The standard setup comes with Gullwing 15" (38 cm) trucks, Abec 11 101mm Flywheels and Bones Reds bearings.  The deck itself is gorgeous.  The paint job is a very smooth gradient that starts with a deep purple at the nose of the board down to a light red at the tail.  The single stripe down the middle adds to the surfboard look of the board.  The grip consists of sand embedded in the finish.  It doesn't give a lot of grip, especially if your shoe soles are even a little wet, but it's perfect for barefoot riding (which I don't recommend) and it doesn't detract from the beauty of the paint job at all.

I was impressed by the craftsmanship.  There are no rough edges, the paint job is flawless and all the parts work together to make it a very well thought out board.  The custom wooden risers are an especially nice touch.

Now the big question--what about the ride?   I have to say I was surprised at how well such a long skateboard carved.  I was fully expecting the feel of the board to be more like riding a locomotive--straight down on a fixed path, than a longboard, but was pleasantly surprised.  You can carve on the Jam Silverback, granted, not tight carves, but long, smooth carves are very possible.

Part of learning to ride this board was figuring out where to stand.  On a shorter longboard, it's almost a given that for downhill, you stand with your front foot close to where the front trucks are mounted on the board.  If you stand too far forward on the Jam board, sometimes one of the back wheels comes off the ground when carving.  For me it was easiest to stand near the center of the board.  The wheelbase alone is only a few inches under 4 feet long which has to be taken into consideration when choosing your stance.  I found wheel bite to be a non-issue.  The design of the board prevents it 100% even with the huge wheels.  The length of the trucks combined with the very short width of the board-9" (23 cm) prevented the center set Flywheels from coming in contact with the board.

If you're into walking the board, or want to learn, the Silverback is perfect.  Instead of getting in two or three steps before turning around and heading back, it feels like you're walking all day in the same direction.  The huge trucks give the board a lot of stability and the 16ply Baltic birch has virtually no flex under my 170 pounds (77 kilos).

Before you rush out and buy one, take into consideration your vehicle.  If you don't have either a truck or some type of racks on top of your car (or you skate everywhere), you're going to have a hard time fitting it in.  I drove mine around with part of the board hanging out the window.  The Silverback is not an all around longboard, you won't be pulling many tricks (other than walking tricks) and it's not going to do you any good in a park, but it's perfect for what it's intended for-longboard surf style skating.  It's a perfect boardwalk cruiser and on open hills the size of the wheels and weight of the board make it very fast and very fun.  I think the Jam Silverback is a great addition to any quiver.

Short quicktime video of some carving on the Jam board. (right click and save target as)

Why you shouldn't skate barefoot ;)  Cruiser Rick pointed this one out and it's NOT FOR THE FAINT AT HEART!!! (Lush Longboards)