The Hop Shop is not only a warehouse of skating goodness, its heart and soul is the website. So we are always making improvements, trying to make it even better. A lot of those improvements come from feedback, so speak up if you want to see something on the website.

This month’s uber geek modification is “email me when back in stock button”. Oh yeaaah. So now you can annoy us with stock requests. If something is not in stock, you can type in your email address and get notification when it is back in stock. Does not commit you to buy it but helps us know what everyone is missing most. It is hard to keep it all in stock … we try.

And for those of you who made it this far in the blog post, I got some other news. Venom bushings will be here Tuesday. You gotta get in quick, we have only 20 sets available in the first shipment. Our “cracked” bushings sold out in a day, so these ones will go fast.

There are so many slide gloves out there at the moment, and i bet you find yourself asking “which ones do i buy?” Although there is always the option of making your own but it you really want quality it sometimes can be a bit tricky to decide which gloves to get. Hopkin Racing team rider Jackson Shapiera has written up a quick brief of which gloves best suit different riders:

The types of glove really differ from the type of sliding/skating your doing.
I love the Loaded gloves for technical sliding like laying down a few spins and trick slides beacuse they have a nice puck that wears evenly and keeps you sliding through each spin fast and smooth, and they have alot of protection such as the wrist guard. Also the fact that they have finger pucks and a thumb puck keeps your slides a lot smoother. However i wouldnt reccomend them for downhill because the material is alot thinner and will tear a lot easier, and when you have your hand down for a corner you have pressure on one part of the puck constantly and that will wear the puck out a little bit quicker. They were never designed for downhill racing.

Loaded Slide Goves:

http://www.hopkin.com.au/loaded-slide-gloves-c-271-p-1-pr-16216.html

If you want a thicker glove for tech sliding i would suggest the new lush gloves because they have really big palm and finger pucks made of good material and offer a little bit more protection, but once again they are a pretty beefy pair of gloves and can be a hassle getting them on and off like the loaded gloves… But they do work well as an ‘all-rounder’ glove.

Lush Longboards Slide Gloves:

The Landyachtz gloves (or similar, like TImeship Westslide) i would recommend more for free-riding and downhill because they have double layers of leather on the fingers and the pucks are really dense and wear out really slowly when putting them through abuse around corners and long slides. They work really well when your just corner drifting or racing, and also because they are not as chunky as the loaded gloves they are more handy for just riding around town on. When you want to walk back up the hill they fit perfectly in your back pocket.

Timeship Racing Westslide Gloves:

http://www.hopkin.com.au/timeship-racing-westslide-gloves-c-271-p-1-pr-16465.html
If you want propper racing goves then your best bet is to go for the Moto style gloves with the Knuckle protectors, Timeship Racing makes an awsome glove specially designed for racing. They are made strong with lots of leather and carbon on the knuckles and fingers for protection and have removable pucks for the palms and fingers. They are strong as hell and wont shred in a gnarly crash, however these gloves are a bit more expensive but they definitely give you bang for your buck. These are being seen regularly in the international downhill racing scene at the moment.

Timeship Racing Tracer Slide Gloves:

http://www.hopkin.com.au/timeship-racing-tracer-slide-gloves-c-271-p-1-pr-16464.html

However if you are still unsure, or if you just dont have the money to cough up for these awesome products, there is always the option of making your own gloves. All you need is a tough pair of riggers gloves or a pair of sturdy Moto gloves, some pieces of your mum’s chopping board cut to your desired size and some really strong glue. Quick grip works well otherwise a hot glue gun. You can easily find a how-to guide in a lot of skateboarding forums or just search on YouTube for “how to make slide gloves”.

Happy Sliding!

Not only have Loaded proven to be a leading manufacturer of boards, but they have also provided a top-quality wheel for longboarding and skateboard racing alike. The Orangatang wheel (which comes in two different sizes 70mm and 75mm and two different duros 80a and 83a) has grown to be the most popular wheel on the market today. The Hopkin Racing online store has all these in stock and constantly has stock ordered to keep up with the demands of customers. These wheels sell like hot cakes!

Loaded is also proud to announce that Jackson Shapiera has been invited to join the Orangatang Team along side riders such as Adam Colton, Louis Piloni, James Kelly, Kevin Reimer, Patrick Switzer, Douglas Silva and Mike Zeistman.

Jackson wrote a blog post for the Loaded website about the wheels and how they have grown to be a popular choice in the Australian skateboarding community.

O-Tangs In Oz, By Jackson Shapiera.

I first laid my eyes on these wheels in Europe when K-rimes pulled them out at Peyragudes. I asked him how they were for racing because i had seen them on the internet videos and he said they felt incredible, so i had to get myself a set. Unfortunately i couldn’t get my hands on them until after the Europe World Cup tour and I was back at home. Hopkin Racing had a big box of o-tangs so i scored a set of 4 Presidents for myself and put them on my dervish, and it was like love at first sight. Ive never felt so much speed, grip and rebound all in the one package. It really felt like i had a top-of-the-line wheel under my feet and really wanted to test them out in the racing scene.

A few weeks later we had the 2nd round of the ASRA Cone Head Cup (slalom racing series in Oz www.skateboardracing.org.au and thought this was the perfect time to give them a go. The race was at Long Reef on Sydney’s Northern Beaches and the road surface wasn’t that smooth, but is wasn’t too rough either, but the course was long fast and kinda technical. It required strong pumps and precision to get the best times. I did a few practice runs on the good old Big Zigs and then tried out the In Heats, and instantly it felt like i dropped a few seconds in my time.

I felt a lot more traction and speed and the amount of energy i got out of each pump was incredible. By this time everyone had heard of them through videos and publicity on the internet and i could have counted at least 10 other riders on them. I asked everyone I saw riding them how they liked them and they all agreed they were high-class slalom wheels.

These wheels ended up being extremely popular in the Australian Skateboard Racing scene and Hopkin Racing has always been struggling to keep enough stock in due to the high demand. They also went on to get podium finishes at every Cone Head Cup race for the rest of the year, and also saw me placing first overall on them, Steve Daddow placing 2nd overall on them and Paul Carey placing 3rd overall (I saw him use them a few times too).

I also rode them at Maryhill and placed 10th, and was blown away by how many people there were riding them. I would say at least half the people racing at maryhill were riding O-Tangs or at least took one run on them.

So all in all i have got to say these are the best wheels ive ridden for Longboarding, cruising, downhill and slalom alike. The speed, grip and rebound combined makes these really good for all sorts of skateboarding weather it be racing or just cruising around on, and once you try them its hard to ride anything else. Ive got In Heats on my downhill board, In Heats and 4 Presidents on my slalom boards and 4 Presidents on my carving/freeride boards and i dont think im going to change the wheels on them until theres nothing left on them.

Jackson Shapiera, Sydney Australia Hopkin Racing Team, Rayne Longboards.

Photos are by Bill Fonseca, Dave Robertson and John Huey

Loaded have proven to be one of the leading companies in the Longboarding industry at the moment and this can be proven by not only the quality of their products, but their popularity to riders all over the world.

What started off as a company making a cruiser/carver with influences from snowboarding has grown into a world-wide industry that caters to all forms of longboarding, be it cruising to the shops, to bombing and carving big steep hills, getting your footwork happening with dancers, and even to the racing scene. Loaded has a board for it all. Not only do they produce quality products, Loaded are also trying to look out for the environment by using Eco-Friendly products such as bamboo for their boards which in turn gives alot of strength to their boards and works alot better when trying to add ‘flex’ to a board. Hopkin Racing is proud to stock these boards as they provide quality to the riders and are also one of the best selling longboards brands in Australia. The Hopkin Racing online store is fully stocked with all of the Loaded boards and is also happy to announce the Dancer is finally hitting Australian shores and will be available from the Hopkin Racing website.

Loaded’s original flagship board was the Vanguard, which is a ‘top-mount’ longboard that came in 5 different flex patterns and two different lengths to cater for people of different size and weight. It was perfect for cruising/carving and had the right length and flex for ‘dancing’. Adam Squared also released a video called Get Loose to promote the Vanguard and show what was possible on a longboard. This video captivated audiences world wide and thus was born the ‘dancing addiction’.

Loaded then upgraded the design to come up with the Dervish. It was the first fully functional drop-thru board with an ample amount of flex that was also made from Bamboo. The Dervish has a lower center of gravity which allowed it to be more controllable at higher speeds and feels a lot more comfortable to carve the steeper slopes. ‘Adam Squared’ also proved this board to be the ‘ultimate cruiser’ when they released their video Whirling Dervish, as it shows this board was more than capable for footwork while still being quite nimble for general carving.

After loaded noticed a growing popularity in ‘dancing’ they decided to make a specialty deck suited just for that. Earlier this year Loaded announced the release of the Dancer. The boards length and shape made it perfect for walking up and down on while still being under control of the rider, and was still fully functional when carving and bombing hills. The deck also included nose/tail kicks for manual and shovit tricks and was constructed with the right amount of flex and weight to suit ‘dancing’ moves perfectly. This board became an instant hit when Adam Squared released their video to go with it: Dancer Video.

Loaded have also realsed two other boards: The Pintail and the Fish.

These boards are both unique in their own way. The Pintail is a small and compact ride with enough flex for pumping around town but still enough length to handle itself on a hill. It was designed more as a commuter and was meant to be small enough to carry around comfortably.

The Fish was designed as a manouverable and pumpable board with surfing roots. Altough they designed it as a soulful and aggressive commuter it could also hold its own on a hill and is light enough to be carried back up. It also features a kick tail for manual tricks and was considered better off as a pool/bank rider.