Skatefurther Ben

 

Another deck from Subsonic Skateboards. Designed specifically for Distance pushing and tested by Sheldon Lessard in a New Zealand as well as numerous US riders. The original Raven deck was popular with a couple of UK distance riders but the wood only construction had some weaknesses. The new deck is a wood and fibreglass construction and it feels a lot stronger, with a predictable pop and nice flex.

Ive got it set up with Holeys (Best truck in the world, UK ,brilliant trucks) and 85mm 79a Seismic Speed Vents.

Im going to put some serious miles on this deck over the summer so detailed reviews and reactions are soon to come.

 

19/05/09, Testing………

Despite having had this deck for a while now, I haven’t given it as thorough a testing as I should have. I spent far too much of this spring  fiddling with my pumping technique and developing headaches over bushing combos, but I knew that as soon as summer rolled along I’d jump back on a pusher again. The weather gets better and the ideas which had began to form over the miserable winter months, slowly become Ideas again. The most fanciful are pushed back for another year, others are considered and, for a while at least, constitute a rough plan. Eventually sense takes over and a slightly less ambitious plan is adopted. For me, this years ‘slightly less ambitious plan’ is to skate the length on the UK, 900 miles from John O’Groats to Lands End. My train ticket is booked, I have a good idea of the route and I know what gear I will be taking.

 

I covered a lot of miles on a Raven last summer and I reckon, proportions and construction wise, it is the perfect board for the UK roads. There is no space at all wasted on the deck, the rear is thin which suits my style, the double drop makes the whole set up low enough for distance and it handles well. Thats why it is the deck ive chosen for the UK trip.

 

The Ultraskate in march was a great opportunity for people to give the deck a test, I had decided to try and pump as much as possible so I didn’t ride it much, but CalumWP notched up a respectable mileage on it whilst I wiggled my hips on the pulse. He had set it up with 70mm ZigZags so the whole deck was startlingly low and just hovered over the pavement. Everyone had a push on it, and the reaction was on the whole positive, though some didn’t like the styling. There was mention of the drop being too shallow and possibly hurting peoples front foot, but noone who rode the board on the day thought so, and ive never had any pain from it. In fact I like the shallow drop because when I push uphill I tend to bring my foot forward onto the drop as it feels like I have more leverage that way. The deck looked great in amongst the fleet of distance boards.

 

A Friend and I gave the board another good days test at Dorney Lake the week after the ultra, and it received big thumbs up from the both of us, it really is very easy to push and when set up with Holeys and 85mm Seismic Speed Vents it was fast too. The only hitch on the day was my friend’s apparent temporary blindness; apparently he couldn’t see the three mile lake that was right in front of his eyes, a handicap that resulted in the Raven taking a little swim.…Still, a great day was had! Rubbish photo’s though so……here’s a picture of a Swan…..

 

The Raven has replaced a borrowed Demonseed deck as my daily get around and it continues to impress me. It‘s light, and the flex is very comfortable. Satisfied that it was the board I would use over the summer, I set out to finish off the set up with 2009’s must have skateboard accessory, the Trailer.