When not skating, I’m… Probably editing skate footage. **GOT’EEM**
Favorite skaters to ride with Riders that are new to the sport of downhill! Having the privilege to help other skaters develop and/or refine their skills is always special to me.
Sponsors Seismic Skate and SKELLER STUDIOS®
Favorite Seismic products Trishul
Skate heroes then and now Roy Wolf ||. Dude was an absolute fucking legend. Only skater I’ve known to die skating, get revived, then shred even harder for decades after. He was a pillar to the downhill community and one of my dearest of friends!
Favorite quote “Whether you like it or you don’t…learn to love it…because it is the best thing going today (Woah!)”. -Rick Flair
Most memorable achievement Watching a skate video of mine at a movie festival was pretty far out (shout out to Scott Hardesty).
Goals for the future Curating skate footage has become an obsession of mine so I hope to someday develop a new and refreshing media platform that’ll showcase downhill skating for its rawness through an artistic lens.
Ever complained about the snow harshing your gnar? Snow doesn’t phase Dre “Grizzly” Nubine one bit as he tears down a Colorado mountain pass at speeds in excess of 50mph — with a little help from Seismic’s top-secret new speed/freeride urethane formula. Bright white to match the weather conditions!
Mischo Erban has been pioneering longboarding since man of you were in grade school! This guy is a true racer and has shown it with countless podiums on the world circuit and even a few titles worthy of boasting. This is a flashback to his 2011 season where he won the IGSA World Championship Title in Brazil.
From MIscho…
“Still hanging in by tooth and nail the, 2011 season was another to remember! I was becoming more tuned into my skateboard setup and confidence and perseverance paid off with the World Champion Title being seized on my most favorite track in Teutonia, Brazil!
Big Thanks to Fred Baumann, Ronin Trucks, GMR Skateboards, Dan Gesmer at Seismic, Xtreme Board Shop Glendora, Knucklenuts and Crocan for the video edit!”
Check out Javier Tato’s sick edit from the Velefique Freeride 2012!
Seismic team rider Javier Tato recently attended a downhill gathering in Velefique, a small town in the southern Spanish province of Almeria. Six kilometers (3.7 miles) of smooth asphalt, technical corners, and fast straights made for an amazing course!
Full raw run: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwMxX7hWiow
Artist/Song: Kind Dub – Atlanta braves VS Waka Flocka VS Ludacris Remix
Tomorrow, Oct. Friday 18, Blue Sky Longboards will be holding a push race on the streets of New Jersey, the Blue Sky Mile Challenge.
This is the first year that this event is happening and the guys organizing it have been trying their best to make it one of a kind for a couple different reasons:
1. A bracket will be used to place the fastest skaters together in one final heat.
2. The prize purse will be split evenly between the men and women.
3. Great for spectators! And, the racers who didn’t make the finals will get to see the most exciting part of the event – the first place finish!
The biggest and most exciting difference at this event is the racing format. The day will begin with practice and qualifying. During this time racers are free to skate as much as you like. Once you are ready to qualify (you only get one, so be ready) you will collect your timing chip, skate a mile as fast as you can, then return the timing chip to the finish to get your time. Qualifying times will be available in real time on a monitor in the in field.
You can find more information about it here: Blue Sky Mile Challenge . There is no registration day and the registration closes toonight at midnight. You can register here:
Same day, same event, James Soladay will attempt the Guiness World Record“Longest one wheel manual on a skateboard“. The current for the longest one wheel manual (wheelie) on skateboard on flat surface is 68.54 m (224 ft 10 in) and was achieved by Stefan Akesson (Sweden) at the Gallerian Shopping Centre, Stockholm, Sweden, on 2 November 2007.
James will be riding on Seismic Wheels and Seismic Bearings on this attempt to break the Guiness Workd record. Here you can check a couple of videos of him doing a manual and one wheel manual, enjoy and good luck James!!
We went to BBDH two weeks ago. We had a lot of fun and we are glad to see how much is growing year after year. We love to see big events like this in Colorado. We took some pictures and made a video. Check it out!!
Check out more images of BBDH 2012 on our Seismic Skate Facebook page! If you participated and you can’t find a picture of yourself, write us a message because we might have a picture of you!
Check out this gnarlylicious video of Buffalo Bill Downhill 2012!
Seismic Flow Rider Lamin Cassama laminates the narrow woodland streets of Sweden with his Red 69mm 80a Hot Spots and Blue 70mm 84a Bootlegs. With the combination of Elixir™ freeride urethane, Tekton bearings, and style for miles, the “Laminator” offers a new level of steeze to the sport. Enjoy the free-ride!
Seismic Skate Systems is proud to present its 2012 Team!
Matt Rosborg (USA) rowing, sliding, and spinning on blue Bootlegs
Josh Mallin (USA) bustin’ flips on red Bootlegs
Javier Tato (Spain) speeding and sliding on 73mm Speed Vents
Shaquille James (USA) bombing hills on 76mm Hot Spots (Elixir freeride formula)
Dre Nubine (USA) 360-sliding on blue Bootlegs
Lamin Cassama (Sweden) wheelie on red Bootlegs and stair jump on 76mm Hot Spots
Brian Lugbill (USA) long heelside standie on yellow Landslides
Check out Seismic flow riders meltin’ pavement all over Madrid. AND TURN YOUR EARS to the sound of “In the Whale”. The band started underground in Greeley, Colorado then moved to Denver shortly after to be a part of the growing music scene.
A little bit about the band:
“…Our music tends to explore the sleazier side of life… the creepy guy in the bar eyeballing the pretty girl, the televangelist who tells you he can save you from the lake of fire, that one uncle you have with the gun collection. We hope to convey a sort of mixture of passion, aggression, and fun with our live show, and we like to think we do a damn good job at it, thank you very much…” – In the Whale
Check out Team Rider Javier Tato sliding down the streets of Madrid on the 75mm Landslide wheels from Seismic. The Landslides are poured on the Elixir urethane from Seismic. The first urethane designed for modern day freeriding.
Seismic Skate is proud to sponsor Skateventure South America:
This is a 2500-kilometer human-powered, carboNZero™-certified journey, starting near Machu Picchu (Peru) and finishing in the spectacular Patagonia region of Chile.
On December 11, 2011, native Kiwis Troy, Alan, and Guy began their longboarding journey, which they hope will inspire others to experience life and travel on an environmentally-sustainable basis.
Check this out! Great gear review written in Australia on our 75mm Landslide Wheels:
“The responsiveness and consistent slide blew me away, I don’t know if I’ve been out of the freeride loop or just been riding race wheels for too long, but I was so impressed with the freeride ability of these wheels straight off the shelf.
The Landslide is a very similar sized wheel to the purple Durian, that I’ve always been a fan of but these have just a little wider contact patch. Hands down the wheels did seem to drift a little too much but I’m sure its just my technique. After a solid session behind the Hopshop, I started hitting the toe sides hard, feeling free to get it sideways knowing that it was always going to come back with no trouble. The result was my first pendy style standup toeside! Stoked on a new slide in the bag, I got Maga to start taking photos and the ripping continued. After I threw on some Durians for a straight up comparison, the result was shocking, the Durians needed more time to work in and definitely harder to… (Read more… Seismic Landslide Freeride Wheel Review)”
Check out Marc Juvinall’s record setting setup for the Morro Bay Mile Skateboard Push Race! Marc bettered the previous skateboarding mile world record of 4:03 by 17 seconds, finishing with a time of 3:46.9. Here’s what he told us: “Love the Black Ops urethane, soo awesome… and the cores on the hotspots are awesome… it feels like you’re barely pushing a 65mm, but they roll farther and faster than a normal 75mm… and when you come out of a turn the thane just lifts you up and puts you back on you board :)”
Check out this Rad video from Team riders Stephan Reinhardt, Mark Riley, Nick Delgado, and Nate Ryan hit the streets of Boulder, Colorado on their longboards to test the prototype Seismic 75mm double-radius wheels in the new Seismic freeride formula. Stephan even got a chance to ride a prototype Seismic 36-inch double kick!
These wheels allow you to do really smooth and consistent slides. They are really controllable and they will easily allow you to pull out standies. They also leave thick thane lines.
These wheels are poured in Seismic’s Elixir Urethane. A formula designed specifically for modern freeride. Coming out soon, stay tunned!!!
The bearing behind the Official IGSA Downhill Speed World Record!
Boulder, CO – After more than two years in development, Seismic is proud to unveil the patent-pending Tekton™ bearing – the bearing behind the Official IGSA Downhill Speed World Record. (Click here to witness the awesome feat on YouTube.)
Said 2009 World Cup Champion Mischo Erban, who set the new record of 80.83mph last fall, “Tekton bearings roll fast, hold alignment better and stay cleaner, longer. It’s that simple!”
“The difference is the wide flange at the ends of the integrated half-spacers,” said Seismic founder/owner Dan Gesmer. “The big, flat contact surfaces square up, co-align and self-stabilize inside your wheels.”
“Once coupled, the Tektons literally block themselves from sitting or rocking out of alignment, so they stay straighter than any other bearing system ever,” Gesmer added. “Your wheels roll faster with better control, while the bearings last longer and stay quieter!”
According to Neil Sload of Focus Supply, one of the world’s leading suppliers of bearings to top pro skateboard brands, “The Seismic Tekton is by far the most technical skateboard bearing I’ve ever seen produced.”
“It wasn’t easy to find a bearing factory capable of manufacturing this design,” Gesmer continued. “The integral flanged half-spacers need to be custom-machined, not just cut from a stock steel tube.”
Tektons should not be confused with bearings that have their inner races stretched on one side to form a simple half-spacer. Sometimes called “industrial” bearings, these have been used in pre-assembled skateboards since the 1970s, and more recently for racing, but they’re still vulnerable to misalignment.
The diameter of the Tektons’ flanged contact surfaces is up to 35% larger compared to bearings coupled with floating spacers, and up to 23% larger compared to bearings with stretched inner races. This translates to exponentially better correction for flaws in bearing seat levelness, bearing seat spacing, axle diameter and axle straightness.
“I have total confidence in their ability to push extreme speeds – 80mph and beyond!” said Erban.
Tekton bearings, rated at ABEC-7, are precisely dimensioned to provide superior alignment safeguards in all modern high-performance skateboard wheels. Features include steel balls, nylon retainers, black outer casing, removable rubber-coated steel seals with printed graphic, and a proprietary lubricant combining both oil and grease.
The inner race is stepped underneath the seal to resist contamination, and it’s stepped between the bearing and the flange to save weight. (A set of Tektons weighs the same as a set of conventional bearings with simple floating spacers.) On the side opposite the flange, the inner race extends 0.5mm to form a thin integrated washer.
Like all Seismic wheels, trucks, and decks, Tekton bearings are available from finer skate stores and online at www.seismicskate.com. No bearing spacers, axle washers, or World Record budgets required.
For further information, contact info@seismicskate.com. Stay tuned this year for more startling innovations in trucks, boards and wheels from Seismic!
Special thanks to Mr. Stephan Reinhardt for creating one heck of a video last fall of Mischo Erban breaking his own World Speed Record, rolling Seismic 85mm Speed Vents (purple 79A) and prototypes of the newly-released Seismic Tekton™ bearings!
The last day of September, on a secret, two-lane county road in northern Colorado, downhill skateboarder Mischo Erban was clocked bombing a hill at 80.83 mph, the highest recorded speed on a skateboard in history.
The news and corresponding YouTube video spread like poison ivy among the downhill community but made little impact beyond — a fitting response for a sport that, in cases like this, can best be compared to drag racing.
Erban, 27, the reigning World Cup downhill champion, was aided by three visual spotters who used hand signals (not radios) to warn of a car driving uphill and thus alert Erban to stay in his lane on the twisting mountain course, which started at 8,000 feet and dropped 670 feet in a mile. Its average grade, 12.7 percent, was steeper than most Tour de France climbs.
“The stars really did align with how this road was built,” allowed Erban, though he wouldn’t disclose its specific location. “It’s like a marble countertop; perfect for what we do.”
Erban hit 80.83 mph on his 19th of 20 runs, clocked by a Tag Heuer timing system known as a “speed trap” that he borrowed from the president of the International Gravity Sports Association. The system measured Erban’s time between two photo cells 100 feet apart, then converted that to a speed more precise than those recorded by GPS units or radar guns.
The world governing body had a representative in attendance, Gary Fluitt, and recognized Erban’s speed as a new world record. Whether Guinness will is still in question.
Initially, Erban — who flew from his home in Vernon, British Columbia, to bomb the hill — took some heat from local downhillers who were angry he didn’t alert them of his runs in advance. So he declined to pursue the Guinness distinction. He also wasn’t sure what he needed to do to get it.
But according to Guinness spokeswoman Sara Wilcox, Erban’s timing system and witnesses meet the standards required for a world record. When notified of this Tuesday, Erban said he’d submit a claim to Guinness after all. The current record is held by Brazilian Douglas da Silva, who was clocked more than 10 mph slower (70.21 mph) in October 2007.
Erban already makes an unlikely world record holder. Born in Prague, he lived there until he was 2, when his parents fled “the strict control of communism,” he said. “There wasn’t much freedom.” They settled in British Columbia and Erban now lives halfway up the twisting road to Silver Star Mountain Resort.
He won his first downhill race in 2005, two years after he picked up the sport. Now, at 6-foot-2 and 190 pounds, he competes on a World Cup circuit that stops in 10 countries. “People fear him on a race course,” IGSA president Marcus Rietema said.
Even among top racers, downhill skateboarding still operates largely underground. Take the secret site in Colorado: A few years back, some locals bombed it and posted on the Internet speeds in the mid-to-upper 70s (mph), much faster than the official world record. As Erban tells it, one of those locals soon asked some pros if they’d like to come run the hill, and its reputation grew.
Erban got his first shot last year (or the year before; he can’t recall), recording a speed of 74.5 mph but narrowly avoiding a head-on collision with a police car that pulled out of a vacant parking lot. The cop turned into the uphill lane as Erban blew by in the downhill lane, causing the incensed officer to U-turn and chase Erban to his stopping point.
“He said if he caught us idiots again he’d charge us with reckless endangerment,” recalled Erban, who once splatted onto the pavement at 57 mph.
Undeterred, Erban returned in September to do some test runs with his sponsor, Boulder, Colo.-based Seismic Wheels, in front of eight people. After whizzing through the speed trap on his 40 ½-inch, self-designed GMR board, he’d stand up from his tuck and hold out his arms for four-tenths of a mile on flat asphalt, eventually stepping off at a near stop.
The day wasn’t without a close call, however. Not long after Erban set the record, a cop showed up. “He’d gotten the call about us earlier in the day but he was busy with something else,” Erban said. “We got lucky.”
Asked what it feels like to go that fast on a skateboard, Erban replied: “It’s surreal. I know I’m in control the whole way, so you have, like, this calm; and you also have this raw power pushing you down the hill at 80 mph. But it’s so smooth that you could be thinking about what you’re going to have for lunch.”