Just got mine and was stoked on it until I lost my 360 flips on it. I can do them off the noise tho. It's the new 8.28 Nice Neighborhood. First time I've had a real deck with the IV stamp. I'm not too familiar with Real decks. I love the full shape and the construction of the deck but the tail is too damn short! I wonder is Mason re-drills his because he claimed to skate 13.88 WB. Mines measures 14.1 on the money. I forgot I don't do well with decks under 32". Kickflips are sharp af tho! Super quick. Idk how Mason skates the shit hes does on this.
That is why I found the AH black eagle at 8.12 x 32 with 14.25 wb was so good - such a decent (long) tail, compared to some other boards of different sizes, where the tail was slightly shorter and some things didn't work.
DLX has a few of the shorter boards (yes some almost too short it would seem), and I think it was said before in this thread or another that Mason rides the stock shape 8.28" x 31.7" 14.12" wb and doesn't change it at all, compared to other past boards he has had on Element, that he had to shorten the wheelbase on.
The thing to note, he is on Indy trucks, so it brings in the wb a bit compared to other truck brands, so can get away with a shorter tail too, but I guess when the guy is very short and needs a smaller board, lengthwise, there are going to be some concessions.
Those guys ride crispy new boards, so wouldn't wear tails down much, so a fresh deck would always be exactly what he would be used to, compared to maybe a longer board, with longer tail that would wear down some before being done with it.
The board I have of the 8.28" x 31.7" 14.12" size has a fairly normal looking 6.6" tail and a 6.9" nose that I just measured, but I don't know how the dimensions would stack up with the shorter length of the newer shapes, eg this one:
8.12 x 31.32 with 14.25wb