THE ROGERS' BROTHERS SPEEDBOARDS: constructed out of laser-cut, 6061 aluminum, the speedboards have been refined through “R&D” (ie, racing at Maryhill, tearing down GMR, etc…) and are being produced in two thicknesses with a flat-concave profile that isolates the curvature to the edges of the board. That’s right: thickness of the plate determines flex, and Dave has been designing these boards to do exactly that. “You can’t have flexy wood speedboards”, Dave pointed out, “because they’ll just snap at the ends. So, it’s been a whole new thing for me to learn to ride a speedboard that I can trust when it flexes in hard turns”. He hasn’t gone nuts -- they’re not THAT flexy, and the huge, bolt-on ends of the boards aren’t moving one bit—the flex is isolated to the center of the deck and the concaved edges keep things in check, torsionally.

The versions you see here are prototypes, but the production design differs from these only in finish: the decks will be sold with the ends anodized blue. Dave has about 25 of these completed, and says he’ll “go to market” when he’s got 40 on the shelf. This is serious –it’s gonna happen soon. We rode it, we scrutinized it and we think they exhibit the hard quality and well-thought designs of Dave and John’s more famous (until now) luge rigs.

WHAT'S BEHIND THOSE CLUMSY BLURS? you’ve heard the rumblings, and probably know it’s the latest “trend” for racers to be designing trucks. Dave’s been designing, riding, revising and plotting out a speedtruck design that he’s produced in several generations of R&D. The latest version were on the boards we rode but, since Dave opined that there would be at least one more revision to his design, we’re honoring his request that we not publish photos of the proto-trucks. We can tell you this: they’re aluminum, they’re aggressive-looking, they elicited praise from pro-DH racers that rode them and they’re very “Rogers” in design. When the Rogers Bros. are ready to show them off, we’ll have shots for you. In the meantime, Dave says, “Hey, please don’t call and try to buy these things, YET! No truck shall be sold before its time.” Hmm, was that Ernest or Julio? No more box-wines, Dave!

BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE: Mr. Rogers isn’t done with his plans for new toys that you need. He’s got a line of aluminum-decked mini’s! Yep, and they’re about as “done” as the speedboards are: 20 on the racks and 20 more to complete before they get released for sale. We tried to take photos, but ran out of film in our digital camera…or something like that.

DO YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE? Just call Dave directly at…oh, uh strike that! –Just be patient for a little longer, and keep your eyes on the ‘fish. We’ll let you know as soon as anything’s ready for prime time.

UPDATE: Test-Ride Program! "Anyone living in the SoCal area or passing thru can test ride one of these boards on most Sundays....I can usually be found on GMR or Badlands Dump Rd. getting my downhill fix!" --Dave R