Spindeck gets the Legion Interview Treatment

Sausage rolls, Naked Butlering and Street Urchins...... yes it could only be an inteview with those scottish freestyle scamps from the Legion. After they were good enough to test the Spindeck out for us last year we decided to put our reputation on the line and open our hearts to the amenable crew from north of the border. You can read the full interview in all its gory detail on the Legion site here but to wet your appetite here are a few snippets...

We’re joined in the Legion office Green room today by Matt and Tom of Slam Technologies, Fore-fathers of the legendary Spin deck empire which is improving the lives of spin freaks all over the world…

Blimey guys. It’s a right tip in here. I can't believe you last entertained a lady, Miss Jenny Jones no less, in here! And what is this, oh my god, a half eaten sausage roll down the side of the sofa!!! I'm gonna go sit over there.

Don't flatter yourself, we booked a conference room at the Hilton for Miss Jones only the Jakey bastards end up in the office.

How many folk are on the team there at Spin Deck HQ? (not including the 20 orphaned street urchin’s who whittle the boards out of blocks of wood)

Excluding the urchins there are two of us at the helm, Matt and Tom although Mr T helps out now and again. He does all our welding and if we get a problem and no one else can solve it, he's the man.

Who does what? Is it all even-stevens or does one man crack the whip, Indiana Jones style, over your slaves?

Between us we design and engineer everything in-house and work with suppliers to get the component parts made to our pedantically high standards. Matt runs the factory side of the operation, keeping the big wheels turning and developing new prototypes with our suppliers. I handle all the marketing and promotional responsibilities, basically anything that requires coherent sentences stringing together.

Where do you get the spin decks manufactured?

Everything except the decks are made here in the UK. Unfortunately the UK doesn't have a domestic skate deck industry so we had to cross the channel to find a manufacturer. Kids take note, pay attention at school because modern languages are important later in life!

Do you use eco-friendly materials or is your carbon footprint challenging Godzilla in the shoe-size stakes?

Our aim has always to minimise our impact on the natural earth and we can do that because we are a small company with low overheads. Our skate decks come from sustainable forests and in all our design decisions we've taken the least carbon route, for example when we designed the Spindeck packaging our suppliers wanted us to use expanded polystyrene as an insert because it was about a tenth of the cost of cardboard. We stuck to our guns, kept the cardboard insert and at the same time pushed the boundaries of carton design by deploying a world first – a single-direction tooled twin-reverse fold in corrugated c-flute. There aren't many companies out there taking those kinds of risks you know!

Wow! deploying a world first – a single-direction tooled twin-reverse fold in corrugated c-flute. – Is that the line you’re using on the ladies?

No. They are always far more impressed with our knowledge of hydrodynamic equilibrium in high pressure thrust bearings and in particular the demonstration of lube film thickness dependability using Stribeck curves.

Dreweatts Urban Art Sale - bag yourself a Banksy

So you've got your converted loft apartment in Shoreditch and you've got the number one must have accessory right there in the corner of the lounge. Yeah you got it, the Spindeck Baseline Plus, that beauty is there for all to see. But one thing you might have overlooked in this urban ultra chic abode is getting your verticals pimped to match. I'm talking about some fresh urban street art hanging up there opposite the 50inch wall mounted Sony Bravia.

Street art gurus and good friends of Spindeck the For Boarders By Boarders crew let us know about the Dreweatts Urban Art Sale being held at the Village Underground, London on 17th June. FBBB crew members DBO and Kev Munday have pieces for sale alongside more well know street scribblers Banksy and D*FACE. Grab yourself a piece of art by one of these up and coming stars and you could be looking at a sound investment aswell as a tasty wall hanging.

More details on the sale itself are available at: http://www.dnfa.com/auctions.asp?view=saledetails&aucno=12977&avail=0

Check out the sale catalogue at: http://www.dnfa.com/catalogues/12977.pdf

Or here is a sneak preview on 3 of the pieces up for sale:



Banksy - Morons



D*FACE - In Dog We Trust



DBO - Out Of The City

What's playing? - down in the SPINDECK workshop

The SPINDECK workshop is like a rubik's cube: it has many different sides, lots of colour and often appears to be an unfathomable mess. So how do we keep things on the straight and narrow?...music my friends, beautiful music. The last month has been a busy one and a particularly good one for tunes, so good in fact that it made it all the way into a blog post.

Here's what's been playing through the dusty speakers this week:

1) Daft Punk - Alive 2007. A live recording of a DJ set from a few years ago. You can't help but get swept up in the atmosphere and big beats, you'll forget what you're doing and be transported to a field surrounded by ten thousand other party revellers in no time.

2) Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend. We like this one in the mornings, it brightens the mood and lets the sunshine in, the lead singer has a great voice and I'm tipping this little beauty to be the sound of the summer.


3) Mum - Finally We Are No One. This one's a bit trippy but we love it, I've personally earmarked 'Green Green Grass of Tunnel' as the sound track to my epic backcountry segment in the next RobotFood film, just waiting for that call...


4) The Postal Service - Give Up. An old timer, but it's always got to be in there, always. Super mellow, one to keep the crew working through to the small hours.



5) The Enemy - We Live And Die In These Towns. Those cheeky little scamps might not know how to shave yet but they can't half play. A firm favourite when the workers are getting tetchy and need to let off a bit of steam.


6) The Wombats - A Guide To Love, Loss And Desperation. This one has been played and played and played but we're still not tired of it.




7) Does It Offend You Yeah? - You Have No Idea What Youre Getting Yourself Into. Sublime Electro Punk from a band more easily referred to as DIOYY. Hooky tunes are important on any workshop album and here every track has something a little bit different.

8) Yellowcard - Lights And Sounds. It's the end of the week, you can't wait to bust out of work, hook up with your mates and let loose, enough said.



So that's a look at the choons, a bit of a mix, everything in moderation as they say. Next week we've got Robbie Williams Wednesday to look forward to, so I guess that'll end it for the music update for a while. No, really.

Official: Surfing improves your sex life!

Winter can be tough, its dark outside, cold, wet and your next riding fix might be weeks away. Hang in there champ! Thanks to www.nollie.tv here's five reasons why riding boards like a Snowboards, Surfboards, Skateboards and Spindecks is good for you:

1. Ban boredom. When you've got a board of some description to get on, I can guarantee you'll never utter the dreaded b word again.

2. Travel. Be it surfing, wakeboarding, snowboarding or mountain biking, you'll get to go places you might never have discovered otherwise.

3. Body benefits. Get on a snowboard or surfboard and your thighs won't know what's hit 'em. Most extreme activities are also a fast track way to burn calories, and it's fun!

4. Adrenaline. This stuff is the best drug around, and it's as good as free. You'll soon be addicted to getting your fix.

5. Pain. Yes, this is a strange one, but the pain - be it from wiping out or knackered muscles - just makes the good times even more worth it. Plus it puts your every day whining right into perspective.

As if that wasn't enough Nike have just published a survey of 10 000 young European women confirming what we've always known: playing sport improves your self-esteem, perception of success, pride, sex drive and self image.

On average, half the women quizzed were involved in sport, with Germany boasting the most active young women, with 67% of the participants involved in sport, while Turkey had the least at just 41%.

But it's not just the obvious physical benefits that have girls stoked on sport - the survey also found sport makes women stronger emotionally. Of those involved in sport, 41% said they could 'conquer the world', 77% have more confidence in themselves, 77% feel successful, 85% feel self pride, while 62% have raised self esteem. Plus, 68 per cent of those ladies involved in sport, said that sport had an even bigger positive impact on their lives - in their career, education, social lives and relationships.

Conducted by independent consumer research group TNS, the online survey was carried out in The Netherlands, Spain, Italy, France, the UK, Germany, Sweden, Turkey and Russia, to gauge what drives young women to take part in sport. For more info go to www.nikewomen.com.

Three really easy peasy ways to train

We all start a training program with good intentions but it all too soon becomes a right old chore. To make it easy here are three easy ways to fit a quick spindeck balance training session into your daily grind. Give one of these a go and see how easy it is to find the time to ride.

1. Spindeck on the phone - One of our customers wrote to us recently and had this brilliant bit of advice. She had found that by leaving her spindeck next to her home phone she naturally spent her phonecalls standing on it, improving her core balance and keeping up with gossip all at the same time.

2. Spindeck while brushing your teeth - A crazy old american friend of mine who is actually a keen skier once told me that every morning he exercised his quads (thigh muscles) by squatting down about 6 inches while he brushed his teeth. You can do this using a spindeck too: Start off just riding the spindeck wih your legs only slightly bent, then as you get the hang of it start to bend your legs further and hold it for longer. Soon you'll be like my old friend and building power in you legs and improving your core stability every day.

3. Spindeck while washing up - This is something we all hate doing so why not make it worthwhile by bringing your deck to the sink. Whilst standing on the spindeck lean forward against the sink front for support if you need it. As you bend and twist your upper body whilst washing you'll be working your core balance to the max and building strength in your feet and calves counteracting these movements.

Document Snowboard Magazine reviews the Spindeck (Issue 49, March 08)

Document Snowboard Magazine have given the Spindeck their much coveted LabRat approval this month. Check out the what they had to say here:

It's early spring, you've not been able to escape to the mountains, can't afford to go to the fridges, it's too wet outside to skate, and surfing? Well, let's just say it's not happening. So what are you going to do to keep your balance and spin trickery dialled? Step in Mr Spindeck to fill the breach. Spindeck is a platform for you to learn new tricks and take your balance to a higher plane. Basically, it's a balance training board that tilts and spins in all directions so standing on it is (kind of) like riding for real as you try to pull turns, grabs, spin 3s. It owes its existence to the wobble board and the skateboard but it's made for spinning, which is what separates it from other balance trainers. We've been playing with it in the office and it does exactly what it says on the tin - tuning your core balance with just five minutes a day - and it's fun (you've got to see web editor Andy's face as he tries it)! Whether it improves our riding has yet to be put to the test.

VERDICT
Whether you're an absolute beginner, a competitive athlete or just someone who loves to ride, Spindeck is designed to help all riders improve balance and fitness and learn tricks. In fact, we're loathe to part with this piece of wood but, being the selfless creatures we are, we've got one up for grabs. Just email rachel@documentsnowboard.co.uk and tell me why you deserve it RACHEL DEVLIN. EDITOR

Shaun White Lands 1260 in XGames Snowboard Superpipe Final

Shaun ‘the Flying Tomato’ White wrote a new chapter in the snowboard trick history books at the XGames 12 Mens Superpipe Final in Aspen, Colorado on Jan 27th landing the Games’ first 1260 spin.

Despite less than ideal conditions and a shaky run up to the final the worlds coolest ginger landed what many of us have been thinking was only possible on Xbox. Dropping in for the final run, tunes pumping Shaun kicked things off with a monstrous Lien Air and an inch perfect McTwist. Checking off the last of the fundamentals with back to back 900s Shaun readies himself for the big one. 3 full rotations and an inch perfect landing.

The 1260 in snowboarding is a feat akin to Tony Hawks infamous skateboard vert 900 that firmly cemented Tony with God like status. Whether the same can be said of Shaun White remains to be seen as the young lad still seems to have a fair few years left in him yet. Maybe he’ll try a little harder next time and add a cheeky grab to that 1260.