Category: Skateboarding

Let’s focus on the modern-day skate wheel for a minute.

Forget about downhill slalom sponges or vertical bulldozers – what’s relevant here is the contemporary spheres of urethane that street skaters use to roll around and stay stuck to the road with.

Essentially I can only see three choices on the market: generic blank blobs, original grippy fuckers or the hyped up cores.

You don’t want to buy the generic blanks because their chemical compound was probably mixed by an eighth grader, and the original grippy fuckers aren’t reliable for white balance when you are filming your ‘part’. So, now we see why the core trend has swept the wheel cabinet by storm- and everyone has their method! Initially, I kept my shit original grippy because the cores weren’t up to scratch- popping out, air bubbles, horrible colours, dual durometer madness… Things needed fine-tuning and today the standard is set.

Skateboarders can be a big bunch of nostalgic c***s at times, always reminiscing about the good ol’ days even thought they are blatantly stoked to see suits putting cash on the table in the long run. ( *cough* Bullet 66, OJ2… Z-Ed) I mention this because since Plan B got a second life, critics and personal opinions have not always been supportive of one of skateboarding’s landmark companies. It’s a been a steep hill to climb in the opinion polls for the new Plan B team, so their product definitely has to be setting the standard or one step ahead at all times. These 53mm cores are sitting nicely at the top of the pile of quality urethane.

They are hard, but that’s what the street generation want when they approach a curb. They don’t flatspot so it’ll take the smoothest of surfaces for you to hear otherwise. They stay white so your set-up looks fresh no matter what. That’s the top three criterions for a skate wheel to suffice. First the boards, now the wheels… You do know that Unquestionable is dropping sometime soon, right? $20 says you’re rocking Plan B gear by this Fall!

8.5/10

Ralph L-D
17.03.07

28.03.07
Not so long ago, I reviewed the DVS Baron as a shoe to chill in and lounge about with after skating. It was good for that.

Then, I came across a predicament where I was wearing my Barons and a session was going off. Naturally I got my skate on, but a little voice kept telling me to hold back a bit because I wasn’t wearing the toughest of skate shoes, and no-one wants to ruin a pretty pair of slippers, do they? That little voice was evidently squashed by the noise of boards slapping on coping and raucous cheers as the skate session thumped harder.

One session led to another and before I knew it, the DVS Barons had become my official skate shoes for the next couple of months. Why I was worried about rubbing a lo-cut pair of flexy sole slippers on abrasive sandpaper didn’t outweigh the fact that the Barons gripped and flipped better than a few armour-plated shoes I’d worn in the past. I suppose the simplicity of the design had something to do with it. A gum sole, rubber outline and canvas and suede upper can be combined to create a fine piece of footwear. No air bubbles meant optimum board feel. No ankle straps meant quicker response to ankle movement. And no pleather upper meant affirmative grip on each ollie.

I won’t lie and say that the Barons are indestructible because that isn’t true. The outline that took the most abuse obviously wore down rather fast, and a couple of shoe goo amendments to the laces had my feet buckled in safely.

However, the overall wear and tear of the underside and upper was pretty minimal considering such a lo-fi design for a shoe. The Baron is a no-nonsense skate shoe that looks good when you don’t skate it, and feels good when you do. Keep that in mind when you go looking for fashion over function and vice-versa.

Go to www.dvsshoes.com

7/10

Ralph L-D
17.03.07