Spring cleaning and some new threads
Happy New Year to everyone (a little late, I know). Let’s kick this year off by showing you some of the contents of my stocking:
Thanks to the brilliant Gbemi Ogunkeye from Longboard Europe/London Longboards I will be able to shred in style as soon as the t-shirt weather comes back – not for a little while then:
I’ve been following with baited breath the developments coming out of the Axcelspring kitchens. I ordered a few sets of the Axcelspring washer cups which have replaced my tired and ill-fitting old washers (old on the left, new Axcelspring on the right):
At, Griffin Skateboards, we have noticed there is a problem with the standard truck washers & washer cups on all stock skateboard trucks today. The grade 8 washer’s and grade 8 kingpins in combination with bushing that are too soft are hanging up the kingpin and snapping it. Old traditional washer cups surf around on the bushing and the cup and on the kingpin too much. It’s about time we have a state of the art washer cup that works to help the rider be safe. The center sleeve puts the pressure on the center of the bushing giving it more energy. The facing is the rings on the top and the bottom that gives extra grip to grad onto the base plate and the bushing. No movement equal straight power. It’s made in the USA in a one inch size and machined from 303 stainless steel. These washers will bring your LDP, slalom and downhill setups to life and increase the responsivenesss of your trucks.
Here is a pick of the old washer/truck setup to show you exactly how much difference there is:
Same truck setup with the new washers – no slop and no play either:
There are two sizes of washer which means that you don’t have to stack washers anymore, each set comes with a star washer to fit underneath the kingpin nut:
Last but not least is a set of 3dm Avilas in 75mm (unknown duro and reason for lathing) that were very kindly sent to me by Bevilaqua from Sa Ka Roulé.
These are sent with an aim and to ensure I take part in the Endomondo Avila Earthquake Challenge for the fastest 10km skated with these wheels. I’m ready to rock and will hopefully get a skate in this weekend, weather permitting. Why not join in?
Big thanks to Bevilaqua, Gbemi for their generosity and and to Thane at Griffin Skateboards for the quick order processing and postage!
Season’s greetings!
The end of the year is a good time to reflect on what has happened in the last 12 months. One thing for sure is that it has sure gone very quickly and I’ve seen new levels of busy-ness on both a personal and professional level.
I moved with my girlfriend from Paris to Lausanne, and although I was sad to say goodbye to Paris the plus point of the change far outweigh the negative ones. 2011 was the year of the first Paris Ultraskate, another epic Goodwood marathon and the Rabbit Race in Amsterdam. It was also a good year for making new acquaintances both at the aforementioned events but also further afield, meeting Jeff Vyain in NYC and closer to my new home here Switzerland. It would be wrong to overlook those people who I have got to know via the wonderful medium that is the internet, people who have brightened up my inbox such as Bevil‘ at Sakaroulé, Mark from G|Bomb, Gbemi from Longboard Europe/London Longboards not forgetting my good friend Tim from PSD.
He is thinking about stepping up the footstop game by providing carbon fibre versions of his footstops. At the moment he is trying to gauge the interest that people might have in such products.
Please check out the pictures and if you have the time, let him know what you think on his Facebook page. Personally, I love his footstops, they have really help bring out the pumpability of my Illuminati and also love carbon fibre, so for me it is a win-win situation.
I also had the opportunity to be interviewed by All Around Skate and loved the chance to spread some distance love. Read all about some of the things that got me started on this 4 wheeled journey as well as some of this year’s highlights in the full article available here.
Props to the Skatefurther and Riderz families goes without saying! A big thanks also goes out to everyone who happened on this blog, read it and especially those of you who have got in touch. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this as much as I have enjoyed writing it!
So what will next year bring? Hopefully a lot more events and some nifty suspension trucks of some kind! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Stay tuned for more adventures in 2012…
Here & there - Ici & là 