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Carver Skateboard

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Carver Skateboard

Postby north_of_45 » Mon Jul 11, 2011 9:15 am

Surfer (skater in this case): 37 years old. 6’2”/180lbs. Surfing since age 10. I ride shortboards and fishes. Skated as a youngster, was never any good. Acquired a Carveboard about 10 years ago. Really liked the Carveboard for reproducing the surfing feeling; weight distribution, body rotation, balance etc. Found that the Carveboard needs a wide road and a fairly steep hill and does not like manhole covers laid out in turns. Got a standard skateboard a few years ago as there was a new Dreamland skatepark at my office parking lot. I’m not a competent (or confident) enough skater to even drop in. I rolled in went up a few feet and practiced surfing-style turns and body articulation.

Desires: Reproduce a surfing turn on the street. I want to practice surfing when not surfing.

Board: 31” Taylor Knox Special. I’m using the non-stock 78a Mag wheels.
http://www.carverskateboards.com/produc ... .php?id=30

Results/The Ride: Best surfing turn reproduction ever! Same body movements, same feel. Probably 98% of a surfing turn. Plus, it won’t create bad habits as the weight distribution is spot on. Same movements generate speed like pumping on a wave. Cruising along, it’s easy to see a driveway ramp (proxy of a lip or section) see a spot, aim for it and to hit it, using all the same techniques you would on a surfboard. The more you rotate your shoulders and have surfing-proper body articulation, the more speed is carried and more positive the turn. It’s easy to imagine bottom-turning and making combination moves from bottom-to-top turn. It also reacts like a surfboard, if you front foot a turn, it increases the turn radius and flows. Weighting the rear foot, you can gouge that spot you aimed for on the driveway. It feels great going backside and frontside up sloped driveways. Great cross training. I was hooked from the first turn.

Additionally, it can act as a standard skateboard. The rear trucks are standard and, although I’ve not done so, I’m sure one could perform rotational turns in a bowl. It doesn’t handle high speeds with the large wheels and the pivotal front truck, but a little ramp or bowl would be fine. It’s also an unstable feeling to push the board, as the board is tippy when unweighted or with just one foot contact point. But, the advantage is that one can pump up gentle slopes easily, just like you would on a flat or slow wave generating speed.

At my height, I might have gotten the 33”, but the 31” really is fine.

Negatives: It’s possible, although somewhat difficult, to push too hard and slide the rear wheels during a turn. For those that want to practice fin-slides, the Carver is perfect. Usually when I do slide the wheels, I’m playing with how hard I can push it on flat streets (as opposed to sloped driveways). I’ve not yet slipped the wheels on a driveway.

Comparison to Carveboard: It rides like a Carveboard, but tighter turn radius. I can’t get as close to the pavement with arcing turns as a carveboard, but the general turning movement is the same. However, the Carver feels closer to a surfing shortboard than the Carveboard. A Carveboard feels more like a longboard in the water. Carver also turns at a much lower speed than a Carveboard and needs a much narrower street and not as much of a slope. I can now go straight outside my door and make a few turns. It’s not as heavy to walk up a hill. It’s only as heavy as a regular skateboard. The Carveboard had more wheel (tire in this case) traction and didn’t slide out ever (unless I hit a manhole cover or leaves).

I ordered my board direct from the company, but Gorge Performance now has them in stock as I went in raving about it. (No, I’m not affiliated with GP at all. I tried a local skate shop listed on the Carver site, but they only sold the trucks and not the complete deck set.)
north_of_45
stinkbug stance? I walk this way!
 
Posts: 28
Joined: Fri Mar 19, 2004 7:03 pm

Re: Carver Skateboard

Postby Spent » Mon Jul 11, 2011 10:04 am

I'm 36. 6' 190. Surfing since age 18. Skateboarding since age 9. I surf wide shortboards with three or four fins. I've never been any good at either activity.

Desire: To wake up pain free and catch a few rights.

Board: 8.5" Merde deck. Indy's. 149s only with Bones bushings. Loose as I dare go. Wheels, Usually hard 55m or 56mm. I like my teeth to rattle. I like to feel every bump the city throws at me.

Results/ The Ride: Saturday was tough. I couldn't motivate Smithgrind to hit up the Woodland bowl so my friend Jeff and I decided to hit some street spots by bike. We wanted a car free skate sesh. First we went to Brooklyn St, which we helped build but it was being torn apart by people way better than us, so we stood around looking tough for a few mins and then left. Next was a little spot neat the Hawthorne Bridge. My board ran away from me into traffic on several occasions because after two weeks off the board my sprack is lacking. My heel bruise wasn't feeling too shabby but the frontboardslide to fakie transfer alluded me. Next, was Union Sation, where I borrowed some duct tape from some 12 yr old BMXers b/c my toe popped out of my Vans, as I was trying 360 ollies off the loading dock. A tweaking hippie scared me off before I could make it. Next we went to the bank to wall in industrial NW portland. The bruises on my palm wouldn't let me push out of a wallride and so I bombed a nearby hill to make myself feel better. The hard wheels and loose as f*ck trucks felt just great. Finally, we went to this painted downhill curb near PGE park. I got a satisfactory boardslide transfer, thought about Tom Knox for a bit and then we cycled home. All in all I think I landed four tricks. A bluntislide on a curb, a boardslie transfer on a curb, a kickflip on flat and a 50 50 up a ledge to 180 out. Next day I went surfing. I wanted to try an air but alas a decent section didn't ramp up. I did get two satisfying backhand slashes on crumbling lips though... then the wind came up, so we drank beer and watched Wanty and Jerich paddle out to a mysto longboardy right.

At my age, height and weight, I should go with 9" wide decs "s and 169s or surrender to longboards but I still like to 360 flip once in awhile and I have some pride so I don't.

Negatvies: This sh*t hurts. Heel bruise, palm bruise, bloody knee, bloody elbow. I'm old. Still, I'm not quite mongo-pushing up Hawthorne just yet.

I got my board from the fat bastards who run the skate distro near my house. I walk in and take what I want and then we argue about how much I shouldn't pay for it. My decks are made in Alabama, trucks in San Francisco, wheels in Santa Barbara, bearings in Switzerland.

I wouldn't reccomend this skateboard or skateboarding to anyone.

Image

This is me skateboarding. Jeff, is my companion and Mike, the filmer is who I purchased this skateboard from. We all suck.

http://s3.amazonaws.com/mediabot/medias/752935/Video035.3gp
First Gay Marriage, then legal weed and now a goddamn skatepark in PC.
Spent
huntington hop wave killer
 
Posts: 1399
Joined: Fri May 18, 2007 11:36 pm

Re: Carver Skateboard

Postby nm » Mon Jul 11, 2011 4:22 pm

Spent wrote:I'm 36. 6' 190. Surfing since age 18. Skateboarding since age 9. I surf wide shortboards with three or four fins. I've never been any good at either activity.

Desire: To wake up pain free and catch a few rights.

Board: 8.5" Merde deck. Indy's. 149s only with Bones bushings. Loose as I dare go. Wheels, Usually hard 55m or 56mm. I like my teeth to rattle. I like to feel every bump the city throws at me.

Results/ The Ride: Saturday was tough. I couldn't motivate Smithgrind to hit up the Woodland bowl so my friend Jeff and I decided to hit some street spots by bike. We wanted a car free skate sesh. First we went to Brooklyn St, which we helped build but it was being torn apart by people way better than us, so we stood around looking tough for a few mins and then left. Next was a little spot neat the Hawthorne Bridge. My board ran away from me into traffic on several occasions because after two weeks off the board my sprack is lacking. My heel bruise wasn't feeling too shabby but the frontboardslide to fakie transfer alluded me. Next, was Union Sation, where I borrowed some duct tape from some 12 yr old BMXers b/c my toe popped out of my Vans, as I was trying 360 ollies off the loading dock. A tweaking hippie scared me off before I could make it. Next we went to the bank to wall in industrial NW portland. The bruises on my palm wouldn't let me push out of a wallride and so I bombed a nearby hill to make myself feel better. The hard wheels and loose as f*ck trucks felt just great. Finally, we went to this painted downhill curb near PGE park. I got a satisfactory boardslide transfer, thought about Tom Knox for a bit and then we cycled home. All in all I think I landed four tricks. A bluntislide on a curb, a boardslie transfer on a curb, a kickflip on flat and a 50 50 up a ledge to 180 out. Next day I went surfing. I wanted to try an air but alas a decent section didn't ramp up. I did get two satisfying backhand slashes on crumbling lips though... then the wind came up, so we drank beer and watched Wanty and Jerich paddle out to a mysto longboardy right.

At my age, height and weight, I should go with 9" wide decs "s and 169s or surrender to longboards but I still like to 360 flip once in awhile and I have some pride so I don't.

Negatvies: This sh*t hurts. Heel bruise, palm bruise, bloody knee, bloody elbow. I'm old. Still, I'm not quite mongo-pushing up Hawthorne just yet.

I got my board from the fat bastards who run the skate distro near my house. I walk in and take what I want and then we argue about how much I shouldn't pay for it. My decks are made in Alabama, trucks in San Francisco, wheels in Santa Barbara, bearings in Switzerland.

I wouldn't reccomend this skateboard or skateboarding to anyone.

Image

This is me skateboarding. Jeff, is my companion and Mike, the filmer is who I purchased this skateboard from. We all suck.

http://s3.amazonaws.com/mediabot/medias/752935/Video035.3gp


nm and 2 people like this.
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nm
somebody call my lawyer
 
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Joined: Fri Mar 05, 2004 8:59 am


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