Editor's Note:
The "In The Spotlight" segment of the "Heads Up!" Buyers Guide is exclusively reserved for companies that we felt had earned special "spotlight" status. These are brands that we feel are making major moves in the marketplace. Whether it's by doing something exceptional product-wise, or going over-and-above for skateboarding in general... or, offering the very best in customer care and customer support... these are the brands that we feel are going off the hook, right now.
Hey, man, it's pretty simple: We give credit where credit's due. What else can I say…?
The five "Spotlight" brands for this season are:
Alpha;
Loaded/Orangatang;
Santa Cruz (NHS);
Element;
and, Never Summer.
Congratulations to them all on a job well done.
Company: Alpha
Website: www.alphaskate.com
E-mail contact: info@alphaskate.com
Can you buy direct from the manufacturer…? Yes! And, they're even on sale!
Standout Products:
Here it is: The Alpha Tool! The Transformer of the skate-tool world. And, totally indestructible, to boot. Simply put? It's the best skate tool you'll ever buy… we can all but guarantee it.
Spotted at: I reviewed this for somebody, way back when. It still kicks ass, years later. Nothing else even comes close.
Price: Regularly $16.99, but on sale now (!) for $9.99 each.
Why we picked this:
Because we use this, and we use it all the time. We'll back this one up, strictly based on our first-hand experience with it. The one that they sent in for review [about three years ago… maybe four, now…] still works, and works the tits. It hasn't broken, rusted, or fallen apart (like so many other tools will)… and, the keychain-loop even keeps it from getting lost (and, believe me, we lose everything around here…)
The bottom line? Yeah, it's an outlay of ten-to-sixteen bucks. But: It's the last skate-tool that you'll ever buy. End Of Story.
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Company: Loaded/Orangatang
Website(s): www.loadedboards.com; www.orangatangwheels.com
E-mail contact(s): dontwalk@loadedboards.com; taco@orangatangwheels.com
Can you buy direct from the manufacturer…? Yes, on both.
Standout Products:
Here's the board that started it all: The Loaded Pintail. A couple years old now, and still world-class…
The Ceviche, which replaced "The Fish" in the lineup last year (as I recall). A huge leap forward in functionality… which is a lot to achieve, when you've already set the "high bar" with the previous product line…
The "4President" wheels. Extremely good wheels… ranking right up there amongst "the best in class"… if only it weren't for…
… their bigger brother, the "InHeat". Note the rippled inner lips, which are designed to improve rebound and response. Once again, surpassing their own "high bar".
The 70mm "Stimulus", a pre-ground wheel designed for perfect grip, right out-of-the-box (no break-in time required), and rounded lips… perfect for sliding and freeride applications.
And, lastly: The Durian. A 75mm beast of a wheel that can pretty much wreck whatever you put in front of/under it.
Spotted at: Loaded and Orangatang's websites. We reviewed a Pintail way back in the day, and we haven't looked back since.
Price: Loaded completes typically run upwards of about $300 a board; Orangatangs average around $55 a set.
Why we picked these:
From the first time that I ever laid my eyes on my Loaded Pintail, I knew straightaway that this was something very, very unique and special to behold. As did everyone else that happened to be in the room that day that it arrived… and, everyone that's laid eyes on it [and, more than likely, "borrowed" it…] ever since.
Loaded (and their "sister" company, Orangatang) make products that turn heads, and demand attention. They're quality stuff… that much, is obvious. What's not-so-obvious is that, these things are simply dreams to ride. So much so, that it took some pretty heavy-handed negotiating ("threatening" might be a better word for it) to get my damned board back…! Same goes for the Orangatangs; I should just break down, and keep those under armed guard at all times, because they have a nasty tendency to go "walkies" mighty quick…
Clever promotions, beautiful ad campaigns, impeccable quality and attention to the smallest of details, a sense of humour, a real drive to have fun, and cutting-edge technology applications all add up to an overall package that's damn near unbeatable in the high-end longboard market.
If they ever make a slalom board, I'll be all over it.
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Company: Santa Cruz
Website: www.nhs-inc.com
E-mail contact: info@nhs-inc.com
Can you buy direct from the manufacturer…? Yes.
Standout Products:
What I consider to be the first of the "good" Santa Cruz re-issues, the legendary Steve Alba "Bevel". In it's day, a fully dominating, deep-pocketed [Combi] bowl wrecker. The re-issue? At least 99.9% of what the original was. A damn fine feat for the boyz at Cruz…
The next in the "new" reissue lineup was the dual Steve Olson/Duane Peters offering. The Olson caught a little flack for heat-transfer quality, but the Duane was fully hand-screened, and like the Bevel, totally legit in every way… right down to the routered hand-holds. Classic Duane! There's still a few on the market, get 'em while you can…! (Photo courtesy of www.tailtap.com)
The next insta-classic in the lineup, we have the "Dead Pool" model (which we have on the way in, for review... and boy, we can't wait...). Featuring the oft-asked-for (and, finally delivered) Cruz Missile Concave (another mid-'80s-era, totally dominating product from NHS…). Combined with something "new" shape-wise and graphically, NHS has finally delivered to legions of Skull and Boners what they've been asking for, for years. NHS listens, NHS produces, we buy. It's that simple. This photo is from www.socalskateshop.com.
And lastly, Cruz steps it up one more time, with the soon-to-be-released, period-correct, Cruz Missile-equipped, and spot-on-accurate Rob Roskopp reissue. The only "giveaway" that this is a reissue…? The double-drilled front truck holes. Even those will actually be an improvement over the originals, offering two nose and wheelbase options for the "riders" that will surely be set up, and loved. Photo from Socal, again.
Spotted at: All over the place (See the photo credits).
Price: About $62.95 for most of these. Duanes are on sale at most shops for about $47… get 'em quick, before they're gone.
Why we picked these:
This goes to show how fast you can turn around a company's reputation, merely by listening to your customers, and delivering what they're willing to spend money on. It wasn't an easy road for Cruz: Several years of "lackluster" reissues (to put it nicely…) put quite a damper on their reputation.
Then, the miracle occurred: Cruz Got It Together! Starting with the Bevel, they began offering products that started to add to (instead of, detracting from) their storied and legendary legacy. The Duane wasn't a stellar mover [at first]… but, the Dead Pool seems to be moving pretty quickly, and I'm guessing that the "proper" Roskopp might move an order of magnitude quicker than the Dead is moving, right now. Desirable stuff= brisk sales. The age-old formula that never falters, and never fails.
"PowerLyte's super thin, 8-ply maple veneers and bullet-proof [Kevlar] top layer yield the strongest, lightest skateboard decks available. Constructed 90% of wood, it's the other 10% that makes PowerLyte decks incredibly strong, and 22% lighter. Compared to conventional wood decks, PowerLytes flip quicker and are 150% stronger..."
-Typical advertising hype [that we believe]. The laws of Engineering are on Cruz's side, on this one...
Adding the oft-imitated "Powerlyte" construction to the mix (a Kevlar sheet added to the top of a street deck, giving it longer-lasting "pop" and durability that works… instead of "longer-lasting hype and bullshit", like a lot of other manus are offering right now)… the always-excellent Ricta program… the still-chugging Independent legacy… and, even simple little (but, still world-beating) products like those excellent Krux Bushings… they all add up to one undeniable conclusion:
NHS is back! Praise the lord...
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Company: Element
Website: www.elementskateboards.com
E-mail contact: Nada?! Nothing that's available via the website, at least…
Can you buy direct from the manufacturer…? Yup!
Standout Products:
The Darrell Stanton "Positive Negative" deck, which utilizes the outstanding "Push" construction… a construction that we featured in our recent "New Technologies [That Work]" piece here at The Solitary Life. Combining a lightweight, air-chamber core with a carbon-composite layer embedded in the top layer of veneer gives the average street-skater the best in both light weight, and high strength.
Spotted at: Element's website.
Price: $110.00?! Holy crap…! But, y'gotta pay to play, I guess. And, these "new" technologies won't be getting any cheaper, either.
Here, we have something a little more up my alley! A well-executed series paying tribute to one of the true legends of the surfing world, Greg "Da Bull" Noll. If you don't know, Greg Noll was one of the tiny handful of surfers that dared to conquer Waimea Bay on Hawaii's North Shore back in the late1960s. This is a guy that blew open the perceptions of what can (instead of ,"what can't") be done on a surfboard. Offered under Element's "Travel Well" program, these completes take a lot of cues from Greg's legend, right down to the "jailhouse stripe" top graphics (inspired by Noll's trademark surf trunks), to the period-perfect, nostalgia-inducing clay-colored wheels on "Da Bun".
Spotted at: Element's website. Our only "complaint" is that, they should be promoting these better than they are. Our "finding" them was damn near flukey, at best.
Prices: $150, $160, and $170, respectively, via the Element Store.
Why we picked this:
I'm sure that we're gonna get a whole lotta flack for putting a "mallboarder" skateboard company, squarely into what we're advertising as an "independent, free-thinking, and totally legitimate buyers guide". Come what may, the plain-spoken fact of the matter is that Element is still doing some pretty cool stuff that doesn't entirely fall in line with the typical "modus operandi" of some huge, corporately-owned mega-company. Usually, these companies don't push boundaries, don't make waves… and, Gawd forbid, don't do anything revolutionary (or even "evolutionary" in a good many cases…). Playing It Safe, and Following The Herd is what corporations do best, and it's usually left to the "smaller underground" to pave the new pathways, and set the new trends of the day.
To have a big-ass skateboard company come in, and put forth a new skateboard construction that actually works, and does what it's designed to do, is a revolutionary statement in an industry where "success" is defined by the amount of hype you can generate… not, the actual results that everyday skaters can expect to get out of the product.
Likewise: Most "big companies" would have bastardized Greg Noll's likeness and "image" to the point of laugh-ability (see the "Lords of Dogtown" cinematic disaster as proof of what I'm talking about, here) in the uber-corporate interests of moving a few more units, instead of doing what Element has done… which is, tailored a stand-out product that might not set the sales-spreadsheets on fire... but, that does represent the man, and the legend, in the most accurate [and recognizable] manner possible.
That says a lot about the intentions, and the integrity, of this company. "Integrity" being something that's in woefully short supply these days in this industry of ours. The fact that Element has instituted a comprehensive MSRP pricing structure across the board, is another testament to their dedication and integrity… in this case, to supporting the brick-and-mortar skate retailer by "leveling out" the pricing "playing field".
For a bunch of "corporate whores", these guys sure are doing an awful lotta stuff right. Go figure, and good going. Keep it up.
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Company: Never Summer
Website: www.neversummer.com
E-mail contact: info@neversummer.com
Can you buy direct from the manufacturer…? Yes.
Standout Products:
We could have picked anything, really. But, we picked the "Heist", because we thought it looked the baddest-assed of the bunch. We like bad-assness around here...
Spotted at: Everywhere. Concrete Wave, all over the forums, at Silverfish… you can't escape these things. Maybe, one of the most-talked-about companies of the last couple of years.
Price: $259.99, complete.
Why we picked this:
Wonderful website with all sorts of geek-out information (including multiple-angle shots of the products, flex ratings, et cetera)… highly advanced materials and technologies (borrowed from their uber-successful snowboard program)… a full-on, three-year warranty (unheard of in the skateboard market)… all-around crash protection (composite top and bottom sheets, tip and tail protectors)… and, some outstanding graphic "flair"… and, you've got yourself a hands-down winner, folks. Behold, and believe it.
It just doesn't get much better than this.
