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 similar to a dervish but unique in the circular concours. The pattern only suits a Paris truck. Any truck that has a baseplate with structural wings, like the randal, will need to modify their deck. You would have to cut a small notch to fit the trucks on. Not a big deal, longboarders have be making the modification for years but some skaters might balk at modifying such a perfect finished deck.
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 (Randal hangers on paris baseplates), 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!!!
Did you get the latest Concrete Wave magazine in the mail? Did you know if you are an Australian and you subscribe, your magazine gets air mailed to you, and you get it within days of the US and Canadian subscribers!! A chunk of radness expressed to your door.
It is a brilliant read this issue. Michael Brooke just keeps making this magazine better and better. There is news on all the latest released skate products, articles on vert, pool, street , skateboard racing and the list goes on…
Whatever your level of skateboarding, whatever your type of skating, whatever your level of interest. This magazine will impress. You’ll read it from cover to cover. Concrete Wave is the only magazine that features 100% skateboarding.
This issue, has Steve Daddow’s spectacular crash at Newton’s. Some of the articles are : Tao of Skate, Kids in the fast lane (kids and parents on downhill skateboarding), Venice Boarding School, interview with Mike Weed, Buena Vista pool, Team Green, and a double page article on Newton’s Playground!!! And that is not everything, there is plenty more. If you are like many skaters, you’ll subscribe as much for the ads as you do the photos and articles. Ads this month: Landyachtz zombies (in stock at the Hopshop), Sector Nine congratulate Evren on his Newton’s win (we will be stocking Sector 9 this year), Andy Lally gets a Seismic ad, Madrid downhill boards, Jimmy is in the Rainskates ad, plenty of skate bling ads like nimbus trucks.
Subscribe NOW. This is not a promotion, there is nothing in it for Hopkin Skate if you click on the link. This is from the Hopshop heart, a skate bro recommendation. Subscribe to Concrete Wave, your soul will be rewarded.
The longboarders are worried, has Hop gone mainstream? Is the Hopshop selling out to street skating?
We are not selling out but we are expanding our range!
We have renovated the shop over the holidays and put up a big street and vert section. The warehouse ramps have been sold and replaced with glass cabinets. One of our regulars was worried we were going down the stale, vanilla corporate road like a Skooter HQ mall store … NEVER.
We are still a chill place to hang out, get good advice and watch skate videos. We are just expanding the range.
Why
The Hopshop is in St Leonards, 5km from Sydney city, the biggest city in Australia. Our shop is located in the middle of three skateparks – Lane Cove, Chatswood and Neutral Bay. However, there is no dedicated skate shop in the area, except the Hopshop! We have a few surf shops that have a skate section but no real skate shop. So the word is out, there is a new skate shop in town. One skater tells another. They find the shop. The few street skaters has become the many, demanding product and service. So we have listened and are adding mainstream skateboarding products to our shelves. Those Powell SPF wheels look tiny next to inHeats .
The reaction
The response from distributors has been positive. Most of them, and their representatives, dont believe there is a skateshop in St Leonards. Imagine that. If I was a distributor and my sales rep did not know there was a 90 square metre retail skateshop in their territory, I’d fire them.
We still get distributors refusing to deal with us, which is hysterically funny. For anyone not in the industry, this is how the skateshop/distributor dance works. First you have to find them, they have a bad or no website, missing links, misspelt urls, or no contact details on their website. You find them, call them, so you can convince them to let you sell their product. Some dont return calls, or emails, just ignore you. I dont know the rationale behind this strategy. Keeping their brands exclusive? Protecting a nearby surf shop? Scared you might put it online? (psst dont tell skaters about internet) Protecting online US skate shops?
So who has been difficult? Lush Productions is number one. They sell Independent Trucks, which I have on my pool deck, so I would like to carry them in the shop. Sometimes you feel these distributors think they are going to hurt your business if you dont get their brand. Lush, here is a reality check. Most skaters dont ask for Independent Trucks, seems like their poor distribution strategy is working. We get asked for Theeve, Ace, Thunder, Ruckus, Tensor, and Destructo. You’ll see all these good brands in the hopshop soon. Looks like I’m going to have change truck brands on my pool deck, those Ace trucks look nice. A better independent truck you say? I heard about it on the internet, shhh, dont tell the kids.
This week’s challenge
Want to know what it is like to have a skateshop? Try Hop’s “find this distributor” challenge.
Your challenge this week is to search for the Lush website, and then only using their website find out how to contact them.
Rant over, I feel better now. I’m going to go try these Theeve trucks at Balmoral.
The first post for the year I thought it should be a good one. I have been going through our sales and statistics for 2009 and it has been some interesting reading. The website and skateshop has under gone huge growth in the last 12 months. It does not look like slowing down, and I think this is a reflection of the skate industry in general. Longboarding and Downhill is starting to break out of its niche and become more mainstream.
Our business is a true reflection of longboarding and downhill in Australia. We have a popular ecommerce website and a skateshop located in a busy part of Sydney. Our sales are split evenly between website and skateshop. However everyone that comes to the skateshop (other than local walk bys) hear about us on the internet.
Why publish a 2009 best seller list? The idea came from an article on Pop Magazine about what is selling well in Melbourne skate shops. There is a classic line “a brand I had never heard of before” by the writer in reply to Hemleys nomination of Randal trucks. It got me thinking about Australian skateshops and the skate industry, and how little they know about longboarding and downhill. Here is a clue, it is more than a rack of Sector9 completes. I hope this blog will introduce some of the brands that are big in the sport, new product they need to stock and help them communicate to a new type of youth appearing in their shops, the longboarder.
All these products have distribution in Australia. The figures were influenced by new brands in the market and supply problems in 2009. Landyachtz boosted their distribution channel in late 2009. The fastest selling products in every category has been Landyachtz in the last 3 months. Rayne have invested more time developing their Australian business, this reflects in the sales of their decks.
Most popular general longboard
1. Loaded Dervish. Without a doubt this is our biggest selling deck. Flex 1 out sells the flex 2.
2. Rayne Hustler.
This category will be getting a shake up in 2010 with the Loaded Tan Tien arriving soon. The most popular board in this category will move to 38 inch from the current 42 inch. Skaters are wanting smaller decks that are more maneuverable for tricks and freeriding style.
It should be noted we are expecting Landyachtz to be strong in this category in 2010.
Most popular downhill longboard
1. Omni Drop 43. Our overseas readers will be wondering what is a Drop 43. This is an Australian board made by a local skate company Omni. We sold twice as many Omni boards in 2009 than any other deck. Why? The start of 2009 there was not much choice in race boards, Rayne and Landyachtz had not sorted out their distribution. Omni Drop 43 is also has an entry level price which makes it a perfect starter board.
2. Rayne Nemesis. If we had stock of this board all year this would have been our number one selling deck. It is the deck we like to recommend in the shop, it size, width and shape make it an all round board for downhill, freeride and longboarding.
3. Rayne Demonseed.
4. Rayne Killswitch. This board was released in late 2009 and sold out a few times. It’s success is a reflection of the growing freeride market and also the financial strength of the longboard market. The Killswitch is one of our most expensive decks.
5. Rayne Hellcat.
6. Landyachtz Evo. Over the latest few years this deck has been the biggest selling downhill board in the world. Our sales have been down mainly due to supply issues in 2009. However the market is growing, and there are a lot more choices for skaters. It is doubtful that the Evo will claim back the crown of the biggest selling board.
This category has been the biggest growing market for our business. It is also has the youngest demographic. We are selling more downhill decks to under 18 years olds than anything else. It should be noted that a single sale separated a lot of the placings. Drop 43 sales were 50% bigger than any other board. The second most popular board was 2. through to 6.
Most popular longboard truck
There are two parts to this category. Trucks we sell on completes and trucks that are ordered separately by customers.
1. Paris 180 . This is our biggest selling truck. We sold more Paris trucks in the first 4 months of 2009 than we did all year for any other truck! The reason is it is the preferred truck for skaters buying a Loaded Longboard. 90 out of 100 Loaded Longboard customers orders Paris 180 trucks on their longboard.
2. Bear Grizzly 852. This is a surprise because we have only been selling these trucks in volume since September. In that time they have caught up to Randal 180 yearly sales. It was close. Only two truck sales separated Bear and Randal.
3. Randal 180.
Paris is the most popular longboard truck. However we we only count independent sales of trucks and not completes, the number one truck is Bear Grizley 852.
Most popular longboard wheel
This result will not surprise anyone. Jackson works in the Hopshop, is on the Hopkin Racing Team and rides for Orangatang. It figures Orangatang wheels sell well in the Hopshop. There are performances to back it up. Jackson is the fastest skater in Australia in slalom and downhill. Kevin Reimer won the IGSA World Championships at Newtons in 2009 on dem purps.
1. Orangatang inHeat
2. Orangatang 4Presidents
3. Retro Big Zigs
4. Orangatang Stimulus
5. Orangatang Durian
6. Retro Zig Zags
Most popular Bushings
1. Venom.
2. Reflex.
3. Khiro.
Venom has dominated bushings this year. Releasing more duros and also the eliminators. The Hopshop started selling Reflex in the second half of 2009, and they have performed so well with our customers it has created a shake up and re organisation. Khiro has been bounced out of our retail display and off the website by Reflex. Any shortboard bushings are now mostly Reflex short cones.
Most Popular Bearing
1. Bones red
Nothings sells like Bones red. Price vs Performance longboarders get with Reds is second to none.
Most Popular Slide Glove
1. Loaded Slide
2. Landyachtz Slide
3. Loaded Race
Loaded win this category because of supply. They have a consistent supply, consistent quality. Therefore they get the sales. There are some good alternatives out there but with supply issues.
That is the Hopshop awards for 2009. I hope it starts lots of arguments about what is the best product on the market. Maybe it will help some skateshops with what they could be putting on their shelves in 2010.
Manufacturers
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