Category: Skateboarding Product Reviews

The Spitfire Highlander is supposedly designed for the more sophisticated skater, which, if you’re paranoid as I am could be misinterpreted as a form of discrimination. As I’m sure you’ve noticed, the skateboarding demographic consists of only about 5% sophisticated skateboarder and a whopping 95% scummy bastard, myself falling in that wider bracket. My argument is on behalf of that 95% who could be potentially be missing out on a perfect bag by incorrectly assuming it’s designed for those skaters suffering from serious illusions of grandeur. You know the sort, those that turn up to skate spots with a messenger bag big enough to hold a mouse mat, a pair of Ray-Bans and an ironic vintage dildo. This is simply not one of those bags.

The filthy roast-poncer kind of skater craves a bag that’s got enough room for all my scummy bastard possessions. This includes but is not limited to the following: poorly-made sandwiches, cheap booze, a hammer that I never use but feel I should carry at all times regardless, a spare change of clothes, a shower in a can (deodorant) four issues of various skate magazines that came out the year before, one large packet of Doritos, 14p lemonade, Balti mix and a vintage dildo that’s in no way ironic whatsoever. This bag has enough room for all that crap and more.

It boasts two massive main compartments, a hidden organizer for school/work (read: sandwich/hammer compartment), comfortable straps, fleece lined iPod/dildo pocket, all covered in a heavy duty fabric construction and Spitfire embroidery throughout. So yeah, if you’re a self-proclaimed ‘sophisticated’ skateboarder or a massive twunt then this bag will not only fit your mouse mat but your massively inflated ego too! And if you’re a skateboarder who needs a bag for practical purposes then this is for you. It doesn’t look bad at all either. Spitfire are winning.

Bellend Sebastian

Pfanner rides the fire and he is HOT SHIT. You should probably try to skate more like him and then you’ll win a lot more.

As some of you may know, those blessed/cursed with the affliction of Massive Feet, wearing shoes that are anything other than black causes all kinds of mental anguish. White shoes? Oh my days, no. You may as well slip your foot neatly into the back of a P&O ferry and go strut around town.

Blue shoes, however, don’t seem to cause this problem. Maybe it’s because these DVS Luster’s are the same colour as the sky and sea, a nice soft warm blue that soothes any kind of paranoia you may have that people are pointing at your shoes whilst shielding their eyes.

Gotta say it too, these were surprisingly comfy straight out the box, which thin suede kicks sometimes aren’t. They can take a while to break in, bend to your foot shape, and although they pinched a recently mangled toe (thanks skateboarding, don’t you know your big toe is crucial for keeping balance?), within an hour these were comfy as an old leather sofa.

As part of the Eurotrash series, these are plastered with Flo Mirtain’s name, his relaxed but powerful skating shows why he’s been given a simple, solid shoe like this. There’s nothing to break on these as the toe stitching is super high up, and they’ve included the properly 90’s stitched X around the ollie mark that should hold out for quite a while.

What does feel a little strange with these is the combo of thin material on the sides and tongue, combined with a thicker than you’d expect sole. It’s actually quite welcome as it gives you a tad more leeway when jumping down bigger stuff, but it’s not so thick it feels like the sole of your foot has gone numb. Perfect, basically.

These are well worth a look if you’re on the prowl for a new pair of shoes, they perform really well, and are probably some of the cheapest skate shoes in the shops right now. DVS definitely deliver more than you pay for too, quality is never compromised with these guys, and you can tell by their amazing team. Go get yourself a pair right now while the sun’s still shining.

Moose

Emerica – Hsu Apparel

The Rolling Stones has a song that comes to mind when thing’s don’t go your way, it’s simply called, you can’t always get what you want. Fuck that, you can have whatever you want, but only if you really want it, a theory proven true by the one man in skateboarding that gets what he wants no matter the cost, Jerry Hsu. If you don’t believe bruv, check out his latest section in Stay Gold and you’ll understand why I preach this written verbal!

I recently acquired a set of Hsu’s Emerica threads, a pair of slim fit jeans and a nice long sleeve flannel to see me fresh into the months of falling leaves and colour. The flannel shirt comes in real handy this time of the year, as the nights get a little cooler, this yarn dyed plaid fleece will keep your body temperature at a healthy equilibrium without the necessity of a jacket. Flannels are great and this one, like many others, instantly becomes a shirt you’ll wear on more occasions than you intend too, it’s comfortable and stylish, what more can a skateboarder ask for in a piece of clothing?

The jeans are exactly as described, 98% cotton with 2% stretch, making them ideal for any skateboarder on this planet! They are actually quite thick as it goes and judging by some of the things Jerry attempts without making it first try, they have to be super tough to endure some of the slams this man takes to gets what he wants! They are a perfect pair of slim fitting denims, comfy in crotch and thighs, but slightly tapered from the knee down, a great pair of jeans by my standards.

Both garments come with the standard Hsu Trim, a heart logo pin and labels. Jerry’s pretty hot property in Vice scene, so if you feel you lack a good appearance, tap into his collection and get yourself looking good whilst shredding the streets, it might get you laid?

Froth Stopper

When I’m not skating or earning a dollar, I’m out trashing skate shoes in public houses or I’m kicking rats with wings in Broadway market trying to hit people that wear their shirts back to front like Kris Kross did in their 1992 hit song, Jump. For activities such as the latter, I try to wear something more of the loafer genre as I often find pigeon blood is hard to remove from suede, thus meaning I get that shit all over my grip and this messes with my murder flip reverts, so I try not to spill guts on my skate shoes, hence opting for a  loafer, and none suit me better than the Wino!

Emerica very cleverly designed a loafer that you can skate if you want to, but it’s more aimed at your everyday activity, you know, the things you do when you’re not skateboarding. I have a feeling not many reading this knows what this means, but I’m sure one day this will make sense to you.  The Wino is a classic low profile chiller that’s produced in a skinny suede or canvas upper with a thin, yet grippy, vulc rubber outsole. It’s not really made for stairs or tech, but you can definitely tear up some layback slashes in these or cruise San Fran Hills with optimum board feel.

I love the fact that they named a shoe after someone like Charles Bukowski, it just means I can drink and walk less responsibly than I aim too.

Thanks Guys,

The Vomit Machine

Fresh out of the many Emerica boxes this Autumn is Kevin ‘Spanky’ Long’s fourth pro shoe. The Situation is a very light mid-top that comes with a suede and canvas upper in black, brown and green and a light blue, navy tan colour.

There are only 3 lace holes on display, which is a plus in my book as the more laces that are on a shoe, the more chance you have of breaking them. The tongue is fairly thin and compliments the overall shape. The padded canvas on this mid adds protection against stray decks heading for your ankles during sessions, but that is if you actually decide that this shoe should be your choice for skating in. Spanky’s new model could also be your favourite new chiller; the sort of shoe your feet will be stoked to be in after a session rather than during it.

The sole is quite thin so board control is perfect which confirms there is an argument here that these are great for skating in too but that’s personal opinion and one you will have to make yourself once you have these in your hands. Either way these are seriously comfortable, stylish and overall winners so grab some from your local SOS and start this autumn with happy feet.

Zac

Flannel shirts are a trend that won’t ever die. And so they shouldn’t; because flannel shirts aren’t unique to one subculture as other trends tend to be, they are timeless, they are comfortable, they are warm and they are awesome looking. So thank god that pseudo-summer we just had in the UK is beginning to fade, for as the mornings feel a little crisper the layers are coming out and we can get a little colour to match those fallen leaves as a big ‘sod off’ to all the grey skies. Crossfire were given two of Matix’s latest designs in their fine fall 2010 to test out. It’s not so often a ‘product test’ requires little more than going out and looking fresh to death, but we’re very grateful when it does.

Mike Mo Memphis

This shirt came as a surprise for two reasons. One, is that it marks the first time I’ve strayed from a red based colour pattern on a flannel shirt because my mood is terribly impressionable and frequently dictated by the colours I wear. Red makes me feel like I’m on fire and so I’ve stayed clear of blue in the past in case I become a melancholic ball of abject glumness. Fortunately, this bad boy has ‘Memphis’ built into it so I was awash with bluesy rock and feeling as cool as The King must have felt prior to the 70s.

The label is complete with Mike Mo’s 8=D connection so if you’re sick of all the twits rolling around in American Apparel jeans and stinking up the skate scene with a that irritating undeserved sense of cool accomplishment then this is a shirt to be proud of. It’s a slim fit, has a rich and sleekly neck fabric that is most pleasant on the skin, has dual chest pockets (for the much sought after ‘serious business hipster’ look, why not try putting fountain pens in one and a pack of lucky strikes in the other) and has a penis on the label. There’s not much more you can ask for.

Apart from…

Smokehouse Cardinal

This, is what I’m talking about. Perfect red colourway, a lightweight sherpa underlining, sleeves lined with taffeta, very inconspicuous dual pockets and a real comfy slim fit. It’s an absolutely gorgeous and comfortable shirt that got baggsied the second the package got opened. And it’s real nice and warm, perfect for autumn and can even be rocked on a crisp winter morning. Maybe a little too soon to be wearing now but hasn’t stopped me; the people who sit next to me in the office will just have to deal with the sweat because this shirt is too dope. I can’t stop touching myself when wearing it because it’s that comfortable, and if you think I mean something inappropriate by that then take your minds out the gutter and wear this for a while and see how much you touch yourself.

Bellend Sebastian

Wearing a helmet has, in my ten-years of stubbornly skating nothing but multi-storey carpark curbs and this thing, rarely been appropriate. It’s almost certainly been necessary as I suck and fall over a lot but the only time I’ve accepted that my head is to look that much more like the end of one of Ed Bowen’s fingers is when it’s been enforced. Suffice to say, that massive hunk of plastic has always saved my bacon if I ever kid myself into thinking that skating the bowl at Rom is a good idea.

Here’s the dilemma, skating bowls IS a good idea because it’s the raddest, purest form of search and destroy skateboarding that everyone should man up and have a butchers at doing at least once, but it’s impossible to protect ya neck without, you know, looking like a bellend. And none of us here are Grant Taylor, whose head I hear is reportedly made of reinforced concrete; we need as much black plastic on our heads if we don’t want to end up like my good friend chimpy who couldn’t skate a curb last weekend as he was waking up in hospital after taking a slam to the noggin.

There is some good news from super helmet makers Bell, who since day one regularly succeeded in stopping people from dying and managed to make a few look like Daft Punk while flying through the air towards that hard, loving concrete. They’ve summoned Jim Phillips’ Sun God to put on this helmet, who you may (and should) recognise from Jason Jesse’s infamous deck run way back when helmets were so necessary they were kind of cool. They’ve certainly developed a sort of nostalgic coolness recently through the assistance of rad-tinted blogs like Chrome Ball and Vert Is Dead, much in the same way that baggy chinos and flannel shirts will always look awesome when listening to 36 Chambers.

So scope out a bowl, put on some shorts, pull your socks right up and go and try something new. But there aint a damn thing changed boy, protect ya head!

Bellend Sebastian

I popped into my local skateshop the other day, just to have a peek and see what was being offered these days in the world of wheels. Blimey, there’s a lot of choice these days. After narrowing it down to just ‘white’ and ‘no gimmicks’ you’re left with essentially all that a wheel should be. Round.

There’s that phrase isn’t there, about re-inventing the wheel? You could try, but you will never improve on an already historically proven design that’s so simple that even a caveman thought of it. So the humble skateboard wheel is definitely something that doesn’t need taking back to the drawing board.

And Drawing Boards know exactly this. Don’t mess with success. Their new range of wheels are clean, simple urethane with just one goal; making your board go forwards and backwards smoothly.

Basic urethane wheels like this are what every skateboarder always returns to after a quick dabble with the gimmick-market, where once you discover that having hollow cores or liquid centres or LED lights inside them really are a waste of time. Look at anyone who has skated for more than a year and you’ll see lumps of plastic on their trucks just like these Drawing Boards 55mm wheels, because they work well.

So why buy these over any other plain simple wheel you ask? Well, as you should know by know, supporting British skateboarding by buying British products is what keeps our beloved tradition alive in this country. Drawing Boards riders Jak, Jerry and Matt can be seen repping their team at almost every UK skate event. They’ll skate their arses off at demos and it’s only right that their dedication is rewarded through you putting your money back into UK skateboarding and buying their stuff.

Drawing Boards also put out a ton of free, absolutely banging video content for you for nothing as often as they can over at their website. Go check out what they’re doing and the next time you’re faced with a dilemma of which pink-spangley-go-faster whizz balls to put bearings into, just do yourself a favour and pick up some of their wheels instead.

Moose