Setup

A collection of 36 posts

Surf

Loggerhead

After 4 seasons on my Torq 9'6 Pinline I thought I'm ready for a change. I had my eyes on this one at the end of last year. Mostly because it's one of the few single fin longboards they have in stock at the

Setup

New Deck

Razor tail on the old one made me update my deck. Must be all those tail things I'm trying lately. It's a Welcome deck again, the 8.8 wide Sphinx. I'm used to it and I like the shape. It just has to be

Setup

OJ Prototype

There's a lot of skateboard wheel snake oil going around in the last couple of months, or year. First, Powell came out with those Dragon wheels, who got a lot of attention from the senior skate community. Understandably, the promise of a softer wheel that slides well, while

Setup

Sphinx

After a little bit over 3 Months I upgraded my deck again. And wheels. And trucks. And bearings. All of it, it's a complete Christmas setup. My Trucks are ground down to almost the axle, 18 Months in use, while learning Slappies on curbs. The wheels are down

Setup

Skaterack

All the skateparks I go around here are fairly close. Close enough for me to bike there. It's quicker than going by car, and it's part of my warm-up, getting the blood going. Up until now, I was using a RVCA backpack with straps on it

Setup

New Deck

After 3 Months on a Polar Surf Jr shape, I'm back on a Nora Wicked Queen shape from Welcome. I've spent some time on the weekend to set it up, well, mostly doing the grip tape craft project. Half way through I had my doubts about

Snow

New Stormchaser

The warranty claim I filed a few weeks back was accepted, and they sent me a new 157 Stormchaser from this season as replacement. I'm thrilled! It would've been such a bummer to be left with a falling apart Splitboard, and a new one was not

Setup

The big skin reglue

Last season I got lazy after hot waxing my splitboard, and didn't scrape all the extra wax off. While on a regular snowboard that's not a big deal, the extra wax layer will eventually disappear after a few rides, it's kind of a problem

Snow

3 is the magic number

Spring arrived early this season in the Northeast. It was a 10°C day, and the snow was soft like it was April. I was a little bit on the fence of heading out for my first Splitboard tour this Winter, not really being sure about the snowcover, and if

Setup

Back again, sort of

Even though my toe is still not 100%, going out skating is doable, sort of. I manage to push around, pop easy ollies and slappies. For the time being I'm staying off the flat bar. Bailing still feels sketchy, and gives me instant pain in the toe. But

Setup

Happy birthday to me

Honestly, I had different plans for my birthday. Not being stuck at home with an injured day, to say the least. But, on the bright side, a friend sent me a Nora Vasconcellos deck for my birthday, the new one with the golden Peregrine falcon. It looks so good! So

Setup

New Nora

After 2 popsicle decks I’m back to a shaped one: the Nora Vasconcellos from Welcome. I had this shape before and really liked it. For no particular reason, except that the width (8.6) suits me, it has a solid wheelbase of 14.6 inches and the pop feels

Setup

Monthly shoes

This DC Manual High Top held up a month until the sole was through and I could see all the way to the insole. I kind of blame the super sharp Jessup griptape on the new deck I set up a coulple weeks ago. It felt really sticky and could

Setup

94a

Ace trucks came out with aftermarket harder 94a bushings for their AF1 and Classic trucks. Me and my eternal wheelbite problem, also my no-risers mentality, got them as soon as they hit the stores. I put them in last night and tried them out first thing this morning. They feel

Setup

Fucking Awesome

Switched to a new deck, a Fucking Awesome 8.5 with a 14.25 wheelbase, the shortest wheelbase I've ever had since I restarted skating. Usually my decks are around 14.5. Right now I'm just feeling the new super sticky griptape. Not sure if I

Setup

New shoes

The New Balance 440 Hi held up about 2 1/2 months, not sure how many session. I skate about 4-6 times per week for 30-60 minutes each session, so must've been about 40-60 sessions roughly. That's actually a lot. The first thing that went was

Setup

Going shieldless

This morning both of my back wheels just stopped turning, out of nothing. Not sure what happened. There wasn't any more dirt than usual around, it's a concrete skatepark after all. One bearing in a front wheel was causing troubles last week. But I found it

Setup

Broken pivot cup

Paying more attention to wheel bites recently, because I got a new deck with wheel wells and want to see if they actually help and are not only a placebo, I started noticing that the location of the wheelbite on one side is little bit different. That's when

Setup

Well, well, well…

Changing decks is often a good motivator, not that I needed any motivation to go out and skate these days, but it certainly doesn't hurt. I got curious about those Polar decks that have wheel wells and ended up getting one. It's the Polar Hjalte Halberg

Setup

Shoe update

7 months in and the sneakers are done again. The sole has a hole all the way through the insole and I'm ready for a new pair. They held up for about 7 months, with 2 skate sessions per week on average I would say. I'm

Setup

Going soft

A while ago I switched the bushings in my cruiser setup to after market Indy hards (the black ones). The intention was to limit speed wobbles when going faster down some of the hills around our neighborhood. The downside of the harder bushings is obviously that the board doesn'

Setup

Ace AF1 hype

Yes, I got sucked into the Hype about the release of the new Ace AF1 trucks. The moment they became available I grabbed a pair from Orchard, our local shop around here. The golden ones obviously. If they make golden trucks, then you just have to get the golden trucks.

Setup

Gonz is here!

It took about 8 months refreshing Parade World to find one of these: a Krooked Mark Gonzales Sweatpants deck. That's going to be my new dedicated bowl riding deck. At 9.8 inch wide it gives me enough space to comfortably place my feet however I want. The

Setup

Shoes are done

8 months and 2 pairs of skate shoes later, I'm seeing holes again. The Busenitz is through and the Lakai Newport Hi, that I got in addition, because I really like ankle support, is also through. I'll buy the Lakai Newport Hi again. It has solid

Setup

2 Noras

I decided to try and scale down from 9 inches for non-bowl riding and get a smaller width board. Eventually I landed on Welcome Nora Vasconcellos 8.6. The Wicked Queen shape just looks really good to try out. The grip tape job took a little bit this time. I