Silverfish Longboarding - The Longboard Skateboard Community

Barracuda

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Description

Company: Canyon Roller
Static Flex: Rock Solid - No Flex
Deck Specifics: Concave
Deck Shape: Slalom
Appropriate Discipline: Slalom
Deck Materials: Maple

User reviews

Average user rating from: 1 user(s)


Overall rating		4.2
Durability		5.0
Construction		4.0
Ride		4.0
Appearance		5.0
Stability		3.0
Agility		4.0

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

Canyon Roller Speeeed Freak, Friday, 16 March 2007

Written by innerralph - View all my reviews - Top 500 Reviewer


Overall rating		4.2
Durability		5.0
Construction		4.0
Ride		4.0
Appearance		5.0
Stability		3.0
Agility		4.0

I bought an ex-demo Speed Freak deck from Canyon Roller on eBay. The Speed Freak's not featured here on Silverfish so I'm planting this review under the Barracuda model as both are designed on a slalom basis. I initially bought it to try some slalom, but have grown to use it as my favourite downhill carving set-up despite not mounting it in an orthodox carving manner. Tim at CR was kind enough to supply me with some blank ex-demo slalom trucks very much based on 70s California Pros once I discovered that the 7" Tracker darts I was going to mount (I figured Darts would be a winner as the lines of the board, especially with its swallow tail detail, spoke to me of smooth, surfy turns, and I think that's what the CR team have in mind with this board) were drilled differently to the Freak's holes (as an ex-demo model, this particular deck had 4 sets of holes drilled but this didn't help the Darts). I rode this set-up and enjoyed the easy turning syles of riding it promoted, then upgraded after a while to some Tracker Race Track slalom trucks for some serious turns. I also added some second-hand ABEC 11 No Skools, either 81A or 94A I believe - the print's mostly worn off. Now, I'm aware from the forums that the No Skools are regarded as more of a park ride, but I discovered this set-up was awesome on downhill situations, both on smooth and more gravelly roads where you can really dig in on the carve. It might help that I'm a fairly heavy rider and can really grind the weight into the turn, I'm not sure. Either way, with the Race Tracks this rig turns on a dime, and I can swing right back up the hill before taking a smooth turn and drop back into the fall line. Loads of sweet cutbacks. Lately, spurred on by other rider's reviews I swapped the No Skools for some 75A Flashbacks as I wanted a smoother, grippy ride (don't get me wrong - the No Skools are, for me, far less juddery over cracks than other reports I've read and glide swiftly, but I thought I'd check the difference). The Flashbacks were an insane ride, certainly a fast and smooth drift across even the tougher terrain, and on the smooth, pretty scary on this board! On a smooth wide surface with a slight incline the ride is very surfy in feel, you can really lean out on the turns and it gets very Zen very quickly. Having experienced this set-up I've decided I will probably go with this for a few more runs but then switch back to the No Skools and set the Flashbacks up on a a larger, fatter board. The Freak's very narrow and the No Skools complement the visual style of the board much better. I'd be curious to learn if there's any other riders out there using a slalom set-up with the narrower trucks to predominantly carve downhill, or am I simply insane?

Longboard Review

How long have you ridden the board: 6 months
What is your setup like?: Speed Freak deck, Tracker Race Track slalom trucks, ABEC 11 No Skool, supplanted by ABEC 11 75A 70s Flashbacks
Typical Session Discipline: Downhill, carving, cruising
How much did you pay?: �16 I think - bargain!
Where did you purchase it?: eBay (from Canyon Roller)
What were the strengths of the deck.: 9-ply thin strips give the deck a fantastic degree of flex, snaps beautifully into hard turns. Long wheel base makes for a smoother glide.
What were the weaknesses?: Thinner deck than your average longboard, requiring more balance but well compensated by the clear grip.
Would you recommend it?: Yes

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