Join the ISSA 25 cone series. One cyber race every second month!

Regular sessions allow newbies to join our community and discover slalom racing.

Howard Gordon

I believe that speed control is the single most important technique an aspiring racer can develop. I watched a lot of skaters remove spacers from their bearings this past season for the more difficult FCR courses, and felt that this was wrong - the ability to dynamically slow the board is critical t...

Howard Gordon

I hope in the future Vince will be able to build more boards. In the mean time, the plan is to build that style of deck using snowboard production techniques, where we'll be able to create a stronger lamination. My goal is to have something ready in time for the new season.

Howard Gordon

Wes - that particular board was retired before it saw any further racing - there was an issue with lamination of the top layer of glass, and we decided not to stress it. I was glad to see it do so well at WLAC, and look forward to building more of that style of board, though with a somewhat differen...

Howard Gordon

Yes, I've noticed this with Avalon wheels in combination with some bearings (Ousts in particular). It may be due to the wide outer lip profile of the Avalon producing a higher side load on the bearings - some bearings produce a sound as a result, probably from flexing or realignment of the ball bear...

Howard Gordon

Our website is wrong (thanks for noting this) - the correct spacing is 0.400", not 10mm (which is 0.394"). If you contact any of the manufacturers of spacers and order 10mm, you'll receive 0.400". We get spacers from Sure-grip, I haven't noted variation of more than 0.002", though that's from a limi...

Howard Gordon

Second day with 100 cones went a lot better - we moved the course to take out some of the slope, and we got started a bit earlier so tailwind was less of a factor. No serious threats to the existing men's and women's records, but at least we completed some runs and recorded some times - Jack's best ...

Howard Gordon

Thought I'd pass along some initial observations from a 100 cone test run we set up today (we'll run the real deal tomorrow): 1. there seems to be no advantage to running on a sloped surface, except perhaps at the beginning where you want to get up to full speed - once there, you don't want or need ...

Howard Gordon

See page 16 of the latest issue of Girl's Life Magazine (circulation 800,000) - for a short feature on Girl's 2002 FCR Series slalom champ Lauren Gordon. Note her nice reference to how slalom skateboarding is a lot like surfing and snowboarding. <img src="http://www.turnerdownhill.com/images/girl...

Howard Gordon

See page 16 of the latest issue of Girl's Life Magazine (circulation 800,000) - for a short feature on Girl's 2002 FCR Series slalom champ Lauren Gordon. Note her nice reference to how slalom skateboarding is a lot like surfing and snowboarding. <img src="http://www.turnerdownhill.com/images/girl...

Howard Gordon

Wes - With the emergence of banked slalom, longboard slalom, and bigger giant slalom courses, we have a clear concept of what we need to build, and are already working on new designs for next season. Expect to see us continue along the path of construction techniques used in the hybrid boards, and l...

Howard Gordon

Dong ran 17.319 in his first run and you ran 17.589 in your second run. Those were respectively the fastest runs in the round of 16. The fastest runs for the pros in the round of 16 were Gilmour with 16.657 and Dunn with 16.720. Overall fastest runs of the day were 17.190 for Michael Dong in the ope...

Howard Gordon

Dan can fill in the details, but there was a fair gap between pro and open times on Sunday. The fastest pros were running in the range of 16.5 - 17.0 secs, while the fastest open racers were in the range of 17.3 - 17.8 secs. In the final round, PD and Chicken ran 16.6, while Paul Price ran 17.6. It'...

Howard Gordon

Yes - some used the "trimmed" versions of Avalons that we provide, which have approx 2.5mm removed from the outer lip. But a number of racers took more material off, both from the inner as well as outer lip, probably in the range of 4mm-8mm total. Basically, there's a tradeoff between traction and s...

Howard Gordon

2002 FCR World Slalom Championships Giant Slalom Race - October 12 in Avila Beach, California Official Results PRO DIVISION 1 Charlie Ransom 2 Gary Cross 3 Barrett Deck 4 Paul Dunn 5 John Hutson 5 Mike Maysey 5 Richie Carrasco 5 Steve Olson 9 Chris Chaput 9 Don Fisher 9 Gary Fluitt 9 Bill Wahl 9 Gar...

Howard Gordon

This is secret team stuff, but I meant to say that I poured them specifically for my kids, Dylan and Lauren, who race on the FCR tour. However, I ran them on some of the steeper courses, Terry Benko used them regularly, and Paul Dunn used at least 1 or 2 of them in his wins at Catalina and possibly ...

Howard Gordon

We did pour a small batch of 75a Avalons for the kids to use, and some of the team riders secretly used them at a few races. However, I think the 78a Cambrias have worked better in terms of traction. We're experimenting with some new urethane formulas for the Avalons, so hopefully I can report some ...

Howard Gordon

Adam - I've certainly been thinking about this, and while it is sad to see something end, I actually wish we had made the change a lot sooner, putting less effort into building the old boards, and more effort into creating new designs. Most of Bob's efforts in his final months went into development ...

Howard Gordon

We've been drilling the cutaways here a bit tighter - approx 18" or slightly less, with the rear truck holes only 1" or so from the back. Paul Dunn originally specified this setup, and it seems to work pretty well. The setback front truck takes out a lot of camber and makes the board less twitchy, a...

Howard Gordon

Vlad - We ran some harder Avalons early on, and they didn't have any traction - the urethane was so hard that the unsupported lips didn't deform through turns. Maybe at some point we'll try pouring a somewhat harder Cambria, but for most courses, the softer (82a or 86a) Cambrias seem to be faster th...

Howard Gordon

While we will continue production of sandwich construction decks (gs/hybrid and gs/hybrid xl), wheels, trucks, etc at other facilities, we are closing the shop in San Diego where we built classic fullnose and cutaway decks. Perhaps there will be a point in the future where we will restart that opera...

Howard Gordon

Travel north on Hwy 1 just past the Cambria village, turn right on Weymouth, and turn left at Bristol, which is the first street. Follow Bristol approx 2 blocks and you're there.

Howard Gordon

I think there are plenty of places left for racers to sign up - most of the current entries are from racers who are already seeded in the top 32 pro or open class slots, so there are probably still at least 20 available slots divided between pro and open classes. However, it would be a good idea for...

Howard Gordon

Leonardo - I set the board up with 2 TTC's because I didn't have any other wide trucks available. A wider Seismic or Tracker would have been fine, though the TTC works as a front truck - it's just a bit slower turning because of the geometry. In terms of drop-through, there just isn't enough wheel c...

Howard Gordon

George - I really like the Cambria's as well. Traction's been an issue at every FCR race, starting with Donner last year, and I feel a lot better when attached to the road. I don't think the racers have realized it yet, but on the steeper hills where traction is an issue, I believe the Cambri...

Howard Gordon

1. Yes, there's approx 0.75" of camber, and it may be a bit less once we get into production. A couple of the teams guys are thinking about running the board flipped (rockered) for downhill. 2. Glass/foam plus carbon and some trick unidirectional glass. 3. Hadn't thought about drilling patterns yet ...

Howard Gordon

Here are a couple of shots of a prototype downhill board we're looking to take into production. http://www.slalomskateboarder.com/Boards/TurnerDownhill/longboard-top400.jpg http://www.slalomskateboarder.com/Boards/TurnerDownhill/longboard-bottom400.jpg Specs: length: 44.0" width: 10.25" wheelbase (i...

Howard Gordon

The point standings referenced by Gary will only change with the inclusion of single day race points from the banked slalom in New Mexico in 10 days. As such, they're reasonably representative of the standings you'll see at the start of the championship. [ This Message was edited by: H...

Howard Gordon

Thanks Adam. The wheels benefit from a good urethane, though it's essentially the same urethane we used in the La Costa wheels. Two other factors probably make a more significant difference - 1. the change from a large hub with a relatively thin urethane layer to a small hub with lots of urethane, w...

Howard Gordon

Bob -

Which color Sure-grip cushion did you use ? Give or take, the blacks are 86a, the yellows are 89a, and the blues are 93a. They seem to hold up well - I must have 100+ miles of bike path pumping on one of the blues in a TTC, and it doesn't seem to have softened a lot.

Howard Gordon

I've seen a number of older wide blackbirds, and the new gs/hybrid xl is 9.25", which for me is very comfortable, but I haven't actually seen any extra wide cutaways or fullnoses in the rolled rail construction, or for that matter, templates for such. It's quite possible that Bob built some as custo...

Howard Gordon

Here are a couple of shots: http://www.slalomskateboarder.com/Boards/TurnerDownhill/pd-quiver600.jpg We took this photo of Paul Dunn's quiver at the beginning of the FCR race season. On the left is a 70's vintage unfinished white needlenose with Gullwing split-axles that won at Cambria, followed by ...

Howard Gordon

http://www.slalomskateboarder.com/Boards/TurnerDownhill/turner_logo150.jpg Here are some typical setups for Turner boards. Note that these are my personal boards, though my kids' (Lauren and Dylan) boards are set up almost identically, as are a number of other Turner team rider boards. If any other...

Howard Gordon

I'm all in favor of the start ramps. I got my first ramp experience at Donner, and even after 2 falls in practice rounds from overpumping the transition, I really liked the fact that my feet were set when starting to skate, especially on a steep tricky course. The kids have been very comfortable wit...

Howard Gordon

Jani - FCR just started the signup for Morro Bay - <a href="http://www.ncdsa.com/contest_registrati ... =66">click here</a> for the signup page.

Howard Gordon

Adam - Finding suitable wedges (along with truck cushions) has been a continuous source of frustration. I finally concluded that the best solution was to cut the standard 1/8" urethane risers in thirds (throwing out the middle section), and creating a virtual wedge with the pieces. Each slice adds a...

Howard Gordon

I've had pretty good luck with the Sure-Grip roller skate cushions for the bottoms, and the most recent version of Tracker white conicals seem to work well for the tops. It's actually Mike Maysey who got me started with the Sure-Grip cushions, and Paul Dunn may be running them as well. Send me an em...

Howard Gordon

Tracker has a new conical top cushion that seems to work pretty well. The bottom hourglass-shaped cushion they supply with their trucks seems to be too soft and dead, and we've generally been replacing them with urethane cushions designed for quad skates from Sure-Grip which are in current productio...

Howard Gordon

Bob - In regard to wedging the TTC, I tried to find a production wedge in the 3-5 degree range without success, so I ended up wedging the TTC 3-4 degrees by cutting an 1/8" riser pad in half and stacking it on the pivot cup side of the baseplate. Lengthening the pivot bolt helped take out some of th...

Join the ISSA 25 cone series. One cyber race every second month!

Regular sessions allow newbies to join our community and discover slalom racing.

Search found 138 matches

44" Turner Downhill Deck

typical Turner board setups