Review – Whatever Meketa Pro-model

First up in our #harfangatang giveaway is a review of the Whatever Skateboards ‘Meketa Pro-model‘ deck. And to give us the review and go in with a chance of winning a set of Harfang Kegels is Steven Meketa.

The good people at Whatever Skateboards asked me to design a skogging board. The goal was to design a board that encompassed all the needs, bells and whistles into a full impact functioning deck but not however have it resemble all the current spaceship looking deals flooding the scene. In other words keep it simple clean and smooth.

Typically a good board for skogging is flat or perhaps with subtle concave. For this skogger and my pro model we went flat as a pancake form. Flat platform areas are perfect for footwork – Pedidexterity as the great Chris Yandall coined it. (Danceable area would be a good visual to paint you the reader). Also we wanted this board long so we measured it at 46″ Skogging and LDP/Pump pretty much go hand and hand. Oops I mean foot and foot so the nose is wider than the tail for stability and that directional aesthetically pleasing feel and vibe. Nose of skogger measures at 9 3/4 with slight taper all the way down the board to it’s tail/end. The end of board measures 8 1/4. This beast also has nice wheel wells cut into it to eliminate that pesky wheel bite. We through in multiple wheel base options so riders can position trucks as they see fit, wedge de wedge etc.

This deck needed flex. So naturally we added classy FLEX APPEAL to it. The materials we used to achieve the flex appeal are the highest quality bamboo pared with a special blended fiberglass. The fiberglass sheets were thinned for 2 separate layers and formed as inlays. This fiberglass backs up the already strong bamboo and is just a rad way of quality engineering if I do say so myself and I just did so yeah…It’s real strong I know cause I backed my KIA Soul over it.

Why the flex? Glad you asked. The flex of this allows the rider to absorb the shock of the road on the riders knees and ankles. The deck itself acts like a shock absorber so on long-distance pushes the rider has a nice ease to his or her push. Also the flex helps when pumping and carving too. Soon more board manufactures will catch onto this trick and the flex revolution will be on. Another highlight about the flex, it gives the rider a low profile feel on a push and when not pushing but in coast mode/ cruise/carve it helps the rider center themselves. (Confusing? Peep YouTube vids) I have been skogging the prototype of this board for a year. I pushed it in the last San Diego Adrenalina Skateboard Marathon and it did really well. The fact I want to point out about that marathon is, I was almost not going to do it because a week before I bailed on my skog commute and bruised my tail bone. I did the marathon sore as sore can be but because of the thoughtful construction of this skogger I was able to compete and after the marathon I could walk with little or no cramping. Others riders looked like they were in traction due to a major car accident or something.

So the proof is in the pudding AKA RnD. The flex does it’s job class. It increases the performance of board and keeps rider comfy on and off of board. During pushes and cruise. One thing to note, flexy boards are not that easy to master they do take practice but once you have it well once you go flex you won’t go back to non flex. (really wanted that to rhyme or something) I now have my own model and it is an asphalt – concrete killer. Mega miles have been skogged and many many more will be had thanks to the masterminds at Whatever Skateboards!!!

The board comes in two flavors. Blank so you can design your own graphic using Whatever Skateboards amazing graphic design software or you can get a Meketa pro model. The choice is yours!!!

Skog it up!!!

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Thanks to Steven for our first review for the competition. Remember you can review any product used by distance skaters, in any way you like. All entries to nat@skatefurther.com by 30th October 2016. Good luck!