Dangerous Decks Shin Kicker review

I've been riding a custom shaped Holesom Sex Kitten for nearly a year now, but recently as I've started to try to do stand up slides at ever greater speeds, I've noticed a problem; my feet have a tendency to fly off at inopportune moments. So, for the past month I've mainly been riding a gloriously pink DD Shin Kicker- their newest top-mount speed board designed with input from team rider Gav.

Consider yourself spanked hill

Basically, it's a beast- the kind of beast that rears out of the ocean and then proceeds to flatten Tokyo or New York. The concave manages to be both aggressive, and comfy; feet are locked in and aren't going anywhere (especially with the addition of a couple of PSD outside foot-stops at either end). I've already more than conquered the fearsome right hand hairpin that is the top half of my local hill, without needing to put a hand down. This is something I've not managed before now. In fact the whole experience was so relaxed and easy I was soon pushing to go even faster and slide even further. My lovely girlfriend informed me I was "zooming", but it felt so laid back I might as well have been cruising.

Yes... Buying this board has actually made me a better skater, and it'll probably do the same for you as well.

At 35.5" long and 10.5" at the widest point, the Shin Kicker is a fairly compact board. It also has an impressive choice of wheel bases... From 29" to 25"- enough to suit any taste. While the 10.5"width may sound massive, that is just the widest point, at the trucks it's a more reasonable 9.5" which is just right for my size 6 feet. The concave and the routed wheel wells will also accommodate large wheels - I had (briefly) some 76mm Hesher Snowballs on the board without wheel-bite.

Construction is what I've come to expect from Dangerous Decks; basically rock solid and well crafted. Will takes pride in the decks he sends to people, and it shows. The price is reasonable as well, posted my Shin Kicker came in at under £100 and Will did it in pink just for me... What's not to like?

It's usual in reviews to list the pros and the cons of the item in question, but honestly I can't think of anything wrong with my Shin Kicker. True it's already looking a bit battered, but that's only because it's inspired me to skate harder than I have before, and it's not like I haven't abused skateboards twice the price in an even shorter time before now.

Basically, if you like compact top mount speed boards there is no reason I can think of why you shouldn't buy this deck, it's epic in every sense of the word.

Girls who shred

There has been a bit of an internet backlash today against Thrasher Magazine after the published an interview with Nyjah Huston... Specifically what he thinks about girls in skateboarding.

Yeah, it's horrific isn't it.

Now as a girl woman who shreds and has taken her fair share of bails, stacks and falls I have to say I find this pretty god damn offensive. Women do down hill because they think it's just like sidewalk surfing? 

Really?

Is my judgement somehow less because I'm female? Does my flighty female nature mean that the lessons I've learnt the hard way by hitting the road and earning my scars will be forgotten as soon as the road rash has healed? Of course not, we live in the 21st century rather than the 19th and the female half of the human race are generally considered to be more than capable of making their own damn minds up about what they want to do with their lives. And sometimes what we want to do with our lives is skateboarding, be it downhill, street, slalom or whatever... And you know what, we fucking rock doing it. 

I could go on, but I really don't think I have to, especially seeing as how the bit of the skate-verse that I inhabit has been incensed by the opinion expressed by Nyjah Huston, because it isn't skating. Skating doesn't care whether you male, female, gay, straight or whatever... Skating just cares about skating, having fun with your friends, smiling and the sheer joy that those little wheely planks bring into our lives.