Consign To Skate Comes Through!

Marc of Marc's Board Shop and Consign To Skate came through with this set of Accel Budget Series Rock and Rollers. The wheels appear to have been ridden one time and are in excellent condition. I have been searching high and low for a set of these to replace the ones I've been riding for three years! 60mm 85a, but they ride like a 90a, soft enough for rough concrete but hard enough to slide for days. Thanks Marc and Consign To Skate!

SSD Sac Lifer Ricky Winsor

Limited to only 50 decks! Order now at Assault Skates!

Gold Ricky Winsor From Assault

Limited editon GOLD Ricky Winsor Sacramento Skate Damage SSD Dead Point Chop Tail. Order now from Assault Skates before they are all gone!

Mark Heintzman Limited Edition From Assault

Only 50 made, order now at Assault Skates! Limited run of royal blue Mark Heintzman big ketchup deck.

Saturday's Slab

Last stop before home during Saturday's skate outing.

Saturday's Slappy

Four separate DIY 10 second timer shots that flow together.




Assault Skates 8.5 Pointer deck available here!

Gratitude

Thanks to my friends at Big Skate Rollin' for the gifts I received in the mail yesterday. Much appreciated!

Tuan Nguyen Sims Skateboards

A true O.G. and all around great guy, Tuan is back on Sims Skateboards with the emergence of the new Sims team. Congratulations homie! Tuan put the buzz in my ear last week but I had to keep quiet until now. Stoked for my friend!

Best Deal On Wheels

Powell G Bones 64mm 97a blems available at Marc's Board Shop. If I had the money... These are brand new slightly blemished wheels for an unbelievable price.

Consign To Skate

"We love used skateboards." Check them out, Consign To Skate will sell your used skate goods so you can bank on them and buy new stuff. A great place to pick up very inexpensive used hard goods too.

Assault Limited Edition Decks Coming!

Just received word that Assault Skates will be producing limited edition gold Ricky Winsor SSD decks in the not too distant future!

The Assault Mark Heintzman will be released in a limited edition flat royal blue colorway as well!

Austin "Chucky" Fiegi Assault Rider

Street Survival

An oldie but goodie featuring Bill Danforth and others. Yeah, yeah, yeah, he pushes "mongo". Get over it already.

Frontside Slappy As Religion

I and I style with Jef Hartsel, from Rubbish Heap.

Confusion In The Marketplace

Wheel shopping can make your head spin. I know what I like, that's the easy part (58mm or 60mm). The difficult part is deciding which wheels to spend your hard earned money on. Today, I look at five choices of urethane for the next deck I'm setting up.
Powell-Peralta Re-Issue Rat Bones. 60mm 90a. Not too hard, not too soft. I've ridden this wheel in both 97a and 85a and feel that the 90a would probably be the perfect durometer for park and street. The only drawback is that these wheels do not feature a center set bearing which I have grown to like recently. Also, with the width of the Rat Bones comes added weight. Can't win them all.

OJ Wheels Power Riders, 60mm 101a. I received a set of these directly from NHS. I am VERY anxious to try them and imagine they are quite fast. My only reservation is that they are white, and while white wheels are the most pure urethane and most true durometer, they also turn yellow. Not a fan of white wheels because of the jaundice factor, but these will probably end up on a set up soon.

O.K., here we go. The Santa Cruz Bullet "Church Glass". A 60mm wheel that is 95a durometer. Perfect for street or park I'm sure, and they are already yellow!

The Vision Blur. A nice center set bearing configuration but softer than I would like at 85a (not sure how they would slide, and I like to slide). Otherwise appealing as they are available in assorted colors, including this OJ like orange.

And finally we have the Accel 60mm 85a Rock and Roller Budget Series wheel. I am currently riding a set of these in green and they have held up over three years. More than I can say for others. Center set bearing is a plus as is the fact that the green ones don't ride like an 85a, they feel more like a 90a.

I've also looked at wheels from Spitfire and Landshark. I like a lot of what I see but have a hard time making decisions. Stay tuned to see what happens when I set up a new Assault 8.5 Pointer. It's hard to tell which wheels will make the cut but chances are they will the ones I already have (OJ Power Riders) or the most inexpensive ones (Rock and Rollers). I like the price point on the Accel wheels, almost two for one when compared to others.

Go Skateboarding Day 2011

One of the more interesting things I saw today. A pair of Vans Half Cab skate shoes in a tree.

In West Virginia it's not the heat, it's the humidity. Skaters taking a break and sharing laughs in between games of SKATE at the park today.

It was hot and humid, typical for this part of the country at this time of the year. There were maybe a dozen skaters braving the heat and throwing down at the park today in a show of solidarity with our fellow skaters worldwide. I'm of the opinion that any day you are on board is Go Skateboarding Day, and that is reason enough to celebrate. Hope you had a good one wherever you were.

Assault Skateboards Made in U.S.A.

I had a long conversation with Assault Skateboards owner and founder Ned Hadden yesterday. We talked a lot about the touchy subject of how most decks found in skate shops today are made in China or Mexico, and the fact that most graphics on these boards are applied by a heat press (thus compromising quality even more). The reason most companies are having boards made elsewhere is to save money. When you are producing literally thousands of boards for mass distribution it increases profit to have them produced for as little money as possible.

At Assault things are done in a different manner. The boards are produced in limited quantity runs in a southern California woodshop where Ned has complete control over quality. The decks are screen printed by hand at Screamin' Inc. in SoCal as well and are not heat pressed. The end result is a quality American made skateboard deck, handcrafted from start to finish. As a company owner, Hadden pays more to produce his boards this way but the difference in cost is not passed along to the consumer. The quality of this production method is evident in the feel of the deck, both in hand and in the ride. But don't take it from me, try one for yourself.

Heintzman Assault Edit

The Killing Joke song fits better than the original score. Can't wait to see some current footage of Assault's riders!

A True Original

Everyone has an opinion but what it all comes down to is the fact that some individuals are so far ahead of their time that they have to go the extra mile to challenge themselves. Let the skateboarding speak for itself (for example 4:50-4:53, you'll need to watch it a few times).

Assault Montage

Ned put this commercial together that features a lot of skateboarding history in relation to Assault Skates. Watch it, learn it, live it!

Pocket Pistols Big Pig

The Pocket Pistols Black Rebel Skateboard Club "Big Pig" checks in at 12" wide by 32.65" long with a 17" wheelbase. Now that's a skateboard! I don't even know that an Ace 66 would be wide enough!

What Is Skateboarding?

The answer will vary depending on the person you ask. Earlier today, I read a comment on a photo (of a cookie cutter kickflip, of course, over a stair set) that read "This is skateboarding people!" At that point I had to stop and ask myself "Is it? Is this skateboarding?," to which I replied to myself, "yes, it is." And in the opinion of the person making the comment, and based on their personal experience combined with their lack of any knowledge of skateboarding history prior to 1999, yes it "is skateboarding people!" But the definition is open to various interpretations. Keep an open mind.

Today it seems as though too much emphasis is placed on certain tricks and attitudes. Individual style and having fun are really the important things (to me) in skateboarding. It's why I started skating to begin with. It was never about being part of a team or being a follower. Skateboarding, as Ben Schroeder said "is about you and your skateboard." That's it.
I think photo credit is due to SoCal SKATESHOP, but I don't know.

Keep Skateboarding Fun

At times, skateboarding as a whole takes itself way too seriously and needs to be reminded to have fun. Is that not why you started skating to begin with?

Dalgart photo of someone having fun in his first Thrasher interview. Yes, that is a 9.5" by 36" Think longboard. This someone has teamed up with Assault Skates for some fun collaborations, and this clown (me) couldn't be happier.

Curb Report

With nighttime temperatures at 60 degrees Fahrenheit, the curb conditions were perfect even with 84% humidity. Stand up slappy.

The Assault Skates 8.5 Pointer (first run) is an all time favorite. Glad I have 2 more in the box. KREEP concave!

Trying to catch up with Spencer and grind these to the bone. Getting there!

Keyframes and Curb Conditions

Saturday night slappy rolling on OJ Wheels 58mm 87a Keyframes. The wheels are soft and grippy but fast as all get out. If you like a softer wheel that doesn't rattle your brain then these are for you.

As for the "curb report", the high humidity of Appalachia makes the curb sticky and very difficult to grind. Conditions are best when the temperature and humidity are low.

Minor Threat - Betray

So what now? Do we shake hands and go our seperate ways?

Testing and Evaluation

3 of the 4 sets of wheels I received from NHS for testing and evaluation. Not pictured are the 60mm "That's Life" which I found to be too narrow and hard for my liking, but to each his own.

Marc and I were talking about wheels a few days ago and he said one of his favorite wheels was the 60mm 90a Rat Bones Re-Issue. I rode the 60mm 85a Rat Bones for quite a while and found them to be pretty much perfect for most of the terrain I ride though they were a little soft for the park. The 90a is most more than likely the perfect durometer as it would be soft enough for street and hard enough for park skating.
Tim Piumarta at NHS was cool enough to send me a few sets of wheels for testing and evaluation and he kicked in these 58mm 87a Keyframe OJ III wheels "just for fun". Tim most know what I like to ride because 87a is perfect for the streets of Charleston, WV. If I were riding smooth concrete parks, then I would ride a 97a (I have 58mm 97a OJ III wheels on my park board). However, for the rougher concrete of the curb and bank spots I frequent, I have found a slightly softer wheel to be the perfect fit. That's why I have ridden Accel's Rock and Roll Budget Series 60mm 85a wheels for so long. Center set bearings for even wear and a formula that is neither too soft nor too hard for the streets. Performance report to follow after tonight's session.

Pinkies

Ordering up at least 2 sets of these soon. 60mm 85a, ride on!

Curb Your Enthusiasm For Theft

Amusing story at Skate and Annoy about some missing curbs and the folks who took them. Composite sketch below.

Saturday Means Slabs and Slappies

Regular readers of Jeff's Skateboard Page can probably see the pattern. Saturday means a trip to the slabs and some curb slappies. This week was no exception since I had a day off.
This is my Assault Skates Ricky Winsor. It's on point in more ways than one. You should order one. Just don't call it a cruiser.

Backside slab attack on the most punk rock deck on the market.

Curb slappy on an early Saturday afternoon.

You've seen it before, and I can guarantee as long as I'm alive that you'll see it again. Backside slab ride in motion. Now go SKATE!