Pantheon Shuriken Surf Skate

CONCAVE

The concave of our Shuriken Surf Skate is mild in the front with a very gentle scoop in the front and a concaved pocket tail. The deck is fairly flat through the middle to aid in torsional flex. There is a slight rocker through the deck platform. Surf skate riders won’t notice a lot of concave anywhere on the board except for the tail. It is designed primarily for comfort. The tail has more curvature to both provide extra board feel and to aid in stiffening up the back end so that riders can drive off of the tail to create power.

CONSTRUCTION

The Shuriken is a 6 ply maple core. We put triaxial fiberglass underneath the top and bottom layers of maple to functionally make this board about as strong as an 8 ply, and then we covered the bottom with applewood veneer for a clean, surfy appearance. The glass and epoxy construction make the Shuriken Surf Skate exceptionally weather proof.

CONCEPT

We started this project with a couple basic concepts in mind. Firstly, we wanted smooth, clean lines that remind riders of a surfboard. This is something we felt a lot of surf skate decks are missing, but rather they tend to be built out of classic or enlarged double kick molds. We wanted to combine good looks with comfort and function. Sort of the classic mantra of Pantheon Boards but applied to an all new surf skate design!

This led us to an overall rocker profile. The outsides of the kicktail have concave and swoop up gradually, while the center of the concave more cleanly defines the kicktail. Adding concave into the tail in this way both makes for some beautiful curves as well as stiffens up the back end, so you can really drive off the back of this board for harder carves and slashy turns, creating power as you go.

The front end of the board at least appears to be a bit more simple. Technically, we drew some pretty complex curvature, but this is primarily for aesthetic. We wanted the front of the deck to sort of spoon up like the front of a surfboard, out ahead of the front foot, so that it feels at least a bit like you’re sitting back on it. Perfecting this curvature is no easy task, but we did it for the vibe–so that once this board was done, it was truly done, and we weren’t sitting here thinking of ways that way might like it a little bit better.

Then, it was all about getting the flex and width right. First, we tested several widths and eventually landed on something just above 10-inches at the max width. Then, we found that in order for the tail to be stiff enough to make this an excellent surfy skateboard, we needed to beef up the construction enough to get rid of the flex, but that created a lot of stiffness in the body. We gradually adjusted the shape, cutting out the side rails where the feet wouldn’t be placed anyway, and then we cut a window through the center of the deck to further increase torsional flex. Riders will enjoy stiffness where it matters, and enough flexibility in the center of the deck to keep all four wheels on the ground even while you’re slashing in and out of turns.

Lastly, we worked with our long time artist, Eddie Kihm, to come up with a graphic that combines surfboard vibes with our classic Pantheon aesthetic. We feel we made a surf skate that both stands out and also feels right at home.

WHEEL WELLS / SETUPS

One obvious thing that stands out on this deck that probably most people haven’t seen in other surf skates are the wheel wells. We have experimented with “internal wheel wells” on our top mount pumper decks as well as some other distance prototypes.

We tested several different common Surf Skate trucks, including Carver CX, Yow, Grasp Trucks, and Station Skate. And then we built this wheel well shape to provide functional additional wheel clearance for these various truck types. Some surf skate trucks like the Yow have a more slung-back design and work well in the front wheelbase option as well as the shorter one. Others that have a more compact design where the axle is closer to the truck mounts will work better in the classic, 17-inch wheelbase option. More trucks will certainly work, but this is a great starting point. I’m sure we will test more surf skate truck combinations and gradually add it to this list!