Just released through email! Forum's new urban boards. Smaller than most park boards they only come sizes 146, 148, 150, 152. Pure street! These boards are made to withstand the beating you would normally give to a park board in the streets. Nice and small they allow easy access to rails that were usually deemed unridable. Best part is, when you purchase this board you are already a contender for some free swag from Forum! You send in pix, then send you shit. Doesn't get much better than that for doing what we love.
Being a park junkie myself, I wonder how this will effect snowboarding in general. It's been a long time coming to give the cred street riders deserve. They pull some pretty rad tricks in some unlikely places but are usually overshadowed by pipe riders. Personally, I think this might be the push from within the industry to start a whole new division of boards for different brand's line ups. Or I might be just that much of a park junkie that I'm hanging on to a false hope. Either way it's good to see more riders takin' their skills to the streets. I think it makes for more interesting videos and really pushes the envelope for up and coming riders. Also I could be making a big deal out of nothing. Either way it's great to see Forum spending the time and money to invest in a whole different view on snowboarding. Flippin the switch!
You’ve seen the team riding these boards in the Fuck It teaser so we wanted to give you a lo-down on what they’re about. The Contract is part of a new Urban line of boards we’re bringing in '11. Developed on the team’s specific street-riding needs the boards are durable, fast on the drop in, poppy, and affordable. One more thing, if you get a Contract you can sign up for the Contract Team, send in your best urban photos and have the chance to score some photo incentives.
The Contract will be available in shops this fall but is available right now for demo at hood
It's a little early to be talkin snow films but this is the time of the year when the teasers start comin out. So below I put together a little montage of a few of the better teasers we've seen so far.
July usually isn't the month that we start selling snowboards at Elements, but this year we're going to be carrying a better selection a bit earlier in the year. We want everyone to start getting into the swing of things and preppin for winter now while there is time to save a little loot or work a bit harder with winter in mind. A few trips are already in the works and this winter we hope to really bring a lot of the Windsor snow scene together. Check out the U of W ski and snowboard club page on facebook.
Finalllllllly, it drops in Canada. Loaded just released their new board the Tan Tien. Video's sick. Check it out below. We can finally get ahold of them. Here's the link to the board's specs. http://www.loadedboards.com/boards/tanTien.html
So let's talk about putting together the ideal longboard. First things first you need to consider is what you're going to be doing with your longboard. Say you're new to the sport and you just want to get out and cruise and get comfortable on a board, there are a lot out there that will do just that. What makes the difference is something you need to keep in the back of you're head. Consider the other sports you spend the majority of you're time doing. If you're the average Joe who just discovered the outside world and the sport of longboarding, I wouldn't recommend investing a lot into the sport at first. So keeping this in mind while looking for a longboard is important. Our shop for example carries a wide selection of decks. I can go over the differences to help narrow down the best deck for your riding style. We have planks: long, narrow, comfortable, simple and decently fast. These decks don't have much going on with their design and cut. Typically flat as well, some also include a kick tail to make getting around the city and over curbs much easier. Pin tails: remotely flat (usually a slight curvature running the length of the board that makes it concave from side to side), wide, stable, usually fast. These boards will perform a little better for you and are usually taken downhill but a lot of riders like them for simple cruising too. Most don't include a kick tail; sidenote: we have a few Gravity's that are pin shape with a kicked tail. This is a nice mix of two styles to accomadate the progressing rider that still needs an all around board. Street/Pool boards: shaped more like a skateboard, includes a kick tail and some times a tipped nose, range from very short to very long. These boards you can find in almost and lenght and shape. Some will build up nice as an old school board w/ a fat short shape and be easy to handle but more responsive. Some street boards are built up long with kicks at both ends and come usually very fat and drive like a boat. These are the ultimate commuter board. Finally the last style of board is the drop-through: for more advance riders that can push their board, always includes a cut out in the wood for drop-through mounted trucks, fast and very technical. We carry a drop-through deck by gravity thats spec'ed out pretty nicely but for the best bang for your buck the line up from loaded is your best bet. They've put tons of R&D into developing some of the nicest boards all built with rider assistance to really maximize the performance. One of their drop-throughs is called the Dervish, a fantastic board. New to the line up is the Tan Tien as mentioned in the begining. It's a Dervish better perfected. Not only is it set up like the Dervish with the double-u concave (meaning it boasts a camber shape end to end and a concave shape from side to side), but they shortened it to make it a little more "freestyle" and added kicks at the nose and tail making this board the best built, do-whatever-you-want-it-to-do board on the market. Drop throughs go fast and are designed for sliding. A drop through with small kicks allows it to now be taken from a board designed to go fast and slide hard, to also adding that freestyle element allowing the rider to go from sliding to popping unbelievable tricks. Don't believe me? Check out the end of the video below. That beanpole-360 flip variation that this rider throws down is the most rediculous thing I've ever seen anyone do on a longboard. These boards are usually more expensive but a lot of longboarders know the value of this board and will spend $500 on it (another sidenote: we carry some Comet longboards that are drop-through's spec'ed out very nicely as well for $300...good to keep in mind if you're on a budget). This is why it becomes important, as mentioned in the beginning, to be aware of what kind of rider you are. Sure you can be new to the sport and enter on a Tan Tien. It's not necessarily bad to start off with the best of the best so that way you're already progressing on the ideal board to progress with. You might notice a larger gap in time getting something this advanced dialed down though. Either way if your looking for something to start you out, or better what you already have, we can take care of you at Elements. We provide a board for all levels of experience.
When it comes to trucks, wheels and bearings, most riders have already developed their preferences. In longboarding, there aren't too many brands of trucks that are actually bad. Majority perform pretty similar and hold up equally well, but unlike skateboarding usually a rider isn't taking too much material out of them by grinding things. Consider the ability to adjust how they perform by tightening the kingpin with the fact that typically they are taken well care of and preference becomes your only distinguishing factor. Some of the top brands that we carry include Tracker, Paris, Krux, Independent, Gull Wing, Siesmic and Revenge. Every set of trucks is essentially different, but if your not a weathered longboarder, it's not going to make much of a difference in the beginning (with the exception of Siesmic and Revenge).
Wheels are super important but pretty straight forward. A rating system in the sport allows for clear distinction between how they will perform. Bigger wheels are going to equal faster due to the amount of contact patch with the pavement. It's all surface area with wheels. So by looking you can tell which wheels will by rights be faster, but that's where the duro system comes into play. Your wheels will have a duro rating providing their good wheels. Only the best do. The smaller the duro the grippier and more designed for downhill slalom. Usually this means it's softer too. Harder wheels duro's will be much faster usually bigger in size and higher in duro. A fast slidey wheel for example would read 83a or 86a. 90's are uncommon but we can get them. Most people would never need a wheel that hard.
Bearings are difficult to distinguish. The majority of people that skate or longboard will never in their life notice a difference in their bearings. Your best bet is to stick with brands you've heard of or know are good because the industry says so. Bearings have their rating system called ABEC, but most people will never hit the weight or speed rating that the lowest ABEC's are rated for. Either way, most skaters you run into will tell you ABEC 5's or 7's are fastest and smoothest. This is neither right or wrong. Stick by that knowledge and then your sure to find a good set of bearings. Oust makes a 9 and other brands have higher ABEC ratings but to be honest, for the price and performance, any true 7 is perfect. You can trust names like Oust, Black Panthers and REDS.
All things to consider when purchasing a longboard. But hey, if your still a little uneasy about the process because your new or just need guidance, join our group on Facebook and everyone at the shop would be glad to help out if you have questions. Our group title is the same as the shop name: Elements Action Sports.
Windsor, ON...not much to do if you don't have money for a boat. But screw it let's go boarding! I don't mean to rip on Windsor too much. I was born and raised here, but I think that's why it's so easy for me to point out the bad over the good. But I'm making the best of it. Longboarding has become a new past time for myself and a surprising number of my friends. When it's a normal weekday night around here there isn't much to do other than hittin' up the river front with your board. I'd like to get some concrete meetings together with all the Windsor crew. So if your reading this right now I'm going to post the facebook group for Windsor longboarders. http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=198098500555 - It'd be great if we could grow the community and try and mesh a good number of boarders to really take advantage of the few but decent spots we have in this town.
Speaking of which I wanted to point some out for anyone not from Windsor lookin' to rip while here, or for anyone that just hasn't found them yet. One of the best spots, although small is right at the end of Oulette. You can time the light and cruise to the bottom and hang that big left, maybe set up for a quick bomb past everyone chillin at the bistro. For a lil cruise longer you can go down to the pumping station and get some REAL good speed comin around the front of the station. Other paths break off near it like the one coming east to west about a block to the east. For a super technical S bend you can go a little further down, closer to the bridge, and hit the one on the West end of the parking lot which the first lot from the bridge. This one takes a couple rips but once you get it, you'll enjoy it. When all else fails, even the weather, you can always head to the parking garage near the bus station. Not speaking from experience of course, just observation. lol. For a longer, smoother, more relaxing ride, the Ganacho trail offers the perfect view and a beach along the way should you make it that far. Even bring your skim and make a stop at the beach. After that take the trail that wraps around the parking lot for the beach. If you go through a small tunnel, your on the right track. Head for that bridge and time the lights right and you can come cookin' through.
But hey if anyone knows any other spots that we haven't talked about, comment this blog and get it out there. I would like to know where the big hills are in Leamington.......
For a town of 217,000 the skate scene in Windsor isn't the scene it should be. We have two skate parks and only a handfull of core skaters. For what Windsor's skate scene has to offer its suprising the amount of guys that are actually as passionate about skate as you would expect. We have a handfull of events throughout the year that bring the scene together. Local brands have been trying to survive throughout the years. One brand showing huge promise is our Rose City Rabbits. We carry all their products including long sleeve t's, hoodies, t's, and decks. We at Elements try to help drive the skate scene also by carry our own team of skaters to rep us throughout town. Our team is super talented and are always found on top at local comps.
One thing about this city, that anyone that has ever travelled through will tell you, is that this place is flat. Which is ideal for our skaters because there are plenty of good spots to hit in this town regardless of slope, but when it comes to our longboard scene, we lack in this category. It seems this year that there is a rise in longboarding in Windsor. We sell a lot of longboards to kids lookin to get around the U of W campus easier and we do see a lot pushin down there in general. That said, if this place had a bit of an incline like most of anywhere else you travel through Canada, it would definately improve the scene. Lot's of local guys get out and rip the river front, even parking garages, but for the most part when it comes to longboarding in this town kids are just cruising. If we could develop the longboard scene some more in Windsor it would be great to hold events down at the water front or other spots in town to bring some attention to the sport, because even though there isn't much to offer, a lot of the local guys know whats good to hit.
On the topic of board sports we also carry skimboards at the shop. This is one area of board sports that could improve exponentially. Being surrounded by water you'd assume there would be a ton of skimmin but surprisingly no one is really out to the good spots. It could be because no one is really aware of the potential, but it could also be the changing currents. With the Detroit river we have a lot of tankers come through that really stir up the water. Spots at sandpoint that were there one day are gone the next. There are a few gems around town that do exist but usually you'd have to drive or boat to them which poses a problem. Boblo island is a little known secret for unreal flat land skimmin. Belle River is showing promise with more kids discovering the good spots out there. Point Pelee is usually a good spot for bigger wake skimmin. So if you have a Zap your laughin. This is one sport that is very unappreciated in Windsor. We would love to see this sport take off here but it definately needs more exposure.
Last but not least we have snowboarding. I know what your thinking, Windsors flat, who boards? Little known about Windsor is we have a surprisingly strong winter sport community mostly due to the fact that a lot of local guys run the boarder for day trips. Pine Knobb, Mt. Holly and Alpine Valley to name a few really good spots in Detroit. What makes those places that much better is if your a park junkie. Typically the stuff around here is pretty small but they do good with the park features and you can find yourself caught up for an entire day in their parks. For better riding most of the guys in Windsor usually make the over night trip or weekend trip to Blue Mountain. Blue is Ontario's best spot if your stuck in the Southern tip. Northern Ontario has more to offer but being 4 hours south of Toronto it's usually too far of a drive. Unknown to most, from Windsor or not, is the amount of younger kids that are really coming into the sport. We see a lot of kids start riding here but then get the itch for bigger and better. A lot do end up out west. Although the kids stuck in Windsor make the best of it. The U of W has a great club that takes over 100 kids to Quebec every year for an amazing price and unreal riding for what were used to. This is the one sport that's been really driving our shop over the years. And when it comes to the best gear and knowledge of the sport, we've got that locked down.
