This New Setup Surprised Me!

It was supposed to be a joke. This wasn’t supposed to be my main setup. It was just supposed to be something I messed around on. I was wrong.

Let me give you some context.

I spent a year or two messing around before I found my perfect setup. I went from a 7.75 to an 8.25 and then down to an 8 inch deck and then finally landed on an 8.13 flight deck that I really liked. I went from Aces to Krux (my kids picked them out) to Tensors to Mini Logos to Independents, which are a good compromise for me. I like to carve, but I also like stability. I went from 60 mm wheels to 54s and then back to 60s and then I went back to 54 mms again. I tried 52 mms for a hot minute and then got a different shape of 88a 54mm wheels. I felt content. The setup was like my favorite chair, my favorite t-shirt or even my best friend and after skating this setup for six months I decided to chuck all of this out the window and I got a completely new setup. I wanted to try something different. I love the look of big boards. I didn’t like skating them, but I love the look. I don’t know if it has something to do with watching Old School skate videos, but the massive decks and trucks just look amazing. It’s why I like to watch the modern Mark Gonzalez clips that he puts out. There is just something satisfying about him doing tricks on his massive board. There is something satisfying about watching a flipping spinning mass of awesome. I also wanted to try something completely different. I do things by half measures sometimes, and the differences are so minute it can be hard to judge the differences between things. There is a key here. I kept my pop. I try to keep the height of my board the same. This is my zero. It is my center. I’ve realized that the rest can change, and if I keep this then I am good. Nine inch deck, 15 inch wheelbase and some surfy Ace trucks. I don’t care if I have to kick it like Jean Claude Van Dam to get a kickflip. It’s beautiful. A little work, and I could land all of my base tricks. The grinds are beautiful, and the Ace classic trucks make it feel like I’m not just skating the obstacle, I’m surfing it. It even seemed to fix my backside crooked grinds, which I can no magically do. The slides are easier. There is so much realestate for your feet you hardly ever touch the ledge or rail in a tail slide. It’s proportional. It just fits me. Sure, I love little decks with short wheelbases. They are nimble and quick, but this monster just wants to have fun, and the video is gorgeous.