Tried & True - August, 2016

WORDS & PHOTOS Jake Grove

Welcome to another edition of Tried & True! Tried & True is a monthly collection of skate gear that we’ve tested ourselves and found to exceed our standards here at Wheelbase. We will continue releasing these collections each month and including in them the newest and most innovative products we can find. So sit back, relax, and check out some of our favorite skate goods for August, 2016:

Loaded “Icarus”

The Loaded “Icarus” is a flexy, flowy, and wiggly dropthrough board. It is the ideal carving board, reimagined. Coming in at 38.4” long and 8.6” wide, with a wheelbase of 28.25”, this board brings a whole new design to the table. The vertically laminated bamboo and fiberglass construction of the Icarus give it a solid feel with ultimate flex, while the strong camber and alternating concave give the board a very lively and responsive ride. Loaded has reinvented their dancing/commuting/carving board after years and years of R&D in all types of boards; the Icarus has truly brought an innovative design to flexible dropthrough shapes.

The Loaded Icarus rides best setup with some responsive 180mm RKP trucks, a larger wheel with a supportive core, and we recommend running some lively double barrel bushings for extra rebound on pumps and carves. This board performs best for boardwalk dancing, flowy sidewalk runs, and any commuting needs in between, but would also lend itself to be fun for some freeride, garaging, and freestyle action due to its responsiveness and board feel. The practical nose and tail kicks give added maneuverability and freestyle options around town, while the generous flex and lowered riding height provide the comfiest commuting setup possible.

We’re stoked to see our good friends over at loaded continuously bringing new styles, designs, and innovation to the table, and highly recommend the Icarus for all your dancing, pushing, pumping, skogging, carving, commuting, flowing, and freestyle needs. This board has been engineered to the extreme and built to last, while providing endless hours of style and fun.

Check out more from Loaded Here!

Gullwing “Louis Pilloni Pro” Reverse

The Louis Pilloni Pro Model Truck is built just like our good buddy louis; it likes to go fast, mash itself up and over any features in the way, and handle every terrain of skating without restriction. This reverse kingpin truck has a width of 183mm and a 47* baseplate angle, and is built beefy yet light. The 89a stock RAD bushings give the truck a variable feel out of the box; a decent amount of lean and turn for freeriding, technical downhill, and other tight maneuvers, while still holding stable for higher speeds. These reverses were designed by non other than Josh Rolf of Munkae trucks, and every detail imaginable has been tested, tweaked, and approved.

The Gullwing Reverse works great on a wide range of boards, from cruising and carving, to slashing and shralping, to tucking and drifting. While this truck will perform best on most standard 9-10” freeride and downhill setups, we’ve also enjoyed skating everything with this truck, and have found it to be an ideal “skate everything” design. If you want one cast truck to do it all, the reverse is one of the best options around.

Louis Pilloni is an absolute shredder, and this pro model truck is well deserved. The Pilloni Pro Truck builds onto Gullwing’s reverse line with a unique redesign of the original reverse. This truck will handle anything it’s put through with ease, and is built to last. Slappies, Slides, Tucks, Drifts, Grinds, Ramps, you name it! The LP Reverse handles it!

Check out more from Gullwing Here!

Orangatang “Kegels”

The Orangatang Kegel is a big wheel. It’s a big wheel, with a fat contact patch, a super supportive core, and a fast roll speed. The kegel is poured with the “Happy Urethane” formula, and has an 80mm diameter and 56mm contact patch that keep it rolling fast and over anything in its path. The thick square lip and offset core ensure a balance of grip and slide, and keep the wheel evenly worn. The supportive 46mm core adds to the speed and structure of the Kegel, and keeps it riding smooth.

The Kegel functions best as a downhill, commuting, carving, and freestyle wheel, and at its 80mm diameter, fits best on drop-throughs and high clearance setups. We found this wheel to be an exceptional commuter, as the 80mm size and 46mm core give it one of the best roll speeds around, and once the board gets going it likes to keep on rolling with less push energy required. The 80a kegel also does a great job of reducing vibrations and rolling over cracks, bumps and junk on the ground, keeping the board in momentum. As far as downhill goes, this wheel also picks up and maintains speed rather quickly, and once it gets going it does not want to stop.

Overall, the kegel is a great option for keeping momentum, and the 80a version lends itself to be an amazing carving, commuting, and freestyle wheel to keep the setup going with minimal pushing. Set it up on a flexy drop through board with some lively RKP trucks, and effortlessly roll through boardwalks, sidewalks, and paths, or try them out on a higher-clearance downhill board for a faster roll speed and greater vibration reduction.

Check out more from Orangatang Here!

Bustin Built-In Bearings

The Bustin Built-In Bearings offer a convenient, durable, and smooth option to upgrade any setup, and keep it rolling free. Both the Orange Abec-9 and Green 6-Ball bearings come pre-lubricated with specifically skate-designed grease, removeable inner and outer shields that make them easy to clean, yet seal tight to block out the grit, and are made from high-grade steel.

These bearings work great as an upgrade to any setup, and fit nearly all standard cored wheels snug and secure. We’ve been riding these bearing in our setups for a little while now, and they don’t disappoint. Grab a set and toss them on your setup for a smoother, cleaner, and hardier bearing.

Check out more from Bustin Here!

Blood Orange “Rolling Supplies” Hardware

The Blood Orange Rolling Supplies provide top of the line skate hardware, and a place to keep those supplies that keep you rolling. Hardware, bearings, or whatever else you could fit in that little container. The included hardware comes in four variations; each with their own colored grindtainer. With ⅞”, 1”, 1.25” and 1.5” hardware, Blood Orange has most boards covered. The mounting hardware is pressed out of heat treated carbon steel bolts, and nylon lock nuts, and come with standard philips heads, counter sinking heads, and unthreaded upper bolt shafts. The included container also works as a grinder for whatever you may need to grind on those skate trips…

This hardware provides everything you want from mounting supplies; its heavy duty, intelligently designed, properly sized and shaped, and holds everything in the right place. For something so simple yet essential to all skateboards, Blood Orange provides a viable and durable option.

Check out more from Blood Orange Here!

Orangatang “Nipples” Bushings

The Orangatang Nipples are poured with a super high-rebound formula of urethane originally intended for the line of Orangatang wheels, and offer a very lively feel that bounces the trucks right back from carves, pumps, and tight maneuvers. The bottom bushing is slightly taller by .1” to provide further support in a double barrel setup, and account for the higher compression faced by the boardside bushing. Both bushings come with a beveled surface to fit most cup washers without an issue, and the bushings fit securely in nearly all reverse trucks. Flat washers are included with each set as well.

We really enjoy running these bushings on cruising, carving, freestyle, and freeride setups for maximum lean and bounce back, and recommend running them on a 180mm 50* Reverse kingpin truck for maximum lean. They prove to be extremely useful on flexy dropthrough or cruising boards where wiggle-boarding is performed, and with a flexy board, provide maximum rebound on tight carves and freestyle tricks.

Grab a set of Orangatang Nipples for your favorite RKP truck, and feel the turn! These bushings liven up all boards, and provide an improved feel for a more fluid and reboundy turn.

Check out more from Orangatang Here!

Kebbek “Dig Deep”

The Kebbek “Dig Deep” is a rad little all around street and transition board, capable of skating curbs, banks, bowls, ditches and ramps without an issue. With a length of 32” and width of 8.4”, at a wheelbase of 14.5”, the Dig Deep is the medium between a smaller street board and wider pool board. With a graphic and shape designed by Jordan “Dig Deep” Wells, it’s just big enough to throw down some speed-lines in a bowl, yet still nimble enough to slash around the city and get some street moves on. The slight taper of the tail along with the flat taper of the nose lock in the heel and toe on airs and kick tricks, and provide a great board feel.

The Dig Deep is best setup with some 8-9” street trucks, and the hard wheel of your choice. For a skate-everything setup, we recommend some 58mm 100a park wheels to keep speed in the bowls and on the hills. This board works great in most transitions and street terrain, however we found it to be especially suitable for ditches, backyard pools, and city slashing—where a nimble yet roomy shape is required, with a decent amount of pop and reference points.

We’ve had endless fun shredding everything on the Dig Deep, and recommend it as an ideal pool, ditch, and city board. Take it out to some driveways, alleyways and flowy paths as well and it won’t disappoint. Dig Deep!

Check out more from Kebbek Here!

Thanks for tuning in to this edition of Tried and True! Be sure to check back next month for another collection! Also peep last month‘s if ya missed that.