and Matix sponsor many of the top pro's in both sports including Andreas Wiig and Gabe Kling.
see all our current Daewon Song products.
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Ken Block 
Ken Block is a huge name in the action sports world, he is the founder and owner of DC Shoes as well as possibly one of the most exciting and entertaining stunt drivers today. Ken has a massive following in the automotive world for his astounding Gymkhana videos as well as his crazy car jumps and in fact held the distance record in a rally car until fellow DC Rally Driver and action sports super-hero Travis Pastrana took it from him on new year 2010.
Ken shot to worldwide fame outwith the actionsports community when he created the Gymkhana videos, appealing to a worldwide audience of petrolheads and appeared on TV programmes the world over. Ken switched from long term sponsors Subaru to the new Monster Energy / DC / Ford World Rally Team in early 2010.
see all our current Ken Block products.
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Dave Mirra 
Dave Mirra is one of the emerging breed of Action Sports all-stars, Mirra, a name long known in BMX has made the move to rally as well of late and features in the Subaru USA rally team along with Pastrana. Previously Ken Block was in this team also before early 2010 saw a move to the world stage and another team. Dave remains one of the most impressive competitive riders to this day along with the likes of Hoffman, DMC and Ryan Nyquist. Dubbed the 'Miracle Boy' early on in his pro career for his ability to perform the most amazing tricks before anyone else had really even concieved them. Dave holds an astounding 20 X-Games medals to date in both BMX and Rally.
Dave remains at the forefront of the BMX scene whilst also competing in the Group-N category of the Rally of America series.
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Chase Hawk 
Chase Hawk is a professional BMX rider based out of the United States. He was born in Austin, TX in 1989. Chase Hawk participates in both park and street BMX competitions. Chase is widely regarded as an underground BMX rider and has not been in a great amount of events but is still considered one of the better riders of the day, testamount to that is his numerous video appearances, every time we see a new part of him it's scary how big he can go and he still doesn't ride brakes. Due to his age, Chase holds a great appeal to the younger up and coming riders and he never disappoints by saying hello and signing autographs for the kids. A real grounded pro!
Chase has been on Fox clothing for quite a while now and we're starting to see more and more Chase Hawk inspired signature pieces come out as he continues to grow in reputation and style.
see all our current Chase Hawk products.
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