Hopshop has recently started stocking Sector 9 longboards in the skateshop and also online.
The original stock we ordered were the longboards we’d like to skate, mini’s, bamboo series and the race boards. However, all the boards have proved popular, and we are going to start adding the whole range to our line up. If there is a Sector 9 board missing from our range you would like to own, please let us know and we’ll add it to our next stock order.
We have also been impressed with the quality of the slide gloves, slide pucks and the performance of the Sector 9 wheels. So this week we have added Sector 9 wheels to our complete options! Now you can customise your new longboard with Sector 9 urethane.
Sector 9 have a deep and rich history with longboarding. Back in the summer of 1993 a group of friends began making skateboards in their backyard. One board led to two and before you knew it the Sector 9 longboard revolution was under way. It is a great story, captured well in this YouTube video. Steve Lake recalls the history and roots of Sector 9.
Jackson Shapiera, in his own style, gives the stalkers a work out.
The first thing that caught my eye about these trucks was the design. That sleek, black and curved look made it look kind of…. well, fast. They looked like trucks you want to take downhill, really fast. They were still set up on the 2008 Avenger DeeLite, so I added some real freeride wheels, the 70mm 86a Stimulus wheels and away I went for some slashing and bashing around the northern beaches of Sydney.
I didn’t bother changing the bushings as I wanted to see how these trucks performed stock standard, and let me tell you I am quite impressed with the bushings that came with them. Just like the Chargers, the bushings that come stock are two conical shape bushings. Most people will steer clear of these shapes when going down big hills or wanting to carve or slide really fast as they tend to be less stable than barrel shape bushings, however the quality of the Gullwing bushings led me to believe they did not need to be substituted for anything else for your general free-ride purposes. The bushings let the trucks lean a lot and did not feel twitchy at all. Also the baseplate is roughly 42 degrees which also give you a bit more lean before they start to steer, which allows for higher stability when going faster.
I took the board up to a few steeper hills with some sharp corners for a bit of a drift session and really gave the setup a trash. At first i could not really feel the difference with the dampening because I was already riding on a smooth bit of road, but when I threw down some slides and hooked it through some of the tighter corners I really started to notice how the dampening system worked. The vibrations you get from the wheels chattering over the road were now very subtle, which helped me keep my feet locked into the right position on the board while throwing it sideways. It felt really smooth and made the slides a lot more predictable. The amount of grip I had in the corners felt pretty good as the lines I was able to take were a lot smoother, this would be from a mix of the degree of the baseplate plus the dampening system in the hanger.
A few corners and a lot of urethane later we bombed down from the hills to move onto a different part of the beaches to skate, and on the way down I decided to take a different route, the rough way. Usually I wouldn’t skate this way as the pavement is horrible and bumpy, but I wanted to really give the dampening system a run for its money. It did feel smoother than normal, in a way that the chatter from the rough surface didn’t throw the board all over the place. Sure it still felt rough but it wasn’t as hectic as it would normally be and was a little easier to ride on.
All in all I give these trucks two thumbs up and highly recommend them as quality downhill trucks for freeriding and racing.
Gullwing Stalkers are in stock and available in the Hopshop…and all good longboard shops.
March 19, 2010 - 1:04 pm in the category "Hopshop, News"
Loaded Boards featured in a few categories that fall out of their product range, and this has more to do with readers not involved in those parts of skating not knowing who to vote for and giving it to their favourite brand. Concrete Wave skews towards the longboard market, so all the major longboard manufacturers feature prominently.
I do think it is a wake up call to a lot of mainstream skate brands, the market is changing, they either move with the times or become dinosaurs.
We get this all the time, skaters walking in and saying, it is true, there is a skateshop in St Leonards.
Many people are surprised because we have grown organically. That is, we have not advertised in magazines, newspapers. We have let skaters find us by themselves. One skater tells another. Rumours abound about a mythical underground skateshop with boards everywhere. It’s like when you go on a skate trip and find a skatepark you never knew about. Or in your travels you find a perfect hotmix hill no one has bombed. Or an abandoned pool unskated.
We are Hopkin Racing. Hopkin Skate. The Hopshop. Skateboards. Longboards. Racing.
Big shout out to Chatswood High. They discovered us last week. The rumours about a big skateshop in the area went through the school like wild fire. Most did not believe it. How can there be? So the skate safari was on after school one day. On the train to St Leonards, only to discover it was not a joke. Yes, it is true, it does exist.There is a real skateshop in St Leonards.
If there is no photo, it did not happen, and here it is …
How long does it take to set up a new range of longboards from a manufacturer? In the Hopshop, it does not take long. Usually the trucks are going on before the deck is out of the box.
Straight out of the box, the decks strike you as amazingly beautiful. The finish is exceptional. Top of the deck shows the natural bamboo through a thin clear grit. The bottom layer is as shiny as a new Ferrari. Thick clear resin layer over carbon. Looking at the edge of the deck, you can see the two layers of vertically layered bamboo. Sandwiched between the layers is tri-axial fibreglass. Norfin tell us that considerable research when into the structural making of the deck. The fibreglass layer is designed and applied to hold the flex pattern, so it has a longer life and does not sag.
The three colours we received were, a dark charcoal carbon, and a dark red carbon and a special edition floral design. Shape of the deck is what you would expect from a custom made longboard. Clean lines, small point at the rear tip, the truck cut out pattern is squarish but with unique circular concours on either end. The pattern is very useable and will fit any major reverse angle truck on the market. There is no requirement to modify the deck to drop trucks thru.
These decks have been design and manufactured in Australia. No backyard job, these guys are set up to do custom longboards.
General specifications are 38 inches long. 9.5 inched wide. 28 inch wheelbase. The foot room, pan of the deck is 22 inches. There is a 2 inch taper at each end of the deck from the pan to the neck where the trucks are mounted. Neck is 6 inches on each end. Flex is between a Flex 1 Dervish and a Flex 2 Dervish. Though Norfin tell us this can be pre order customised. There is about a half inch camber to the deck, and a small amount of concave. Enough to make it comfortable.
Decks available at the Hopshop online or in the shop for $240. Completes will be available later in the week.
OK, so it was Monday afternoon, lovely sunny day in Sydney. New Norfins have arrived. I grabbed the deck designated as the shop board (custom floral pattern), put on some Paris trucks, threw on my trusty old inHeats that are worn in to be freerides. And away we go. Left the car at work, commuted home. A good 20 minute skate, plenty of hills, footpaths, bike track, pedestrians and flat land to give the deck a nice work out.
Jumping on the deck, you notice the flex. It is a nice rebound. There is heaps of width for your feet. Switch pushing is easy, the 9.5 inch wide deck comes into play, you don’t lose your footing easily.
On the flat land, I start to slalom pump, the deck is immediately responsive. The deck is set up with what Robbo would call a gangsta lean, the trucks are very loose, so I start to get a bit of rail bite on the road. That is a good thing, to test out the deck strength, not recommended for normal use. I have not skated a 38 inch deck before and the speed I can get out of the pump is amazing. At times it felt like a big slalom board. It takes a while to get use to a shorter stance. Your feet are closer together than on a 42 inch deck.
First hill, and I get to carve some smooth road. The deck is so light, I find it is very easy to slide the back out, and drift a bit into my carves. Learning stand up slides on this deck would be easy. Where the road is a bit rough, I’m four wheel drifting a bit, but the lightness of the longboard makes it easy to control.
A big cracked section between road and footpath is coming up. I have been thinking about it on the way down this hill. Will the board have the roll weight to get through it or am I getting buckled onto the hard stuff. I hit it with speed, and the deck flies over with no trouble…and I’m still on it!
I’m now into pedestrian territory. This is where the deck comes alive. I can put it in any direction. Cutting past shoppers, carving around couples, scaring old ladies with trolleys. Nudging a few school kids who should be on longboards. When the crowded bus stop arrives, I easily kicked the deck into my hand. The first few times I scrap the tail, but the deck is light, so it is easy to control and learn to kick lower so I dont scrap the ground. Put on a tail guard and you would not have that problem. Carrying the board is easy, it is a lot more manageable than a Dervish.
Manta overall gets a 8 out of 10. Looks, finish and craftsmanship it gets full marks. It is the first of the new 38 inch decks we have reviewed this year so it is hard to compare, so we marked it conservatively. If the expected Rayne and Loaded decks are duds, it could be revised up to a 9. If I have to be critical, the grip is not that rough, you could skate it with bare feet no problem. Anyone that skates every day, and skates hard will be putting on new griptape fairly quickly. The tail is designed with a point on the end. Anyone kicking the deck to hand grabs will get annoyed with that, wear it out quickly. Deck might not suit skaters wanting to do technical air tricks. Anyone getting into skating, wanting a deck with style and grace will be snapping this up quick. Suit people commuting or wanting a deck for the boot of the car to skate after work. It would be nice to skate to school on, if you could stow it safely. It would make an excellent freeride deck, but would not suit fast speeds or downhill.
As a new owner of this deck, you could be this happy. (see photo below) Taken after a session on the deck this morning!! I’m calling this the Manta smile.
It is old news now, that Louis Pilloni has been picked up by Sector 9. Here is his first video, showing some steeze on a Bullet.
It is good news that Sector 9 is expanding it’s team this year, and there will be more S9 racers at IGSA events. From what Louis has told us, his travel plans include Newton’s Playground in 2010, a huge shot in the arm for the Australian scene.
In totally unrelated news, Sector 9 boards will be in the Hopshop in March, including the Bullet.
The most talked about trucks in 2009 and 2010 have landed in the Hopshop. All the longboarders can stop reading and go for a skate, it’s all about the short board on the blog today.
We have been following the progression of Theeve trucks for over a year. A select few Australian Vert skaters have been testing the trucks for a while. A lot of those trucks are the protos of TiH truck. This is the world’s first titanium axleless hanger. WTF. Ready for this? They cast the hanger and axle together, then machine down the axle to 8mm. This creates a truck that has an axle and hanger as one. The ultimate in strength. Cast in a Titanium alloy compound. How strong are these trucks? Some of our Vert friends have been on the same set of trucks since getting them. They have been unable to bend an axle. These might just be the last set of trucks you ever buy!
I now have to throw cold water on the party. The TiH trucks have not been released. However the next best thing are in the skateshop ready to go. That is the TiAX truck. The TiAX skateboard truck is still cast out of the Titanium Alloy blend, but they have inserted 6/4 Aerospace Titanium axles. The result is a stronger truck than anything else out there, but super light. Compared to a normal cast truck, you are looking at a 40% weight saving.
Needless to say, these trucks are at our premium end of what we offer. At $119 including shipping, still within everyone’s reach.
Check out the models we have in stock. If there is a colourway you are looking for and it is not listed, email or call the skateshop and we can order them in for you.
We have talked about it a lot, and today we have finally delivered on our promise. Hopshop Points are live.
Customers now earn one Hopshop Point for every dollar they spend with Hopkin Racing. To earn points you can buy online or in the skateshop. Our online system is used live within the skateshop. So when you buy, it is important to tell whoever serves you to put the purchase on your online account. Log into your account at Hopkin Racing, click on the modify profile and at the top of the page will be your accumulated Hopshop Points.
How do you spend them?
You can spend them online or in our skateshop. When you check out, there is a payment method of “Pay with Hopshop Points”. If you have enough points you can pay with all points or use what points you have to get a discount off the price.
ASRA members get double points !!!!
All paid up ASRA members will get TWO points for every dollar spent. Our ASRA list will not be totally up to date, but dont worry. If you miss out on the double bonus, let us know and we will add the extra points to your account.
What is the discount?
The discount equates to 5% discount for members and 10% discount for ASRA members.
This is just the beginning
We plan to expand our loyalty points so our customers can earn extra points. One example in the works is a referral service, so you can earn points for referring your friends as customers!
Disclaimer
This is new code for our website. The tempates and system has been thoroughly tested but we still need to make some small changes. Please give us some feedback if it is ruining your online shopping experience. We will get the price you can pay in Hopshop Points next to the dollar amount. At the moment, it just shows how many Hopshop Points you will earn.
Hopshop Points are not earned on discounted items.
Master of The Hill
It is Master of the Hill tomorrow, and in our sponsored races the winners get Hopshop Points. That’s right instead of the prize being a set of trucks or wheels you might not want or need, you get Hopshop Points that can be spend on anything!!!
We are doing some serious upgrades to the website today. It is really exciting, everyone is going to love the new features coming. No clues for you, unless you have seen our tweets today.
The code update is extensive. It will be unlikely we get it all right so you might see some unusual stuff displaying on the site. Don’t be alarmed, it is just the Meerkats taking over the server.
Any problems, please call the shop on 02 80601588. If you can not order something, call the shop we do phone orders.
It will be worth the pain, all our loyal customers will be rewarded with this upgrade!!!
Manufacturers
