Monday, August 19, 2013

Eastside Blazer with custom painted Cast Ronin trucks








Sunday, May 05, 2013

Fro Pic X, build

 Fro Pic painted with a purple (Grape) X as well as the tips of the board


 Glow-in-the-dark tape added

 Gripped with clear vicious


Fro Pic-X fully assembled, electrical box covers painted, gripped and used as oversized washers to create more secure truck mounts

Fro Pic-X  Caliber 50 trucks, painted Grape to match the color of the board.

Fro Pic-X  Roadside
















Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Incline Mohawk, reflective tape and bumper job


My new Mohawk from Incline's line of long boards. 

I decided to create some custom nose and tail protectors, designed to cut down on the impact damage all boards suffer from hitting curbs and such when they get away from the rider or when you eat it. I used PVC pipe bends, cut with a Dremal to fit precisely. I used quarter inch thick Vibram shoe sole rubber between the PVC and the board to act as a shock absorbers. These are held on by pressure alone and can be easily removed and replaced.  

I also covered the entire perimeter of the board with Gorilla glue tape, and a layer of engineering grade white reflective tape over that. The nose and tail protectors/bumpers were painted white, and then covered first with white reflective tape, then lines of red or orange reflective tape, in order to make the board more visible at night. There's also glow-in-the-dark tape covering other areas like the trucks and risers.





 Gorilla glue tape runs the entire perimeter of the board including just below the gas pedals, covered by a layer of reflective white tape

 I painted the wheel cutouts white and added glow-in-the-dark tape on the bottom of the tale and the tip of the nose,  These wheels stickers with a couple of glow-in-the-dark tape strips to outline the graphic

 The nose guard is designed to cut down on impact damage that contributes to delamination, and hopefully extend the life of the board.
 Providing complete protection for the tail required 3 guards in the positions which will likely take a direct curb impact

 After painting the bumpers white to match the board, they were covered with Red and white reflective tape, making the board much more visible at night.
 The nose got white and orange reflective tape

 The bumpers served to protect the board and also make it more visible improving safety for the rider

 The highly reflective tape along the edge of the board also improves safety by making it more visible at night. The  Gorilla glue tape beneath provides protection for the board from road damage.  It's easy to remove and replace.



 Another plus to all the reflective and glow-in-the-dark surfaces,  when you're board goes rogue land torpedo on you and plummets down into a ravine or disappears into the undergrowth at night,  it makes it a whole lot easier to find.






Sunday, October 21, 2012

Earthwing Supermodel conversion to top mount

 I Originally bought this Earthwing Supermodel from the cool people at longboardskater.com, my preferred skate shop, because they always treat me right.


 The Supermodel converted to atop Mount, also added some Vicious grip tape replacing the original Jessup tape 


 Have been riding this Earthwing for two years now and it's holding up well.


 As a top mount the board is definitely more divey and responsive


 The Indy trucks are much more responsive in the top mount configuration

 Bought a couple of electrical box covers from Home Depot, and trimmed them down to use as reinforcement plates for the truck mounting points.  A noticeable decrease in overall flex and a definite improvement in board stiffness and overall stability at speed while bombing.  Covered them in reflective engineering tape to match the rest of the board.

  The metal plate compensates for the wood that's been removed to make the board a dropped through, the stiffening and stabilizing effect is so pronounced I think I might try this method on my next topmount build




 Overall I think the top mount conversion worked well, board feels much the same, not as good for pushing since it's higher, but a noticeable improvement in leverage In this mounting configuration, plus significantly improved stiffness with the plates, compared to this configuration without the plates.


Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Incline Mohawk build

 This is an Incline Mohawk from Incline longboards and Shane McCartney

 Preliminary construction of my Incline Mohawk with These wheels shot under a blue party light
 The neon green water-based dip  that Incline users glows beautifully under blue light
  White stripe I painted down the center of the board came out good
 White racing stripe :-)

 Glow in the dark pinstripes added and covered with clear Vicious grip tape
 Stripes are nice and straight, grip tape covers the gas pedals as well


 build nearly complete, trucks wheels, painted truss head bolts white
 Drop accentuated with stripes

 Shot of CNC wheel cutouts that I painted white
 These wheels with Zealous bearings.