The Loaded "Fish"
lf you read the review of the loaded Vanguard from a few months back, you already know to expect the best from this company. They're back again with two new models--this one, the Fish, as well as the Hammerhead which we'll be reviewing shortly.

The board comes with Tracker Racetrack-S 139mm (that's 5 1/2 inches) trucks (commonly used by slalom riders) with yellow Stimulator bushings. These trucks are super responsive and are great carvers. If you're used to a longer board or wider trucks like most Indies , you'll be surprised at just how tight these turn--so tight that at first they might feel jerky to you. After riding for a few minutes you'll miss the quick turns when riding anything else. One of the reasons you don't see these trucks on longer boards is that it's hard to pull off a shape that lets you ride these trucks, 70mm wheels and still not get any wheelbite. The Fish does a great job of it.

Specs
The Fish is a short board as far as longboards go, and they bill it as "the ultimate commuter board." It's definitely geared toward tight spaces and shorter, less steep hills. It's 33" long with a relatively short wheelbase of 25.5". This is still, however much longer than the average 14.5" wheelbase of a shortboard, making the board significantly more stable on hills and giving it a surf-style feel while maintaining portability and with a kicktail (more on this later) for tight maneuvering. I'd actually call it a commuter/pool/parking lot/parking garage/slalom/ditch board, but I'm not sure how well that would go over with their marketing department. Let's just say it's a very versatile board.

The Ride
For me, the more versatile a board is the more fun potential it has and the more of a chance it has of getting a lot of use. This board is a great one to take when you don't know which board to take.

The Fish has a good amount of flex but doesn't feel too springy, it's a great pumper and feels very responsive coming out of carves. The mild concave is enough to keep your feet firmly planted without giving you the feeling that only your toes and heels are touching the board. I have no complaints whatsoever on the amount of flex and concave in the Fish.

One hill I tested the Fish on was a 20-25mph hill and it held up without wobbles and felt fine carving. If there was one thing about it that bothered me it was the potential for footbite. I wear size 14's (that's big for those of you not in the US ) and there's a spot between the kicktail and where I like to put my foot when carving where footbite is definitely a possibility. It took a few hours riding to get used to sliding my foot past that spot to avoid it. I'd guess that someone with smaller feet would have less trouble with this.

A kicktail is a rarity on a longboard these days. If you grew up skating in the 80's like I did, or if you're coming from a shortboarding background, a kicktail (at least one) is probably something you have missed when skating most longboards. It's not that you really use one when you're carving or bombing hills, but for those times when you're just messing around in a parking lot or cruising on flat ground or on busy sidewalks or especially when riding pools that it comes in very handy.

The Fish has a decent solution to the problem of no kicktails. The Fish's kicktail is a piece of dense (replaceable) polyethylene foam mounted on the tail. How well does it work? Well, it adds quite a bit of functionality but is still not a full-out kicktail. You'll find that tic-tacking (am I the only one who still does this) is very possible as well as kickturns, nosewheelies (manuals) and your other basic kicktail uses are all there. The downside is that with the top mounted foam kicktail (which Loaded says helps them avoid compromising on weight or flex) the tail is still fairly close to the ground so you don't have as much vertical space before you're scraping the tail on the ground. Can you ollie it? I don't know, I don't really ollie, but I've seen people ollie just about everything on four wheels so I'm going to play it safe and say yes. You'll also notice the flex while using the kicktail but this is easy to get used to. The last point is that, like I mentioned above, the distance you have to slide your back foot to get from the sweet spot for carving the kick tail takes a little getting used to. The foam seems plenty durable--mine's not really showing any signs of wear after a decent amount of riding and seems stuck to the board very well--I made a good effort at peeling it off and it didn't budge. The whole back side of the board is strengthened with a sheet of carbon fiber, so despite how thin and light the board is, the chances of breaking it are next to none.

The Look
Loaded's philosophy (from what I can tell) is to make functional boards first then deal with aesthetics second. That's not to say their boards are ugly by any means, but you can tell where the priorities are. The graphics are simple and consistent . The shaping is perfect--no rough edges or anything of the sort. I really like the spray on grip they use--it sticks great, looks good and isn't a dirt magnet at all. The board isn't so much of a head turner as it is a good, solid, versatile ride. You'll notice immediately how thin the board is--I'd say this is one of Loaded's trademarks--a super thin, very strong board.

The Company
Dealing with Loaded was, as always, a pleasure. They are very responsive to feedback and are constantly looking for ways to improve their products. As I mentioned before, they focus on functionality and it seems like they put it tons of time on their boards before releasing them. Email them at loaded@loadedboards.com or visit their site at www.loadedboards.com .

Keep checking back for the upcoming review of the Loaded Hammerhead--a unique board with Flowlab trucks on one end and longboard trucks on the other.