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.

Stop by the shop and check out what we have in stock:
Sector 9 longboards
Sector 9 wheels
Sector 9 slide gloves
Sector 9 t-shirts

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.

We ask the questions you want answered

The 2010 Landyachtz range is speeding it way to Australia, available in the next month at all good
skateshops, not just Australia’s best (The Hopshop).

What started out with Hop asking questions about the new range has turned into an interview
with Ryan Theobald and Mike McGoldrick…and a cast of thousands.

Sit back, grab a cold drink, and enjoy.

Ryan Theobald Interview

Hop: The Drop Speed disappeared at the end of 2009 fairly quick.
There was a lot of talk it was getting redesigned. Has anything changed on the shape? Different concave?
Improvements on the shape? Or just cosmetic with a new graphic?

Landyachtz: Our original intention was to replace the Drop Speed
with the 9-two-5. Once we finalized the 9-two-5 shape we decided that they are pretty different boards and
having both in the line was a good idea. No changes to it, just the new graphic.

Hop: There has always been a bit of talk around about the flex on the Drop Carve. I have heard
skaters say they have seen super flexy versions with LY crew and riders. Has the flex been modified in 2010?

Landyachtz: We started with the ultra super flexy version. We tested a ton of
different stiffness prototypes, and everyone here loved the super soft feel. Bouncing the board off the ground while
carving hard and ripping around was a blast. We had never done a board that soft before, so we went for it.
People weren’t as stoked as we were about bouncing off the ground, and it didn’t work for guys over 200 pounds (90kg) at all.
So we stiffened it up. Most of the guys at the shop with a drop carve still ride the nice gooey ones.

Hop: Dually has disappeared from Landyachtz website, is this deck gone or in re-design
or in graphic update?

Landyachtz: The dually proved to be too big. There just wasn’t the demand to
warrant pressing another batch, so it’s been axed, for now. We’re keeping track of how many people are still interested,
we’ll see what happens.

Hop’s note: There is still Dually stock in Australia, if you want one order now, looks like
there will be no more, it is now a collector’s item!!

Hop: Does Landyachtz have a list of credits for the artists or contributors to your graphics?

Landyachtz: We do, we’ll publish it on our website soon. We’re really stoked on the graphics
this year, some of the major contributors are Jeral Tidwell, Gord Bruce, Ewok, Nathan Wilson and in house here, Tom Edstrand (Meatball)
and Greg Nicholls have done a lot themselves. We will likely be seeing some work from Chili Thom as well, who has done several graphics
for us in the past. All of these guys are great, we couldn’t be more stoked to have them all be a part of the 2010 line.

Hop: There definitely seems to be a ocean/aqua/fish theme on the new graphics. Has this been done on purpose?
Is there a single artist influencing the whole range? If you have the whole range in your quiver can it be called a landyachtz aquarium?

Landyachtz: You know, I just noticed that. We’ve been talking about putting a Chinook Salmon
on the Chinook for years, Nathan Wilson came through huge there.
The Drop Speed killer whales came from Greg Nicholls in the shop here, his design
took influence from traditional Pacific North West art.

Once we get a few major graphic concepts or ideas, Tom and Greg will show them around and tweak them until most of us are stoked. You can never please
everyone. I think the fish and birds are another extension of being from Vancouver. Most of us are closely tied to an outdoor active life style,
that creates a big bond with nature, without really thinking about it.

Hop: Is the Evo getting a graphic change in 2010?

Landyachtz: Yes, it’s a bad ass sugar skull style design by Jeral Tidwell. His work is some of my
favorite, check him out at Human Tree

Hop: Any race team decks in prototype? A Scoot model? Team Green model?

Landyachtz: Besides the foam core, Carbon Fiber 9-two-5 and Switch Blade, nothing.

Hop: Any news on the Switch Blade?

Landyachtz: We were aiming to release the Switchblade for the beginning of the 2010 season,
but we’ve gone through more prototype stages than we anticipated. Rather than rush the product out in its current state we figured
we’d take the time to refine the shape and make the board the best it can be. Its nearly there, and everyone here is very stoked on the
current prototype. The Carbon foam core version should be available in a few weeks. Once that’s nailed, we’ll get the bamboo version rolling.

Mike McGoldrick Interview

Hop: How long was the prototype period for the 9-two-5 and how many different versions did you do?

Mike: I can not remember exactly how many but there were about 6 different versions made.
The last proto had a large cut out with multiple holes for the base plate so we could play with the wheel base and get it perfect.

During the prototype process we experimented with different concave, rocker, widths and lengths. Tweaking the nose and tail areas was a
huge focus for us. We wanted to give maximum foot room while still keeping the wheelbase as short as possible. I feel like this is an
overlooked part of most drop through boards and is the real design flaw in a lot of boards. Working with the designers and board builders
at Landyachtz we came up with something that really is the best of both worlds, they managed to slam the trucks back into the riding platform
while adding more material around the truck to give strength. At the end of it all we came out with something that we are all super happy with.

Hop: Did you have a big influence on the graphic? Does it have a meaning,can skaters read anything into it?

Mike: To be totally honest with everyone I had very little to do with the design process of the graphic.
I had been working on something else for the board when Greg Nicholls showed me some stuff he was working on. I basically lost my shit when i saw his work.
It took me all of 1 second to decide on the graphic. It’s super quirky, random and really played into my sense of humour. I am into cut and paste style
graphics with multiple layers right now so he pretty much nailed it for me.

Can skaters read anything in to it? I guess that depends how deep you want to get and what meaning you want to take out of it. To be super literal
I enjoy that style of design right now and when no one is watching I have a secret fetish for very dry books on economics, business and global politics.
I have also download lectures and debates on the same topics. I am a nerd, so the business theme kinda works on that level also.

All that aside, I just thought it was awesome, so me and Greg hi fived on it, and it was decided.

Hop: There is rocker in your new board, I’m a huge fan of rocker, it featured in a lot of old school boards
I use to skate, is that where you got your influence to put rocker in your board?

Mike: I don’t come from an old school skate back round, about 12 years ago i got an element Vert deck
and put soft wheels on it and started bombing hills in West Vancouver. I skated bowls and banks but that is the extent of my “old school” influence.

The rocker is something I have wanted in a board for a long time. The rocker has a two part job; Locking you in to the board, And aligning your legs
and knees for better power transfer and stability. I have been on the production version for a few months now and the rocker feels so natural to me now,
I am not sure I will ever go back.

Hop: This deck has a new type of concave, gas pedal/wedge down the side. How does that come into play when a skater is freeriding?

Mike: The gas pedals are something I have been rambling on about for years. I use to make them out
of hot glue and shape the glue with ice cubes. I will go out on a limb and say that 90% of people hang their heel or toe off the side of their board
when free-riding so I wanted something to stand on when we did.

The gas pedal is new and its cool to be the first to implement it in to our board design, I think that in the future we will see it on a lot of boards.

Hop: A lot of new longboarders will be looking at this deck carefully. Maybe it will be their first deck,
getting into downhill and freeride. Most want to know if this deck is a good beginners deck or is it more for an experienced longboarder?
Will the design help them master different types of sliding and cornering?

Mike: I hope they look at the deck carefully as there is a lot to look at. The builders and myself picked
apart every element of the board and tweaked it until we were happy. Once the board is pressed with symmetrical W concave, it gets CNC cut,
3 router passes to get the shape we want on the nose, tail, wheel wells and the wedges. Then they get seamlessly blended by hand.
Making the board is a very complicated process, but we all feel that it is worth the trouble, the product that comes out, is something to be very proud of.

I don’t think that this board is something for experts or beginners only, good design just works. Any rider who rides the board will benefit from all the
features. The Free-ride movement is a pretty new thing to to the longboard and is constantly evolving. Right now there are two big trends in free-riding.
The first being slower speed tech stuff like shove-its, stand up pendys and slashing. The extended foot platform and wedges help pop and stomp the tech stuff.
The second trend is the amplitude, over the last year the speed of free-riding has gone through the roof. The added length (.75″) of the wheel base gives a
little extra stability at higher speeds and helps lock in big, fast and scary speed checks and lets the rider have more control to drift through corners,
as apposed to doing a revert before it.

I feel that anyone who rides the board will get some use out of all the features. I really wanted one board for DH and free-ride. As long as the rider wants
to get in to the downhill side of longboarding then this deck will meet their needs whether they are a beginner, expert or racer.

Hop: What is your favourite set up for your new board (ie trucks wheels bushings)

Mike: Well going back to the one board idea, the Bear trucks have been re designed and I am currently
on the prototypes. The hanger has a “step-up ” design giving the truck a constant turn and eliminated any dead spot when the truck is at center.
The hangers can still be flipped to give positive of negative leverage on the bushings giving greater or less torque depending on how they are set up.
The bushing seats have zero play with the bushing and has an ovalised lip to let the bushing perform as it was designed.

I have mine set up with stock Pumpkin bushings on the bottom and yellow Venoms on the top.

As for wheels, I am really stoked on the new Zombies right now. They rule. The thane in them is butter smooth at speeds. When doing some faster slides
on other wheels, you can heat up the wheel and it starts to melt and get slipy. The zombies don’t gloss over during big slides.
I am also really feeling the stone ground finish as the wheel performs right away and is constant through the wear.

Hop: Anything else we forgot?

Mike: Yea I just want a chance to give some credit where it is due. Everyone asks me all these questions
about the board and I don’t want to take all the credit. Landyachtz has an extremely talented group of board builders and designers, and an equally talented
skate team. Larry, Sean M and Mike P were a huge help to get my ideas built into deck. Once we had the prototypes made they were put to the test under the
feet of some thrashers like Wolf Coleman and Dylan. Long story short it may be my design but it was a huge process involving a lot of talented people.
Without the recourses and talent that we have access to at landyachtz this board would still be just an idea. Thank you.

Huge big thank you to Ryan and Mike for taking the time to answer all my questions

This interview was originally published in the Hopshop newsletter, send out to subscribers weekly. You can subscribe by adding your email address or ticking the Hopshop newsletter subscription option at the bottom of your Hopkin profile page. Create a new profile or login to modify existing.

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.

Theeve range of skateboard trucks

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!!!

hop

Pedro is a young Brazilian skater with an amazing am deck with Pocket Pistols.

Everyone that browses the pool decks in the Hopshop always stops and checks out the Pedro deck. And then we get the question … who is Pedro?

Pedro Barros is 14 and lives in Rio Tavares Mother F#ckers Hood/Florianopolis, Brasil. He is a regular footer, has been skating for forever.

Click on the links and see why everyone likes Pedro’s deck
Pedro Jimi in silver or Pedro Jimi in orange

Everyone is getting into downhill. Here is a clip of skate legend Ben Schroeder bombing a hill. Anyone know what board he is skating? It does not look like a short board. Definitely looks like he is getting into downhill. Throws in some nice moves.

Ben skates for Pocket Pistols, we have a few of his pro models in stock.

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.

hop

With only 10 days to go until Newton’s Playground, we thought we should spruce up the Hopshop. Maybe get a bit of paint down, brighten the place up for all our overseas visitors and VIP’s. The retail area got some nice white paint on the floor, you need sunglasses in the boardroom now! What to do with that empty space between the ramps in the warehouse? maybe ….