Went out into the garage shortly after dinner on a snowy Sunday. I had setup an 8.25 again, but this time with lows and 42mm wheels. I don’t really plan on skating 42s for real, but they had bearings in them and it was just easier. I had planned on trying tricks 10 tries. Everything regular then switch. I started with the straight 8. Kickflip, fakie flip and heelflip took longer than they should. I didn’t quite get a fakie heel. Switch flips, switch heel, nollie heel were not close. I committed to several nollie flips, but they didn’t flip enough. Then I missed treflips and didn’t get close to switch tre. I wasn’t all that stoked on the smaller board until I tried f/s flip which seemed worth it to me. I got a couple pivoted ones. Not close to switch f/s flip. Then I did a couple halfcab flips so easy that it made me happy about the smaller board. Didn’t get close to Janoski flip. Kinda close to varial heel, but not close to nollie varial heel. Tried fakie lazer which still somehow feel close. Ended with nollie tre which has still eluded me in my tiny garage space.

(setup 8.25 null nolan deck, mob grip, venture 5.2 awake lows, 42mm oj wheels, 88a venom bushings, new balance numeric 306 b/w size 12, footprints gamechanger insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

Rating: COMFORT
Rating: BOARD FEEL
Rating: BREAK IN PERIOD (Good rating means it doesn’t take long to break in)
Rating: SOLE DURABILITY
Rating: UPPER DURABILITY
Rating: STYLE
Rating: OVERALL

The New Balance Numeric 379 is a slim vulcanized shoe with very little padding. It’s good for what it is, but my feet definitely wanted a little support. The shoe has a great flick. I feel like this herringbone tread pattern is not as grippy as the older vulcanized soles NB makes (255, 345). Anyway, a good simple shoe.

On the last forecasted nice day in awhile Kevin, Dave L and I went to Southern Hills. The wind had kicked in fierce. It was my bad for bringing everyone there. I was feeling pretty grouchy for some reason. I think I was still in need of a solo session or something after so much filming/socializing in ABQ the weekend before. Nothing came easy. Unless you are Kevin. Ha. As always he was ripping out of the gate. 50s, 5-0s, crooks on the benches like it was nothing. I had an alright warm up line of nollie bonk to manual down the handicap ramp, front 50 the step, crooks the bench. Dave L was doing lots of sweeping, then 180s, nollie 180s and casually ollieing up the 2. Jack and Fuzz would show after awhile. Jack pretty quickly got in and landed a couple kick back lips while Kevin was trying kick back tails. I started filming which made me extra grouchy. This is mainly because I had been skating so bad. Kevin got the kick back tail in a couple lines. Jack got the kick back lip and hucked a new trick for him after. Nollie back 180 fakie 5-0 halfcab out. He was so close. He was like “I’ve never tried that before”. Must be nice. Ha ha. Jack cheered me up by taking over filming duties for awhile. Kevin would get a rad line ending with front 50 up the low bar. Sean and I played a game of SKATE. I continued my terrible skating. Sean made it fun by keeping the tricks dumbed down for me. I couldn’t get treflip or halfcab flip, but I was happy to get f/s halfcab flip and beat Sean to varial flip. Sean ended me on f/s halfcab heel which I was quite close on. Fuzz and I skated the step for awhile. Some fun accidental front 5-0s for me. Ha ha. We both did nollie front tails too. Fuzz took a bit to get a kickflip.

Then we went to the bank and ledge spot off Arapahoe/55th with the pipes in it. First thing was Kevin wallieing off the parking block gap. So sick. Then we all went to work on trying lines. I was kind of bummed on how it went to filming. I was really craving a day of just skating and not filming I guess. But I ended up trying a line forever. Boardslide then no comply shove over the pipe. Never got the no comply, but the boardslides were really fun. Dave L was killing front tails and front 5-0s on the ledge, then ollie to fakie over the hole, or an amazing over disaster. Fuzz was going 100mph doing noseslide then bigspin fakie. Jack had done some great back tails and was trying ghetto bird over the pipe. But he rolled his ankle because my dumbass couldn’t get out of the way fast enough. He had a nice board butt focus after that. Carleigh went in on front noseslide then kickflip over the pipe. I’ve never seen her do so many front noseslides, it was awesome. After I had given up on my line I filmed Kevin for awhile get back 5-0 then ollie to fakie over the pipe. Carleigh got her line as the sun was disappearing. The minute after she landed her line the wind kicked in with the cold front coming. Whew. Love to everyone, sorry I was so grouchy.

(setup 8.5 null nolan deck, Venture 5.8 trucks (cast baseplate, titanium hanger), doh dohs 88a bushings no boardside washer, spitfire F4 52mm 99a green swirl wheels, new balance numeric 306 Foy b/w size 12, footprints gamechanger insoles)
(pain level 4/10)

Rating: COMFORT
Rating: BOARD FEEL
Rating: BREAK IN PERIOD (Good rating means it doesn’t take long to break in)
Rating: SOLE DURABILITY
Rating: UPPER DURABILITY
Rating: STYLE
Rating: OVERALL

For a few years now this has been one of my favorite shoes. I’ve probably skated a dozen pairs of the 212. My favorite thing about this shoe is the wide toebox. I also love how this is one of the few shoes that can hold up to my annoying razor toe. I rarely have to shoe goo my ollie/kickflip toe area. It’s so great. It’s a very steezy shoe, I like that they are making them now without the rubber toecap. The one negative about this shoe is it’s so incredibly thin that it normally starts to hurt my heel after awhile. So I don’t normally skate multiple pairs in a row. But overall I think this is one of the better shoes on the market. Especially if you rock the stock insole which adds some heel protection (currently I’m using Footprint Gamechangers).

Rating: COMFORT
Rating: BOARD FEEL
Rating: BREAK IN PERIOD (Good rating means it doesn’t take long to break in)
Rating: SOLE DURABILITY
Rating: UPPER DURABILITY
Rating: STYLE
Rating: OVERALL

It’s been awhile since I’ve skated these, but I’m trying to catch up on my shoe reviews. As an older skater Tony Hawk has been a long time favorite. I was on a cupsole kick and these seemed right up my alley as they were quite flexible. I liked them for awhile, however the pointy toes got me and they started to become very uncomfortable. The heel is a little thicker than I desire in a shoe as well. Overall I’d say that this is probably a decent cupsole for most people (I just need a wider toebox that most). It’s a nice looking shoe that clearly reminds you of the old Airwalks Tony wore a lot. The packaging is really cool too. I used the box for my sticker collection.

Went and met Saul right after work on a nice Friday evening. He was down at the hook because the main curbs were wet. Doh. Saul had nice front slappies as you can see above. He had some good backside ones too. I didn’t commit to frontside around the corner. Tried backside and crook, but didn’t get them. We had some ollies off the curb cuts. I struggled to ollie up the curb and kickflips felt scary. Tried to treflip, but never committed. Fun little session.

(setup 8.5 null nolan deck, Venture 5.8 trucks (cast baseplate, titanium hanger), doh dohs 88a bushings no boardside washer, spitfire F4 52mm 99a green swirl wheels, new balance numeric 306 Foy b/w size 12, footprints gamechanger insoles)
(pain level 2/10)