If my memory serves me well, Ricta was one of the first skate wheel companies to pioneer the ‘hard’ core element into the urethane world. Since then, it has become standard procedure. ‘Nuff said.
Ricta also boast a team of riders that many a team manager would sell their soul to work with. With professional backing like that, you know the goods have got to be good. ‘Nuff said two.
I got my Arto Saari 52mm wheels and loved the crisp white colour they have. In fact, these wheels are still white after a good roll around, so that obviously proves the urethane is high quality.
Now, with wheels it’s either hard or soft set ups depending on what you ride and how. Ricta are hard- very hard. This can become a hindrance on slippery surfaces, but I have yet to feel the wrath of a flatspot on my ride.
If you like it hard and white, get Ricta.
8/10
Ralph Lloyd-Davis
22/05/2006
Whilst skateshops stock up on the big names and flavour of the month product, there are still small operations running all over the land. Eothen Skateboards is one of these operations, and it’s about to step up to the next level. I tried one of the very first boards to come from this homegrown skate company a couple of years ago and was pleasantly surprised. I didn’t hear much from Eothen after that and wondered if people had overlooked the occasion, but I was wrong. There are now riders (Jack Ryder, Ben Bucklee and Tom Davey) and a whole new line of product to choose from. 
The Kingdom deck is one of the new models that I got to test ride. The first thing I noticed was the shape: This board is virtually identical nose and tail wise. It took me a few minutes to figure out which way to set my trucks up… Next was the concave. There isn’t much, but I don’t mind that. In fact, the concave worked just fine and I din’t have any trouble trying to control the deck. There’s nothing worse than battling to control your board because it’s too flat or bent like a fish bowl.
Here is a quick rundown of what happened over the weekend:
It didn’t take long for the brand new Stappelbaddsparken Bowl in Malmö, Sweden, to get a proper thrashing, and the Quiksilver Bowlriders was the occasion to bring it on. The constant threat of rain over the weekend of May 19th to 21st, could not dampen the excitement of the huge crowds or riders in attendance. Riders dropped in from all over the Globe, including America, Sweden, France, Spain, Italy and Great Britain of course.
Aussie group The Grates have been lined up to support The Zutons on their current UK tour and will be performing their own headline shows in June in support of their debut album “Gravity Won’t Get You High“. The dates are:
This year’s Big Chill is going to live up to its name, as a line up has been announced that’s perfect to chill out to. The event will have 4 outdoor stages with bars also providing laid back grooves and up tempo madness once the sun goes down. There isn’t one style of music at this festival either, with the likes Jose Gonzales being set against Mr Scruff and Bugz In The Attic.
News just in from Malmo, and the line ups for tomorrow’s Semi Finals have just been finalised for the Quiksilver Bowlriders Comp.
Crossfire is in Malmo right now at the 2006 Quiksilver Bowlriders Comp and Friday’s heats are done and dusted and the results are in. Here are the qualifiers from the heats so far:
After almost 5 years of waiting the truly unique and inspirational Tool return with new album ‘10,000 Days’. A 77-minute, 11-song prog-metal odyssey, ‘10,000 Days’ is packed with plenty of eight minute-plus twisted riff-a-thons, odd-tempo polyrhythms and Tool’s trademark eerie interludes.
Consolidated news in – this time in regards new riders and collaborations with the UK’s favourite dysfunctional family,