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Preorder your Loaded Dervish Sama in Canada Today at our Online Store…Click Here

Inspiration

We launched the original Dervish in June of 2007. In 2006 we had shifted our entire line to bamboo, which opened the doors for us to create a flexy drop-through board. All previous drop-throughs we’d built as protos had eventually fractured due to stress on the oak cores.

We’ve made subtle changes to the Dervish since then (cutout and keyhole modifications and graphics), but it’s now time to change it up in a more significant fashion. We’ve learned a lot about compound contouring in the last few years (as seen on the Tan Tien) and felt it was time to step up and rethink the Dervish.

Name & Graphic

Sama is the Sufi ceremony focusing on active meditation as a tool for the individual’s spiritual journey. The origin of this practice is credited to Rumi, a poet and founder of the Mevlevi order of whirling dervishes. Through Sama, the individual aims to ascend from the confines of thought to attain heightened maturity, perfection, and closeness to God.

For this board’s graphic we continue to explore the whirling dervish theme, although this time in a more abstract form. The artwork was created by Diana Gracida of Nana Studios.

Specs

Length: 42.8” / 109 cm

Width: 9” / 22.9 cm

Wheelbase: 31.5” / 80 cm

Weight (deck): 3.0–3.6 lbs / 1.4-1.6 kg

Weight (complete): 7.0–7.6 lbs / 3.2-3.4 kg

Width

We explored many different width and shape options while prototyping the Dervish Sama. We came to the realization that there is no “right” answer and that there’s an inherent tension between stability and liveliness. Using sophisticated (for us) design software and curvature calculations, we extensively tested various different widths and subtle changes to the deck shape. We then collectively decided that this new 9” wide shape (the old Dervish was 8.5” with a different neck curvature) provided a satisfactory balance of comfort, edge control, and responsiveness.

Concave

The Dervish Sama also received a more pronounced concave profile, which is further augmented by the increased deck width. The result is improved edge feel for turn initiation and extra control while sliding.

Nose & Tail Kicks

To keep up with the current caliber of freestyle riding, we gave the Dervish the most tasteful of nosejobs. After testing several new shapes and sizes, we lengthened the tips for additional leverage, widened the neck to increase durability and ensure a consistent flex pattern through the entire deck, and added subtle kicks to increase pop and to lock your feet in. The kicks are reinforced with an extra layer of fiberglass for added stiffness and durability.

Griptape

A six-piece symmetrical griptape pattern was designed with performance and elegance in mind. The two sections at the kicks use an aggressive, rougher-grit grip to provide enhanced control and security for manuals and freestyle tricks. The four middle sections use a milder, finer-grit grip (comparable to street skate grip) to facilitate dancing and footwork maneuvers. The segmented design yields functional coverage without interfering with the board’s flex pattern.

Camber

The Dervish Sama’s versatility lends it to many disciplines, but at its heart lies a deeply rooted passion for carving. The cambered platform and weight-tailored flex pattern work together synergistically to provide a lively, flowing ride. Press your weight into a turn to preload the deck’s curvature; unweight as you finish the carve and feel the board snap back with positive energy return.

Flex

The Dervish Sama gave us an opportunity to reexamine our current flex options. We found that even on the softest flex Dervish (flex 2), it was difficult for riders weighing less than 140 lbs to generate enough force to fully engage the deck’s flex during normal riding.

The introduction of a third, even softer flex allows lighter riders to more easily “play” with the cambered standing platform as they pump and carve, achieving a much more lively and comfortable riding experience.

Flex 1: 170-250+ lbs / 75-114+ kg

Flex 2: 100-185+ lbs / 45-84+ kg

Flex 3: 75-150+ lbs / 35-68+ kg

A softer flex rating will give you more control and tighter turns at slower speeds and make it easier to slide, but tends to lose stability at higher speeds. A stiffer flex provides more energy potential, is more stable at higher speeds, and holds up better to hard landings, but will not be as forgiving and lively when cruising.

Construction

A vertically laminated bamboo core is sandwiched between layers of triaxial fiberglass and a bamboo bottom veneer. The deck is pressed with concave and cambered curvatures to create a lively, responsive ride with high energy return.

Localized fiberglass reinforcement at the nose and tail kicks (spanning neck to tip) ensures strength under hard riding.

Setups

We recommend 180mm or 10” trucks (Paris, Bear, Gullwing Charger, Navigator, etc.) for the Dervish Sama.

This board is designed to accommodate 75mm wheels without wheelbite. A wider race style wheel is ideal for maintaining roll speed and traction through hard carves, while a 70-75mm freeride wheel will provide a well rounded balance of grip and drift for a more slide-friendly riding style.

Riders leaning towards freestyle and aggressive freeriding may prefer a lighter and/or smaller wheel in the 70mm+ range.

Design Process and Overview

The Dervish Sama emerged out of streamlined communication amongst the design team and comparing various digital and analog techniques used throughout the process.

Our design team faced a unique challenge: the Dervish is a board that we continue to enjoy riding and encourage others to share in this experience, so how do we enhance the features of the original board and at the same time increase its versatility? After brainstorming flex patterns, durability, construction and most importantly performance, we arrived at a multifaceted goal: to enhance edge control, lively response and carving; to increase trick potential (with the added benefit of durability), to increase concave with subtle adjustments to the camber, and to make the board more accessible by expanding our flex ranges. The Dervish Sama, through intensive back-and-forth within digital environments and physical prototyping, serves up a platter of carving and freeride goodness.

We’re stoked on the continuing refinement of our design processes and how what we’ve learned from the development of the Dervish Sama in particular (regarding methods of communication, prototyping, and testing procedures) will impact our ability to continue exploring the boundaries of skateboard design. More importantly, we’re stoked on this board and excited to share it with all those who are gonna enjoy it.

- The Loaded Crew

Preorder your Loaded Dervish Sama in Canada Today at our Online Store…Click Here

Filming “Dead for the Last Time” by Paul Kent

Prior to filming when I met up with Adam in Los Angeles he told me he wanted to do a Western themed skate video. And the video all began with one line. “Boy, you done gone dead for the last time!” He was super busy, not only was he just about to leave on his trip to Australia to paddleboard the Murray River. He was also working on 6 videos at once. So we had next to no time to hash out the details of the video before we had to get to work. We needed horses, Costumes, Props, Some extra film gear, another actor, groceries for the week, and a story. We had Five days. Four of those days would be spent filming this. To cap it all off we had to drive Hundreds of miles to get it all done. It was going to be hectic, sleepless and lots of work.

We tried a few people to play the villian “Old FootBreak Farley”. But most were shy about acting. Adam was also a possibility but he preferred to stay behind the camera. Then Adam suggested Dane. I was skeptical at first. Dane is one of the nicest guys I know. I had even linked him to the human embodiment of Winnie the pooh. He’s cute, loveable, with a child like innocence with the added bonus off having god like skate board control and the drawback of not being a real teddybear. I couldn’t see him as the mean Farley. I was certain his Winnie the pooh voice wouldn’t come off as mean in the slightest. But Adam was sure he was the guy and Dane was able and stoked!

We wake up, brush our teeth, eat some Royal Jelly (Gross) and we’re off! Adam didn’t think we could get it all done in time to leave. First stop groceries at Trader Joes, Then Sam Peters house. I got to meet Sam and hear his music. Super cool guy and one of Adam’s best friends. Afterwards we picked up our props and costume accessories. I research western wear in Los Angeles and found the Old Frontier Clothing Co. They Graciously stayed open late for us so that we could check out what they had. That last thing on our list were our horses. Now I was a Cowboy for a halloween skate once and I had a mean stick pony. Since then I’ve ALWAYS wanted to be in a skate video with stick ponies! I called around 20 toy stores in the area and only one had them. And it was an hours drive away. We arrived just after 8:50 they closed at ten. Having these items in hand inspired the story to evolve further. We had dinner, then we drove through the night to our first location.

Jumping from one beautiful national park to another all the while refining the shots and story. Filming at sunrise and sunset, driving during the middle of the day and the night. Eating Mexican food for breakfast and dinner. We had lots of ground to cover. Half of the time was spent driving and scouting our next location. We slept about an hour during noon each day and around 4-5 hours during the night. I wore the same clothes for continuity, Adam did too… I have no idea why. The parks were beautiful and Adam was getting some really great shots. We delved further into the photography and story and showcasing technical skating went by the wayside.

In the hotel after filming on the third day I was practicing my lines for the shoot off when Dane arrived. I was still skeptical about him contorting his loveable face into anything mean. He arrived with his poncho and we gave him the rest of his costume to try on. He got the idea to make a grimace while Adam spoke overtop of it. It was hilarious. But it wasn’t until we got out filming on the salt flat that we realized how good Dane was for the part. I fully believe Dane stole the show. I couldn’t believe it. I’ve never had more fun being behind a camera!

Adam just got a new Durus Follow focus from Cinevate. It allows for smooth dynamic focus during filming. The most obvious places you can see this effect would be the focus moving off of Danes face and onto his pistol in the early shots of the video. I’ve been surrounding myself with Photography / Videography lately and I was super stoked to get to practice pulling focus in some of the shots of Dane. I also got to experiment shooting dane with my lens disconnected from my camera for the waking dream effect near the end. (A technique I later found out was named “lens whacking”).

The post production team was pretty extensive. The script had to be finished from the skeleton frame that Adam and I had came up with out on the road. Sam tailored music specific to each scene in the video. The special effects and time lapses had to be added by Jonathan, and it was decided that we would hire a professional narrator named Jerry Buckner. Jerry added a great deal to the narration. Jerry has done narration for Ford, and Chevy Silverado, He’s also been voice talent for countless movies and other projects.

When it comes to this video’s Photography, storyline and skating I feel we all got a little carried away. But I’m so glad we did! As the story grew and with the shots we were getting it seemed to become more about art and photography than skating. But the story and script really do justice to describe the true essence, feelings and beauty of long distance skate journeys. Maybe Farley was just some subconscious manifestation of the dangers of such trips…

BIG THANKS

Adam Colton for everything

Dane Webber for stealing the show

Don and the staff at Orangatang / Loaded

Jonathan Jelkin for AWESOME the Animation

Jerry Buckner for reminding me of “The Cowboy” from big Lebowski

Cinevate for the sliders and super smooth follow focus!

Old Frontier Clothing Co. for turning me into a cowboy

My other sponsors Rayne, Vega, and Royal

Our Parents for making us

My Darling Wife and Daughter for allowing me to do kickass stuff!

And you for watching and reading this!

MUSIC THOUGHTS BY SAM PETERS – www.sampetersmusic.com

I am super excited that I got the opportunity to work with Adam Colton and Loaded on their newest monsterpiece. Here’s a little something in the way of articulating my musical choices, direction and inspiration.

After viewing the stunning visuals, as well as the intense, dark and graphic story that Adam had put together, I knew that I had to come up with something special that would really drive the narrative. Being that the movie is a Western, that also helped to define the musical palette. For inspiration, particularly for the intro I created, I looked to the movie “No Country for Old Men” which was scored by Carter Burwell. I tried to capture that kind of dark, foreboding, epic feel, but obviously I wanted to use my own voice to find it. Similarly, when Adam had a particular sound that he wanted me to go for, like the bluegrass section I did my best to follow his lead. Sometimes I was given cryptic notes such as “some kind of eerie, suspenseful music, that goes with open landscape, mysterious,” but to his credit, and because of the kind of guy Adam is, for the most part I was instructed to allow inspiration to pull me where it would.

As well as being menacing and ominous the movie also has a comedic element to it. We made the choice to allow the action to create the humor and not attempt to hit anyone over the head with it. I didn’t want the music to be a distraction or make the movie feel silly. The story is potent and I wanted the music to draw you into the drama. I hope I did my job.

Thanks again to the entire Loaded family!

From: http://loadedboards.com/2012/04/filming-dead-for-the-last-time/

The Levitation Project has hooked us up and we want the share the love. Check out our Facebook Page to ENTER TO WIN.

Contest ends April 4th at noon. Good luck!

Rayne’s newest top-mount board is finally available.

Check out the Rayne Vandal on our online shop by clicking here

Inspiration

As we collectively began to dabble in new directions in sliding, we found ourselves in want of a new and unique wheel. Our existing lineup of freeride wheels (the Durian, Stimulus, and Fat Free) maintained a conservative balance of traction and driftability that is intended for downhill freeriding. The current emphasis is on the ability to grip and hold a line through corners at speed. The slide aspect of these wheels is focused on shaving off speed (in a pragmatic fashion) as well as to begin exploring progressive freeriding.

The Balut is the result of our desire to investigate the other end of the grip-slip spectrum: a freestyle slide wheel that allows for longer drifts and quicker, more numerous rotations with minimal speed loss. This is a first step in a new direction for us, and we’re excited to see where it takes us.

Baluts will be available in Calgary at Royal Board Shop as soon as humanly possible.

Specs

Diameter: 72.5 mm
Contact patch: 35 mm
Width: 44 mm
Durometers: 80a, 83a, 86a
Weight: 4.7 oz (per wheel)
Bearing seat: centerset

Design

The Baluts are centerset and symmetrical, allowing for maximum flexibility when rotating and flipping to promote even wear on all four wheels. By using a larger spoked core and removing significant amounts of urethane between the bearing seat and outer edge of the core, we were able to reduce the overall wheel weight for increased agility in slides and freestyle tricks alike.

The core used in the Balut is relatively wide in comparison to the wheel. Combined with a stiff and rounded lip profile, the core provides plenty of rigid support for the contact patch and facilitates smooth slides with a predictable release and hookup.

Urethane

In the development process, we quickly realized that the early protos of this shape lent themselves to unreasonably long standup slides and thus demanded a urethane that could withstand the inevitable abuse and was appropriate for this specific (narrow) shape. The shape was dialed almost a year ago, but we’ve been holding off on the release to find this magic thane. And thus the Euphorethane formula was created, offering exceptional durability and flatspot resistance while still retaining a smooth, predictable drift and reliable (albeit nominal) speed control.

Wheel Rotation

Good rotation habits can help even out wear patterns and dramatically extend the life of your wheels. Be aware, though, that wheel rotation can get a little confusing, especially since wear patterns often differ from rider to rider.

The simplest suggestion to remember is to swap your most worn wheel with your least worn wheel, swap the other two wheels, and flip when appropriate.

Beyond that basic principle, here are a few suggestions and info tidbits that we’ve found helpful in our sideways smile sessions:

Uphill wheels (on your heelside rail for heelside/frontside slides and on your toeside rail for toeside/backside slides) tend to cone (faster wear on the inside lip), while downhill wheels tend to reverse cone (faster wear on the outside lip).

On a board with a centered stance (snowboard style) most of the rider’s weight is typically over the front truck, so expect the front wheels to wear faster than the rear wheels. On a board with a rear stance (e.g. ridden with the back foot mostly on the kicktail) there is usually much more weight applied to the back truck, so the rear wheels tend to wear faster than the front wheels.

On a directional setup (ridden mostly in one orientation) we generally recommend rotating your wheels diagonally (front left with rear right, front right with rear left). On a symmetrical setup (ridden equally in both orientations) we generally rotate wheels on the same hanger (front left with front right, rear left with rear right).

A symmetrical centerset shape also allows you to flip each wheel to counteract coning. Whenever you rotate your wheels, check to see if any of your wheels are starting to cone and flip them as needed. Be sure to consider the wheels’ new positions on the board and your personal riding habits (if you do more heelside slides than toesides, you may expect your heelside wheels to cone and your toeside wheels to reverse cone).

To celebrate Thrasher’s 30th year anniversary they teamed up with Volcom for a jacket, tee, and hat collab. The end result is so tight we are sure these will go quick.

”

Thanks to Erik Kalacis and Mika Hakkola at Red Mountain, and Cindy Burr at Tourism B.C and HelloBC.com/ski for their help with making this possible. ”

CHECK OUT SBC’S REVIEW OF THE NEVER SUMMER EVO HERE

CHECK OUT SBC’S REVIEW OF THE NEVER SUMMER PROTO HERE

CHECK OUT SBC’S REVIEW OF THE NEVER SUMMER INFINITY HERE

Royal is proud to announce the intorduction of the MTN Approach System.

Why use a splitboard when you can ride your own Snowboard!

Arriving late November is the awesome new system from MTN Approach. Watch the video and learn why you’ll never want to ride a split board again!

Freeriding wheels for performance longboarding, sliding and downhill. They are fast, smooth and predictably drifty. The new 72mm CenterSet FreeRides feature a wider 39mm contact patch for more controlled drifts and longer life spans. Freeriders often want a more predictable wheel for standing slides, drifts and pre-drifts. The Classic thane is perfect for riders who love to slide, thrash, and shred the gnar on all types of terrain.

Check them out at our online shop or in store now.