joecarve

More travel fun: Earlier this year, the ever-vigilant TSA forced me to check a carry-on bag because it contained a 5mm T-handle wrench. Fair warning for those of you carrying gear. Soon we'll all be boarding empty-handed wearing a hospital gown and plastic flip-flops... joe...

Sandman's gonna need a NISMO cat-back exhaust as well, don't you guys think? :D joe...

OT on an OT thread, so I figure it's legal: check out this rant on craigslist that someone pointed me to a while ago: Hey Crackhead. joe...

You probably want to start with one of us that's already housebroken, then work from there... :D

I wonder if they were noodling... :D

European Pureboarders Invade Colorado :D joe...

Well, there weren't any mirrors in the courtroom, so technically, I can't disagree with you. If only these shows would scrap the "drama" side of it and have non-stop gearhead-related content. The absolute worse offender is OverHauling...really outstanding work going on in those projects, but you see so little of it due to the "pranks".

Steal a Coiler, go to jail. That's the law.

You're going to the outer banks in april without windsurfing gear? You need a bigger vehicle. :D I took a hangliding lesson at Jockey's Ridge forever ago...flared out way early, got the trainer kite surprisingly high (maybe 10 feet) and into a hard left hander. Out of the corner of my eye I could see another lesson group scattering as I headed toward them...white-knuckled death grip on the bar, hangin' on for dear life. Then the left leading edge dug into the sand and the kite carwheeled. My friends said it looked pretty impressive... joe...

The Randall bushings are kinda suckful - I set mine up the same as Doug. I actually use a fender washer between the Stimulator bushings and the truck base (where he has no washer)...it's a tad less turnier that way, but I figure it loads the bushing a little more evenly. Either way, it's a big improvement over the stock Randall bushings. joe...

Nothing terribly recent or obscure, but they are food related, and most of us eat... <B>Kitchen Confidential, by Anthony Bourdain</B> Very funny account of one man's career in the restaurant business, climbing the ladder to executive chef. Find out why the two worst words to combine at a restaurant are "sunday" and "brunch". <B>Fast Food Nation, by Eric Schlosser</B> Follows development of fast food industry (oddly enough). I won't be able to do it justice here - plenty of other reviews floating about. The easily-queased might want to skip the chapter on beef "production".

My wife rides in Raichle 324's (now the Suzuka? ask Fin or Michelle), which are 4-buckle, with the moldable TF liners...it was the more comfy boot of the old Raichle line. She's riding with both boots unlocked at the moment; 60-degrees front and rear on a 19.5cm wide board puts her toes and heels at the edges of the deck. Her progression of boards: - Nidecker Rave 150 - soft, easy to turn...6 days. - Burton UltraPrime 164 - all-mountain style of deck, though significantly softer than an Donek Axis or Coiler AM. Probably 10 days on that before getting... - Donek FreeCarve 163 She still rides the UP in softer conditions, but she's wanting something a bit more aggressive as an all-mountain deck.

Footbraking is actually pretty effective...I think there are guys doing it at surprisingly high speed. I'm not a fast skater, but I basically don't ride any faster than I can comfortably footbrake...like a lot of other things, start slow and work your way up. Good tips on ncdsa, obviously. Coleman-style sliding is something I'm thinking of playing around with, though in every video I've seen of it, it seems to be the opposite of good carving skills - looking downhill across the board, breaking at the waist, etc. But it is cool. :D joe...

I rode Shadows for 5 years then finally replaced them with AF600's (now the DeeLuxe Suzuka)....way better boot. Better construction, four buckles (no ant strap :D), and a rear adjustment that's actually usable. Boots are on sale right now, so if you can swing it, now's the time to buy... joe...

The spring tension can be tightened by the allen-head screws...see seismic site. If that's not enough, you can buy stiffer springs. If you skate with any regularity in the offseason, you'll be better on snow the beginning of the next season than you were at the end of the last. Same deal every year. I found skating particularly useful in teaching myself cross-under turns. Before you get out of control, learn to footbrake. Also, wearing a helmet is a pretty good idea with any sort of speed other than just cruising around. joe...

$75 plus shipping...that's deck only, btw. Not trying to hijack this thread, so I started a proper one in classifieds. But you get first crack at it since you asked first... :D

Medium flex, green base; purchased early Fall of last year. I've got maybe 5 or 6 hours on this deck...selling it because it's a little too stiff for my weight (165lb) and riding style. See the Insect site for more details. Pics of my deck below. $75 plus shipping.

I've got a Dragonfly from last year - very nicely made deck. However, it's a bit too stiff for my weight and/or riding style (I'm 165lb, making easy big turns on asphalt). I can't quite fully decamber it just standing on it - it definitely wants to be ridden aggressively. To order it again, I'd opt for the lighter flex. I'm selling mine if anyone's interested (green model)...I've got maybe 5 or 6 hours on it, so it's basically new. joe...

For that, I think you want a Dakine Spike stomp pad, which conveniently separates into strips that can be stuck to the back of five decks (outside ones are thicker and angled a bit)

I generally prefer single-gender dates, so I'm gonna go with a day of untracked cord... joe...

LMAO! The pen is truly mightier! Damn, I need bigger boots... :D joe...

Saw this piece of a cardboard box in my neighborhood - it's from a Samsung 50" DLP TV. Though cropped down...it's a box for a carver! Note international symbols for care and feeding of contents (L to R) : - Don't stack carvers more than 3 high (isn't two already a problem?) - Keep the body upright - Don't let it get rained on - Don't make it carry heavy objects while riding - Keep minimum distance between riders - Provide with alcohol (hmm, seems a little dicey) - Enforce narrow trenches. joe...

Inline skates? You want a longboard skateboard. Go waste some time over on ncdsa and you'll find what you'll be doing in warm weather (a bit of an overload of forums, but poke around a bit)... joe...

I rode an FP167 for a season before switching to a Donek FreeCarve 171. The FreeCarve is definitely stiffer than the FP, but has way, way more edgehold. I felt the increased stiffness was offset by the tighter turning radius. Haven't ridden the FP since... joe...

I rode an Alp for a short season on TD1s after several seasons on those awful Burton rat-traps. No disasters... (I'm 165lb.) joe...