We have been promoting the Canberra Slalom event on 19th and 20th September. It is one of the raddest events on the ASRA calender. A weekend of skating euphoria. Saturday is Mt Stromlo, slalom racing, longboarding, BBQ, chill out with friends, talk skate and maybe win a raffle. Saturday night is the ASRA / CROSS get together at the Skatesman Hotel (over 18’s only but it is family friendly) . Sunday is Anslie drains ditch slalom. An event like no other in the world, who skates a ditch with teeth?
Enough of the hype hop…I have no skate points to go. I hear you. To paraphrase Woody Allen, I’m the boss but the wife makes all the decisions. Maybe it is a mum or Dad, partner or another fmaily member making the decisions. They are not interested in skating. What to do?
Floriade is on in Canberra on the same weekend as the ASRA skate event. This is the perfect excuse to get your partner, wife, girlfriend or Mum to Canberra. There is so much to do at Floriade, and it is all free, they’ll probably want to get down to Canberra early!! Give you the chance to get involved in some of those unofficial downhill sessions that will not be happening.
So you have no excuse. Use the power of the flower. Floriade is your friend. Go start working that spring magic now. It may not work straight away, let the idea sink in a bit, and she’ll think it is her idea by the weekend.
Another community inspire announcement by Hop.
Next week, how to sneak more skate gear past the boss.
Where are all the half size skate shoes in Australia? I drop into my local skateshop and it is all size US 10, size US 11 and size US 12. Where are the half sizes?
My true size is US 11.5.
I am forced to squeeze into an 11 or go Ronald MacDonald in a size 12. Who wants extra rubber poking off the side of their deck?
One of the great things about owning your own skateshop, if you see a niche you can jump on it. When Goliath sent me their Dekline shoe catalogue the first thing I looked for was half size skate shoes. And guess what? They have them. I would never inflict a bad brand on my customers, we test and ride everything we sell in the hopshop. We are all about the best not the biggest. So I bought a few pairs of the dekline shoes. They walked out the door and for the first time I found a perfect fit for my unconventional size feet.
I am now the proud owner of of a pair of US size 11.5 Dekline Cinto skate shoes. They fit perfectly, just like a half size skate shoe should.
If you can not find the right size shoe, send us a message with what you are looking for and we will try and help. We only put up online the stock we have in the shop, so there are hundreds of different dekline shoes available, there would be one out there perfect for you.
I have been skating on my new shoes all week. Footbraked on the dervish at 30km, and they still look brand new!! Robbo used his Dekline Melcher shoes all last week bombing Keira, footbraking at 70km. He wore the sole down a bit but they held up, there still a lot of tread left. We dont recommend you do this but these are the lengths we go to when we test our new gear. If you are going to footbreak at high speed, please put some extra rubber on your soles. Sounds like a good blog post idea = how to put on footbrake rubber. Maybe next week.
Go longboarding this weekend. There is heaps on, check out the ASRA website for all the sessions.
This is one of the best grassroots skate events on the ASRA calendar. Run by CROSS (Canberra Old School Skaters). This is not an old school event, there will be competitors and skaters of all ages.
Canberra Conehead Cup is held at Mt Stromlo Forest Park bike facility. It is a sanctioned event, ASRA and CROSS have hired the Criterium Circuit, the event is fully insured.
The Criterium is an almost flat circular track. The straight we use for the head to head slalom racing has a slight decline. The track is super smooth, but dont let it fool you, it is very fast.
The speed and cone placement make for exciting and challenging racing.
The track is big enough for racing all day and also has a practice/beginners area and a lots of room for longboarding.
It is an excellent event if you want to find out about longboarding and skateboard racing.
There will be a kids course and a beginners course, and some of Australia’s best skaters will be there to take time out to help everyone learn and have fun slaloming and longboarding.
There is a grandstand for spectators. ASRA and CROSS will have a BBQ and drinks available all day. There are toilets, change facilities and heaps of room for car parking. There is room for Dad and Mum to chill out and read a paper, or pad them up and get em skating!!
This is a great event and a fun day of skating. If you live in or near Canberra this is a must attend event.
CROSS will be running a raffle all day, tickets sold at teh venue. You might even win a skateboard or longboard to skate home on.
General public Mount Stromlo skate day is on the Saturday. Anslie Drains skate event is on Sunday.
There is a debate about whether an airborne helmet is as safe to use as a motorbike helmet for skateboard racing and longboarding activities. An airborne helmet is one that has been designed for paragliding and hanggliding and should comply to the standard EN966.
Hopkin Racing does not recommend which type of helmet should be worn, we are outlining the case for both, it is the user that must determine which helmet is best. To our knowledge there has been no independent testing of helmets for downhill speedboarding.
European Standard EN966: Is the specification for helmets for airborne sports. Helmets are tested for shock absorption, specifically against kerbstone impact (simulates being dragged against rocks). Other tests performed are penetration and the strap strength tests. There is a requirement for field of vision, low weight, to be put on and taken off easily, be usable with glasses and not significantly interfere with the ability of the user to receive acoustic ambient information.
Skate Use: The debate is whether an airborne helmet is as safe to use as a motorbike helmet for skateboard racing and longboarding activities. There are pros and cons in both arguments. No doubt the motorbike helmet is rated safer at higher speeds and big impacts. However a motorbike helmet restricts vision and hearing, and is also large, heavy and cumbersome at high speeds. In certain conditions, such as high winds, a motorbike helmet could contribute to a skateboard crash. Also during a crash a heavier helmet will be harder to control and more likely to strike the ground harder.
The airborne sports helmets are designed to improve on the negatives of a motorbike helmet. There is a wider field of vision, this is important during racing and freeriding to check where other skaters are, to check on traffic and pedestrians. The helmet allows sounds to be heard, allowing the skater to hear wind speed and other skaters, warnings and dangers.
Hopkin Racing has started carrying the Charly range of paragliding helmets. We are only selling the No Limit series. We are not selling any long tail helmets, there is increasing concern of fixed long tail helmets increase the danger in a crash.
We will also be adding a Dot rated motorcycle style helmet to our range in the future, to give our customers all options.
Please read our terms and conditions regarding use of equipment and liability.
This tutorial is only for the new trucks – If the nut is located against the baseplate of the truck, then you have the older version and you can skip this tutorial.
Some people have been wanting to get more turn out of their Bear Grizzlies and are not sure how to go about it. The first step is to flip the front bushing washer. If this is not enough, a second step is to remove the back bearing washer. Here are the detailed instructions but first these are all the components that make up a Bear Grizzly truck
1. Flip the front bushing washer:
The first thing you want to do to increase turning is to flip the front bushing washer. First, remove the nut. Second, simply take the washer and flip it so that the edges now face outwards. Secure the nut back onto the truck and give it a test run.
2. Remove the back bushing washer:
Only do this if the first step did not allow for enough turning. First, remove the nut. Secondly, remove the bushings, hanger, everything off of the truck so that you can get to the back bushing washer. While doing this, try and keep track of what order things went in so nothing goes in the wrong order or goes on backwards. Remove the back bushing washer and put everything else back on. Secure the nut back onto the truck.
The photo above is a truck with both modifications.
Make sure that the nut is covered by the entire thread of the kingpin (the screw looking thing attached to the truck). If it is on too loose, then vibrations while riding may knock it off altogether, which you really dont want to happen.
NOW GET OFF THE COMPUTER AND GO LONGBOARD!!!
August 5, 2009 - 10:54 am in the category "Free Riding, News"
The new Orangefiist trailer for DROP – My Life Downhill is out and it is spectacular.
This is what longboarding and downhill racing is all about. Thinking about sponsoring an event? Being involved in an event? Getting into downhill or longboarding? Watch this and be inspired. More importantly buy the DVD when it is released to encourage more film makers into the sport.
The IGSA World Cup and World Championships is coming to Australia on 27th to 29th November 2009. 200 competitors from around the world racing down Mt Panorama. For the general public, it is a free event, more details are at the ASRA Newtons Playground page.
The race footage in this trailer is from the 2008 World Championships, you dont have to wait for a DVD to watch the 2009 World Championships – see it for real on Mt Panorama at Newton’s Playground!!!
Padova Grand Prix is the third race on the 2009 IGSA World Cup racing calendar.
This event is located in the Italian Alps at Teolo Italy.
The track has three sections. A high speed run top section. Followed by a a series of seven hairpin corners, with a straight run out to the finish.
The key to racing here will be how clean and fast racers can take the hairpins to set up for the finish. The danger will be avoiding other competitors and crashes.
Padova Day 1
Padova Grand prix is a big event for this little community, and they had a “parade of nations” led in by a traditional Italian Renaissance band and flag bearers. The Australian’s thought it was pretty cool and had a lot of fun with it. They got to represent Australia in this mini Olympic style ceremony.
Qualifying
Again Team Orangatang displayed their super human skateboarding skills and were the total stand out on the first day of qualifying.
James Kelly qualifying first followed by Orangatang team mate Louis Pilloni second. The rest of the team were in the top ten, Patrick Switzer 4th and Jackson Shapiera 7th.
The Australians on the first day were Adam Yates 10th, Leeso 15th and Ash 16th. Eddie came in 47th.
Day Two
The second day of qualifying was full of surprises. There were major shifts in placings. Many of the stand outs on day one were pushing hard and crashed in Day 2.
Martin Seigrist pulled out an amazing time and finished the day as top qualifier.
Louis Pilloni lowered his time to retain number 2 place. And Aussie Ramon Konigshausen had his best ever qualifying result in a IGSA event by qualifying 3rd.
Jackson qualified 10th, Yatesy 18th, Ash 24th, Leeso 30th and Eddie 45th.
Race Day
Marcus has done a full Padova race report on the iGSA website.
The Australians skated well all day.
Jacko and Yatesy make it to the quarter finals but Jackson crashed at the first turn. He said he was hanging back, but got sucked in from the draft of the 2 guys in front and couldn’t break enough. He couldn’t catch up enough and finished 3rd in the race and 10th overall.
Yatsey was in the same heat, but crashed further down the hill and came 4th in the quarters and 18th overall.
Lesso and Ash both made it through the 1st round, but crashed in their second round heat. Finishing up 30th and 24th respectively.
The big result was Aussie Ramon Konigshausen finishing 7th overall.
The podium places when to 1. Martin Siegrist, Switzerland, 2. Patrick Switzer, Canada and 3. Stefan Ruefli, Switzerland.
HUGE big thanks to Lea Shapiera who send me these photos and gave me updates during the weekend. Sorry I ran out your mobile phone credits on Saturday!
Sad news my friends. Anthony Fricker (aka SkateAustralia) died on Friday night skating on the Gold Coast.
The loss has been felt throughout the ASRA community, Queensland longboarders and the Australian’s travelling on the IGSA tour in Europe. On Saturday’s qualifying at the IGSA Padova World Cup race, the Australian’s wore black arm bands in remembrance.
On Friday night, Anton was finishing a downhill session with a friend. At the bottom of the hill, the two skaters have accidently collided, Anton has fallen from his board with his head making contact with the road. He was wearing a helmet, there were no cars involved, it appears to be a tragic accident. Emergency services were called, and Anton was rushed to hospital and under went emergency neurosurgery. Medical staff said later it would have been instantaneous and he did not suffer. His life support was switched off on Saturday, after friends and family had said their goodbyes.
It has been a very hard weekend for the Australian longboarding community. I am sad that I will not see my friend behind his camera at another ASRA event. Amongst our young skaters, it is the first close friend that has died. Many of them feeling emotions they have never felt before. There is a tribute thread on the ASRA forums.
Anton was such an amazing guy. I remember the first time I heard about him. Jackson told me about this film crew doing a longboarding movie. Jackson was planning to travel them, showing them some local skate spots, help with the production. At Master of the Hill, Anton and his crew were there. They captured film in slow motion of the finish line. Whenever there was a photo finish, everyone would huddle around he’s small view screen and watch the finish with howls of emotion as we saw how close some of those finishes were.
Anton was always looking for a different camera angle. Sometimes it was like he was playing a prank. He would be laughing while lifting one of the guys into a tree to get that camera angle.
He did a bit of filming in the Hopshop, and conducted interviews there for his movie. We had the chance to sit down and talk about what direction he wanted to take with his filming and career. It struck me about how focused he was, and he really knew what direction he was going. Sometimes people can get caught up in the creative process, Anton had the ability to step back and see the big picture.
Anton’s movie Skate Australia will be finished by his friends. You will see some of his creative work on the next Evolutions DVD. The SkateAustralia team made the Beat The Bastard DVD, which has a trailer on the next Evolutions.
We will miss Anton’s smile, he positive attitude, his laugh, his vision of longboarding and his brilliant videos. Australia has lost a talented film maker. Jackson and I have lost a friend.
My condolences and prayers go out to his family.
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