About The Earth wing Supermodel Long Board
If you’re currently in the market for a “free ride” deck- something well suited for standup slides and the like, a lot of options are open to you with plenty of decisions to be made. You’d typically want to look for a skateboard with the following three elements: a large standing platform, generous concave, and sound design.
The Earth wing Supermodel meets the aforementioned criteria, but it also adds fourth element into the mix: low price. With its $99 price point the Earth wing Supermodel is one of the lowest priced free ride decks on the market. But does the low price come at a cost? Read on to find out…
About the Deck:
The Earth wing Supermodel is an all maple deck which comes in two sizes: a 38" version and a 40" version. The 38" version is only available in 8 ply while the 40" version comes in both 8 and 9ply. Think of plies as wooden layers glued together-the more you have, the stiffer and stronger a deck becomes, with the downside being added weight. For this review we set foot on an 8ply 40" Supermodel, painted deep blue (each size/ply variation has a unique color).
Earth Wing Supermodel Specs:
- 40” Long with variable elliptical concave (more on this later)
- 10 3/8” at its widest point (2/3” concave)
- 9 3/4” at the waist (5/8” concave)
- 26.25” standing platform with a 30.5” wheelbase (measured from inner hole to inner hole)
- Built in rail channels (more on this later)
- Old school and New School mounting
First Impressions:
Sadly, the Supermodel experienced bite issues off the bat with Randal trucks and 70mm Orangutan Stimulus. Earth wing mentioned that the Supermodel’s wheelbase was stretched from previous versions to limit wheel bite issues with Randal/Paris trucks, but this didn’t seem to be the case. We switched out to Bear trucks and the bite issues went away. There was even less chance of bite with Indy 215’s. Compared to Randals, both Bear and Indy Trucks increase axle to axle wheelbase, therefore lessening the chance of wheel bite. It is for this reason we highly recommend running the Supermodel with either Bear or Indy Trucks off the bat
Sliding
For sliding (both hands down and standup), we rode the deck with Bear 852’s and Independent 215s-in general, wider trucks make for smoother slides. The Supermodel was built with standup sliding in mind (it’s billed as a DH free ride deck by Earth wing) and so its symmetrical shape contains deeper concave in the front and rear compared to the middle (unlike the mystery model).
In general, standup slides on the Supermodel were a breeze to pull off. The elliptical concave swallowed our size 10.5 feet and didn’t let go until we were done sliding, continuously ensuring a lack of any slippage during standup slides, which should come as a relief to many. Personally speaking however, we feel that the concave is a bit too deep in the front and rear of the deck. Hanging the foot over the deck heelside is no problem, but when it comes to initiating toeslide slides, you want to position the toes of your rear foot over the edge of the deck-and this was somewhat of a nuisance to pull off with such a wide deck containing steep concave. We say nuisance instead of problem because of a fair certainty that many riders won’t even find this to be an issue.
As for hands down sliding, the ample standing platform ensured we remained on the deck during pendy’s, colemans, 360 pressure spins- you name it. No complaints here, as the design of the Supermodel is solid for all sorts of sliding, and success is highly dependent on rider skill.
I Rate This Board 3/5
If You Want To Buy One Follow The Link
The awesome concave on this board also played a huge role. I'm going to say that that’s what really held me to the board and gave me that much control. I also like that the Bug has a tail, it gave me more control and comfort. A tail is also good for sudden turns when just cruising around town.
