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Carve Board - one of the BEST slow, downhill,
wide-S-shape surfing/carving machines, feels most like a surfboard
and wheels STICK to the pavement as you carve perfect lines down
the slopes. Not at all recommended for flatland cruising, the
pneumatic tires lose momentum too fast. At the same time, even
CarveBoard recommends you don't go too fast on this either.
So basically the board thrives on really long,
winding, gradual slopes. One of the heaviest boards, but addictive
as hell, you forget the weight and just keep charging up the hill
for the next run.
www.carveboard.com
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Flexdex Pro60 - 60" x 10", Long
Distance Pleasure cruiser. Gullwing Cruiser 60 trucks front and
back. Grippins front, Flashbacks in the back.
Incredible flex due to the length -- although
its a little on the heavy side, it maintains great momentum in
the flats. I've owned Sector9 Nosewalkers and long Gravity decks,
but no other big wooden "ironing board" type flat deck
has had this kind of perfect flex and return in the carves.
I was so sold on this deck that I bought a 40-board
pallet of these from Flexdex when they went out of business, and
sold most of them on eBay for cheap, just to share the stoke and
pay for the skate addiction. I've also donated a few in events
and school auctions.
Flexdex made only a couple wooden decks but they
somehow nailed the flex almost the same as their fiberglass boards.
Like no other...
www.flexdex.com
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RoeRacing Pintail - the least known, hardly
publicized, and one of the most shredilicious boards in the RoeRacing
longboard line.
Gareth designed this board in 2008, yet only
published it once in Concrete Wave, not even on the RoeRacing
site.
L: 44"
W: 9.8"
WB: 31.5" and 32.5"
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Loaded Vanguard - great for downhill carving,
all around downtown cruising board. A little softer and springier,
a snowboarder's dream deck for the off-season. The ones I owned
were the oak cores. This deck has same physics as a snowboard,
vertical laminate, absolutely worth the price.
www.loadedboards.com
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Landyachtz DH Race Drop Deck - one of
the most stable decks in the quiver, although at one point I moved
the Randal DH trucks to another deck and put Exkates with black
bushings on this one, with Gumballs -- turned it into a faster
version of the CarveBoard. Great for shooting vids of slalom races,
riding straight and fast down the middle of the cone lanes.
I'm no hardcore downhiller but I dug the way
this deck "pockets" your feet and gives you more power
with each carve.
Then one day, it was mounted with 101's and some
crazy dude pumped it until it snapped!
Well, boards are made to ride, and this one lived
a good long life.
www.landyachtz.com
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Original Super Carve - 47" x 9",
perfect flexy flat deck. Original spring-loaded Carve Trucks,
and big gummy Avilas. High performance sports car with the cushioning
ride of a Caddy.
When I originally posted the above description
(2004?) Original was making all-birch decks. The one I own is
now a museum piece. Now Scott Imbrie's gone with fiberglass and
shapes still centered around carving and high-performance riding.
Nice work.
www.originalskateboards.com
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Dregs Supertanker - 56", big cutouts
for big wheels, or else the way I had it setup was with 76mm Gumballs
and 8" hangar Original trucks - with only 1/2" risers
so it still rides LOW.
Perfect carveboard, fits the Original trucks
nicely. Traded this one off for a rollsrolls deck.
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Flexdex Jim Rippey 36" - Original
setup with Flexdex 65mm wheels and Gullwing trucks, it's got the
nasty lady graphic that will turn heads on your morning commute.
I seriously doubt Flexdex would produce another of these, they
probably caught so much crap for this one!
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Flexdex Stinger 36" - flexy cutaway
carver and cruiser. Nice shape and the perfect length for all
around cruising.
Randal 180's on it now but I'll be experimenting
a lot more with this one. Will try a bunch of carve-centric trucks:
Revenges front and back, then Originals, and finally Seismics
just to see what its like. Flexdex's magic is in the downhill
carves.
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Flexdex 41" cruiser - billed also
as the "Pro41" on their other more colorful designs.
Classic carving machine with a slightly thicker and heavier flexdex
material. Stock black Kryptonics 70mm wheels mounted on stock
Gullwing trucks.
The stock trucks are not carvy, but the flex
in the deck makes up for that -- sometimes mounting really carvy
trucks like Originals can make the carves just a little too "gooey",
so its better to stay with a more traditional design. The stock
Gullwings that come with Flexdex are...Okay, but Indys are better,
but Randal 150's with loose/carvy bushings are probably the best
so far.
This is one of the decks Flexdex is bringing
back in the re-issue in Fall of 2005.
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Flexdex 30" - the museum piece...there
were only two decks in the quiver that hadn't touched asphalt
and this and the clear 29" Wahine were it -- but this
flowery patterned deck has always been one of my nostalgic favorites.
Mainly because one of my first skateboards in
the late 70's was some kind of flexy plastic, and had this amazingly
hippie-esque flowery print on top.
Well, now since the Bennett Alligator 62mm's
came out, they inspired me to finally christen this board on the
asphalt, and after some more truck tweaking, this one's going
to be seeing a lot more cruising and carving mileage!
Flexdex 32" Bee - yellow striped
deck that's a little beat up and almost the exact same deck in
terms of length and flex, so I know exactly how this deck would
ride.
29" Wahine - apparently this "lexan"
material does not hold up to elephants the way all the other flexdex
material does, but doubtful I'll ever be pounding on this deck
that hard. Nice little barefoot ride for the summer. Have all
the original grip tape for it but prefer the clean look without.
Riding these shorter flexdexes is like having
a 44" longboard with just 30" of deck.
Stand toward center of the deck, and carve hard,
to get a surfy pump out of each turn. Notice that the deck is
whats absorbing the turn, more than the bushings/truck combo.
With stance more over the trucks, you'll pick up speed in the
turns like on a wood deck, but notice the flex still kicks in.
Really no wood board ever rides or carves like one of these. The
main difference is that wood decks are probably much better for
sliding, and you don't worry as much about slamming a curb.
Sticky wheels on a Flexdex are great, haven't
tried this yet but seems like the red cambrias (62mm) would be
best...
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Flexdex 28" Classic - This deck is
also in mint condition, but the difference is I'll definately
be riding it. Used to have two of these and sold the other on
eBay. I've used this one for riding parks and also for carving
hills. The shortness of this one keeps your feet closer to the
trucks which stiffens up the ride a bit when you're carving pools,
but if you find a good slope just stand to the center and you're
back on a surfboard.
Currently I've got Rainskates Yellowjackets on
it, almost ready for the park. Flexdex is correct saying their
decks will last forever -- in terms of jumping up and down on
the deck itself -- but the only weak area are the impact zones,
nose and tail, where the fiberglass will splinter if you jam one
into the concrete (DUH!)
So the only mod I'm planning to do is glue on
a front and rear 'bumper' like the ones we use on nice slalom
decks. A couple strips of automotive weather-stripping on the
front and back, extends the life of any deck that's not meant
to be slammed.
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