Never Summer Ransom review by Laurie Barnes

Laurie Barnes (our top longboarder) has done a series of reviews of the Never Summer range. This is the second in the series. This time Laurie reviews the Ransom - our smaller all round pin.

Never Summer 09' Soldier longboard

Reviewed by Laurie Barnes

Where to start... from the bottom up I suppose.

The wheels

72mm 78a cherry red. These wheels offer quick acceleration and the lipped edges gives grip and give on rough surfaces and deep carves with a nice and predictable amount of drift. I rode these wheels at go fast speed days so in terms of cornering at speed these wheels have it locked.

Trucks

Randal R2 carving trucks with 180 hangars. Randal have been setting the standard for speed and carving trucks for as long as I can remember. These feature a base plate that has a fairly steep angle base plate for agile and quick turning.

Deck

This boards length means that you have a real feel off being connected with the trucks which makes for comfortable stand-up slides. A brilliant board for someone used to riding street boards as the wheel base is similar.

Conclusion

You turn and this thing and it gives loads back in terms of pump with a stiff responsive feel. As with the whole NS range of longboards you can keep your speed on the flat by pumping slalom style turns. All the time feeling in control, this board is gonna be for you if your into dodging pedestrians and racing buses.

The p-tex in the end of the board are just one of the many little added extras on these boards and they work, it laughs off serious knocks that would definitely need gluing/sanding on most other boards. I would start to say more about the futuristic construction of this board but it’s probably best to read NS explanation of the materials that go into them (NS Ransom).

The size of this board means that its ideal for traveling as it fits easily on a skatepack.

This is the cruiser that me and Jesse where fighting over when he left Bristol.

This is a perfect little all rounder of a longboard ideal for oldschool skateparks, giant slalom style carving and for its size it is pretty damn stable at speed so good for bombing medium size hills.

Find out more about the Never Summer Ransom

Find out more about Laurie Barnes