Mike Hopkins' Skidsville - Photo And Video Epic

 There's no denying it, that video is going to make every viewer smile!

 Probably the best video I've seen in a while. Totally brought back memories of when we were kids outside playing with our friends. Not stuck inside on some electronic device while life and adventure pass by a lot of kids of this generation. Get out and ride!

 A couple weeks before turning 47, that video hit home on sooooo many levels. Well done, Diamondback!

 I'd like to say that video should be video of the year, no! the decade, no wait! best ever video. I'm 59 and was jumping my plain Jane bike before banana seat were even around.. to cutting trails in the woods for banana seat rippin in 1970 or so.. So FU California, me and my crew invented mountain bike, not some hippie on his 10 speed running from the law in 78.. My biking life is right in that video....love it, WELL PLAYED Diamondback WELL PLAYED PLUS Diamondback V Link was my first mtn bike...

 Riding bikes have started with my sister and my dad. my Sister being the person who thought me how to ride a bike when I came to Germany, and my dad well, he went to the woods with me, to go explore the routes of our surroundings, he is the one who thought me how to shift gears and not step off the bike when it got difficult. and my sister is the person who thought how to keep my feed's spinning, and the rubber side down. it all started with the 2 times falling and standing back up. it all started with my father showing me how to change a tire, how to change brakes, how to fix gears and from there, I took off. it is when I started to drag my Dad back to the bike he once loved to ride with friends in a group where he would maybe not win the climb but catch up on the decent, as he used to tell me. it was then, where he encouraged me to ride a short steep section, it was then where I began to push him and not the other way round. he was there, and the stepping stones of my skills from now. he is far more than just my Dad, and well yes. Quite frankly he had his methods, but so do we all, and I don't blame him for his, after all, I am not as bad as I might sometimes think I am. it all started on the street, running the bike up and down, riding it over the stairs outside our home, it was where I began to make ramps and use old things my dad used to make for us little groomies fighting, laughing, hugging, crying Living. it started with the balance. with losing it, and gaining it again. it started with learning how to fix things that seemed so unfixable. he thought me in some way I can only see nowadays. to keep calm and steady, wait and be ready for when a solution, the option for a solution appears, and to focus on it with hunting eyes for glory. he thought me how to be competitive, and it was me who went from there to who I am now. a supposed to be an ONLY fun trip with friends to a bike park that is not just dangerous once you lose concentration to, a simple another day with the bike and friends. they will have fun, but so will I, perhaps different, but certainly fun as well. behind a serious face under the helmet and behind glasses is a grinning child laughing its ass off full of joy. I remember when that serious face first appeared, it was in a village with my brother and a friend, it was a short circle with narrow paths we used to cycle up and down it, it was tricky and difficult to pass somehow we managed to pass each other, it was when I truly had fun, it was when I learned to bind with my brother and enjoy our time. it was when I was happy without grinning. it was with my brother and a family member who I went for my longest bike ride yet. 50 something Km and coming home to eat some well-deserved fish. it was that evening when I went out to skate and ride my bike as fast as I could as far as I could. and along my path on the bike, I found my self-encountering important people in my life that showed me ways to progress, it is people who support me, showed me, and encouraged me, still after so many years. to push my self and overcome fears. it is those people that are there that support me, and know me, the one person who shows compassion when I cant loose my mind and the person who was always there when I crashed and made so much possible by the far beginning. I remember you all very clearly. and I carry your names deep inside my heart. Thank you, Brother. Thank you, Sister. thank you, Dad. Thank you, Mom. Thanks to you, my friends and known people For making me find my self, and my purpose in life. Racing Bikes. sorry for the Text Bomb.

 K. Fry with the dirtiest of tree taps :O
All round great edit crew!

 Sitting here with a freshly broken leg... maaaaan I can't wait to ride again.

 7 years old staring at the piece of plywood leaned onto a tractor tire. Breathe, you got this, send it.

12 years old staring at your fist real dirt jump, no tabletops, it's a double and that gap looks massive. Breathe, you got this, send it.

16 years old staring at an 8 stair rail. Cement and steel, there is no safe landing for a bail, got to send it. Breathe, you got this, send it.

20 years old staring at the lip of a 12 foot vert. Feels so much bigger now that you're on top. Your homie just got hung up and slammed into the flat. Breathe, you got this, send it.

25 years old, you've had a mountain bike for all of 5 minutes and promptly found something to huck yourself off of. What if I hit that tree? What if I hit that rock? How fast should I hit this? Screw it, breathe, you got this send it.

35 years old, bad shoulders, bad hips, bad knee. Staring at your bike and just smiling, just pedaling this thing is pure joy.

 Totally reminds me of the 70's, my best friend at the time rode his full suspension, yes FULL SUSPENSION, Yamaha bicycle down a bank beside the school gym, over a wooden ramp, and jumped 11 other kids. One kid chickened out, but the gap he took up was still there. My buddy raced dirt bikes at a young age and was an excellent jumper, he just skimmed the last kids belly as he landed, it was an epic tribute to Evel Knievel!

See the same bike here. www.youtube.com/watch?v=ao1e7-BrPTo

 When I was 9-years-old, my father bought a 1989 DB Ascent EX and I remember not being able to wait to be big enough to ride it. Now my 9-year-old looks the same way at my bike. The two-wheeled circle of life is beautiful and this video just put a big smile on my face!

 First bike was an 89 Diamond Back Viper with a Gyro, 5 spoke plastic wheels and white tires. That was a bike...

 This is insane! Diamondback put out some cool content... What a spread!

 thats it. time to bring my ancient Diamondback CB ignitor, the bike that got me into the game, and lets not forget that i thought i was the shit cause my bike model had my initials in it! big ups to diamondback.

 This is DB to me, to this day: bmxultra.com/archive/prosection/interview/pictures/dwbmxa84.jpg

Wasn't called a whip back then, just a kick out but when Harry Leary did them it could only be called a "Leary".

 I was smitten within 10s. Got to the end, read article, looked at credits. Another bloody Secco masterpiece. You, sir, deserve mainstream recognition. Your films never fail to stir something deep inside. Brilliant.

 I'll show you Skidsville! Look at the inside of my underwear

 I remember the Diamondback Sorrento i had about 22 years ago, that baby was sweet! Me and my homie would ride down to the shop all the time and bug the shit out of those guys. We spent all our money on parts, getting the new V-brakes with the anodised aluminium handles, bull horns and Roxshox Indy S fork, those were the days!!!

 I've ridden the alum version. I would have loved to get one but I couldn't find a frame only when I needed a replacement.

also have a mike dominguez freestyle frame, a viper race bike and a tailwhip freestyle frame with the integrated bash guard.

I heard that DB has a corporate partnership program to get employees cheap bikes. Any truth to this?

 I remember me and a couple of buddies doing the dare devil jump like the three kids in the opening scene of the video. Only my buddy came up short and I was the kid on the end when he jumped and landed back wheel right on my stomach. Thank goodness I had a six pack then

 What can incredible video.
To this day my bike is such a huge part of my life and families. Just the other weekend the wife and I biked down to the Chiefton do kareoke....
Was rad not having to worry about getting home.
f*ck ya.
Bikes are awesome
????

 Ever since Dream Ride, I'll click a Hopkins video every time. Awesome as usual.

 That photo of the trees reflected in the pond and flipped upside down is phenomenal

 This video is like a nostalgic look back about my life and biking over the last 30 years. "Because bikes are Awesome."
Amen brotha, amen.

 that was F***ING AWESOME!!!!!!!!

 Way to go Diamondback! Great video and a wonderful trip back to my childhood!

 Got the stranger things vibe at first expect they actually got the bikes right! (It annoyed me that stranger things didn't spend the money on old school ebikes and instead dressed up modern bikes)

 Except in the south we'd make the sound of the dukes of hazzards car horn when we went off the plywood/brick ramp

 One of my first memories was back in 73, living in Japan. Riding an adult road bike where my feet couldn't touch the ground. Doing my Napoleon Dynamite.

 props for diamondback for stepping up the PR game, for sure they gonna get some sales out of it

 Nice concept, reminds me of all the great biking adventures I've had since being a kid.

 One video and diamond back are cool again, Harry Leary cool.

 Wow, great video and story (boy & girl, courtship, marriage + kids that learn to ride on modern DBs). Brilliant! Chills going down memory lane.

 First MTB was a DB Sorrento in 1991
Good to see them getting back to business!

Also Jungle Jim Giro Hammerhead sc for the win

Great vid!

 Showed this video to my kids. They like bikes, but didn't really "get" the magic pictured here. I sure did, though. Love it!

 Yup, loading up my bike to ride now. Well played diamondback

 Great video. Diamondback was my first mountain bike back in 1986. The Apex. Good times.

 In Ngaire Savin's backyard when I was 5. That's not a euphemism either. Mike Hopkins is surely the MAN!

 Damn Sexy!

 Excelent

 stoke is high!!!

 Long story short....yes, all of us maybe not all on DB but lots of good memories in the video, Harry Leary missing. Cheers

 so good!

 Diamondback always have the sickest videos

 Release Carbon? You heard em boys! Coal mining jobs are back. Trump 1. EPA 0.

 Bike ad worth watching again! Thanks!

 Banana seats and ape hangers

 Best bike video I've seen in awhile

 Honestly felt a few tears coming on. I was those kids 20 years ago. Almost exactly what I remember.

 Yep, not far off my life ;-)

 And not a smart phone or a tablet in sight! Ride on!

 Hopkins working his magic!

 Just awesome, this vid captures the essence of why i love so much mountain biking. So in point !

 Very nice!! The first part remember me the Goonies movie (I think tonight I will watch it again). Goodbye all 80s kids.

 Home run Diamondback! Edit is just an awesome rush of memories, emotions and feel good!

 Yeah! That's awesome! I was flooded with memories of my childhood

 And y'all don't even dare act like you're not living in Skidsville also

 back in the day when kids weren't a bunch of social justice warriors and video games were limited to 1 hour until they got boring.... oh and bikes didn't cost the same as a used car.....

 Got I Love Bikes!

 Hell Yeah

 WINNING! Great video and a great looking bike!

 Bikes are awesomeness

 loved that! 10/10

 Well done Diamondback

 epic video. definitely made me smile :]

 Solid commercial

 Bikes are awesome !!!! Nice work guys. Great video

 Taping into the sentimental. Nicely done!

 best commercial ever in bike industry? Maybe... Bikes are just awesome in did.

 Bikes are awesome!! Great video!!

 Keystone Standard Basin trail? Sweet. Great video!

 Absolutely awesome, best vid ever!

 skidrow.

 Yes!

 love this SO MUCH!!!!