I want to be the first to tell you about the new sliding pucks, about to be released by Loaded.  You may have noticed a reference on their site to “high performance” pucks for their burly new gloves.  Well, Loaded will be releasing the Ninja Bomb Squad slide pucks, as the “Loaded Landshark”.  The first run of these killer pucks will be paired with the Loaded gloves, although they have been designed to be compatible with every commercial and homemade glove out there and will be available in a pack of two pucks, later.    The evolution of technical sliding and discipline-appropriate pucks has just taken a great step forward!  Read on to find out more about the testing, design and material that makes up the LandShark, the first of the NBS slide pucks from Loaded.

Background.  The development of the NBS pucks goes back over 18 months of research and testing on the slopes of San Diego, Los Angeles and Montreal.  We were shredding all the best gloves and pucks on the market, not to mention our home-built versions.  Some materials were too soft, some too hard, grippy, slippery or fragile.  Finally, we set upon a material from a local supplier that seemed to fit the bill.  WillJ bought a large piece of the material, had it sliced into the disc shape we’d come to prefer and we found it to really work well on the terrain NBS skaters were hitting.  Over time, the pucks made their way into a number of hands and developed a legendary, underground status.  It wasn’t BS:  these pucks really were the best thing going.   

The NBS pucks were grippy enough to hold a line when drifting corners, hard enough to allow multiple rotations, forgiving of road deformations and very long-lasting. The material was a variation on one we’ve all used at one time or another, but we worked with the parent company to Flexdex to find and develop the perfect UHMW-based material for our uses.  The final result of the initial concept was nothing more than perfect, the appropriate weapon for the Down Hill Slider.  The only problem was that the stuff wasn’t normally produced in the shape we could have sliced into useful discs and it was really expensive in the volumes we could afford to purchase.

Bring in Loaded.  The Loaded crew in Los Angeles had been working on their new uber-glove for a while and got wind of the NBS pucks.  At first, the expense of the pucks was shocking, if not offensive, to the Loaded gang.  But, we kept making sure they had a chance to use the NBS pucks and to hear what other skaters thought about them.  Early this year, Loaded was convinced and decided to bring forth the NBS pucks as an option on their gloves and also a stand-alone product.  In a joint venture between Loaded and the Ninja Bomb Squad, we sat down and designed the perfect puck without any concern fior cost, then Loaded and Ridout Plastics made it happen.  The puck you see here is a simple and elegant a thing developed by the weathering of sessions and the velocity of hills ridden. At this point the joint venture created the Landshark – The Ninja Bomb Squad Downhill Slide Puck.

Details:  the pucks are chamfered along the outer edge, so they can be planted on the ground in any position without an edge to catch on road reflectors or potholes.  The puck is durable, never displaying the typical snow of lower quality materials.  The face is routed with the NBS logo and our endorsement but no cash is exchanging hands for this! Similar to the agreement with 187 pads during the development of the 187 Slide Knee Pads, NBS does all of the product development and testing and in exchange receives some product and the knowledge that all skaters have access to a better product than was previously available.  With all respect to every other slide glove maker, these pucks are exactly that.   They're not gonna be cheap, but they will be worth it.  

The Landsharks are made to provide an exacting response on the hill: reliable speed, ultra-durability, limited chances it will catch and yet with very controllable sliding.   These are the heavyweight of sliding pucks and will perform best for you on very steep, fast surfaces and better quality pavement. Regardless of how much you slide, these pucks will last you a long time!  Designed for downhill sliding while maintaining minimal grip and maximum durability, the Landsharks aren’t slick like a racing puck might be:  keep your eyes peeled for the Jellyfish, a high-speed, technical sliding puck with very little drag.

NBS riders compiled a list of the benefits of riding with Ninja Bomb Squad Slide Pucks:

Mental control of all security guards.
Dismiss Police officers at the wave of a hand.
Small smoke clouds on command, so you can disappear.
Dogs will no longer think you smell like bacon.
One ninja ally of your choice ferret, hawk, cobra or jelly fish.
Instant ability to become invisible and melt into shadows.
Better control in high speed corners and while sliding.*
Invulnerability to weapons not made of Damascus steel.
Immediate enhancement of all senses.
Jumping abilities beyond imaginitude.
Put solid equipment in riders’ hands.*
Get all the mad fly grannies.

only * indicated guaranteed.

How do you get these things?!  In the near future, there will be only two ways:  look for Loaded’s official release of the Landshark pucks in the very near future and score yourself a set on their 2007 slide gloves, or be one of the top three in the current round of the ’07 Board Builders’ Series on the ‘Fish.   After the first production run is velcroed onto Loaded gloves, they'll be selling them in two-packs, too.