The first time I\'d ever heard of Bozi boards was off the Texaslongboarder site. I was looking for a first board then, and already considering the Gravity MC. After reading their review on that deck, I noticed the \'Bozi\' review link and followed it. That planted the seed for what could be called, for lack of a better word, \'obsession\'. For months I followed every word I could find on this relatively new board builder whilst lurking on message boards and, of course, the Bozi site itself. Any pic I could find became more and more alluring. Soon, I was downloading the pictures and printing out. Oh, it started small. A couple of 5 x 7\'s. But that just didn\'t do it after awhile. And it wasn\'t enough. I printed more and more, bigger and bigger until the vision became clear: I would build a shrine to the god of this creation: Jeff Yarrington. Now if I can just get him to give me his address, I could hang around outside his house and act the total fool.

OK, so I\'m kidding. But, let me make this perfectly clear: I had definently fallen in love with the board. Everyone who spoke of it referenced the unmistakable and instant grip it held on them at first sight. \"Is this possible?\" I thought. \"Can this man actually create such a finish and also include the best hardware for less than $200!? Some decks alone cost that much!\"

By this time, my blood was burning in my veins. My curiosity too intense I could no longer restrain myself from the first steps towards the Holy Grail of acquiring my own Mad Bomber. I sent a communique to the man himself ( that\'d be Jeff ) and began a series of questions that would surely drive him to drink. If you find out he\'s recently taken a respite to some sanitarium, I may or may not be responsible. It depends on if he\'s expecting me to foot the bill for his therapy.

He hung in there the whole way. My questions stemmed more from a futile attempt on my part to delay the inevitable: ordering The Mad Bomber. ( By delaying a buy, I play a mindgame on myself that somehow I\'m saving money. )

The Mad Bomber? Would this come with a picture of Ted Kazinski on it?

No. (Did I really need to answer that? ).

If you haven\'t had the pleasure of dealing with Jeff Yarrington, you\'re an idiot and I want you to go away right now. If I know you, consider yourself officially disowned until a couple of minutes from now.

So, after working the details with him by asking ( seriously ) lots of questions... like,\"Jeff, why does the sun turn red as it sets?\", I was on my way.

My point is that Jeff understands something that, unfortunantly, the big boys tend to lose sight of these days ( a wheel manufacturer comes to mind ): customers matter. Unlike some other company\'s I\'ve had the misfortune to deal with ( and no longer do ), Jeff returns e-mail inquiries, he answers questions about how to do this or that wheather those questions are care for the board or the best way to get him his money. He doesn\'t do this because he\'s oily or phoney. He does this because he cares about what he does and he\'s not an arrogant idiot.

\"But what about the board, damn you!?\" OK, OK..I\'m getting there. Sheesh, can\'t I have a little fun?

Jeff told me,\"I can paint your board just about any color you want.\" I opted for a deep purple. He commented that some silver metal flake would look cool too and I went with it. I had no probs trusting his judgement about finishes. Then I worked out my hardware details and here\'s what I came up with:

Da Purple Concrete Eater = Bozi 48\" 13 ply birch Mad Bomber model ( pintail ) [note: it\'s not a pointy pintail..it\'s squared off. I liked dat] Randall 180\'s w/yellow bushings & 1/8\" rubber risers 70mm/75a ABEC 11 Flashbacks w/ Pleasure Tool abec 7 bearings rust free hardware ( nuts/screws on da\' base plate )

The board has a subtle taper from nose to tail. The nose is cut in such a way to absolutely rule out any wheelbite potential and there are subtle wells in the back. The Bomber was designed with Flywheels in mind and while Jeff recommended it, the timing was bad. I\'m having too much fun with this set up as it is and would rather chew on some absestos than have to deal with the Abec folk anytime soon. Jeff put some pinstripes on the bottom, that fade in complimentary colors to the purple on the bottom of the deck..and gripped the top with some Jessup black grip tape. ( You can see this in the pics ) The board has very minimal flex. I can make it flex, but it snaps back so instantly it feels very stiff ( to me anyway). OK, wait..i\'m getting ahead of myself.

So the board arrives and wow, Jeff really packs it into the box nice and tight with protection. It took me 30 minutes to get it out of the box, and I\'m not kidding. Watching me try to pry it out of there was quite the comical experience for my dad as evidenced by his peals of laughter. It was Christmas Day for me and I couldn\'t get the wrapping off!! Ack!

Let me tell you, when I pulled the board out finally and had it in my arms..I nearly passed out. The finish is BRILLIANT. Absolutely beautiful. The overall weight of the board felt really good. For it\'s size, it\'s not heavy at all. And in terms of shape I think this is one of the finest design ideas out there. OK, so you don\'t like boards with cutouts. Well I do. I understand their purpose having been ejected from a board due to wheelbite. Come back to me after you\'ve left a few pounds of skin on the road and tell me how much you hate wheel cut outs. By the way, how high does your board sit? heh heh...I\'m only yokin\' ya...

This board is like dating a supermodel ok? ( not that i\'ve had any male supermodels on my arm lately...drats! ) But, wherever I go with Da\' Purple Concrete Eater, I\'m practically shoved aside while people grope for the board with lustful abandon. \"That\'s BEAUTIFUL!\" \"Can I ride it?\" \"Get the hell out of the way and let me see your board!\" I\'m serious. And you know what?

I LOVE IT!!

Not because of anything it says about me ( which is nothing other than that I might have good taste ) but for what it says about Jeff Yarrington. And he deserves all the praise in the world really. He\'s a true craftsman and active in the longboarding community. He has graciously contributed several boards as prizes to recent races ( you can read about this on his site, which you\'ll find under my \'Longboarding Links\' section ) and I haven\'t heard even ONE complaint about him or his product. And skaters are notoriously good at passing the word along when someone screws us over even once. Jeff will not be having this issue to worry about if he continues on his path as he has so far.

The ride? Oh, well, I thought you\'d never ask. It\'s sweet and low down. ZOOM! I can only imagine what it\'d be with the Flywheels on it. If I walk up towards the nose and hit a hard carve, the Bozi kinda teases me like the rear\'s going to break into a slide. But it doesn\'t unless you tell it to. With the 180\'s, I can carve this thing in a really tight circle or big, swooping waves around the road ( my favorite thing to do ). It is so stable I totally relax on this beauty but don\'t get too calm about it: it\'s a sports car too. Get wicked wit it. If that\'s what you want, the Bomber can go there with you. It really likes parking garages ( hint, hint ).

I cannot overemphasize the feel of stability under your feet when you stand on this deck. It\'s not so wide you feel like you\'re riding a dead log and the taper from the front trucks to the tail is very subtle. There\'s no sudden sense of not having board back there under your rear foot. With the Flashbacks on the 180\'s, it is possible to catch a wheel on your kick. Jeff mentioned that to me when I asked for this set up, but I haven\'t had this problem.

This was like getting that dream car you fantasize about. The one that can\'t be ignored. It\'s fast, it\'s got the tightest paint job, and it PERFORMS. I definently had the new car mentality at first too. I didn\'t want to chance hurting the finish but, my urge to push overcame that and I put the first bump on it and now I\'m over that fear. Jeff\'s coming out with a new line soon that is designed more like a track car than the showroom model. When I get one of those, I will probably retire the deck to my wall as an object d\'art.

Nahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Well, maybe.

Nahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Well, maybe.

Excuse me while I look into my bank account to prepare for the new line up of his boards. Which, by the way, come with the same set ups I\'ve described above ( minus the custom paint job ) for $170 ( that\'s US dollars ). You would be hard pressed to find another complete board with so much quality ( consider the hardware included ) for that amount of money.

Meanwhile, why don\'t you go to his site and have a look around? And if you find yourself obsessing, hey, don\'t blame me.