The one last dying ember of The Madness was 8.5/14.4wb Baker deck I mentioned a few posts ago. That has now come to pass.
Specs
Length: 32”
Width: 8.5” (8.38+)
Wb: 14.5”
Tail” 6.25”
Nose: 6.86
Shape
Tail, slightly full. Nose, slightly round. Not my ideal, but totally workable.
Kicks
Def flatter than the Black Label, but not quite a DLX “IV” (prolly like a DLX “III” stamp).
Performance
12/9/2022: First Ride. Melrose. Man, I was not feeling it today. No energy, so that prolly tainted everything. I didn’t hate this deck. Def better (e.g. flatter) kicks than the 8.5 Black Label. However, I also just wasn’t really stoked on it, either. I kept wanting my 8.25. It did feel a bit clunky, and sluggish, and…not fun (but that might have been my very low energy levels), but also didn’t seem to have any of the “big board” advantage the 8.75 has. For some reason the 149s were feeling SUPER lateral-slop today on everything (1/4 pipe to mini, to ledges). And I was not liking that, at all. I think the 159s/8.75 would lap-over so much to make things stable, and the 144s/8.25 would just “lock-in.” In any event, I was not feeling the lateral slop, at all, today. I left this session thinking, “8.25 and 8.75 are prolly all you really need.”
The Brand Identity. Yeah, I just can’t ride Baker decks. Logo is horrible. Name is drug reference (cheesy as fuck). The whole Piss Drunks things. Feel like a Zumiez dweeb being seen with this deck. I just can’t do it. Assuming it even got to a point where I like the deck, performance-wise, I’d have to lose the graphics in some manner. I can’t bring myself to be associated, in anyway, with Baker.
TO FLAMES!
Today I was standing on 8.25, 8.5, and 8.75 in room (decks and completes). As I’ve said before, the 8.5 was just feeling too “No Man’s Land” between the other two. Not agile like the 8.25”. Not stable/solid like the 8.75”. Go with what each is really good at, without a compromise, and that’s exactly what the 8.5/14.5 is—a compromise of the 8.25” and the 8.75”. It (e.g. the 8.5) has elements of what the other two excel at, but also loses what makes each of those great in their own regard. Plus, those Baker graphics…and that brand. I’m all set with this deck.
ZERO
I had mentioned that Zero also made an 8.5/14.5wb deck. I stood on one at a shop this week, and was like “WHOA!!!” when I did. The shape was a tad weird to me (roundish nose, and more squared-off tail). But what really gave me pause was the length of the tail…6.75”! That’s quite long for a popsicle (they are usually around 6.5). Of course, a longer tail also makes the kicks seem steeper, and I’m not a fan of steep tails…and the Zero deck certainly seemed to have steep kicks. While I am a tad interested to see how a longer tail would perform, I am 90% sure I wouldn’t like it, at all. If I ever see one of these on sale somewhere, I might pick one up on curiosity whim…
Madness, be gone!
So, with this…the current episode of The Madness is officially, and completely, over. In the end, I added one other complete (e.g. the 8.75) to my “quiver” (for a grand total of two completes). So, these are my two set-ups:
(1) 8.25/14.38wb | 144s | 53mm Spit Classics
(2) 8.75/14.62 | 159s | 54mm Spit Classics (or Conical Fulls if on much larger transition)
