It’s here! Two weeks ago I ordered my new Barfoot Roundtail Noserider online from SK8SonH8 in San Francisco. I’ve never had a longboard before, so my review is going to be based on what I know from riding my oldschool shortboard.
The first thing that is obvious about is its size. At 47″ (1.19m) it’s taller than my 6 year old daughter, huge compared to most skateboards. Pulling it out of the box, the next thing I found was the new Revenge torsion trucks. The website still had them listed with the older Baku Torsion trucks, but I didn’t mind either way, as I have nothing on which to base a comparison. From what I’ve read online they’re both excellent. The red stripes were nicely matched with Kryptonics Route 62 Clear-Red wheels.
The deck is shaped like a surfboard longboard: broad nose, slight rocker and round tail.
Standing on it for the first time was a bit unnerving, the trucks being 37.5″ (0.95m) apart meant that there is a bit of flex when standing in the middle of the board. This is likely to be exaggerated by my unorthodox riding style.
The slight rocker gives it the impression of having a kicktail. I’m not sure if this is intentional or not, but it works well.
Not willing to take it out a bomb a big hill on the first go, I took it for a long lap around the block. It’s very smooth, even on New Zealand’s hard chip road. On the smooth asphalt roads it’s even better. One or two pushes on the flat is enough to get a really good roll. Even a small incline results in good acceleration.
Overall I’m very pleased. Keep watching this space. There’s bound to be blood and gore as I get more experienced.
