Nord Boards
Archive for April 20th, 2009
Koa wood longboards
Arbor Fleetwood – Hand Made from Hawaiian Koa Wood
Arbor makes their boards from real Hawaiian Koa wood – Koa has the widest range of colors of any wood on Earth. Serious! This wood is beautiful, and has been used for ages by Hawaiians to make surfboards. The wood has strength, flex, and the colors are rich.
When used to make an arbor longboard like the Arbor Fleetwood, the Koa wood gives a smooth, comfortable ride. The wood doesn’t feel soggy, but does give a great response. When standing on the Fleetwood, you feel it give just the right amount under your weight, and when bending into curves, the Fleetwood gives a soft, comfortable feedback.
Arbor Pin Longboard
The Arbor Pintail “Pin” is a carving style longboard with a long wheel base that creates smooth turns. It has a the widest point in the center of the board with tapered nose and tail to allow for a good sized wheel, with smooth hard carving turns. The Arbor Pin longboard’s deck is made with true Hawaiian Koa wood to add strength and beauty, and to reach back to the longboard’s hawaiian roots in surfing. This is the longest board Arbor makes, with the widest wheel base. it’s perfect for carving up the streets.
The pintail from arbor longboards is a pure sidewalk surfer. Its tapered shape, shallow concave with no tail kick, and the placement of the extra wide trucks in the very extreme nose of the board all set the Arbor Pin apart from other longboards as a true carver. Add to that the style of the rich Koa wood finish and the liquid blue wheels and you have a longboard you can fall in love with.
Mini Longboard
The Arbor Pocket Rocket Mini Longboard cruises with the speed and smoothness of a fullsize longboard, but it is wrapped up in a mini sized box. It really makes for a crazy style ride. It is super smooth, carvers sharper than longer style longboards and is so quite as is cruises along. You can pretty much ride this thing like a longboard but you have the ability to use it like a normal skateboard to be able to olly up curbs or 50/50 a rail. This mini board is a brilliant mix of skate/longboard.
This arbor longboard is 26 inches long. The tail has a high narrow kick, but the nose is flat. The board is made from seven plys of Canadian Hardrock Maple with a finish layer of Hawaiian Koa wood or Rosewood. The top of the deck is covered with clear re-grip that works fine but also lets you see the colors of the natural wood underneath. Koa has a huge diversity of colors and wood patterns – one of the most diverse woods on the planet.
Riding the Dervish!
Another review by about.com author on riding the loaded dervish bamboo longboard
Test riding boards is easily one of the coolest parts about writing up a review! For the Dervish, I had JT help me out. He’s ridden longboards for quite some time, and had a lot of fun with the Dervish. For hill carving, he thought it was perfect, especially with the flex and the way the trucks that came with the board handled turning. JT has been riding a Sector 9 bamboo for a while, but he reports that the Sector 9 had no where near the same flex as the Dervish. With the upwards curve of the Loaded Dervish, you can dig in so much more.
For cruising, the Loaded Dervish was good and solid. JT couldn’t think of anything bad to say about it at all. For me, I thought it was one of the most comfortable rides I’ve ever enjoyed. I really enjoyed being able to spring in and out of turns. Since I usually ride a regular skateboard, it’s things like this that really set apart longboards and cruisers for me. If I’m going to be riding this board to get places, or to enjoy a soulful slope, I want to feel the board respond to me. The Loaded Dervish Longboard does just that.
Review of the Loaded Dervish Longboard
The following is a review written by an about.com author
The Loaded Dervish is a bamboo longboard designed to get you the most dynamic, all-around action possible. With the Dervish’s flex and low center of gravity, combined with a clever truck mounting design, you can really dig in and bend this board to whatever it is you want to do. Bowls to hill bombing, and even tricks, the Loaded Dervish really does it all.
I want to talk a little more about the deck design. It’s a bamboo board, and built with a strong convex to it, which really lets you dig in. The trucks also drop through holes on the nose and tail of the board, but they’ve designed it so that you can attach a wide variety of trucks to this deck.
In every way, the Loaded Dervish Longboard is a middle-of-the-road board that does will in whatever environment you want to ride it.
New Graphic for the Loaded Dervish Longboard
A little about the loaded dervish longboard graphic:
Inspired by ancient Persian Islamic art, we’ve named this board the “Dervish” as a reference to the Whirling Dervishes. A sub-sect of Sufism (Mystical Islam), the Dervishes are famous for their ritual whirling dances, an aerobic flowing movement designed to produce spiritual ecstasy.
Recommended Trucks for this board:
We’ve designed the drop-thru to accommodate the Randal R-II, Paris, Bear, Gullwing Charger and Tracker Fastrack Longboard Trucks. All reverse-kingpin trucks work well on this board, but we recommend using at least a 180mm wide truck.
Board performance:
With a lower center of gravity and a torsionally stiff design, the Loaded Dervish Longboard is built to hold an edge and maximize energy return. A drop-thru carver designed to work with most reverse kingpin geometry trucks and 70mm+ wheels. The dropthru design allows for easier pushing, more stability at speed, and easier sliding. It has a small flat nose and tail for manual and shovit tricks.