It is time Hopkin Skate put on a team member that was not born on a longboard. So in the interests of promoting all things transition, Jimmy Loricco has been put on the team.

I first met Jimmy at the 2007 Canberra Son of a Ditch event. When Bugs and I arrived at Anslie ditch, there was Jimmy, putting out his Rainskate wheels on the card table, and spruiking all things good about his urethane. Jimmy was one of the first ones in the ditch, showing everyone how to tame Anslie and have good time.

Jimmy’s attitude that day was part maverick, part skate entrepreneur, and part motivator. We are proud to have him on our team, we hope he brings all those qualities to the team.
Jimmy’s profile page

It is Rayning this week at Hopkin Skate. Time to celebrate, new Rayne stock will be here in April!!!! (we’ll save the April Rayne pun for the next blog post)

All the new Rayne decks will go away real quick. One of the hardest boards to get an Australia is a deck from Rayne Longboards. We are planning to change all that in 2009, by getting a regular supply of boards out of the factory.

Keep a close eye on the blog, we will be posting up all the new details on the 2009 Hellcat featuring what Rayne call Pleasure Dome Concave. Pure skateboard porn I tell you.

All the stock quantities have been added to the website. If you can buy it, it will be here in the next 7 days.
First box of Rayne decks arriving will be:

Click on a board to the product page

written and posted by Hop.

Hopkin Skate has a great range of Pocket Pistols skateboards in stock.

Why do skaters love Pocket Pistols boards?
The company based on having fun, and putting fun back into skateboarding. All aspects of the board is considered from the shape and wheelbase to the art that gets screenprinted on the skateboard. And this is the biggest difference with PPS boards. They have been screenprinting skateboards since 1988. Most skateboards these days have the graphics heat transfered on teh skateboard. Many older skaters know the difference in a screened board vs a heat transferred board, but it might be a bit foreign for the younger skaters out there.

Silk Screen vs Heat Transfer
For manufacturers the big difference is it is very hard to silk screen a skateboard deck, a heat transfer graphics is a lot easier to do, and can be outsourced to China. A heat transfer graphic will deteriorate over time as the solvents evapourate out of the inks. The result is it gets brittle and cracks off the board. When a graphic is screen printed on a skateboard deck, the inks bond with the board. Any scrapes or sliding on the board means the inks get grinded into the board. The inks also create a better surface to do board slides on, teh inks act like a lubricant, which can mean a better controlled slide.

Why does Pocket Pistols screen print skateboards?
Chicken says it is because of the integrity of the art, and it looks so much better on the board. He also says they want the boards to last, not to be some cheap chinese heat transfer that will crack and fall off.

What Pocket Pistols skateboards are available in Australia?
If it is available from the Australian distributor you can order it from our website. If it is out of stock, it could mean it is discontinued or not currently available. Please send in an enquire if it is not on the website.

Check out some of these Pocket Pistols decks we have in stock: