THE GLOBE 38? DECK

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Appearance: The deck really is a simple design, both in shape and the graphic applied to it. The graphic has the new Lush logo and an image of the World painted on the underside of the deck. Simple, clean and well-printed. The overall presentation of the deck is, for sure, one of function over form as is implied by the subscript running within the graphic: ?carve, slide, park, pool, ramp, bowl, ditches, ride everything?. This one?s a multi-use deck and, with the variation in deck sizes within the Globe Series, it gets down to a choice of how big you want your version. The deck has double kick, a shovel back and bit of a spoon nose. The concave is subtle and not extremely sharp or aggressive.

The Ride: The deck was fitted with a specific setup for sliding and the terrain it tackled. It was used to tear up multiple hills with most of the testing taking place at two of the primary slide hills utilized by the NBS: Loretta and the Devil?s Backbone.

The primary tester?s first use of the deck was transitioning from a 44? deck down to the 38? the initial concern for the rider was the change in the footbase. After the first rider hit the steeps of Del Mar Ave, it was evident that the rider was just as comfortable on this deck as he was on the 44?. With that, the testing commenced. Going through the motion of laybacks, 360?s & 720?s made it obvious that the deck complied with the needs of the rider and the utilization of the concave made the deck very reliable under foot. The rails gave just enough of a hint to foot placement without being too sharp or over compensating for lean.

The tail and nose were fully accessible and the more compliant deck size made for an easy base to work on slide manuals. The tail was highly accessible and not over amplified. It?s got a gradual rise that locked in the feet when being secured.

The deck was durable, as would be expected. With the savage treatment and hollers of ?board? echoing in the canyons of Loretta, the deck was a trooper pulling double axel spins after bashing his nose and being none the worse for it. Even tail drags did little to damage the deck other than the typical cheese grater exfoliation the deck suffered. Curbs, rocks, gravel and posts. The deck hit?m all and was no worse for the wear.

Obviously, the decks greatest asset is simply its size: just small enough to execute higher rotations and still maintain a comfortable stance for many of the taller riders. Even on the fakie side of 180 Colemans, while riding switch the deck felt less cramped and compressed than other decks in the 34-38? range.

Conclusion: The beauty of the Longboard Consortium reviews team is the myriad of opinions we can garner from our riders. As with all groups there are differing opinions. In this case, though, none of them were negative. Everything can be improved though, right?

One thing all the riders agreed on is the beauty of the feel of the shapes ride. Many riders commented on what a reliable and utilitarian shape it was. It obviously held its own as a slide deck being highly compliant to multiple slide styles. One rider found the tail to be exactly what was needed as well as feeling the concave was just perfect ?nothing is worse then coming out of a slide to find yourself too far back on a hard tail and whip the deck out accidentally, well maybe high siding into a cow patty, that might be worse? another tester exclaimed ?give it a bit more concave and a more aggressive nose and tail and I?d buy one right now!?

Riders put their trust in equipment and in companies. The overall feeling on the Lush Globe 38? was that the mark that had been set was hit. A multi use deck with a very compliant nature that truly proves function over form.

THE .v2 SLIDE GLOVES.

For these latest sessions, we?re reviewing the second version of Lush?s slide gloves. You can read our review of these gloves predecessors in an earlier article. Since the new gloves are a refinement of the original design, we?ll spend our time with this review to tell you mostly what?s changed. Now, it needs to be said that the previous gloves from Lush had been tested, then worn for almost a year and are still useable. The previous versions were no slouches, but these gloves are improved on to a decent degree.

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Appearance: Just sick, they are more or less beast-looking biker gloves; the chrome knuckles give them a robotic look. I think ?cyborg?, one of the younger testers called them ?cow hands?. These gloves, at first glance, really don?t look too much different than the V1 gloves. But when you look closely, you notice a few details that really make a difference that becomes even more apparent once the gloves are worn.

The major changes our riders noticed were these. Much more beefed-up glove construction, full leather in many more places and a much more serious wrist strap makes the wrist area much more sturdy-- no more strap sucking slides that tear the Velcro. Also, the beefed-up wrist actually makes them easier to get them on and off. Less losing the strap when putting them on and no tearing when you pull them off.

The pucks are rounded on the edges: no more cutting into the glove after repeated slides on the finger material. They are also quite nicely graduated on the edges, making them glide smoothly over any road cracks and other sketchy road conditions. It also appears that the pucks are be thicker than those on the first versions. There is a thick suede thumb pad in addition to the already new burly leather that replaced the fabric glove. The thick thumb pad specifically protects the fabric from the typical shreddage that comes along with lugging your deck up the hill.

Sweat/Snot/Grime Wipe: the thumb strap and wrist back area have a small, but useable terry cloth backing. It?s very good for getting the errant snot rocket off your lip and wiping the sun-brewed stinging sweat from out of your eyes and off your forehead. This is also a good reason not to borrow your buddy?s gloves? The grip on the finger pucks has been changed up. We?re not sure if it does much, but it does seem like they?re less promiscuous in their tendency to stick to other things than the older versions.

The Slide: These gloves slide fast. The Lush crew has found a fast, super-minimal drag compound to use for the pucks. One of our riders switched from a UHMW pucked set of gloves to ride with the .v2 Lushes. The Lush pucks just slid like greased ice when the hands went down. So little drag that he said his hands felt as if they were floating above the dusty street!

Conclusion: It?s obvious that Lush has made these innovations on their gloves after responses from riders. A brilliant action, because they have taken a very capable slide glove and made it even more efficient and long lasting. You would think that with the added bulk that the gloves would be hotter. Well they?re not. So there is nothing that these additions took from the gloves. All our previous observations still stand and from there they have made these gloves nothing but better.

LUSH Cannonball Wheels

Rich from Lush says and we quote: "In my opinion these are the best slide wheels I have ever ridden". Okay, Rich is supposed to say something like that. We'll say that we're not the greatest sliders you'll ever meet, but we?ve tried a bunch of slide wheels and didn?t do so badly as a crew at the Gravity Slidefest. So, giving the Consortium an opportunity to test these wheels seemed great. With an introduction like the one Rich gave them, we had no choice but to shred these wheels in full Abuse Mode. We were ready to see what our hardcore sliders think about these wheels.

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60mm Cannonballs

Appearance: Black, Red and White -- freaking striking. A very clean design and the wheel duro and width stats are very legible on a mint wheel. Okay, so it?s not so legible after a number of sessions, but stuff happens. The wheels kind of remind us of those SUV wheels you see with huge rims and little rubber edges. What does appearance have to do with a wheels ride? Not really much, but the construction and the innovative materials used really make these wheels sick!

The Slide:

60mm

These wheels sound soft when ridden, feeling soft underfoot even on the high pebble content of Loretta Street, in Oceanside. When pressed with a fingernail, the ?thane feels deceptively soft. When slid, the wheels feel hard, real hard. One of the testers let out a mid-slide holler during his initial test. You could see him sling his body to compensate for the aggressive momentum that these wheels carried. A far slicker slide than was expected.

The easiest way to describe these wheels would be as ?deceptively aggressive slide wheels.? The large contact patch and huge, molded hub come together to allow a wheel to just rip into the slide. Massive weight transition is felt when you slide as the wheels keep the deck up to speed all the way through the moves.

On the more basic slides, you will be going just as fast on a decent grade after the slide as you were before you went into it. Now we at the Longboard Consortium have tested multiple wheels for strictly their sliding aspects.. These wheels are, bar none, the slickest wheel at speed that we?ve been on. Much of that has to do with the use of a large hub to reduce urethane depth, allowing for a softer duro to take on properties of a harder wheel without the sacrifice of ride comfort.

All wheels flat spot, but some are less prone to it than others. Even on shutdown slides, we could see how the hubs helped to maintain the wheel spin as the lateral slide took place. With the wheel spinning, there was a minimal chance of the wheel flat spotting. Tail down manual sides, which have a tendency to ravage wheels, left these wheels no more damaged than any other slide.

65mm

One of our riders, an accomplished slider in his own right, said after just a few runs, ?I would run these in a contest!? He wondered aloud how the 65mm wheels would act. Within a short month the rider's wishes were answered and we got a box from Lush of the 65mm wheels to try out. They quickly dissapeared into the hills of San Diego but were recovered, in fine shape but slightly smaller. Well loved would be a good way to put it.

After a few months our riders got to know these wheels real well, throwing them at more than a dozen hills and learning the difference between these wheels and the 60mm. "What was the difference?" you might ask. The 65mm wheels just exemplified on a greater level the way the 60's acted. Higher speeds on the exit, far more comfortable on harsh terrain and nigh invincible to flat spotting.

Whithout a doubt for larger wheels the 65's are quite apt to being used for rotational slides. With hardly any drag rotations are smooth and fast. Smooth where you want it to be and still heading back into the line as you would expect a high speed slider wheel to be.

We ran the wheels over a great deal of harsh terrain and never had an issue with the wheel vibration or catching gaps. Similar to their younger brother the 65's ride like a much softer wheel until you break the line. No vibratory frustration from the 1,000 finger massage that harder wheels often provide.

It's wouldn't be a ninja test without the riders somehow breaking the gear now would it? However these wheels are taking longer to kill than the 60's. We have been dropping them latteral for a few weeks now, so that we could provide you with the knowledge of how durable these wheels are. However sadly we have failed so far. I am not saying you can't flat spot them. I'm just saying we haven't managed to do it yet.

Conclusion: These new wheels are in a league of their own. Both the 65 and 60's ride soft, slide super hard and put the ?able? in durable. Transition speed is fast; intro and exits are blazingly quick. The 65mm Cannonballs are well suited for sub par conditions and a little bit more speed on the top end. We can only hope that availability of Lush products in North America grows for slide addicts that have gotten a taste of the way these wheels ride. It could be a hard itch to scratch, otherwise.

Final Thoughts. As a setup, the Globe and Cannonballs match each other quite well. A light deck and light wheels make for very smooth active sliding. It?s a very agile deck with concave and dual kicks to keep the feet locked in and to enable the rail control to manipulate slides with minimal effort and reliable results. Add the Lush gloves to the array and you have a high speed slide glove that complements the speed of the slides very, very well. You will lose none of your speed to gloves or wheels. The speed is all up to you and the gear is solid. There were no marring complaints with any of the equipment tested in this review so it more or less comes down to one thing. Are these the best wheel for sliding? We don?t think there is an answer to that question, really everyone wants something different. When it comes to the best high speed sliding wheel we have just one question. Can you handle the speed?