Hammerheads, Santa Cruz Reissues, and Early 90's Shapes

Who doesn’t like a Hosoi Hammerhead? Well, maybe some folks out there, but ever since I was a kid in the 80’s, I always wanted to give one a try to see how the shape would influence one’s skating. I purchased the below deck at the local Vans and it must have been one of the early runs of that batch of reissues? Why you ask? Because I noticed that the deck was much thinner than the yellow, orange, and black colorways with the wheel wells. I even spied another white one later with wheel wells and a thicker deck.

Now, I’m not one to throw stones at the skate manufactures for this and board flex/torsion is generally not an issue for me, likely because I’m not all that heavy. Powell Peralta caught a truckload of crap for their first run of Bones Brigade issues, of which I bought a few. I have yet to ride one of those, but bending them in my hand and placing them on the floor and trying to get them to bend with my feet has caused them to flex very little, and I bought some of the very early runs to include the Lance Mountain Future Primitive, Guererro, and Hawk deck.

Back to the hammerhead . In comparison with the above mentioned Powell boards, this particular hammerhead was in a “flex” class all of its own and I mean it. In the six months I rode this deck , it felt like the proverbial wet noodle or accordion whenever I’d pump through the bowl. Even dropping in caused it to flex and creak and I always felt unsure when it would snap. Fakie disasters with this deck would put life and limb in jeopardy.

However, I set it up as best I could and even somewhat tried to replicate the “thrashed” Hammerhead reissue from a few years back, complete with sticker job and red rails. I paired it up with Thrasher 30^th Anniversary Indy 169s, Pink Hosoi Rockets, and of course, Bones Swiss Bearings. This was also my 3^rd attempt at a custom grip job and I wanted to use a pastel color. My wife is an artist and has always been my color coach. It’s a strength of hers and she taught me sometimes less is more since the board was already white, I thought it looked nice with pink and black grip.

Anyway, I had a lot of fun with this board, but unfortunately the flex overruled any enjoyment of the hammerhead shape. It also stress-cracked  around the mounting holes much faster than the Santa Cruz Roskopp.

I did manage to get my first frontside grind with this board and first little air off a hip, so she’s a wall hanger now.  She did get a farewell tour at Pier 62 in NYC before mothball J

Salba Tiger

Given that these were reissued a few years back, they fetch insane prices, not to mention a vintage Salba deck would cost you a mortgage payment. So, I compromised and found one of the “Ashes to Ashes” Salba tiger decks at a very reasonable price so I wouldn’t feel too guilty riding it and tearing it up. Given that the “Ashes to Ashes” series are all black and white, I chose to add color through the plastics, the wheels, and the grip job. Since it is the tiger graphic, I went with orange Vision rails, Orange 60mm Bullet 97a wheels, and orange and black risers. The tiger stripe grip job was my next attempt at custom grip tape. In my opinion, I still need to work on cutting pieces to size and planning out the patterns better. Also, small pieces of grip don’t cling as well as large pieces, but I found shoe goo on the bottom of the grip to be a great remedy for that. She sports Indy 169 trucks and Rockin’ Rons bearings and I’m still riding this one today. Hands down, this is my favorite board I’ve ridden so far. I love the concave, the shape, the nose, and even the cutaway tail. It has definitely added a huge dimension of confidence to my skating in the bowl and my airs over the hip are more consistent and have gotten a little bigger. A topic for a later entry, but I’ve found OJ wheels to be the most to my liking for the bowl with 95a-97a duro to be my sweet spot. I’m currently trying to learn frontside airs with this now. 

Park and Tranny Natas

As I mentioned in Part I, I started out riding street and tranny on a popsicle, but have found that my tastes have evolved there as well. I had actually bought the below Black Label Natas deck for my daughter, but she traded it to me for the Cab as she didn’t care much for it. I love it and dig these early 90’s style shapes. 

So yeah, it dawned on me later that this was a limited edition deck and probably should have been a wall-hanger, but I have had sooo much fun with this board. Plus, I don’t think the world will miss one more limited edition deck. I set it up with Polar Bear Trucks, Bones 52mm STFs, and of course, Bones Swiss Bearings. The dimensions on this one are 8.75 x 32 with a 14” wheelbase. The concave has a better feel than any of the popsicles I’ve ridden and gives me a better board feel and more control. I’ve managed to get my ollies to the point where I can make it on top of curbs and lower grind boxes. I also pulled off my first few frontside pop shuvits, learned frontside 180s, and started to learn backside 180s. Boardslides and noseslides have been coming along nicely as well. The wider deck makes it more comfortable for me to ollie at speed as well and on transition. This is one I’ll ride until it dies.