If you’re anywhere near West Virginia this weekend, head over to Charleston for a 15 mile  push race.  The Bustin crew will be around so stop by and say hi!  See you on the track!

Hey kids, cats, and kooks.  Just thought I’d check in and see how everyone’s doing.  Alright thats a lie, I don’t care, I’m just gonna tell you about my day.  Grabbed the shorty this morning (I’ve been working on street skate for a couple weeks), and lo-and-behold, delam going all the way up the side.  A few minutes late for work meant I was able to glue and clamp it so we’ll see how it looks when I get home tonight.  In the meantime, I grabbed my Boombox and hit the streets.

Right away I was caught off guard by the extra 8″ of wheelbase, but after getting my bearings something exciting happened.  I fell in love, all over again, with my Boombox.  I’ve been getting excited about popping ollies, shuv-its, and the like on my 38″ double kick, but man, the nice broad, low-angle tail of the Box had me doing the same tricks on a larger scale.  Plus the longer WB equates to stability and foot space for some kooky dance moves, my favorite!

Just to address the set-up, cause I’ve seen tons of different styles on this deck.  I run a slightly modified Boombox.  What I did was to move the wheelbase into 28″.  Now whenever you adjust the WB of a board, you’re tempting the wheel-bite demons.  The answer, get creative.  For me, this meant a wider truck in the Surf-Rodz adjustable axel INDeeSZ, set all the way out to 197mm along with a Rip Tide fat cone on the board side to clean up any remaining bite.

Now, the Boombox’s trucks do normally sit flat to the ground due to the radial drop, however, the moved in wheelbase mounts the trucks slightly on the drop itself, so to counter this, I threw in about 7° of de-wedge using a couple chopped shock pads.  The result is a nimble but not twitchy, stable but not dead, big-kicked monster of a freerider / dancer / freestyle machine.  Add round-lipped, 70mm, wheels of choice and enjoy over a fresh baked slide of shred.

Cheers!

-Bubbles

SAFETY DISCLAIMER: Modify boards at your own risk!  I am not responsible!  Do not hold me to be so!

So for this week, I decided to reach out to my fellows around the office, in the shop, etc etc, and find out a little bit about what they love about their Bustin Boards.  We’ve got some comments from Jeff Vyain, our Research and Development artificer, and Nick Coolhands, the head honcho in Brooklyn.  Next week we’ll pick it up with Derrick Iavarone, SKP wizard of the Longboard Loft, Lindsey Turner, the girl behind the scenes keeping us stocked with the latest and greatest gear, and you’ll get a little of my “Bubbly” perspective to boot…

So Jeff!  What do you have for us!

“Yoface, Indy 169, City Slashers – I like to ride this whenever I want to pretend like I’m a real skateboarder. Or when I want to ride a mini ramp. Or when I want to get sketchy on a hill to make it more fun. I keep soft wheels on it. Our hills in NYC aren’t huge so boards like this can make them feel bigger and scarier. The concave on this thing rocks and locks and it’s a guaranteed good time.”

Solid set-up for kicking around and having a blast, but aren’t you more of a push / pump guy?  What else do you LOVE?

“My everyday board is a composite Sportster. I’ve been riding it for months, and it’s my favorite board. It’s super low to the ground so I can always push it anywhere, the concave locks you in so hard, and everything just combines to make anything you do on this board easy and comfortable. I have learned and improved my slides, I learned toe-side checks on this thing, and then when I transfer it over into a top mount, my body has figured out how to move properly, so my riding has improved no matter what board I’m riding. I set it up with Ronin 172mm 45-degree trucks in front and back and usually white 75a Swift wheels. I feel kind of bad for having this setup because it is honestly too good for me.”

Says the winner of 2 Adrenalina marathones in 2011… Thanks for the insight man!  Now I’d like to head back to our flagship store and the dude in charge, Nick Coolhands.  Hey Nick!

“I’m going to have to make the easy choice and go with my Robot 36, to me it is easily the best board to surf the city, in and out.  The Surf Rodz make it more fun to drift and make my way through the city at a fast pace.  The concave on the Robot with the INDeeSZ trucks makes it super reactive, best traffic surfing board and city pusher you can find.  For wheels, I go Yellow Will Royce’s, they grip the smooth concrete perfectly and when I make those hard turns around cabs through the city, it dosent drift out on me.”

Sick $h!t Nick!  We’re gonna leave you with that for now, and pick back up with some more of the crew next week, stay tuned!

Mini’s, campus cruisers, thrashers.  They go by many names, but whatever you call them, mini longboards are seeing their fair share of attention.  The attraction of a shorter longboard comes about, most often, due to a need for quick, tight commuting, and ease of transportation.  Having a board that can weave around pedestrian traffic in cities or on campus’ is a plus, and adding compact size for easy stashing has given rise to a higher demand for mini longboards.

The Spliff is the miniest of our “minis” and really displays the shining qualities of a shorter longboad.  With a tight wheelbase and wedged nose, the Spliff can dodge traffic like frogger.  The increased turn in the fron makes is a great mini cruiser as you can really use this turning characteristic to generate momentum.  However the Spliff does lack a kick tail which is where we turn to the Mini Maestro.  It would be impossible to have a segment on the best mini longboard without including this bad boy.  An even smaller wheelbase than the Spliff allows it to keep the agility with the added benefit of twin kick tails.  Not only can you grab a board and head out the door, but feel free to practice your flip tricks on your morning commute!  As a drop-though the Mini is low to the ground for super easy pushing as well!

The Sojourn and the Yoface finish what the Maestro Mini started and provide fully functional tails.  Not only that, but with integrated wheel wells on the Yoface, it feels as locked in as a larger freeride board should!  These boards really are the cat’s meow when it comes to small freestyle decks with a personality!

So if you’re on the market for a board with a tight turn, or you need something to get around campus or work, consider one of the mini longboards in our line-up.  With a plethora of different features its not tough to find one that will get you doing big things, on a small board!

Cheers and enjoy the ride!

So recently I’ve been getting a lot of questions about bearings.  Whats the best bearing?  How fast is an ABEC 9?  Luckily, Steve C has written a very comprehensive run-through of what makes up a bearing and how they work.  Lets tune in with Steve and learn a little something!

Thanks for the insight Steve!  Check out more of his run-throughs on Silverfish!