The second round of this year's Board Builders' Series was entitled "Top Mount Speed boards". The challenge brought a host of innovative and exciting ideas from the board builders that jumped in. One board, however, gathered top honors, the " s'Rolle" deck, produced by Germany's Matthias "Matze" Lang on the CNC Router he and his brother designed and home-built. This board has some interesting features, not the least of which are the internally illuminated graphics. Join us now for Matthias' own description of the process and creation of " s'Rolle".
Building the s'Rolle.
I was new to the Silverfish Longboarding forums and was lurking a lot. I read many things and many stories from all over the world and, after getting a lot of good information, it was about time, to start my first own thread. The thread was about the building of a classic luge with a computer-controlled router. Right after I wrote my first posts in this thread, I realized that there was a Board Building contest going on and I quickly decided to join in.
The contest was to build a top-mount speed board on the basis of some rules you have to take care about. I thought: "no problem" and begun to make the first drawings for my board on a blank piece of paper. The first version was a simple looking shape with the form of a lens, but it was too… hmmm, simple looking. In the next version, I relocated the center of the lens more to the front and I was happy with the results. Then, it was time to turn on the computer and to make the first CAD drawings.
Silverfish Longboarding's staff and moderators receive a lot of email from skaters looking for a tip or resource, and we often refer them to articles in the archives of the Front Page, here on the 'Fish. One classic is this one, originally published as a sidebar to our review of Biltin Bearings a few years ago. We've pulled it up, pasted it here and made a few minor tweaks to it, but we think you'll find it to be both a useful item and a quick look back at how we used to format things...
The $1.25 Bearing Cleaner. How to Make it & How to Use it.
It's really easy to make a bearing cleaner using the bolt that comes with Biltin Bearings as part of the packaging (or get on down to the hardware store and buck up the 14 cents for your own) and a bottle of "spring water" or juice. Now, you need a wide mouth bottle: we've found that the blue-tinted Dasani water bottles, Minute Maid juice and even the small Powerade bottles all have a neck large enough to fit a 608 bearing through them, but smaller-necked bottles won't. So, gather some change out from between the cushions of the couch and get yourself a bottle full of designer water or whatnot and drink it. We used an 11.5oz. Minute Maid bottle, so let's get started. It will take you longer to read this than to make the bearing cleaner!
The first round of the 2007 Silverfish Board Builders' Series was themed, "Short Boards and More". If you haven't seen the results of that challenge, you owe it to yourself to get into the forums and check it out! The Champion of the first round is the man that got the most votes from his peers, and it was David Campbell that earned top honors and some Bennett Truks for his incredible, 30.5" Hammerhead park board. We asked David to give us more details about this project and to spread a little more of the stoke this board projects:
With all the different decks available commercially, everyone has different things they like about each one.Some have the perfect concave, some have the perfect nose and some have the perfect tail. If you can imagine what you would like in a board and have a few basic woodworking skills and a lot of patience, you can build your dream board.I think it's something every skater should try at some point.
When I got back into skating two years ago, I found I didn't like the modern Popsicle shapes and the re-issues that were available at the time all had steeper tails and kick nose pressed into them. I set out on the Internet to find uncut blanks, as I used to cut my own decks out of blanks from Naked boards back in the eighties. I first found Silverfish, then Roarockit, and I've been pressing decks ever since, getting a little better each time. This is my best board to date; I hope anyone reading this will be inspired to build their own as well.
The second skateFishcast podcast, this time we have some special guests that were kind enough to share their lifetime of skating with us. Discussion on the resurgence of slalom and the burgening sport of sliding. Some little views into the lives of two very special riders and a good bit of joking around with friends.
Hosts
Alan - '07 Coast to Coast Longboard Rally Malakai Kingston – Ninja Bomb Squad Team Rider
Guests Tushar – xrayvzn Cat – SweetCatarina
Show Outline Intro Last weeks podcast notes On the ‘fish this week Warren Bolster Bonus Galley Over the hill and down again; Aged Riders Slalom and it’s youth Sliding; How AWESOME is it? Closing notes GO SKATE!!!
A past winner of the Board Build Off, Loki spreads some light, on how to make your own late night longboard illumination. Check it out, hope you brough your thinking cap. Class is in session.
This 'how to' is on how to make you own set of LED Risers. Or to some people Headlights/Taillights for your longboard.
These risers are easily made, and I would say that anyone can make them, but some minor electrical knowledge and soldering skills would be a bonus, but not a must, because you have to learn some time.
Tech & How To 
