Taking a Ride with Silvagrip

One of the most unique, rider-driven design projects we have seen recently is the development of Silvagrip by a company behind the making of industrial application carbide, titanium and ceramic grip tape. We have been following along with the development of the grip for some time and were lucky enough to get ahold of a few samples. We mounted up the grip and took it for a shred to see what we thought.

If you have not had your hands on a piece of Silvagrip, it’s pretty hard to understand how intense it really is. Although it has gone through a few design changes, and will most likely go through a few more, the basic element of it remains the same. A layer of metal alloys applied to a sticky surface that is flexible, weather resistant and damn near the most bite we have ever seen out of a grip tape.

Loaded Advance Freeride Gloves

A Slide Glove Refined

Loaded recently released the Loaded Advance Freeride Glove, the latest in a long line of slide gloves dating back to when our choices were pretty much home-built, Timeship or Loaded for gloved protection.  With the Advance Freeride, Loaded's marketing team tell us they wanted to produce a glove that fit the mid range between the high-end, gauntlet race gloves on the market and the more price-point driven, fingerless gloves that are available.  They set out to design a glove that could deliver everything it needed to while maintaining the light touch a free ride glove should be expected to have.

They delivered a slide glove to fulfill the needs of a rider refined. A rider no longer satisfied with the the road-worn work glove and hot-welded puck, a rider looking for something that can give more performance, yet without becoming a full-fledged race glove.  Loaded's idea was to  design a glove that could deliver protection and control, while maintaining the light touch a free ride glove should be expected to have. Silverfish Longboarding's all season shredders tried out these gloves so that the Longboard Consortium can let you know what we think about these new mitts from Loaded.

The Fine Art of Wooden Stoke.

Bareknuckle Longboards : Ripper

For some skaters, it’s easy to get lost the simple, geocentric view of the board culture: Southern California is the epicenter of skateboard building.  Although there are certainly some excellent examples of longboards designed and built outside the megapollis sometimes referred to as "San Angeles", it remains apparent that it's still the epic ground-zero of board sports and many of the giants of the industry are located in the overpopulated stretch of beach between Mexico and Ventura.   But on those days when, no matter where you are, you manage to to pull your head out of the smog and get a breath of fresh air, you're reminded of the true enormity of the board culture and the global nature of not only the sport of skateboarding but the ongoing stoke and artisanship that's available to longboarders, anywhere.  

The Bareknuckle Longboards Ripper appears to be one of those life-affirming gasps, a glimpse of excellence from afar that's nevertheless obtainable wherever you may be. Emanating from Karlsruhe, Germany and formed in 2011, Bareknuckle prides itself in simplicity and performance. Their offering in the Ripper has hit our desks and the Longboard Consortium riders got it underfoot to put the board through its paces and report back to you. We've reviewed the materials explaining how the Ripper was designed with big hill freeriding in mind, just on the edge of downhill and wherever you want it to be.  We've built her out a few ways, settling on a set up aimed squarely at the same place Bareknuckle's rider/designers were looking at, and found a longboard to fall in love with.  We think the Bareknuckle Ripper is an offering for riders that want something with a dynamic flex but that can handle the steeper stuff.  Our review follows...

Trojan Gloves Slide Gloves

No Glove, No Love

More and more it’s becoming apparent that safety is not just an element of keeping yourself from bleeding but it is now also an element of performance and style. A necessity that should hold up to the expectations of our skating, the Madrid Trojan slide glove with the venom slide puck is built to be as durable as you are dedicated.

The glove is available in two varieties leather and synthetic and our riders checked out the synthetic version; they put the gloves down for some slides to see what the extensive and skilled downhill team at Madrid had come up with.