Speaking as a grom here! I would definitely say that board cost is a factor in there not being as many downhill skaters out there as I was only able to start doing downhill because of the earthwing hoopty. Before, I had a landyachtz complete that just wasn't cutting it. Probably would have lost interest in the sport if I wasn't able to upgrade to a more downhill-oriented deck. That being said, I think that downhill is definitely at a lower population right now which is why deck manufacturers are focussing on producing higher quality decks to those who are still active with the sport rather than trying to make decks to a more general consumer population. In this way, I feel that the shortage of cheaper options for decks is kind of a self-fulfilling prophecy. Lower downhill population drives more niche and expensive decks which raises the barrier of entry for beginners.
Honestly there was nothing wrong with the 9ply. dampening is great, durability is great and the weight makes it feel a bit less twitchy at speed. But there is nothing wrong with high tech constructions either, they can just be a little bit extra responsive and twitchy which is fun on some terrain. The current generation of active dh skaters contains more jocks than ever before, and i think that tells in the setups. And if you put your 120$ freshies on your 1400$ precision race trucks while sporting your 500$ aerolid with your personal racing colours, it doesn't seem to matter if the deck is 100$ or 350$. Much rather should it look like it came off a f1 car.
I’m big, ride predominantly on hills, but still beat up my downhill boards from other disciplines often. For those reasons, I prefer stupidly overbuilt composites and even more maple plies vs what the standard composite decks come with.
If wood can’t make the bends and fiber glass can, specifically speaking concave then sure it can be worth it. Not sure if spending an extra $50 on a special wood or core is worth while for anything besides feel but that could be a game changer for some. I think a decent 9 ply maple board with a fun groovy shape can be used by almost everyone: if the comet ethos 40 from back in the day, a modern day race setup, and a longer downhill deck, and a sick longer double kick were the only boards available then people would be riding them, because they do the job well. Maybe people have to many options, which is confusing the market on what is actually worth the effort and money to make.
A few things to consider: 1) Lots of decks in 2016 cost 200+ 2) a board like the hoopty was 80 dollars in 2016 as well 3) Muirskate is no longer a good representation of the market 4) exotic materials and builds arent new, theyre just more popular now 5) riders still get paid for pro model sales. 6) boards get warped, delammed, and waterlogged all the time. Durability makes a big impact for the average rider, and reliability is king for the rider on the go.
I wouldn't necessarily agree that Muir isnt a good representation of the market, their essentially merged with motion which are really the 2 most popular shops in the US that carry predominantly DH gear. I also wouldn't necessarily agree regarding durability, every deck i've ever owned has never had an issue as long as you take decent care of it and don't straight up abuse it. Thats dif for every skater depending on how they skate, but for me its never been an issue and I agree with him, that its generally about the last thing I consider when buying a board. Some good points though fs!
Yeah I’m not sure I follow on a lot of these. Weren’t a lot of major brands outside of rayne that made boards at 200+. Earthwing has always been cheap but 85 considering inflation is exceptionally low. Not sure how Muir doesn’t represent the market. Never said niche high end builds weren’t around. Just that average costs are up due to materials used. I have only seen someone snap a board twice in ten years of skating as 9 ply is very durable
@@hopscotch6596 In 2016? Loaded Rayne Restless Aerotica moonshine hydroflex just off the top of my head for companies making boards above 200 in 2016. Muir doesnt represent the market because people dont buy product from them as much as they used to, and they carry a much more limited stock than they did in 2016, partially because they almost went under a couple years back due to sales dropping off. Boards dont have to snap to be broken. Thats a whatchamacallit. Strawman. Earthwing boards have always been cheaper than other brands for what you get, and they still are. Im not sure what youre getting at here. Yes, we know Earthwing is based.
dude i wrote you out a long response and then accidentally pressed the "up" key and the whole thing got deleted. long story short, here in the northeast wooden boards warp. its not if; its when. composites, even just a bit of glass, go a long way toward stopping that. I also skate in the wet, as do many people. Regarding delams, ive never had a horrible one, but i have fixed a bunch for other people.(probably didnt happen to me because I rode an aluminum board for so long) Muirskate's selection is extremely non-representative of what i actually see people riding at events and sessions. a lot of people just buy directly from the manufacturer now, or from brands who dont distribute through muir. No hate intended here: I love muir and scott is duke of new york, A number 1.
The only thing I know: There are two people's, the one who skate there 9ply for 7+ years and the one who skates there Carbon, Urethane edge's, Fiberglass boards for 5 Months and then switch it or already having 3 Setup's
So Im a freestyle skateboarder and do freeride/downhill for fun. Skateboarding as a whole is getting older since most scooter kids today would have been skateboarders a decade ago. So the overall people introduced to skating is lower. A big point skaters dont like to admit is that mainstream media coverage is important. Its going up recently but its nowhere near as it was. Cost increase is a problem for every industry since people cant afford to spend money on fun stuff rather than necessaties. The most important thing to reach new people are channels such as yours and easy approachable events and training programs.
I love abusing my setups and riding them for everything so I go for it. For me really the feel is everything for our sport so I think it's worth it to buy skate gear that has the best feel for me (usually carbon etc). Although marginally more expensive to buy high end boards in the end buying a 300$ board to me always apts it's self off in fun when I personally don't think skating is the most expensive sport. I know that is different for all people though
Speaking as a grom here! I would definitely say that board cost is a factor in there not being as many downhill skaters out there as I was only able to start doing downhill because of the earthwing hoopty. Before, I had a landyachtz complete that just wasn't cutting it. Probably would have lost interest in the sport if I wasn't able to upgrade to a more downhill-oriented deck. That being said, I think that downhill is definitely at a lower population right now which is why deck manufacturers are focussing on producing higher quality decks to those who are still active with the sport rather than trying to make decks to a more general consumer population. In this way, I feel that the shortage of cheaper options for decks is kind of a self-fulfilling prophecy. Lower downhill population drives more niche and expensive decks which raises the barrier of entry for beginners.
Honestly there was nothing wrong with the 9ply. dampening is great, durability is great and the weight makes it feel a bit less twitchy at speed.
But there is nothing wrong with high tech constructions either, they can just be a little bit extra responsive and twitchy which is fun on some terrain.
The current generation of active dh skaters contains more jocks than ever before, and i think that tells in the setups. And if you put your 120$ freshies on your 1400$ precision race trucks while sporting your 500$ aerolid with your personal racing colours, it doesn't seem to matter if the deck is 100$ or 350$. Much rather should it look like it came off a f1 car.
I’m big, ride predominantly on hills, but still beat up my downhill boards from other disciplines often. For those reasons, I prefer stupidly overbuilt composites and even more maple plies vs what the standard composite decks come with.
So you want the 10 ply maple I gotchu
If wood can’t make the bends and fiber glass can, specifically speaking concave then sure it can be worth it. Not sure if spending an extra $50 on a special wood or core is worth while for anything besides feel but that could be a game changer for some. I think a decent 9 ply maple board with a fun groovy shape can be used by almost everyone: if the comet ethos 40 from back in the day, a modern day race setup, and a longer downhill deck, and a sick longer double kick were the only boards available then people would be riding them, because they do the job well. Maybe people have to many options, which is confusing the market on what is actually worth the effort and money to make.
A few things to consider:
1) Lots of decks in 2016 cost 200+
2) a board like the hoopty was 80 dollars in 2016 as well
3) Muirskate is no longer a good representation of the market
4) exotic materials and builds arent new, theyre just more popular now
5) riders still get paid for pro model sales.
6) boards get warped, delammed, and waterlogged all the time. Durability makes a big impact for the average rider, and reliability is king for the rider on the go.
I wouldn't necessarily agree that Muir isnt a good representation of the market, their essentially merged with motion which are really the 2 most popular shops in the US that carry predominantly DH gear.
I also wouldn't necessarily agree regarding durability, every deck i've ever owned has never had an issue as long as you take decent care of it and don't straight up abuse it. Thats dif for every skater depending on how they skate, but for me its never been an issue and I agree with him, that its generally about the last thing I consider when buying a board.
Some good points though fs!
Yeah I’m not sure I follow on a lot of these. Weren’t a lot of major brands outside of rayne that made boards at 200+. Earthwing has always been cheap but 85 considering inflation is exceptionally low. Not sure how Muir doesn’t represent the market. Never said niche high end builds weren’t around. Just that average costs are up due to materials used. I have only seen someone snap a board twice in ten years of skating as 9 ply is very durable
@@hopscotch6596 In 2016?
Loaded
Rayne
Restless
Aerotica
moonshine
hydroflex
just off the top of my head for companies making boards above 200 in 2016.
Muir doesnt represent the market because people dont buy product from them as much as they used to, and they carry a much more limited stock than they did in 2016, partially because they almost went under a couple years back due to sales dropping off.
Boards dont have to snap to be broken. Thats a whatchamacallit. Strawman.
Earthwing boards have always been cheaper than other brands for what you get, and they still are. Im not sure what youre getting at here. Yes, we know Earthwing is based.
dude i wrote you out a long response and then accidentally pressed the "up" key and the whole thing got deleted.
long story short, here in the northeast wooden boards warp. its not if; its when. composites, even just a bit of glass, go a long way toward stopping that. I also skate in the wet, as do many people. Regarding delams, ive never had a horrible one, but i have fixed a bunch for other people.(probably didnt happen to me because I rode an aluminum board for so long)
Muirskate's selection is extremely non-representative of what i actually see people riding at events and sessions. a lot of people just buy directly from the manufacturer now, or from brands who dont distribute through muir. No hate intended here: I love muir and scott is duke of new york, A number 1.
The only thing I know:
There are two people's, the one who skate there 9ply for 7+ years and the one who skates there Carbon, Urethane edge's, Fiberglass boards for 5 Months and then switch it or already having 3 Setup's
You don't know me! 😭
that's the damn truth lol
So Im a freestyle skateboarder and do freeride/downhill for fun. Skateboarding as a whole is getting older since most scooter kids today would have been skateboarders a decade ago. So the overall people introduced to skating is lower. A big point skaters dont like to admit is that mainstream media coverage is important. Its going up recently but its nowhere near as it was. Cost increase is a problem for every industry since people cant afford to spend money on fun stuff rather than necessaties. The most important thing to reach new people are channels such as yours and easy approachable events and training programs.
I love abusing my setups and riding them for everything so I go for it. For me really the feel is everything for our sport so I think it's worth it to buy skate gear that has the best feel for me (usually carbon etc). Although marginally more expensive to buy high end boards in the end buying a 300$ board to me always apts it's self off in fun when I personally don't think skating is the most expensive sport. I know that is different for all people though
Pays its self off*
screw #supermustachepower