Author: Crossfire

If there’s a shoe company out there that knows how to diversify their ranges into more practical designs through demand, then we all know there’s only one name that comes to mind, Vans!

The Dollin Tre is another tweak on an instant classic shoe which gives the skater and perfectionist another opportunity to find the shoe that fits. They’ve taken the very popular No Skool and stripped it down to thinner construction by introducing something they call BoardFeel XD, enabling better board control and over all performance.

On appearance the shoe matches it’s predecessor, but when you break it down, you’ll start to notice the tiny, but crucial differences. Less padding in the upper construction for a more responsive ride, a low profile cupsole that perfectly blends durability with grip, feel and shock absorption, thus giving you more control.

Overall this a much thinner feeling skate shoe, but not to be mistaken for flimsy or weak, oh no, it’s sturdy as hell still and will protect your feet as you’d expect. Dustin skate’s pretty much anything, even if it’s unskateable, he still gives it a go. These shoes are a prime example of his passion, they are an improvement on a shoe that didn’t need improving, so try them for size and see what you think.

2P

Crawl
Walk
Skate

(P-2 Construction)

The boys at Flip recently sent us over their last creation in skateboarding innovation, the Pro-2 deck with it’s spring loaded pop construction. Now, I’m what I like to call an organic skateboarder, not Vegan, but a big fan of good old Canadian maple, so my sceptics on the science behind this creation was Eiffel to say the least, but even though I roll with ‘if it ain’t broke don’t fix it’, I still recognise that evolution is crucial to our existence and therefore I cut up some Jessup tape and set it up.

The idea behind the oval shaped aramid fibre reinforcement panel is that its design allows for it to spread the stress loads throughout the board, therefore taking strain off the truck area and this in theory should allow for a longer lasting board which will retain power pop forever.

On throw down, the board felt completely normal to me, I couldn’t really feel the science from day one, but after a few rounds in the ring, I started to notice the small differences that makes this board quite unique! After about a month of banter, I normally tend to look at setting up a new ride, but not on this occasion, this guy was still happily performing under my feet so I though I’d stretch the journey. It’s been 2 months now and too be honest, I’m not ready to pack it in just yet, thinking about re-gripping it and carrying on with the endurance test I set out to achieve. The main advantages about the P-2 construction is obviously the ever lasting pop and snappiness, but you’d be surprised how light this fella is, it’s that little bit easier to bring this board right up to your chest with a power snap of the tail, always good!

Overall shape is normal, no mad concave, usual Flip nose and tail ratio with the lift on both sides being what you’d expect from a skateboard deck. The board still consists of 7 thin veneers of maple, but it’s less sluggish than the old skool 7 ply we’re all used to.

Like I said, 2 months in and the board is still in great shape, all they need to invent now is an ever lasting tail and nose, this way you can regrip your board after a while and have the freshness back without breaking the bank for a new one every month.

2P

Crawl
Walk
Skate