 Rainskates makes some of the best and most unique wheels today. These 92A 62mm lime green Kaku wheels are their latest and long awaited. Pete was kind enough to send us a set to take for a test spin.The hardness is perfect for ditches, parks, pools and pretty much anywhere. They ride smooth yet solid enough not to mush out. Plenty fast with the core and the slide is just right. On concrete they break free with a moderate amount of force and squeal like the old Speed Wheels of the 80’s providing a controlled and easily predictable slide. On skatelite ramps they keep good speed and tend to stick a little more than the harder wheels. These come with a side cut on the back like the old Bullet wheels which provide control on lip tricks while still releasing good for re-entry. Rainstates wheels also last longer. These are the best all terrain wheel we’ve tried making them an excellent choice for people that don’t want to change wheels everytime they change surfaces. Specs = Single cut, 62mm x 40mm, 23mm C.P. 13.4 Oz Do yourself a favor and grab a set to try for yourself! Ask for them at your local shop or order online rainskateswheels.com/lime_green92a 
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 What do Manson, a private eye and God all have in common? All subjects in Misconceptions of Hell By Michael Essington. An entertaining collection of stories and poetry that will keep you glued to the pages in this entertaining read. The stories are short enough to complete in our time constrained world and form a greater whole of a private detective and then there is Nam. In between great nuggets of poetry that touch on subjects in life from the view far outside of the silver spoon bubble life. Do yourself a favor and engage your senses in this gritty and point blank writing.
Available on Amazon.com and Kindle.com  Since I needed to grip my OFCS board for the review I contacted the uys at Flik griptape and they sent a pool board size sheet. It was easy to cut a design in - I'm old school, and easy to apply. Not to stiff, good thickness and as smooth as grip can be to trim. The grip has great traction, not to harsh and allows for foot shifting when needed.
Flik comes in a cool variety of colors and graphics in the standard size as well. Next time you need grip ask for it at your local shop.  OFCS is based in Houston, TX right near the Lee & Joe Jamail skatepark. I first met Jerry the owner while skating and he told me about his company as we talked equipment. He offered to make a custom shape to review and being a local skater owned co I had to take him up on it. The result was top notch!
The board rides solid, yet lightweight. The wood and finishing work show excellent crafstmanship and attention to detail. It felt great my first run in the bowl and has good pop though my ollies aren't so good. It just feels right and makes me want to keep skating. Like the sticker says - Homegrown and China free. So next time you need a board support a skater made, finely crafted American board co with a custom shape you design. Contact Jerry at OFCS and he'll set you up right: [email protected] 832-381-8977.  Back in the day, 70's, the first real skateboard wheels I got were Kryptonics, so when I found out they were re-issueing the Star Track wheels I was excited. The cool people over there sent a set for us to try out. Just as with a new surfboard mother nature decided to keep us chomping at the bit for several days with unfavorable weather conditions. Once the cold rainy spell let up it was time to roll.
Just like the originals they are color coded for duro. Red 78A, blue 82A and green 86A. We received the red 78A which were hot for street back in the day. They rolled smooth, fast and great traction as you'd expect. Most park riders used the green, but we thought why not give these a shot at the park and specifically the bowl. Amazed at the speed and flow since normally harder duros are preferred for bowls. After all that fun I decided to mount them on my old 70's board for the full comparison. Wow! What fun and a blast of memories. As i was cruising around I realized through all of life's ups and downs one thing was always there for me - my skateboard, my true love. I started remembering how I skated all around town on my original Kryptos; to school, surfing all the driveways, on vacation at Cape Cod as transportation meeting interesting people along the way, the time we snuck in my high school and did spin outs on the freshly waxed floors, doing wheelers on the new banks by our town Ford dealer pretending we were riding a pool, it's all we had hahaha. Reviewing these Kryptonics wheels reminded me of all the good times in my youth and how fun it is just to ride today. Anyway, these are great wheels for anyone looking to have fun. If you rode some back in the day, or for young guys that want to try a piece of history on a 70's re-issue set up or upgrade a Penny board. Kryptonics are pure fun, so ask for them at your local shop! Also check out some cool stories/history on the Kryptonics site.  Jake and the crew at Tracker sent us over some of the new Bill Danforth version of the Dart for pool boards and a pack of hardware. Right out of the box the quality was apparent. Hangers nicely lined up over the base and all finishing work very clean and precise. We mounted these to an American Nomad deck and took them for a spin. They handle stable, precise and turn fast too. Quality you could feel under your feet. Tracker has always been known for their dependability and durability under abuse and this Danforth model affirms that commitment. They've been producing quality trucks since the Dogtown days( just pick up an old skateboarder or look at vintage photos online) and grew throughout the 80's with legends like Jeff Phillips, John Gibson, Todd Prince, Dan Wilkes, Mike McGill, Tony Hawk, Kevin Staab, Tom Groholski, Bill Danforth and so many more. Today they continue the excellence with new rippers like Sky Siljeg, Adam Taylor, Patick Melcher plus Dogtown legend Jay Adams and of course Danforth. Whether you skate pools, parks, curbs, streets or ramps these will handle it with ease. We highly recommend giving these a try along with a solid set of Tracker hardware to hold them on for all the punishment you dish out.  
Three great short stories told in an interesting fashion that keep you reading along looking for that moment or thing and then they end in a hard blow of reality. Walter and Lazarus written by Michael and Dead End by David. All three feature characters that resemble someone you may have known, heard about, a close friend or maybe even YOURSELF! In reality or a nightmarish daydream.
A great read that will make you reread it.  Dan over at Mentality sent us some of his cool Thin Dot Home button Stickers for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch to check out. We stuck them to an open phone and also one with a rubber cover and they look nice. They work well too. It says they can be repositioned and leave no residue, so we did just that. They work great. Nice, great looking, simple, fun product to liven up and add some skate style to your iPhone, Ipad or iPod touch.
Michael grew up in the thick of LA punk rock, created fliers, was in a few bands and writes for Strange Reaction, Flipside 2010 and has interviewed many legends. This is his book about growing up in those times and onward to more recent.  Last One To Die is an entertaining and informative look into what it was like to grow up in The LA area of California in the 70's, 80's, 90's to now as a dedicated punk rocker, student. employee, skater, band member, rapper, dad and fighter. It's all in here - struggles, moments of brilliance, dysfunctional families/people, relationships, told in various stories that vary in time period as though you were being told in person. The perspective is great for those of us that have no idea what life was like then and now in that part of CA; something I'd always wished I had done. Some of my favorite stories were Ray and his crazy wife, the 20 mph mudslide to a luckily red lighted street, El Lobo and the knife and razorblade with cops moment...ok, I'm teasing you...because I want you to read this book. There's way more, but I don't like to do long drawn out reviews; rather short and to the point (like a good punk song)... Towards the end are some great interviews Skateboard legend and punk rocker Jay Adams (I've viewed many Jay interviews and this one stands out) , Eric Leach of Symbol Six, Lisa from Frontier Records and the incredibly innovative and talented musician; Rikk Agnew.
I must admit when I first started reading the book it wasn't what I expected, and it turned out to be so much more. It was an honest accounting through the stories of one who lived it with no glam, no self pity through one of the most interesting time periods in music and Skate history that keeps you going page to page til you've stayed up too late or blown off other responsibilities - so grab this book and experience it for yourself.  We decided the best way to test this was to set up a new deck. Our friends at American Nomad sent us a killer Monty Nolder board. We found this tool to be very compact and surprisingly functional. The tool pulls apart and you use cylinder for the mounting nuts while holding with the screwdriver end - it's always easier to tighten a nut than the bolt head end and this had plenty of leverage. It made it easy to pull the new bolt down into the fresh wood. Next we tried the axle nuts and the placement of the socket below the truck wrench allowed plenty of torque. All together a convenient and solid tool for any skater. trickywrench.com    |
