Pakalolo "Surf" Longboard

My brother got this board second-hand and has borrowed it to me in order to check it out. It's fitted with 160 mm G-Trucks (Seismics of german production) with red springs.There's a long story to these trucks, for which, if you're interested, please refer to the following link: http://wwwiti.cs.unimagdeburg.de/~sdassow/own_homepage/g-truck.html

They're not to be confused with the currently available rubber-bushing-based G-Truck system; and I don't know whether the spring loaded ones are still available. To make this a little less confusing I'll call them Seismics later, as it's the same technology & the current name of that truck. The trucks have Pakalolo Stock Duster 76 mm wheels with a 78 A durometer mounted with Abec 5 bearings.

Specifications

Specs of the board: it measures 120 cm x 29 cm x 1.4 cm, is considerably concaved and offers just the right amount of flex (for me weighing approx. 80 kg). I should think that riders up to 100 kg wouldn't find the Pakalolo Surf too flexy. Its nose and tail are bowed upwards and the trucks mount to both these ends. This makes the board kind of a "lowrider" and makes for a wheelbase of 107 cm (measured from the inner mounting holes). As you can see from the shape of the deck wheelbite is not an issue with this board.

On their homepage (http://www.pakalolo.de/Longboard/Longboard.html) the Pakalolo guys call the board a "surfcarver" and this coining is absolutely what it is about.

On the flat road it's easy to push due to the lowered deck and with the Seismic trucks on it, it's really cool to pump along for quite a while. The Seismics also offer magnificent steering capacities, so that in this setup this is really quite a manoeuvrable board. They respond quite sensitively, which makes your carves real smooth & easy. I only found them too sensitive in my favorite parking garage, when coming from the ramp to the flat at a certain angle. At that point the board got an unstable feel to it, but most probably harder springs can help that easily; and I must say that after the wobble I was always happy to be able to turn so tight. It always took me about a carve or two to get used back to my bushings right after getting off the Pakalolo deck.

The only disturbing thing on that board is the rattling of the trucks, which apparently cannot be helped. I've also tried but coudn't find a way. (See the forum on this subject on this site).
It's just the question of accoustic esthetics, if you have the feeling of riding a Mercedes but rattle like a Trabant.

Anyways for the cruising, which I prefer, this is a super board. Take it down mellow hills, your feet well locked in the concave deck and just go for long, long carves.

At the moment the Pakalolo Surf is only offered as a complete on their homepage. Unfortunately I am not able to tell you what trucks they mount to it and with their hard to find e-mail link not working (which actually sounds more like the web-designer's e-mail, but if you guys at Pakalolo's read this, please leave us a note how to get in touch with you), I couldn't find out. Still even for a European board it tends to be in an upper price category.

But it's really solid work, and a beauty, if it's to your taste. And foremost the ride is worthwhile.

-Dominik Schunk, Writer/Reviewer, LongboardDirectory

Check out these related websites for more information on the Pakalolo Surf Longboard:

www.pakalolo.de

 

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