My 2025 Set-Ups

Over the last year or so, I've tinkered a lot with my set-ups. At this point in my 40-year skate "career" I've tried pretty much every dimension of deck, truck, and wheel that is out there. With all said and done, I have two main set-ups. Both are "all-purpose" completes, but one leans more towards agility, and the other towards stability. I decided to post about these now, at the very start of the year, so I can see how my set-ups evolve, if at all, over the next twelve months. Will I still be riding these two set-ups in Jan 2026? Most likely. Anyway, the two set-ups are:

DLX 8.25/14.38

Indy 144 Forged Hollows

Spitfire Classics 53mm/99a*

 

Black Label 8.75/14.5

Indy 159 Forged Hollows

Spitfire Conicals 53/99a* 

*Since I ride the same size wheel on both set-ups, I can swap wheel shapes out on these, as the mood/terrain sees fit. I also have a set on 53mm 93a Spitfire Classics than I can use when super-crusty spots mandate. I think you can get Spitfire Radials and Conical Fulls in 93a. It might be worth looking into those, as wider riding surfaces can help mitigate the "crust" of really crusty spots. That said, the Radial and the Conical Full are both pretty big/wide wheels, and I'm not really a fan of snow tires. We'll see.  

It also just occurred to me...it might be interesting to track how many decks, trucks, and sets of wheels I go through in a year...but I also may not want to see how much $$$ that adds up to!

 

 

First Session of 2025

Today was my first session of 2025. This year marks 40 years on a skateboard for me. Temps today were in the upper 20s, but there was no wind, which was great. I've had the flu for the last week, and before that was some snow, then rain. This is to say I've not really been on the board in over 2.5 weeks. I'm still feeling a bit under the weather, so I expected today's session to be really "meh" and rusty. it wasn't. It was actually a lot of fun. 

Many people hate winter skating. I really like it, esp. in the later afternoons as the Sun is going down. The grey, darkening skies, the bare tress, the stark landscape, dead leaves scutterting across the park, no one else around, the layer of clothes...I find these settings to be somewhat magical, and very, well, New England. 

I skated today from about 3:30pm til dusk (around 4:30ish), and enjoyed every moment of it.  The next two days look even colder, but I am going to Philly this weekend (non-skate related trip), and I've got a lot to do beforehand. So, I think today might be my last session until next week some time. It seems I never get to skate all that much every January, and this one is starting out no different.

Here is a screen grab from today. Nose stall f/s revert, one of my favorite tricks.

The Magic of a Mundane Moment

 This guy Jeff I follow on IG posted this pic the other day (more comments below photo).

So, I love pre-drop in photos, which you don't see many of.  Why do I love them? Well, this right here, the moment right before dropping-in, is one of my favorite moments in all of skateboarding…because you’re are at the cusp of potential and anticipation of a run that’s about to happen…you are literally about to step off a cliff into the abstract world/state-of-being of what-is-about-to-become. Right before you drop-in, the apex of potentiality consumes all of your being. It's a great thing to experience.

And we all do it with hope and excitement for some positive outcome, be in Mitchie Brusco going for the first 1260 on a mega ramp, a kid dropping-in to mini ramp for the first time, or someone just dropping-in for a fun, mellow cruise down a ditch. And if we bail during the run, we just get-up, and "step off the cliff" again, with the same hopeful sentiments.

The old cliche "The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step" finds root here, too.  Every run begins with that single step on to the board. That pre-drop-in moment is one of the most magical, and metaphorical, moments in skateboarding. As mentioned above, I love seeing photos of this moment, which are actually quite rare, because it’s something that is otherwise a mundane moment, one that really is not all that exciting or interesting to capture on film. Anyway, I really, really liked this photo of Jeff---and it motivated me to put a few thoughts (emotions, actually) into words. Thanks, Jeff!

Oh, by the way, this photo? It was taken at Jeff's 70th Birthday skate jam.