In the future, "And now, a word form our advertisers" will [hopefully] have actual words, straight from our advertisers. In the meantime, we're just winging shit. In Mike Hirsch's case, we've been dealing with Socal Skateshop for eons now. They always have the coolest shit in stock, they're perpetually friendly folks, they always know what they're talking about, and we generally get treated royally whenever we place an order with Mike's crew. Check 'em out at www.socalskateshop.com.
We ride a whole lot of Ace trucks 'round these parts. What can I say? Great turn, great grind, and great responsiveness, equals great times. Get with the program, and get on some.
A large proportion of our "office" longboards and cruisers are outfitted with Alligators these days. They're really great all-around wheels, with tons of speed, superior grip, and loads of rebound. The way a good wheel should be. And, they come in a rainbow of colors and duros, for almost any application. Pretty bonus.
Whatever doesn't have an Alligator on it, probably has an Abec 11. No Skools, especially. Those are like, the ultimate wide-pig-bowl-wheel. Considering the dozens of bowl-able pigs that we collect here at The Solitary Life, the large No Skool quiver is pretty easy to justify. We're also liking the Flywheel line a lot these days, too.
We're going to be requisitioning a few Alvas pretty soon, for product reviews. We're pretty big Alva fans, but we don't have enough Alvas hanging around for our tastes. Ordering more will certainly fix that trick.
If you haven't read the Jay Kelly interview yet, you should get right on that. Jay, and Bill [Danforth] are choice individuals. The Danforth deck was, and still is, a straight ripper, too. Get yours before you're sorry.
Ahhh, the illustrious Mr. Bennett, himself! And, his wonderous truks. What a pleasure to behold, mounted on a cruiser or a longboard. This is our go-to truck around the office, whenever a longboard arrives at our door. Try some for yourself, and you'll see why.
JJ Rudisill is also, one of those choice individuals that we love to support here at The Solitary Life. Whether it's the wood, the art, the concave, or just the dude, Funhouse is one of those companies that we'll always buy from, no matter what.
Small companies rule. Tyler at Unity is the perfect example of a small company that's doing everything the right way, and straight from the heart.
We'll be finishing up our reviews of the Goldcoast line in the next week or so. But, in the meantime, here's the basic verdict: Some of the products are near-misses (the Modra complete, for example), while others are clearly, unquestionable out-of-the-park hits (the Rat Mactrac deck, which is fucking awesome). So, while on the "product" end of things, Goldcoast has something of a spotty presence... the fact remains that this is still a company to watch, long-term. Why? Because they're honest, they're sincere, they're always looking to improve whatever might not be up to snuff... and, maybe most importantly: They listen. Which is something that I wish I could say about more skateboard companies these days.
Loaded. What an awesome gig we have here. Beautifully crafted, epoxyglass-reinforced bamboo longboards that come on four different flexes, and a myraid of quality shapes. Gotta love 'em.
We'll be ordering up a Miramar Pelican complete, as one of our next product-review decks... and, I'm not sure that we've ever anticipated anything as much as we're breathlessly waiting for this beauty to show up on our doorstep. Look for a long-distance weekend out on this incredibly capable urban cruiser.
Of course, what with AJ Kohn being on the staff and all... we're obviously supporters of his company, One Skateboards. The trump card here, is the Performance Tip ("P-Tip" for short) technology... a "technology" that is so obvious, and so simple, we seriously have to wonder to ourselves why more companies aren't using it.
We'll be reviewing these pretty soon, as well. Just as soon as we work through the product-review backlog that we've got going over here...! Ryan's a good kid, just like a lot of small company owners these days. Proudly representing Bedford, Indiana, it's always good to see new, DIY things popping up from the most unlikely of places.
The guys at Orangatang are doing some really new, novel, and creative things with longboard wheels. It's actually sort of entertaining, to watch their whole gig unfold. This may be the funniest new company to come down the pike in quite some time. The only thing they seem to take seriously, is making go-for-the-throat, high-performance wheels. And they're damn good at it, too.
SMA never seems to get the love and respect that they deserve. Those that know, have all the love and respect in the world for Skipper's pet project. Problem is, very few folks are ever "in the know". We're huge admirers of the SMA program here at The Solitary Life, and we're always happily paying to get just a couple more in the quiver.
Tailtap is one of the neatest online shops around, with the hardest-to-find stuff in stock at all times.
I stated a while back that I thought that Santa Cruz was making a pretty damn solid comeback after quite a few years of arguably indifferent products, and some pretty lackluster branding. Well, the more that I ride Cruz products, the more I'm liking them. So much so that I decided to say fuck it, and give 'em some free ad space. They've certainly earned it.
Okay, what can I say? Thirty years deep, and still among the best in the world.
Danny at Factory 13 is one of my favorite people, ever. Totally blue-collar, hands-on, do-it-yourself punker... classic skateboarder, fer sure. We love Danny, and whatever Danny does is more than A-OK with us.
We don't see too many ads for Bulldog around these days, and that's a damn shame. The old Concrete Wave ads were one of the high points of getting the magazine in the first place. The layout, the colors, the product, the vibe... all classic skateboarding, all the time. Bulldog also makes some outstandingly unique shit. We have several examples in the office quiver, and by gawd, we're determined to get some more.
Rector Fatboys. The kneepads that have saved my ass too many times to even try to remember. Still, some of the best protecting, most comfortable, and most functional pads ever... especially for the price. Then, they just can't be beat.
Tunnel is one of my personal favorite companies. Totally retro-classic and old-school, they're a company that stays true to their roots at all times, and they make some totally neat stuff along the way. Rocks, Retros, Comps, Tarantulas, Waldos, Beams, everything they do has that "golden touch" that makes it all hopelessly desirable. Definitely, one of the coolest gigs in all of skateboarding right now.
Emergency. Black Label's old-school sub-brand. Jeff Grosso and John Lucero... now people, tell me, what more do I have to say?! Well, we did call on Emergency to thicken up their decks a little bit a few months ago. It only made perfect sense, since their entire target demographic is completely made up of fatassed old bastards like me. Thankfully, they seemed to have listened to somebody that was yelling for the same shit, because I got a Grosso blocks deck in a few weeks back that was actually thick enough for me to ride! Imagine that shit! So, you guys at Emergency? John Lucero and crew-dudes? Thanks for beefing your shit up a smidge.
More small-company madness. Skaterbuilt is owned and operated by this guy named Dave Hegstrom, who we've been trying to get an interview with forever. Dave's an awesome dude, but he's also a very busy dude, and that'll tend to throw a real wrench into the 'ol cogs. The news of the day is that our boy Danny at Factory 13 is gonna be handling Skaterbuilt production from here on out... and naturally, we applaud the hell out of that. As soon as you guys get a 12" pig back on board, and some 60mm Poolside Favors, let me know. That shit would go well with some virgin 215's that I've got floating about my office...
Yeah, I know that it's still summer, and snowboarding season is still a long way off... but still, Burton is a class act that makes great gear. Even in the summer months, we use a lot of Burton duffels and backpacks for our day-camping and hiking excursions. The shit is bulletproof, and would probably survive an Armageddon pretty handily. We like that sort of dependability around here.
*As you can see, we created all of these ads in-house, to fit the "pseudo-established aesthetic" of The Solitary Life. Which is immensely boring, we'll admit. We're sure that the advertisers could do far better, themselves. In the future, we'd appreciate it if advertisements could arrive in our inbox, from the advertisers, in jpg format; if they could be approximately 600 pixels wide by 300-400 pixels tall; and, if you guys (and, gals) could tell us something about what you're up to these days days while you're at it, that would be awesome. So that "A Word From Our Advertisers" could actually have, y'know, words and stuff. And, once again: All ads are free, assuming that you're the sort of company that we'd be comfortable supporting.
Those are the ground rules! Laters!
