AMURICAH!

is a big pink truck and gigantic flag.

Shlongboard

Well, since my vanguard is no longer around, I needed something to easily get around from point A to point B. Something small and light that I could carry around without much effort. Remember my Frankenboard? Well I decided to revamped a little bit.

Here is my current commuter: zip zinger nano with truck mounts redrilled to the nose an kicks, paris plates w/ randal 180mm hangers, venom 85a cone/barrel combo, Orangatang 80a durians.

This thing is a blast. The lowered platform makes it so much easier to push around for longer distances. Super fast, the 75mm wheels keep a high rolling speed and make it easy to roll over just about anything. And while I do miss the kicktail a little bit, I am much happier with the lower standing platform (I finally understand why almost everyone rides drop decks for pushing distance).

Having the trucks mounted and the nose and tail kicks makes for some crazy wedging and dewedging, creating some wicked truck angles. The best way that I can describe it is that the board is super stable when going straight, but once you begin to initiate a turn, it is extremely responsive. The trucks don't have much lean, but they have a lot of turn to them, which is nice. I'm kind of curious how fast I could take this board before I went out of my comfort zone. Maybe I'll test it out this weekend? Or maybe not...stupid rain.

Oh yea, and if you have an extra skate deck laying around, I highly recommend trying something like this. Lots of fun. Do it.

The Frankenboard: Zip Zinger Nano Review

Now, while I'm sure that my setup is not exactly how the creators at Krooked envisioned their board to be used, I'd like to mention that I've had this deck set up like this for well over a year and it is SO rad. This has to be the strangest board I have ever built up, super fun though haha. Here are the specs: 29" zip zinger nano, phantom 2, bone swiss bearings, 75mm big zigs, yellow khiros, and four pairs of 1/8" risers to fit the massive wheels haha. This thing is seriously a blast to ride around and is awesome for pushing around town.

The Deck: super stiff, short (29"), narrow (7.125"), SUPER responsive. When I first got it, I was worried that my 6'1" stature and size 12 feet would be too much for the little board to handle. I was definitely wrong. Old school asymmetrical shape and there are nice big nose and tail kicks and a tiny bit of concave, too. Construction is pretty in line with your standard skateboard deck, made from layered canadian maple so really no flex whatsoever.

This thing is one hell of a versatile deck. I have seen people slaloming hills, commuting around town, and blasting transitions (or at least trying to) at the local park all on the same set up.

Pros: Super fast. Once you get this board going with a few pushes, the 75mm wheels just keep rolling, they're so good for keepin up your momentum and makes for quickie commutes around campus. The nose and kick tails are also extremely convenient for maneuvering and pedestrian slalom as wheel as ollieing up curbs and busting fat mannies all over the place. Also, due to the narrow trucks, wheels with a big contact patch, and high standing platform, this board seriously cliiiiings to the ground which allows for quick tight turns without even using the kicktail. And one more, did I mention how tiny it is? The deck platform is 29"x 7.125" which means I can almost stick the whole thing in my backpack. Makes for awesome portability.

Cons: As you might guess, the 1/2" of rise on top of the 75mm wheels gives me quite the elevated pushing platform, which is not necessarily ideal for commuting long long distances (my quads will be pretty unhappy with me if I had to go over 5 miles straight on this guy). Not too much negative stuff to say honestly. It is a bit heavy for how big it is, but I do have it set up with monster wheels, so yea.

That all being said, I may look to mod this board a little bit so it will become for of a compact long distance pusher. I'm tempted to try and re-drill the deck to mount the trucks on the nose and tail kicks in order to lower the platform as well as give the deck a bit longer wheelbase. Now, if I actually follow through with this I'll be sure to keep you guys posted.

Happy skatings.

Boats!

My friend (who shall go unnamed) REALLY wants to buy a boat. His desperation for one is kind of sad. I suppose it reminds me of a small child who never actually gets that one really awesome toy for christmas, but instead gets some socks. Yea, it's sad. Here's a photo of some boats out by San Pedro rd in San Rafael.

A Strange Situation

I was skating around downtown San Rafael on a bit of a photo odyssey when I stumbled upon this strange situation. The meter maid was not sure what to do with the car so she was calling in to her superiors. I just thought the whole thing looked a bit funny. And let me tell you, that was one nice looking VW bug. It glistened wonderfully in the sunlight.

Car Accident on San Pedro

So this happened on saturday night. Kind of scary stuff when you really think about it. This super old guy in an old, beat-up Porsche was driving down the wrong side of the rode on Pt. San Pedro in San Rafael. He almost hit me and my family head on but we managed to swerve out of the way only to see him hit a bigass Ford truck head on. Luckily they both weren't going too fast so no one was Injured, but this could have seriously been a lot worse. The old guy was super shaken up and the guy in the Ford was pretty pissed, too.

Stubby!

What a little beastie. It's an old Land Rover from who the hell knows when. Most of the time, I find cars pretty unexciting, but this guy is just too awesome to pass up.

Dirty Feet

I always have dirty feet, even after I shower. It's probably because I spend a lot of time barefoot, especially when in grass and dirt and now I just have a layer of perma-dirt on the bottom of my feet along with some useful calluses ha. I know I've had a good day I come home and my feet are nice and dirty. Some people really don't like feet, and I don't entirely understand why. I find them fantastically useful.

Trucks

Cars have become a bit more interesting to me. Granted, I still am not as excited as some people to talk about and brag about car knowledge (since I have none), but I do enjoy them sometimes. Since me and my friends are taking a roadtrip at the end of the month, and since I like cars that can be used, I've been keeping my eye out for utilitarian vehicles. Exhibit A: The Jeep Wagoneer. Exhibit B: Dodge Rapist Van. And finally, Exhibit C: Jake's future Ford (as pictured above).