Board Review:
California Bonzing
OSO Freeride Longboard

The OSO is a freeride board by a San Francisco-based company called California Bonzing. Being out of San Fran, the creators know hills. It comes as no surprise that the OSO is a board that’s right at home going fast, down a hill.

Now, don’t mistake its beefy 9-ply construction and top-mount bred design with a strict downhill racing board. The OSO is a freeride board. But it’s not a freeride board for pansies. This one loves to go fast!

California Bonzing OSO Specs

Length:                                                                       38” / 96.52 cm
Width (widest point – opposite the waist):            10.25” / 26.04 cm
Width at Center :                                                       9.75” / 24.77 cm
Wheelbase (shorter wheelbase):                            30.5” / 77.47 cm
Wheelbase (longer wheelbase):                              31.25” / 79.38 cm
Thickness:                                                                  .5625” (9/16”) / 1 .43 cm
Concave depth:                                                          .625” (5/8”) / 1.59 cm
Weight (deck only):                                                  5 lbs 10 oz. / 2.6 kg
Weight (complete as tested):                                   9 lbs 4 oz. / 4.2 kg

Setup:

• California Bonzing OSO deck
  Trucks: Randal 180 raw with 50 degree plates / barrical bushings
  Wheels: Oragantang Stimulus Purple 70mm / 83a.
  Bearings: Stock Bullseye Abec 9
  Truck setup: Loose, un-flipped, no bite ever

Digging deeper

One thing that stands out in the OSO is its durability. It’s clear to see that the Bonzing guys weren’t screwing around with the build quality and the design. As you’re probably aware, 9-plys of hardrock maple usually makes for a bombproof deck. The OSO however, will probably take even more than that. Given that it has zero cutouts for drop-mounting, the board should last longer over multiple curbings than a comparable drop-through design. The nose/tails are almost oval in shape and very wide. This helps to add a lot of density and wood to the tips making it extra strong. The neck for the wheel-well cutouts is 5-5/8” wide at its narrowest point. This means, the necks on the OSO could hardly be considered weak spots like they are on so many other longboard decks.

The deck is fairly lightweight. When you think about it, a thick 9-ply deck that weighs 5lbs 10oz is not bad at all. The board might be bombproof, but you won’t feel like you lugging around a tank. It’s not crazy stiff either. You won’t feel much flex while bombing, but watching someone else ride it, you can see the board flexing underneath. Overall, the OSO provides a great balance of flex and stiffness ideal for most freeriders. Hardcore DH-only guys might find it too flexy for their tastes, but the grand majority of freeriders will find it to be a perfect blend.

A conservative and intelligent design

One thing that spoke to us about the OSO is that it’s a board that takes some time to get to know. The board looks like a well-rounded beast that can do it all. It sells no gimmicks. Apart from the loud graphics, there are no horns, bells or whistles. It’s a close-to-standard shape with a drawn in waist and an inherent balance overall. There are no crazy, over-the-top design features. All this are good things. The OSO does hide a number of nice secrets that an initial observer might overlook.

The wheel wells for example, are very well thought through. In both of the 2 wheelbase lengths available, the Orangatang Stimulus 70mm wheels included with our deck fit nicely into the pockets. Even at really loose truck settings, we were getting no bite. CA Bonzing claims 30.25” and 30.75” wheelbases, but we actually measured 30.5” and 31.25” from inner to inner bolts. We’d be wary of running anything bigger than 70mm for wheels though. Not only would we like to avoid making the board taller than it already is, but we ride the trucks really loose, anything bigger than 70mm and we’ll start dealing with wheelbite. We preferred the inner wheelbase over the outer one. Both worked fine, but the inner one provided a little bit more response and made the OSO feel livelier. Not only that, but it allowed for enough leverage to kick up the nose or tail. The outer wheelbase moves each axle a mere 3/8” out each way, but that bit is apparently enough to kill most of the needed leverage to kick the board up.

The concave is another thing that impressed us. At 5/8” its deep enough for awesome lock-in, but it’s flat enough towards the center than makes it really comfortable. The concave doesn’t give you that claustrophobic crammed-in feeling that some other decks do. In fact, the awesome concave is one of the things we liked most about the OSO. Can’t say enough good things about it.

We had a blast riding the OSO down every hill we could find. Surprisingly, we also enjoyed it quite a bit while plain ‘ol carving in the flats. We seriously weren’t expecting that. In the flats, once up to speed the deck feels nimble and fun. The problem is, constantly getting it up to speed when there is no gravity to help you. Which brings us to…

Downsides

The 9-ply construction yields a thickness of 9/16”. Add that to the top of the included reverse kingpin trucks -Randal 180 - and it feels like you’re skating a pickup truck bed. What this means is that if you're of the shorter persuasion, you'll need a longer pushing leg and a parachute if you decide to fall off. Also, because of the extra traction provided by the top-mount leverage, if you are the type that slides a board at 10MPH, you might want to look elsewhere.

The 100% maple construction is reliable and loved by most skaters. It also helps keep the costs down. Unfortunately, having ridden so many hybrid boards with a combination of maple and some kind of fiber/bamboo/cork construction lately, the ride of 100% maple now feels kind of rough. Adding shock pads to this board is a little out of the question - we don’t want to make it any taller. For that reason, riding over rough pavement will make your teeth vibrate out of their sockets.

Angry bears

The graphic, you either love or hate it. We can tell you this, because showing it to various people garnered that same reaction. We can appreciate the artist put a lot of time into this artwork. The dual bear heads in the graphic ("oso" means bear in Spanish by the way) is a nice detail as it reflects the board’s symmetrical design and symmetrical name. We would’ve preferred having the graphic only on the bottom though. The clear grip tape included to show the graphic over the top is a nice idea, but we'd like grippier tape that doesn’t get dirty like clear does. Hey, the graphic is bold enough that we don’t quite need to see it twice! Having the graphic only on the bottom might help save costs too. Not that the OSO is overpriced in any way. The deck alone is a very reasonable $99 – a cost that puts it side by side with some of the other big maple-only freeride players. And if you ask us, the OSO is good enough to play!

There is one more thing we’d like to say about the graphic. Like most good things, the OSO graphics are an acquired taste. Our initial impression left us wondering, but after looking at it often, over the course of weeks of riding, it has grown on us. Now, we can most definitely appreciate the fact that it’s lively in color and very much unlike the [dull] boards on the market. Having said that, if you are a bit uneasy to buy it because you’re not so sure about the angry bears, we’d say – go for it! In our experience, you are going to end up loving the art after some time.

To conclude

Any board is a compromise of sorts. The OSO is no exception. You win in some areas and lose in others. But trust us when we tell you, the OSO is a great deck! The same height issue that makes the board a bit harder to slide and push also allows for incredible controls in turns. The OSO inspires confidence at speed. It is perfectly at home zooming doing the gnarliest hills, hugging every corner at speed and check sliding to slow down. Surprisingly, it’s also very fun to ride in the flats. If you can get over the long reach for pushing, the board cruises and commutes like the best of them. Of course, it’s the most fun in the hills of San Francisco where it was bred. But fear not the bears, if you live in Florida you can enjoy the OSO too!