Product Review: Skatekings "Slasher" wheels.

Since I have had nowhere to hang Product Reviews in quite some time, I decided to just do it right here on my blog...

Several months back, Skatekings sent me a set of their new Slasher wheels. They are 60mm tall, about 38mm or so wide, 98a duro, and they have an offset core... not, centerset. This does a few things: One, it shifts the bulk of the wheel over the axle nut, protecting it from hitting curbs, the ground, or anything else that would otherwise bash it to bits. Secondly, it gives you a little more "grind room" on the truck, as more of the hangars are exposed than would be with a centerset wheel. Lastly, it changes the flex pattern and sliding qualities of the wheel, as the protruding "lips" are allowed to deform more than on a centerset wheel. The rule is that, offset wheels tend to grip a bit more, and it takes a bit more work to break them into a slide. Skatekings compensates for this by using a relatively slippery urethane, so the wheel still grips well, but slides very, very easily. Almost too easily, at first.


Here they are!



The wheels are extremely fast. They allowed me to get to places in bowls, that I have never been able to get to before. Even with plain 'ol, greased Quickies, they were ridiculously fast wheels. They were really slippery at first, until the outer skins got roughed up a bit. Then, they were just right. Perfect, really.


Another view...

Would I buy another set of these, or recommend them to others? Absolutely, on both fronts. They did not flatspot, they wore evenly, and they allowed me to do stuff that I'd never in a million years thought that I'd be able to pull off. That, is the mark of not just a good skateboard product... but, a great one. The only bummer was the sketching around and the slipperyness, while I was waiting for them to break in. Which is common on many other wheels, anyway. So, that's manageable enough. And, for what you get out of 'em, in the long run... it's definitely worth the patience.


The test unit: A Real Aces III prototype, with Indy 169's, 1/2" risers, and greased Quickies.

Another OIS Session

The crew.

This morning, the OIS [Old Indy Skaters] got together for another fun Saturday morning session. Lucky for me, I was invited, as I have been for the past few weeks. Of course, I went. I'm no dummy!

The weather was sunny, but very, very cold. Still, we still had a pretty good turnout nonetheless. I shot a few rolls of film (color, as well as 1-hour process b&w)... but, more importantly, I finally remembered to get the mandatory "crew shot". Here it is!

Pictured (from left, to right) are:

Some little kid that wandered into the photo;
Tim's daughter (I'm awful with names);
Mike;
Bart, The Ringleader;
Tim, The Tornado;
Kiley, The Awesome One (Bart's daughter);
Cody (Fucking ripper, holy shit, this guy's nuts!);
and Chuck, the newest addition to Da Crew.

Notably missing are Jason (probably working at his shop, Straight Up Skateshop), and Ron, who has been MIA for a couple weeks now.

These guys come in from far and wide to get together and skate once a week, as a group. Great-ass people, fun times, lots of laughs, rain or shine, wind or cold, healthy or sore, male or female... and, maybe best of all: Welcoming vibes all around.

To me, that's what "hardcore" should be.

The Richmond Loop; November 27th, 2009

Today, I went on an extended trip to Richmond, Indiana and back. My itinerary took me through several small towns that all had skateparks that I wanted to document for the guys at Concrete Disciples. Here's how my day unfolded:

I actually got up before the crack of dawn, which was around 6:20 am. I can never sleep very well before a big adventure. Insomnia and excitability strike again...! Happens every time, I swear it does.



First stop: Lawrence, Indiana's skatepark. The last time I went, it was waaaaaay too crowded to skate. But, 8am on a frigid, 30-degree morning is much, much more accomodating. Unfortunately, the place was locked up tight. Uh-oh! So, I called the number on the bottom of this here sign, to see if the Parks Dept. dudes would unlock the place. Well, this number here goes to the Police Dept., not the Parks Dudes. Whoops! So, as I stood against the fence, trying to explain why I was calling the Police at an ungodly hour... lo and behold, the fucking door I was leaning on just up and falls open! "Never mind, officer. I'll just go on my sorry way, I guess." I hung up, laughed aloud, and barged my ass in there.



The open door, lock still right in place. Weirdness.



The bowl was pretty fun. A little slippery, but fun.



Now, don't ask me why they bothered to fully light up a skatepark, that [apparently] isn't open at night. Waste of money? Or, merely an invite to break in during dark hours, too?



All skaters, remember: Leave Only Urethane, Take Only Pictures! That's code for "Leave shit the way you found it". I subscribe to good manners, and thus, I locked the place up tight before I left. Skateboarding rewards good karma points. Seriously.



Between Lawrence and Fortville, Indiana. You find the most random stuff for sale along the side of the road, including this windmill and caboose.



McCordsville, Indiana. I found this perfectly skateable double-sided curb, right in the middle of town. I thought of de-flowering it, until I realized 1. I'm not 16 anymore, and 2. It'd probably be more noble to leave it for some local skater to discover, wax up, and break in. Go get 'er, guys.



McCordsville, Indiana.



Fortville, Indiana's skatepark.



A composite view of Fortville's skatepark, giving a panoramic perspective for the guys at Concrete Disciples.



Downtown Fortville, Indiana.



Here in Indiana, we have these things that I call "Cornfield Housing Projects". Some farmer runs low on working capital, sells off some fields... and, in come the housing developers, building houses faster than buyers can line up for 'em. A visual blight on an otherwise idyllic landscape, between Fortville and Lapel, Indiana.



Lapel, Indiana.



Lapel's skatepark... oh, man. What a joke this is. I have a personal rule, that I skate every single skatepark that I visit... regardless of it's age, condition, or size. But, this was just too much to deal with.



Oddest thing was, as I was walking the periphery of the park, I began to see depth markers and "No Diving" stencils painted on the concrete, when I realized... there's a pool buried here! Maybe Lapel should have shined the prefab shitstacles, and dug whatever this is out of it's earthly grave, instead.



Downtown Lapel, Indiana. This is a holding silo for corn destined for an ethanol processing plant.



If a caboose isn't quite up your alley, maybe you should try this '60s era crane on for size. Between Lapel and Anderson, Indiana.





Anderson's skatepark. Very good for such an economically depressed town, but very "street-plaza". Great for the kids, I'm sure. But, nothing for me here.




A sign of some pretty heavy-handed police spying tactics at the Anderson skatepark. Kinda weirded me out a little.



There used to be a skate shop right next door to the Anderson skatepark called Life... but, no more. Maybe if Steve Berra had materialized in time to deem it 'cool', and stolen a few G's of their cash... maybe, they would have pulled through...



Anderson's remaining skate/bike shop, Bikes 2 Boards.







Upon walking in, I was visually fly-tackled by hordes of antique and classic bicycles, literally all over the damned place. Charlie Peters is the proprietor, as well as the collector responsible for the hundreds... literally, hundreds... of classic bikes in the store. He took the time to give me a little tour of his collection, and man, was I ever bowled over senseless. Total craziness. There must be a few hundred G's worth of shit in those rafters. And, the skateshop was pretty cool, as well...



New Castle, Indiana's disaster of a skateboard park. Seriously? It's not even safe to approach, let alone, attempt to skate.





Documenting the disaster.



More blight in New Castle. This time, in left-for-dead convenience-store form.



Next stop: Hardcore Sports, on Broad Street in New Castle. If you think the skatepark is in bad shape, you should see downtown New Castle. Vacant storefronts all over the place. Hardcore is one of the few remaining businesses, and as always, the place looks sharp as a tack...



... inside, as well as out. Best part of the place? The vibe is even better than the aesthetics.



The skate area is small, but always well-stocked, clean, and organized. I love these guys!





There's actually two shops in New Castle. Hardcore, which is a bit more "bike". And Imagine, which is a lot more "records". And posters, and band tees, and hair dye, and everything else music-lifestyle. Like the guys at Hardcore, though, Mike at Imagine was a real champ. Different flavors, but still, all good.



Instead of doing Richmond, then Connersville, I decided to do Connersville first... just because, time was running low, and it was closer to New Castle. This park was in an awful state... better than New Castle, but not a whole lot more. And, fucking bikers everywhere. This one wasn't worth skating, either....









... but, this one always is! Richmond, Indiana's most excellent (and, fun!) outdoor skatepark. Fun lines everywhere, great bowl, not a whole lotta kids, and the three skaters there were hella cool. Always remember: Being Cool Truly Is A Universal Language.



Last stop of the day: Boards Inc, in downtown Richmond, Indiana.



Dave Wetherell, the manager of the place, and really nice guy.



The first thing that I noticed: The vintage skate logos everywhere. Immediately, I felt right at home. And, it felt really, really good.





The park looked killer. I might add: All of those ramps are surfaced with three layers of 1/2" sanded Birch plywood. Wow. Amazing.



Especially this, right here. If I hadn't wrecked myself skating Richmond's outdoor park so much today, I might have had the energy to give this a whirl. But, there's always a next time. So, next time it shall be.

The Traveling Skateboarders' Bible

A lot of folks have no idea how much time and effort it takes me to compile, sort, and catalog the raw data on the something-like-300 skateshops, and approximately 500 skateparks that we have here in my neighborhood ("My neighborhood" being the states of Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee). Well, here's a quick tour...

This is where it all begins: The data sheets. Headed by the city and state that whatever shop or park is located in. The pertinent facts (Hours of operation, addresses, phone numbers, etc) on the front, with a simple map to and from on the back, with key roads, landmarks, etc. You'd think that I'd be smart enough to keep this on my laptop or something. But, I'm not. You'd also be amazed at how much work goes into each data sheet... it can be as little as a few minutes, or as much as a half an hour or more, depending on how much information I can find readily available on the internet, versus how much calling around I have to do to get whatever it is that I need. There's a skatepark in St. Meinrad that I've probably spent a few weeks on, and I still can't quite track down. Maddening...!



Every time I plan a trip, I check my map, see which towns I'll be going through... and, retrieve the data sheets for every town along the way. This helps me maximize my time (which I'm usually woefully short on), and minimize my expenses (money being another commodity that's in perpetually short supply around here)...





The binder that I keep my data sheets in is an industrial-quality, 3" snap-ring binder. I started compiling my information in late 2007. It's now late 2009, and this is how much it's grown. Whew...!






This is the business end of the 3-ring-menace. It's almost at the point of overflowing... yet, new shops and parks are popping up (or, going away) all the time. Yes: I keep an archival record of all of the long-gone shops and parks, too. I suppose that you could infer that my binder is a pretty good indicator of skateboarding's relative health in the midwest: The thicker it is, the better skateboarding's doing.