Review by Gav

Time sliding: Approx. 2 years
Purchased from: Earthwing Direct
Similar boards ridden for this purpose:

• Earthwing 38" Drifter
• Skaterbuilt 'Melt' Pool Deck

The review:

Right then, here we go, beginning with some background info.
Until recently I've been riding an Earthwing 38" Drifter for my sliding needs. I originally started sliding on a Skaterbuilt pool deck, which was great at first, but felt a little too cramped for my tastes and the rotations were a little fast for a beginner. I then picked up an Earthwing 38" Drifter. This served me well for about a year, real comfy for learning how to slide and getting those first standups and 360s. I also like to skate street/park a bit which is where the 38" seemed to have its drawbacks, not as easy to huck an ollie and spinning 360s felt a bit slow. So when I saw Brian at earthwing has come out of his laboratory with a 34.5" all wood, street inspired drifter, it was time for a new deck!

First impressions:
Well first off the deck arrived in 4 days all the way from the states! Now that's powerful service!

Upon inspection I was very impressed. There's wheel wells right where you want them so you can run a lower turnier setup. The concave is deeper than the old drifters for that extra locked in feel. The nose and tail are more rounded as well so it feels like you've been transported back to being a kid again riding a big street board. They've left the top edges of the deck sharp instead of rounding them off so you get that little big more grip when you need it. Construction is solid, just a TINY bit of tortional flex to let you get in and out of slide better, but much less than the old drifter.

The ride:
I have never taken to a deck so fast! This was literally like jumping on my old street board, which is exactly what I wanted out of it, a more street influenced slide board. Ollies, kickflips and shuvits were no problem at all, easiest I've done them in years. Standup slides initialise much more quickly making them easier. The rotations come around a bit faster so you can keep more speed in and out of slides.

First day out we took the deck to our gnarbar slide hill which is rough, steep, unpredictable and scary. Well it wasn't scary on this board! I was chilling down the hill doing lil powerslides and dorking around, very happy.

Next good session for this bad boy was at Swalecliffe skatepark, which I haven't been to in months. EPIC session, all the old tricks were coming back after years of not doing them. Nollies, bigspins, kickflips, 5050s, big floated ollies, the deck handled anything I threw at it! Boardslides were a particular delight, very controllable.

Finally, this bad boy needed some serious slide testing, so the Canterballs and Thanet Dogtown crew headed to Greenwich to meet up with the London Longboards crew and have the Greenwich Slide Jam!. The setup felt totally natural from the off, no getting used to it, just ready to rip. I learnt a few new tricks too which was sweet (720 pressure spin!), everyone was very impressed with the board, especially the other guys who used to street skate, they all wanted one!

Overall, this deck has been making me feel more and more confident in my sliding which has come on leaps and bounds in the weeks since I recieved it. It's also perfect to thrash around a park. I find people who used to skate street are especially happy with it as it's got a much more street influenced styling and ride feel. If you wanna get mo street with your sliding, hit it up!

Review by Gav

Time riding these: 3-4 months
Purchased from: Apollo11
Similar wheels ridden for this purpose:

• 85mm Blue Kryptos
• 70mm Earthwing freeriders
• 77mm Abec11 Strikers
• 72mm Cult Gamma Rays
• 72mm Pink Powerballs
• 70mm Abec11 Lemon Zig zags

The review:

Well well well, the ole Seismic blast waves eh.

I love to drift and slide soft wheels. Hell I love to drift and slide hard wheels too, but these is all about summer time and softies. Before the whole 'freeriding' craze came about, I spent ages looking for a nice drift/slide wheel that I could still rip around on and not have my teeth get juddered out of the gums. Up until now, I was happy with my Blue Kryptos. they felt a bit slower than other wheels, but the drift made it all worth it... until now....

The first time I took the Blast Waves out, I was shocked at how much more speed they were holding, I nearly crashed a few times because I laid down my footbrake too late, not expecting the speed! Because of the big core, they're nice and light and easy to push, but then the thane around the edge keeps your roll speed and you just glide along for ages.

Next test was the drift/slide. At first they had much more grip than a blue krypto, which threw me off. Once I'd done a few colemans to loosen them up, it was an absolute delight! the drift is bettery smooth goodness, super easy to control due to the large core not letting the thane deform too much. However with the little bit of extra grip you can really hang out the back and style out your slides.

I took these badboys for slide sessions on mellow hills, out to Europe for gnar bar speed boarding, round hairpin bends, everything I could think of. For actual speed boarding, I don't think they had quite the right balance of grip/slide, but for general messing around, busting 10 foot powerslides into corners, they RIP! I find myself most happy on them at about 25-30mph either on a nice slide hill for standup fun or a bit of a hairpin to really lay out the drift round corners.

After 3-4 months of barely ever trying to grip a turn, these wheels have worn down to under 70mm in some places. Still they hold on! I've got a little bit of ovaling, but they are still awesome to ride. I've rotated them regularly and the coning is easily controllable. there still seems to be lots of life left in them cos of the huge starting size. I think the drift actually gets NICER as they get closer to the core. Literally, I haven't ridden another wheel really since I got them except for proper downhill. I want to get them down to the core and still keep riding! SICKNESS.

Final summary: SICK freeride wheels and great for pushing as well. If you want a general fudging around wheel, check these out.

Review by Gav

Time riding these: 3-4 months
Purchased from: Apollo11
Similar boards ridden for this purpose:

• Loaded pintail
• Custom foamcore slalom deck
• Motion Nicotinio

The review:

Them chaps over at Apollo11 gave us an insect city bomber to see what all the fuss was about... Well damn, we found out!

So, we first set this board up with tracker RTS/X, lemon 66mm zigs, some wedged risers and a crazy bushing combo. It seemed really nice, nothing extraordinary, but it could pump very well and was fun for ripping around the city. The back seemed to have a tendancy to slip out and the board felt rather tippy. Well screw that! this is a city BOMBER. We need something that's gonna KILL the streets, tearing up concrete like a squiggly possessed demon, ripping through traffic and pedestrians like a ball of screaming fury!

So we put Bennetts on it...

THIS is the setup, absolutely spanking! We ditched the risers and put some purple sabre bushings in the bennetts with a couple of washers to make the truck line up right. The wider hangar of the bennetts gave more grip, while the crazy turn on them meant we could still weave between pedestrians with ease and no wheelbite! The board pumps like a DREAM and you can feel the flex really working to push you around in the turn.

Lets talk about this insect flex. It's insanely snappy. Much much more powerful than a loaded flex, giving you great energy return in your pumping and carves. Feet can be adjusted on the board to give a really different feeling ride.

Mark says it's a "nippy, whippy, super funtime human slalom ripper". We lent the board to some of the Thanet Dogtown groms to test for a couple of weeks and didn't get it back for a month! They were having so much fun, using it as both a cruiser and a slalom setup that we just couldn't get it back into our sweaty hands!

So... to sum it up, rad board when set up correctly. I highly recommend the bennets, they were quite wide, not sure which ones exactly, I think it's a 160mm hangar. For more pump, stick a deader truck in the back. For more stability, I think some Randal 150s would be an EXCELLENT match for this board. when you get it right, you can really feel the performance you're getting from those crazy nanotubes... Cheers Apollo11!