(Get A) Grip (On Yourself)

After a year (just over) of not skating activity I have the urge to get rolling again.

You always think I'll just have a wee roll around and then end up killing yourself (well I do anyway).

After years of skating every style of deck (badly) - freestyle, longie, pool, cruiser, new school longie and new school I settled upon the reality that decks shape progressed to the new school style for a simple reason - it's by far the most versatile.

To achieve the best compromise though my favourite size is about 8.1x31.5 and this is probably my favourite deck. My old favourite was an Unabomber Ali Cairns 8x30.75 but I could never ever find another one when it came to move on and replace it.

Because the difference in the nose and tail of new school decks is marginal (but they are) I always try to put a graphic on the grip so when I go to recover my deck after falling on my bum I instinctively can see which way it is facing and just jump on.

A lot of people either use different types of truck bolt so you can see the heads or paint on or even just use three instead of four at one end of the deck.

This Anti Hero Tony Trujillo had graphic on top of the so I just inlaid some clear grip. It looks ace and everytime when I look at it I just want to get on it.