Hey guys,
Although I thought I never would, it looks like I'm going to get myself an old-school set up, Powell Vallely or Cab, something that I had back in the day. I have a few questions for those with experience with these re-issues:
Trucks: I skate Thunders, so it's 161 right? I see people set up old Powell boards with Indy 159's and those are even narrower and they look fine (in photos at least). Shops around here don't carry re-issues so I can't go to the shop and see for myself.
Second and even more important question: can you actually skate those fucking things? I'm not looking for a cruiser, I want to actually skate it. I see what Max Geronzi does with those boards but he could skate a 2x4 and I'm no Max Geronzi. I'm looking for a simpler way to skate, stop worrying about flip and switch tricks, do some basic curb/ledge/tranny skating, maybe find a bit of a new spark to the whole thing.
I don't know anyone with such a board so I can't try one before I buy one. I'd need a whole new set up so it's expensive and I don't want an expensive board to gather dust in the corner. Or maybe I'd be better off buying a new driver or put that money towards a new set of irons that I'd actually use instead.
Sorry for a bit of a rambling post, I'd appreciate any input, thanks!
I feel like the others have covered some really good points, but here is my take on it as well, coming from working in skate shops and being around a lot of product, including standing on almost any and every variation of board, both old school and normal current styles, as well as skating many of them, even if it is just one run in a bowl or something when someone set up a new one and we all got a bit of a go.
First question is what is your current setup, not so much about the brands, but more sizes, types of product you have had that works for you in the past, etc? You said Thunders (which are a really good truck) and will still work on anything, but what else?
The only other thing I am really aware of now are how in my mind a board I had back in the 80s with that concave (or lack of) and whatever was on it, just does not compare whatsoever to the modern setups, specifically concave and feel of some bigger decks of similar dimensions to the old Powell, Vision, Santa Cruz boards, but many companies like Black Label as just one example, do regularly put out big boards that are shaped like the older boards in a modern concave that do not cost half as much as high price reissues and skate so much better than those others too.
You can still fit it out with all the modern brands of whatever product you want and it will work and in turn be way less likely to gather dust in a corner and help you have a good skate on any terrain, as you mentioned.
I don't know your location, or what sort of stock / brands any local shops do have in stock, but often going into those shops to just check out anything in a wider option - stand on whatever you can to get a feel for it if they will let you - which will then help you to make a better decision.
As for big board options in brands that work, there are so many looking back through this thread, but anything from DLX - Antihero, Krooked, or as mentioned Black Label, then others like Heroin, even some Frog, or Scram, some of the Dwindle boards like New Deal, 101, Madness or PS Stix boards like Dogtown, just to cover most of the major woodshops, but that is by no means the end of a list either.