Skate Reanimate

Welcome says,

We make boards that are not only of the highest quality, but that are unique. Our artwork is hand-drawn and our shapes are fun to ride. We think your board should excite you…

I agree.

And though this shape may be a little too out there to be my new deck of choice, it should be fun to try. This design mixes a shovel-nose and a more squared tail, with the sides tapering toward the tail. The Control Squid is advertised as a 8.6″ width, but I found it’s actually only 8.5″ at the widest (center) measure. The deck itself is sourced from Paul Schmitt’s PS Stix, so the quality should be on target.

I taped the deck with Mob perforated grip–a step up in grippiness from the default, according to Jon at Board of Provo, and folks I know online.

The current set up includes Theeve Tiax 8.5″ trucks, Bones Swiss bearings, and Rain Skates Mid-Tsunamis at 95A, 62mm. So this board is set up for transition skating. And though I expect this deck to neatly handle bowls, I may set it up with more street-happy wheels just to see how it will work on street.

Here are the RainSkates Mid-Tsunami single-conical wheels, measuring a beefy 62mm and at a hardness of 95A. I bought these specifically for skating transitions and bowls. I’m hoping these will offer a good balance of speed and control.

The larger diameter of the wheel should help with speed, however, though the larger width of a single-conical shape may enhance control and stability, it may compromise some speed. The durometer of 95A is right in the middle of what you’d want in a indoor ramp/outdoor bowl wheel–a little softer than some might ride, but I like to have a little extra grippiness. We also end up with some damaged transition walls in our outdoor bowls here in Utah, so this might help there as well.