Category: Skateboarding Product Reviews

Before I start this review, allow me to lay down some facts. Vans have been around for years, fact. Probably before you were even born. They don’t make naff skate shoes, fact. Anthony Van England shreds, fact. Having said all this, I’m confident with the idea that you’re already thinking along the right lines when it comes to this shoe. Now, we all know Vans have been looking out for skaters feet since people rode clay wheels, so they know that their doing. With this shoe in particular, the only problem talking about it is that there’s not really anything negative to say about it. But I’ll try and unearth some flaws, providing I actually find any.

Firstly the only negative thing worth mentioning is that the laces seem to snap on a daily basis (depending on the session, of course) but it’s not like your not used to that anyway; and let’s face it: lace protectors are so 02. Moving swiftly on, these shoes, like all good Vans, are empowered with the everlasting genius of the waffle sole. So before I even mention it, you know it’s going to be grippy as fuck and takes a hefty amount of foot dragging to so much as wear them out slightly.

However, the board feel doesn’t suffer and is just as impressive, balancing foot sensitivity and cushioning perfectly. I guarantee that nine out of ten people that are reading this have tried and tested the waffle so need I say any more? Something hugely appealing about this shoe was that not only can you skate them straight out of the box, but they shape your feet perfectly and feel real snug. To put it simply, these shoes don’t mess about. They hold firmly around your feet for there entire lifespan and don’t leave your feet swimming around your shoe, with laces that are there purely for show (I’ve seen you so don’t deny it!). Something that you can’t help but notice with these foot covers is that they possess a relatively long toe area, which not only makes it easier but gives your feet an extra strong flick when you’re flipping the board. And you really do notice it! An added stroke of genius in this shoe that was inspired by the ‘Vans Sk8 Hi‘ is that the toe is significantly low so the damage to the toecap when performing flip tricks is remarkably minimal. It’s a classic for a reason!

Additionally, the firmness of the sole helps to prevent warping, so they don’t feel like slippers after one session. And to top it all off much like the pro himself, they do take a beating without quitting. This shoe really does do AVE justice. Did I mention they look fresh? Believe the hype!

9/10

Warren G

www.vans.co.uk

With all my speed wobbles and sketchiness, I managed to flatspot a set of Spitfires so badly, my board actually sounded like Zac’s exhaust! So i was a little dubious in trying another set of coloured wheels, but when I saw these gems, all reservations fell away.

Hubba Wheels are relatively new to the industry but they seem to know what they doing. Eyebrows were raised when they made this pack of “lifesavers” though and they had sat at Crossfire HQ looking for an owner for over a month. Usually product comes and goes within days but no one wanted the clown wheels, apart from me! These 53mm wheels are nicely shaped but each wheel is a different colour – talk about breaking the white wheel rule! These take the full piss.

Due to the dye used to colour them, they are a little soft, but that is nice and forgiving on some of the lovely terrain we have to deal with in the UK. On the day I chose to break these in, the terrain was mud. Harlow skate park had been covered in mud by rain and morons with mountainbikes so as it turns out, these wheels are pretty good on mud – and even better on concrete.

I have had more compliments on these wheels in 3 sessions than i have had in the 25 years of skating combined. Yes they are mad and no, you won’t look like everyone else. The wheels are pretty skinny, with a continuous camber. They are very light and definitely better suited for street. Tthe camber makes rail and ledge tricks lock and pop out nicely, and the skinny profile helps you slide/sketch out of things. I used to be part of the white wheel faithful, but these guys have shown me that you can make a quality dyed wheel work and I would definitely recommend these to anyone.

www.hubbawheels.com for more.

White Lightning

How the hell do you review a wheel? They are the nubs that have always been there knocking about with your bearings. Not a great deal of thought has even entered my pringle* like mind of the pros and conʼs before.

To start you could comment on its width, kind of slim, not bulbous or tapered at the end. Weighing in a 52mm these arenʼt no dirt crushers, in fact there perfect in size; minimizing the overall rig weight yet not small enough to find yourself being slammed into the rear of a bus as you were looking a yet another banger in summer attire and not noticing the remains of a once loved mobile phone. I digress. The maiden voyage for this set of wheels saw a stealth session at Brixton beach, and yes sir, new wheels + new concrete = the mambo.

I did find myself hacking through Trafalgar square one night last week and, I don’t know if you have ever skated that strip, but its real haggard. A total feet buzzer and the rounded piles of urethane hanging off the end of me trucks, at the time 2 1/2 months old ripped! Not a single flat spot, chip or abrasion has occurred during my affair with these Alien Workshop pieces, so I can not say a bad word about them, they may not be for you vert or bowl bruits out there although I do like a bowl, no vert; canʼt seem to keep hold of the contents of my lower intestine. Oh and did i mention these are graced by the graphics of one of the best bands to grace our ears ever – Dinosaur Jr? Well, there’s another reason to have these beauties..

Razzler.

* Dr. Fredric J. Baur was so proud of having designed the container for Pringles he requested that upon his death he be buried in one. Dr. Baur, a retired organic chemist and food storage technician who specialized in research and development and quality control for Procter & Gamble, died May 4. Rest In Pringles!

This hat has already made it into my Facebook status, that’s how good it is. ‘Sarah is loving her hat. And she’s not even drunk.’

Alcohol tends to increase my love of headwear but I am partial to a hat anyway if it’s a good ‘un. And this one just happens to fall into that category. This Brixton hat is fairly sturdy considering it’s made from straw. And given that it is sturdy, it’s still remarkably light on your head. I almost forget I’m wearing it half the time and even in boiling weather it doesn’t seem to increase the heat of your head too much.

The best bit about this hat however is the silky chocolate brown polka-dotted ribbon wrapped around it and tied with a lovely bow (this also features on the inside – nice). And the fact that it covers up bad hair day dramas. Also to its merit is the fact that the brand shares a name with a part of south London. Well, I think that’s a good thing anyway.

Only complaints are that it is a bit annoying to transport if it’s not on your head (squishable in a bad way) so I’m not sure how long it will last in my hands. The fact that it won’t go over my bulky headphones means that carrying it off the head is necessary at points which means that I’m bound to put it down and leave it somewhere. And it’s definitely a summer hat. You’d look a bit of a plonker wearing it in bad weather. Apart from that, this hat is a keeper!

9/10
Sarah Maynard

Style, quality and pride are the first things that come to mind when you look at a Brixton hat! They’ve come up with a simple concept that works for them, fuck the scumbag/skater look, get some proper materials together and cram it into some decent head gear to create peaks for those who choose to live as individuals, not clones!

I went for the everyday option, The Pinch, a reliable look that doesn’t project me into a new style that I’m not familiar with. I didn’t feel the need to go out re-buy my wardrobe to accommodate my new peak, instead I opted for a new peak that brings out the best in my old wardrobe, in the words of one Jeff Lebowski, “it really ties a room together!”

The finish on this particular model, as I’m sure it is on the rest of the line, is absolutely phenomenal, a true piece of craftsmanship that one should be proud of. It’s made with herringbone twill and finished with black stripes to add that extra touch of character. The black bill is kind of short, giving you the opportunity to not just use this cap for the practical sense of avoiding UV rays on the retina’s but also wear it out on the pull, enabling you to hide that bush that covers your scalp. Inside the hat is a smooth lining of quality satin that feels great on your melon and makes this piece look way more like expensive than it actually is!

Look, I won’t tell you what to do, but you should at least make the effort to get out and try one of these, I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

2P
Live FAST, Ride FAST

10/10

So Steve has been banging on about this Harlow park so we headed down there and started doing what the new generation does so much better. I managed to successfully imitate a fish out of water with my rusty ol’ bones and snap my board within 10 minutes of arriving. Great! So Zac saved my ass with this 5Boro that was thankfully waiting for a shred in the back of the beast.

This beauty is an eight inch board, with pop art style graphics that Andy Warhol would be proud of. Eye candy for some, eyesore for others depending on who you ask, especially when you combine it with my multi colour Hubbas! At first i struggled a bit because the tail is pretty short,but I guess that’s what they mean by a “street board.” The concave is pretty mellow which suits me just fine, and the nose/tail press angle is somewhere in between. This is an ideal 8 inch for anyone wanting to step up a belt weight from 7’75” , because the board tapers quite a lot towards the nose and tail, giving the illusion that it’s thinner. So i spend about 15 minutes making a fool of myself, but, after a few adjustments, I figured it all out. I absoutely love this deck. I think it’s partly due to my board looking like something that has come out of the Hersheys chocolate factory!

The board has taken a beating and even survived one of my tantrums, so the wood is definitely strong. Partly because none of the layers are stained. More stains means softer wood and more delams. So basically 5Boro have made a no nonsense board with a short tail and 8 inches of girth that looks like it belongs in the Tate. If you have a sense of humour, you would be stoked on this rig. Check out a recent interview with Steve Rodriguez from 5Boro here and support the cause.

Brendan Ryall

Now usually being a fan of the wider plank, this Listen deck had me tempted back to a skinnier stick because the shape and concave looked absolutely perfect. Still though, my gigantic feet were not happy about it at first and I put off setting this deck up for a while.

Then, late one night, I heard a tiny voice in the distance calling my name. “Mooooose. Oh Mooooooose!”. Stumbling out of bed to track down this voice, I blearily found where it was coming from. The Listen deck was talking, I shit you not. I picked it up, put it to my ear to hear it’s little whimperings, when it suddenly shouted “SKATE ME YOU PRICK!”

And no wonder it was angry. This deck shouldn’t be left unskated as it’s amazing. You know when it takes you a few ollies and flips to work out the geometry of a board? Not this one. You bolt your trucks on it, find your shoes and go. Being a little slimmer, it felt quick, responsive and the smallest toe-dab sent it spinning around ready to slap back into your feet. Yes, that’s right. It makes you do flips without even trying. Fuck knows how good it would be if I was actually putting any effort in.

The graphic ain’t half bad either. A nice simple illustration job of some weird dude and a collection of stuff. It was great for the 5seconds it was there, until the board talked, I listened, and we set about scraping the crap out of it with a few frontboards and tailslides, which it loved as much as I did.

And with a team that includes Brian Brown, Rob Gonzalez and Danny Montoya, Listen definitely are worth checking out and letting your feet graced my it’s woody goodness.

Moose

Rasta. Rasta, Rasta, I have seen a lot of Rasta’s since living in South London for 8 years, and to be honest most of them are supper chilled weed heads. I think it has something to do with Gods plants or some old shit, I suppose I should have looked up the whole rules on the religion, but I couldn’t be arsed – I went skating instead.

The board is a little flat for me and after riding a Real board it took around 3-4 skates to get that front foot sticking again, however like a good woman I was soon finding my way around the clean curves and rounded edge’s of this fine rig. I do find Almost boards have about two inches of flat before the nose and tails rises and again this means it feels like you make contact too early at first. That said, everywhere I have rode this rig the kids have been really into it, you know, asking questions about it, saying they really like Lewis Marnell’s style of riding and the graphic. So maybe the Rasta colour tones in the ply and on the bottom have also attracted their interest as most teenagers love discovering the Rasta energy.

I would recommend any Almost board and I have rode a few and they do have great pop and always seem to take time over the graphic style matching the personality of their pro riders. I am sure Lewis would never smoke drugs as it would set a bad example to his young fans, and they are out there that’s for sure, However if he is a real Rasta and gets busted for smoking he can always use the excuse that it his religion. Get one and don’t forget to check out the Almost blog daily and a recent interview with Lewis here.

Harrison

100% cotton Canvas Jacket

Well thank fuck the English weather changed, thus giving me reason to rock a lighter military jacket kindly passed on by Staff Sergeant Leeks at a top secret briefing. At first I tried to burn the paper details on this product, but I had to opt for sticking it up the Sergeant’s bum, as you know this smoking law has got people a little nervous and anyone with a lighter and cigarette in their hand is now a social outcast. Fine by me because being a skater makes you one anyway.

Ok the meet was not as top secret as I lead you to believe, but we also know there is no crab in crab sticks, so never let truth get in the way of a good story, or advertising come to think of it. Most the shit we buy, consume these days is advertised one way and when we finally get our hands, mouths whatever on it, it ends up being so far from the promised/advertised product. Take the example of spring water that was launched a few years ago by Coke? No not many, this is because they spent a fortune in advertising this new spring water from the mountains of England. Turns out they were just bottling it in a factory in Sidcup. Everyone went mad, and boom they ditched the whole idea and stuck to selling cans of sugar.

What’s this got to do the Flip Warhead jacket, well, first off this jacket actually looks better on than in photos, plus I had many offers for it within the first two days of wearing it. Enough pockets for all your goods, nice and light for skating in, job done. Some bloke in advertising once said to me it’s all about selling the sizzle not the sausage, well in the case of this Flip jacket, if this was a sausage it would truly be a finest organic Cumberland ring the size of your head. And if you’re vegetarian well, there’s always those crab sticks.

Harry

25.05.08
Back in December 2007, 2 pairs of Etnies Ashbury’s arrived here at HQ from the US and changed my feet forever. One pair was a special edition Stereo collab that were so bohemian in style, and so comfortable on my feet that i made a conscious decision not to skate in them.

The Ashbury went out on a big night on the town, helped me recover from coming-to in a phone box semi conscious and got me home without me even knowing anything about it. My wallet had gone with credit cards and cash included but my feet and these shoes carried me 4 miles careering in the road and through bushes, and delivered me from evil. The next morning i was destroyed. I had lost the plot and my mind was a puzzle of destruction. I got the teas on, sat down and opened the other shoe box. A brand new pair of jet black Ashbury’s were clucking to get out of the box. I had to help them and they got me through the day once again. You know the feeling i’m talking about here, the feeling of comfortable new shoes. It changes everything. I could not bring myself to skate in either pair, as i had too much respect for the perfection. They would have been destroyed in time and it wasn’t on.

This week, 2 more pairs arrived in the post. The brown leather version of this shoe is supreme, a master even. Once again, instant respect, no way i’m skating in these. Then opened up the golds. Lairy orange laces beamed like UFO shrapnel and said ‘not a chance’. Moral of the story is that the first 2 pairs have now been taken to the griptape and are performing like beasts. These are the ultimate volcanized skate shoes with enough STI foam padding to feel like you are moonwalking. Etnies have made a victorious chiller with the Ashbury, the ultimate shoe for the ultimate satisfaction whether you want to skate in them or not. Get a pair (or two) today. Shepherd Bush