Tag Archives: new skate set up

The Best of 2024

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Happy New Year, loyal friends and followers of Platinum Al’s Virtual Hot Tub! We’re now striding into 2025 with confidence and glee, but as is customary, our first post of the year is a round up of the previous year’s successes.

So here are the Top Ten most read posts from 2024 – the ones that grabbed your attention, and briefly lit up the internet with enthusiasm.

10. New Skateboard 2024 – Death Blinky 

The most read posts on this blog relate to skateboarding, you may be surprised to know. But they’re usually slow burners, attracting attention year after year, rather than big hitters. So it was nice to see this update about my latest skate set up make it into the Top 10 list. Nice photos may have helped.

9. Platinum Al’s Top 10 Rock & Metal Albums of 2023 

My pick of the best in Rock and Metal albums for 2023 was published by Ever Metal, and I then posted it on my blog, too. Nice to know that you guys must trust my judgement. The 2024 Top 10 will follow soon.

8. UK Subs – Gig Review

I went to quite a few amazing gigs in 2024, the UK Subs in Wrexham being one of them. This was a great gig and I finally got to see this classic band live.

7. Anti Racism Poem 

Anything my daughter Eloise contributes to my blog is always well received, and this school poem was no exception. A great piece of work and wonderful sentiment.

6. GBH – Gig Review 

Another legendary punk band live review in the 2024 Top 10! This concert by punk legends GBH was fantastic, good to see the review proved popular.

5. Liverpool Comic Con

Comic conventions always perform well on the blog, and this experience from May was no exception. I also paid a visit to Liverpool Comic Con in November too, but sadly the photos from that have evaporated and the blog is redundant.

4. Whitby Road Trip – On the Trail of Dracula 

In February 2024, we went on a family road trip to the beautiful seaside town of Whitby. It wasn’t just tourism travel though, we were on the trail of Count Dracula, himself. Our vampire hunt made it to number 7 on the list.

3. UK Subs – Jet Age Review

One of my Ever Metal album reviews proved a big success: this review of the 5 CD set of UK Subs albums from Cherry Red Records.

2. Comic Con Mania – Chester 

Another Comic Convention in the Top 10! Chester was good fun, and great to see it back after it first looked like it wouldn’t happen at all.

And so we reach the top of the pile, the cream of the crop! Drum roll, please, as I reveal the most popular blog post of 2024…

  1. Wales Comic Con 

Wales Comic Con made a return to Wrexham, and Platinum Al’s Virtual Hot Tub was there for it. This event was a scaled down affair, and sadly turned out to be a bit of a fraud. The organisers still owe us money for celeb autographs we booked but never got – and it looks like we’ll never get that cash back.

Every cloud and all that, though: Wrexham’s Wales Comic Con is under new management and hopefully will regain the heights of previous years. Let’s see…

2024 was a reassuringly successful year for the Virtual Hot Tub. Fifty posts were published, reaching the highest number of views per year since 2018.

Thanks to all of my readers for helping create this magnificent achievement – I really appreciate everyone who reads, likes and shares this content. All the best to you and your families for 2025 – I hope the year ahead brings you health and happiness.

Stay tuned to Platinum Al’s Virtual Hot Tub, folks – there’s no stopping us now!

New Deck 2019 – Death Skateboards Richie Jackson

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A few weeks back, I got a new deck and (eventually) set it up to ride.  I took some photos to commemorate the beautiful graphic and general awesomeness of the full, set up skateboard.  Here it is, for our mutual enjoyment.

Again, I opted for a Death deck – and again a Richie Jackson model.  Great company, inspirational skater.  This is an 8.25″ wide model.

According to the graphic, it’s a Richie Jackson “Collectors Shred Sled” – but this particular baby ain’t going on the wall.  Oh no, it’s for shredding, not collecting.

The deck was ordered from Native Skate Store.  The merchandise arrived with no problem at all, everything was perfect.

I also ordered a set of 53mm Death wheels from Native.  Together with a new set of ABEC 5 bearings, and my previous set of Independent trucks, I was able to piece together the work of art you see here.

It’s a great set up and I’ve really enjoyed riding it so far.  No complaints whatsoever.  The deck width is perfect for me for me these days, so I’ll stick with that for now.  The wheels are rolling well too, I’d forgotten how nice a feeling it is to ride a new set.

These photos were taken a few weeks ago, and this skateboard doesn’t look as fresh as it used to.  There are quite a few scrapes from concrete and the number of those marks is growing.  But hey, that’s the way it goes.  It’s great to skate and that’s all that matters.

Still, it’s nice to be reminded of that brand new, virgin set up in these photos.  There’s just something incredibly rad about getting – and skating – a new skateboard.  I never get tired of it.

The Death skateboards website is here.

Check out Native Skate Store here.

And don’t forget to check out Richie Jackson on social media!

New deck – Death Skateboards Richie Jackson

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Time for another new deck.  I got this Death Skateboards Richie Jackson deck a while ago, thought I’d share some pics of it for posterity.

I bought the deck from Native Skate Store, who provided a really good online service.  I requested that it was gripped (as I’m crap at gripping decks) and it arrived all done and looking pristine.  It was very affordable and delivered quickly, no pain at all.

Regular readers will already know that I’m a big fan of Death Skateboards.  I’ve had several Death decks and I’ve loved ’em all.  A very cool company with a rad, individual approach to skating and a great aesthetic – their products are tough and reliable, always up to the job.

This time around I opted for the Richie Jackson pro model.  Richie is an inspirational skater who constantly evolves and develops new ideas.  His innovative style is just ridiculously creative and constantly forging new ground.  Google him now!

The extraordinarily detailed Art Nouveau graphic is breath-takingly detailed, I probably should’ve just kept the deck to put on the wall.  I’ve skated it and the graphics are shined from rock’n’rolls on curbs.  Should’ve bought two, I guess.  Such is the transient nature of skateboard graphics…

This phenomenal art is by Liane Plant, and I think her work is incredible.  Some of the best art I’ve seen on a skateboard since the eighties classics.  I apologise whole heartedly to Liane for destroying the graphic.  It may well be a crime for a skater as bad as me to defile something so beautiful.

So anyway, the deck is 8.25″ wide and I set it up with my trusted Independent trucks and Death wheels.  So far, it’s been a blast.

Thanks to all the above, long may you roll!

The Death Skateboards website is here.  Go take a look.

Richie Jackson is all over social media, just search – you won’t regret it.  There’s some stuff on the above Death website, too.

The amazing art of Liane Plant can be seen here.  I need some T-shirts and stickers.

You can visit Native Skate Store for all your needs by clicking here.

And finally, here’s a picture of me being a total dork, trying to ape Richie Jackson’s style, rocking an old paisley shirt.  Just thought some of his psychedelic magic might rub off.  I bought that shirt back in 1990, knew it was worth keeping hold of…  And no, I didn’t really wear the shirt to skate in, I chickened out.  As great as Richie is, even I am a little old for hero worship on that level…!

Two Bare Feet Longboard

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OK, so I admit: I don’t really need another longboard.  I already have Sector 9 and Mindless longboards.  But I found this Two Bare Feet set up for a crazy price and I couldn’t resist.

I first came across the brand in a surf shop in Rhosneigr, Anglesey.  They looked pretty cool and I looked them up online.  In particluar, I was interested to try out this type of shape, with the drop through trucks too.

This is a 42″ 821 complete longboard, and it’s ridiculously cheap to buy from the Two Bare Feet online store.  In fact, the low price made me cautious and it was a while before I clicked “purchase”.

I had to wait to get some spare cash together anyway, and in the end I figured the risk was minimal.

Glad I decided to buy: for a budget board, I’ve been very impressed so far.

As I stated, I really wanted to try out this “twin tip” shape deck and it’s turned out to be a lot of fun.  Although I had been curious about learning tricks on this shape deck, so far I’m not convinced that’s a good move (though that’s my problem, nothing to do with the board).  It has been good fun for cruising around on though.

I’ve never skated drop through trucks before, and I like the lower ride they provide.  I found these trucks a bit unresponsive at first however; this problem seems to be improving as they wear in a little.

The board comes with great, big, fat wheels that are nice and soft; they roll very comfortably with the ABEC 5 bearings supplied.

Graphics wise, it’s simple and clean with a slight retro 70’s style that I like a lot.  You can select different graphics and colours (including wheel colours) on the online shop.

The board arrived fully gripped (nice job).  Unfortunately the only major downer was that it was shrink wrapped, which takes ages to remove satisfactorily if you’re obsessive like me.  Still, the whole delivery and transaction was totally painless.  Well done, Two Bare Feet.

This has proven a great addition to my longboard collection, we’ll see how it performs longevity wise.  For now, I would say that this is an ideal skateboard for a more experienced rider to own as a back-up or for a different riding experience.  The real beauty of the 821 complete though, is as a budget price entry level board for a beginner who fancies trying out longboard riding.

Technical Specifications:

  • Length: 42″
  • Width: 9.5″
  • Canadian maple deck
  • 70mm x 51mm wheels
  • ABEC 5 bearings
  • Supplied set up and complete

Two Bare Feet are a British company offering lots of different board riding equipment.  You can visit their website here.

New Set Up – Death Skateboards

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It’s summer, which inevitably means that I attempt some skateboarding yet again.  So far this year, I’m happy to report that I’ve learnt/re-learnt some new tricks.  This does however mean that my ankles are wrecked and I can hardly walk.

I needed a new deck, so I paid a visit to my old friends at Lost Art skate shop in Liverpool.  After a bit of an adventure finding the new shop, I picked myself a new deck and got it gripped up while I was there.  A great service – really helpful – and a profesh grip tape job.  Very happy, nice one again, Lost Art. 

I had been skating a wider deck for a while, over 8.5 inches – and while this gave me some added stability, it wasn’t as easy to do tricks on.

So I opted for something a little smaller, and chose a 7.75″ Death skateboards deck.  Fixed up with Independent trucks, Indy truck bolts and Death wheels, it’s a formidable monster of a skateboard and is preforming fine (unlike me).

The whole set up looks really cool, though it didn’t look all nice and shiny for very long.

Regular readers may recognise this deck – I’ve had one before.  Exact same size and everything.  Which means that this blog post is a waste of time.  Unless – of course – like me, you love looking at pictures of skateboards.

Death have always been a really reliable, quality company and it’s no surprise I’ve decided on another of their decks.

2 x Death decks
3 x Death decks