Who remembers the Killer Clown panic that went round a few years back at Halloween time? When there were all these stories of people getting attacked by creepy weirdos dressed as clowns? Kids were scared silly about it and it was all just urban japes and bants created by the internet.

Anyway, I decided I need a new cruiser board to replace my Santa Cruz Street Creep re-issue. The main reason being, that the Street Creep is worth a few quid and it should be up on the wall as a decoration. Or DECK-oration, haha!! Sorry.

I also really miss the big, old shaped decks of yore, and thought that this would be a good shape to aid in my goal of getting better at slappy tricks.

I’d had my eyes on the Death Dan Cates deck for a while, and finally decided to go for it. Regular readers will know I’m a bit of a Death Skateboard fanboy, and this Cates deck looked perfect – great shape and graphic. Dan Cates is a talented skater who I’ve watched many video parts of. Plus it was within my meagre budget, so I bought it from Native Skate Store online.

The wheels are Powell Peralta Dragons 56mm and 93A, which I got from a contact in a Facebook group for a very good price. The only problem was the trucks: i re-purposed the Indy trucks I had on the Street Creep, but they’re actually not wide enough – wider trucks will be sourced asap.

So far, the whole set up rides amazing: the deck has a really nice concave and overall feel, plus the wheels are unbelievably smooth. I’ve just rolled around the carpark so far, but hope to take a trip to a pump track soon. And maybe do some more old school 80’s street skating…

As usual, here are the specs for posterity:

• Death Skateboards Dan Cates Killer Clown II 9.375″ (free griptape)
• Independent trucks (to be replaced)
• Powell Peralta Dragon wheels 56mm 93A
• Independent bolts
• ABEC 5 Bearings

Check out Death Skateboards here.

Check out Native Skate Store here.