Summer is coming, It's time to smile

So just sitting down at my computer searching the far reaches of the interweb when I came across Xavier Rudd's new music video.  Im not one to usually show other people's link or videos, but this one certainly made my morning.  Enjoy the video.

"Best Custom Longboard"!!!

Balance Longboards receives top honors in Salt Lake City Weekly magazine!  This weeks issue features the "Best of Utah 2010" and Balance received the award for "Best Custom Longboard".  We are super stoked to get the honor, because we know of all the other longboard companies throughout Salt Lake and the state.  Check out the article at City Weekly's website.  Lovin life!

A quick conversation

A quick conversation for your reading pleasure.

Tom Henderson: When u dance u just dance to dance. To move with the music. to move with the rhythm. U don't dance to finish, if you did u could just stand still. Dance through your entire life, because life has its own rhythm.

Jacqui: Ha ha! Now u know from where I come..

Tom Henderson: Hehe. I hope that made sense to u

Tom Henderson: I'm feeling pretty deep right now. I hope I don't drown

Jacqui: Hope it made sense to u. Cuz I already knew

Tom Henderson: Wowza was I just trumped?

Jacqui: Ha! I think u know how to swim

Jacqui: B)

Tom Henderson: Yea I just have to flow with the water. Then I won't drown

Jacqui: Its fun to see what wave to pick.. Cuz u never know which way it'll go

Tom Henderson: I think as long as you don't fit it. It'll be the right wave.

Tom Henderson: I have no idea where my wave will take me. But I am loving the ride and I'm love where it has taken me so far. And I think that is a beautiful thing

Jacqui: I want the right wave, or at least the most fun one.

Tom Henderson: I think ur on the right one. Just make sure its ur wave and no one elses

Jacqui: Yup






Love YOUR Life

Tom
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DHII

DHII

Lengths - Anything you want

Width - As wide as you want it

After creating the Zoolander, I realized that we had a pretty unique downhill board.  I wanted to offer another board that could suit a different style of rider.  This is were the DHII was born.  The head of the board is quite similar to the Zoolander, but that is where the similarities end.  From there I created a bit more of a pintail shape, while still leaving enough room for the rear foot.  We kept the “Speed Egg” up front to let the rider know exactly where he was on the board as well as keeping him a little more locked into the board.  

The board offers seven degrees of concave, while keeping the top rails sharp to allow the rider to really feel the edge of the board.  I removed “The Ridgeline” from this board.  The rider uses the edges of the board to control the rear of the deck in cornering, predrifts, and slides. 

The standard size of the DHII is 43” length, 9.5” wide, 36.5” wheelbase and 7 degrees of concave.  Both the top and bottom of the board has Bamboo Fiberglass, with the option of Carbon-fiber for the top sheet.  All dimensions of the board are fully customizable to the riders specifications.  

Setup: Randal DH trucks, Retro Big Zig Limes 75mm wheels and Biltin Bearings.

Zoolander

Zoolander

Lengths - Anything you want

Width - As wide as you want it

Zoolander kicks off our downhill product line.  With over a year of design and testing going into this deck we are going to offer serious racers something they have never had before.  The whole concept of our downhill line is full customization.  Length, width, wheelbase, and concave are all completely customizable on this board, although both boards will have a base size.  If truely know what you want in your board, we can make it happen for you.

Zoolander is Balance team rider Mike “Vegas” Snyder’s signature board.  We gave Mike full creative rights to do what ever he wanted to his board.  First thing he asked for was a rather large foot platform that allows him to move around on to find his sweet spot for every turn.  

Next Mike asked for his “Speed Egg". It’s essentially a hump just behind the front truck. It allows you to know where you foot placement is on the board. As well as allowing you to be a bit more locked in with you front foot. And finally it allows you to let the board fall behind you while you are kicking. This increases your stride and hence increases your speed off of the start line.

"The Ridge line" was the next thing Mike asked for, which is essentially a V or a ridge coming off of your rear truck towards the center line of the board. This combined with a generously wide tail allows the rider to use The Ridge line to dictate exactly where the tail is while in a turn, predrifting, or in a slide. More control means a safer more predictable ride.

On the bottom we have essentially removed material. With this we have created rails down the bottom of the board, which come in pretty handy to grab onto while cornering. It also significantly reduces the weight of the board.

The standard size for the Zoolander is 46” long. 10” wide, wheelbase of 38.5”(Based on using Randal DH trucks, different truck setups would slightly change the wheelbase), and 10 degrees of concave.  All of this is customizable.

The top and bottom of the board is layered with Bamboo Fiberglass.  This adds strength to the deck, while also allowing us to reduce the weight of the board.  If you would like to reduce the weight even more we can have the top layer of the board with Carbon-fiber.  

Setup: Randal DH trucks, Retro Big Zig Limes 75mm wheels and Biltin Bearings.

Jacqui's in charge!!!

I guess it's time to come clean, Balance isn't my only job. I also work on a ship and sail on the seas. So as I am sailing upon the seven seas my girlfriend Jacqui will be taking care or orders! We have a huge stock of boards ready to go, so get your orders in!

Jacqui can be reached at Jacqui@BalnceLongboards.com or by calling our new Balance Longboards number 801 999 0SK8.
I can still be reached at 801 750 6054 and also through Tom@balancelongboards.com if you do need anything from me. Although Jacqui will be handling all of the sales.

Christmas is right around the corner and there is plenty of time to get your orders in for the holiday season. Every model is currently in stock and can be shipped out immediately.

Love your life

Tom
Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

Hardwood Speedboards!

Well it all started about eight months ago when I met Mike Snyder. He pretty much introduced me to the world of downhill longboarding. Before hand I knew very much about, all I knew is that speedwobbles scared the crap out of me. We decided to produce a downhill board together. He wanted something fast, while I wanted to offer something that wasn't out there yet.

Two weeks after we met, we had out first prototype. It was pretty good, but Mike wanted something with a bit more of a foot platform, especially for his rear foot. We continued making prototypes, tweaking the wheel base a bit, overall length, amount of concave, width and also some pretty cool top and bottom features and contours. Yea we tweaked and played with just about every aspect of the board.

Throughout this prototype process, I quickly realized how easy it was to make these minute changes in the board because I was using hardwoods and not a tradition press. Its pretty simple for me to add some length or width to the board, but if you were to do that with a traditional longboard you would need a press for every change in width, amount of concave, etc. I also realized how much of a difference these small changes had in how the board actually performed. Which gave me the idea of offering a fully customized downhill speedboard. While we will have a stock deck (Mike's preferred ride) we will also offer customization for a very reasonable price. All of the things we were tweaking in our prototypes the rider will now be able to tweak on his own board. Change the overall length, width, wheel base, amount of concave, where the concave actually starts as well as the top contours of the board. I'm not positive, but I don't think anyone else offers that much customization in their boards.

I guess now I can talk about these top and bottom contours on our downhill board. First off we have "The Speed Egg". Its a hump just behind the front truck. It allows you to know where you foot placement is on the board. As well as allowing you to be a bit more locked in with you front foot. And finally it allows you to let the board fall behind you while you are kicking. This increases your stride and hence increases your speed off of the start line.

Next we have "The Ridge line", which is essentially a V or a ridge coming off of your rear truck towards the center line of the board. This combined with a pretty wide tail allows the rider to use The Ridge line to dictate exactly where the tail is while in a turn, predrifting, or in a slide. More control means a safer more predictable ride.

On the bottom we have essentially removed material. With this we have created rails down the bottom of the board, which come in pretty handy to grab onto while cornering. It also significantly reduces the weight of the board.

Since we have taken away so much material I decided it was a pretty good idea to start introducing some composites into the board. Here again we have an option for the rider. While the bottom of the deck will certainly have layers of bamboo fiberglass, the trip of the deck can either be layered with the bamboo glass or a carbonfiber top sheet. Either option will make the board virtually bomb proof

So there you go, our fully customized hardwood downhill board. I am still doing research on pricing so I am not entirely too sure of the price. I do know the stock board is going to be within the same price range as other downhill decks out there. And the customization is not going to be a ridiculous add on, I'm going to keep it at a reasonable price so more people can enjoy their own custom ride. I am hoping to have this board fully released by the end of the winter so everyone can gear up for the upcoming season. As soon as I know more, I will let everyone else know as well.

Love life,

Tom

Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®