May 26, 2004
Eindhoven, the Netherlands.

After I graduated my good friend Ralph asked me if I could help hem to design a frame, which would be his graduating project for his study at the Design Academy in Eindhoven. We combined the mechanical engineering with design and came up with a few ideas. His graduating is due within two weeks. Our products, team, site etc. were planned to be released after his graduation.

Three dimensional models were made, adapted, discussed and so on. We used the help of our mutual friend Ivo Janssen to calculate the tool paths for the multiple shapes and Ralph’s good friend Daan already did work on the website and on numerous designs. Everybody worked for free and things were coming together. Companies were contacted to help us build prototypes and I mean I have the actual folder on my desk, which provides the necessary information on starting a company.

I had asked Adil Farhouni over a year ago if he would test our frames when there were prototypes available. When Ralph called him he was enthusiastic and is officially on our test-team. We also have asked Edwin Wieringh to test for us and he immediately agreed to do that work for us. We also have a third skater to test our products, but we couldn’t reach him on the phone right now so we can’t preset him in this message.

Everything went well until a photo from Epoch’s design went public today. Our jaws dropped to the floor when we saw their designs. It is so similar to our frame design, which we worked on for such a long time. Therefore I would like to present our ideas to everyone.

The reason I tell you this all, is that you can imagine yourself a little what we feel right now. We are presenting our designs now in an early fase. Maybe not everyone will call us a copycat now, a name we definitely would have had if we would have presented our product upon finishing. The actual finishing of the products will take some testing, adapting and redesigning, so please give us some time to come with a product free of child diseases.

Instead of bitching on Epoch I give them Credit. They are pushing the sport and its limits. Unfortunately you will see that our design is closer than one could possible imagine. First I thought our design slipped somehow. Chances are not likely, I am, however, curious where their main design take place.

Hope all of you understand and give us a chance to make this happening,

Yours sincerely,

MSc. M.G. Gerth

it's a metal frame. you put your wheels onto it, then the plastic stuff is like a skin that slips over the frame. this way your axels don't grind down anymore, and they replace half assed solutions like the grind walls on the 50/50 balance frames (they grind off in like 2 mins anyway...and aren't replacable...the prototype hasn't got them yet but the final product will). the idea behind the frame is that you just by the slip on shields, so that the frame itself lasts virtually forever. you don't need to buy bolts anymore (that get worn down), or the metal frame, or the hblock...or grindwalls (aka salomon)...you just buy replacement slip on shields.

-because of this, they will be able to release many types of 'skins' to make this the ultimate in customisable frames....different colors, with different types of grind walls, with different types of hblocks....made from different types of materials (i.e. diamond, regular etc.)

-the metal skeleton makes it strong as hell. they've had guy's testing the same frames for over 12 months, and after replacing over 10 skins not a single one has bent or cracked.

-that is a prototype frame, the groove isn't going to be that big for the final one.

-because the metal on the top shows, and the camera angle, it makes it look higher than it actually is. it's just as low as any other frame. also the slip on cover / plastic shield comes down a bit further to the ground...for cess sliding (minimizes chances of getting flat spots). this almost makes it look taller than it actually is. but again, it's not...

-rumors are going around that it is going to be called 'face' frames...but that's not true. the current name is THD frames (tom hyser design?), however that might change closer to release.

-tom hyser, if you dont know, is the guy that invented and owned fiziks

-there is no suspension system inside of it.

-the split might even be bigger for the final frame. expect just a tiny, tiny gap between the 1st and 2nd, and 3rd and 4th wheels. his goal with this is to bring back flat skating with a vengence.

-rumours are that hyper has teamed up with tom to make this frame. so it might come out under the name 'hyper' (the wheel company). this will help him get extra funding, production resources, marketing and distribution capabilities... because apparently he lost a lot of money when fiziks went down and he needs a business partner to make this happen.

-they want to release it in 2004 however there's a chance it might end up being 2005