Known not only for their distance skating prowess, but also for their thoughtful approach to skateboard design and manufacture... Pantheon have brought out their very first surfskate deck: The Shuriken.
It might look quite different to other surfskates you've seen. Let's look at those things one by one:
Concave
Some like it deep, some like it mellow. What no other brand offers is such a meaningfully intricate option.
Mellow under the front foot for comfort - nobody wants the arch of their foot to be aching an hour into the session. However it tightens up into the tail of the board, offering your back foot solid hold to pull that last gasp of speed out of your turns.
Gentle rocker keeps you subtly locked in place too, and enhances the spoon nose and that surfboard feeling.
Construction
Classic Pantheon - a 6 ply maple core sandwiched between layers of triaxial fibreglass with an applewood veneer on the bottom for the vibes. For a surfy appearance, according to their website. Perhaps they have a lot of applewood surfboards in Colorado?
Either way, the construction is solid and long lasting. And actually it was a little too stiff for this board, hence...
Cut outs
The hole in the middle?!
During tests, the stiffness of the construction meant that the back wheels were able to lift off the floor during tight carves. The slot in the middle (working together with the narrow hips of the board) allow just a little torsional flex into the board to help keep those back wheels down.
We haven't been able to flex it too much but we're not particularly heavy - and also, I wouldn't want it to flex too much, as it would mean energy lost from your pumping.
Wheel wells
Those things in the front might look crazy but they've been tested with multiple surfskate truck systems including Carver and YOW.
We can say easily based off of the wheelbite marks on our other demo boards in the shop that these "internal" wheelwells will be far more effective at stopping wheelbite from surfskate trucks than any of the smaller, regular ones you might see from other brands.
So there you have it - looks mental, rides really good. You'd expect nothing less from Pantheon.
