Big Meeting and Florence Sesh...

Today we had a big meetup about stuff down at Matt's house... then we hit Florence for a few hours. This is the life. While we get things in place, there's so much skating to be done. Huge thanks to our man Ian Brown for all the electric he puts in for us. Thanks to Native Nik for showing up and putting up. All the guys on our crew are preparing to get things rolling in a whole new way here.

To be clear, we aren't a normal regular skateboard company. The normal way to do this stuff is to get someone to press your wood, cut it out in your shapes, and apply the heat transfer candy graphics after they're all cut out. Kind of like making cookies. Then, they ship them to you from wherever they make them (Mexico, California) and you get them at your HQ in boxes. You unpack the cardboard boxes and sell the cookies to shops and customers...

You also find someone to screenprint your stuff for you, and someone to make your art, and someone to make your hats and shirts for you and you have them all work together so you can get all kinds of stuff in the mail, open the boxes and send that and take that to the shops and customers you have...

If you run a really really normal, regular skateboard company, you get picked up by a distributor and they take control of your process and make sure that you get into a higher-volume situation... If you're successful you die of a heart attack trying to keep it real in the high volume, or you sell out to curb appeal and just let the thing roll on fashion prestige...

As for us, we aren't even in that world. We have a little tiny workshop and a press and a screenprinting setup... we get our shirts right here in Cincinnati from TSC at whatever price they'll sell them to us for. Our hats come from Otto, for the deeper trucker hats, and our beanies are from TSC, cos they're softer.

We direct buy the separate veneers for our boards straight from Canada. Old Lew even speaks French to them! And they speak back! We have a spring trip to Canada to visit our wood source coming up. It's going to be epic.

So everything we do is done by hand. This takes us solidly out of the running for anything like "dominance" and pretty much extinguishes any hope of "high volume". But what it does do is make us proud of what we produce, and makes YOU glad there's a crew in the area that is committed to amazing quality and handmade DIY skateboarding.

We are on our second backyard ramp build this fall, as well, because wherever Fickle goes, we spread the stoke by installing the backyard element to the max.

Keep your eyes peeled for more Fickle Boards in your local shops, too. The time's drawing near. You'll know! Until then, get some sleep.

downgrading

Listening to Strummer today Old Lew decided that since Fickle Boards is on a production hiatus until our first batch drops, we are downgrading ours company from "Skateboard Production" to something more akin to a motorcycle gang.

Hmm... Is that a fit, though? For those of you up North who danced with us in the parking lot after the sesh at Ft. Wayne's Skatepark... To those of you who shredded Greencastle with us... Those of you who have sold hundreds of dollars of shoes to us as we pass through...
...do we seem tough enough to pass for "mortorcycle gang?" WE don't even have colors, unless you count the Slayer Slip-ons we got during the trip. And Bad Brains Skate Highs...

No. Motorcycle gang doesn't work.

Some of us voted for "Goon Squad", but Weston, Simpson, Ben, Native... they're just too danged SMALL to qualify as "Goons".

From there one of us shouted out "Kook Squad".

Yeah. That was a fit! All in favor... "Aye!"

"Kook Squad" it is!

Fickle Boards, your friendly regional Kook Squad. Working up amazing quality in humble dressings for your skate destruction enjoyment. We'll make the boards. You make the fun.

Again, we are producing in SMALL BATCH quantities, so watch for them.

If your truck holes aren't straight, just hammer the hardware so it goes into the baseplates! If the trucks are centered and go in the same direction, crooked holes aren't a defect! They're a custom-fit enhancement!

Hand Made, from veneer sheets to custom shapes...

You can't order them. Just keep eyes peeled. ...or just use peeled grapes... they are realistic, if you food color them and set them in a jar...

Bakuuuu!!!!

Get to know him before he's old enough to pillage your village! Seth, son of Matt, son of Simp... This kid is a road warrior par excellence, period. We had a blast with this little dude on the road trip with us. Check out more pics of mini madness at Sunshine's Blog over there to the right.

Don't miss Ben's thoughtful musings and Kris LInk's Heckraiser, as well... Fickle's working up the ethics.

Josh Viles at bloomington

we go out and kwaleb and sunshine pile up footy and pics and then we gotta figure out what to do with what, y'know? here's a scrap from matt's phone... ironic... viles is a ripper, and a good guuy.

Ben at Kokomo

thanks for the pic, sunshine.

check out his blog for fresh pics on the regs. fun stuff.

he's just a kid and much much more.

making skateboards....

what is up with fickle boards? we hear you guys are trying to make boards by hand in your little woodshop...

yes, we are! it's a journey of the soul and we don't know where its going. We don't need to. We don't need to know where we're going with skateboarding and neither do you. That's a fact.

The odds are that we'll find it a hard life, but a good one. One thing is for sure, there's no plan to make any boards but fickle boards, so you'll never have a batch that got rushed in order to fill some shop board order, or an order for another company. That right there is where the wood makers get slammed. The average wood company is putting out between 5 and 15 thousand boards PER WEEK. That could be 60,000 boards produced per month, for up to 400 brands... in each wood house.

Well, we have a day to live. Over here, we're hoping you live yours fearless and forward. proper.

Photo Leaks...

We got a ton of amazing clips and photos on our last trip. Check out Sunshine's blog to see some photos. Don't miss Ben's and Old Lew's writeups of the latest trip, either.

keeping you updated No. 34

Well, this is about our history. That's the cool thing about a free blog website. We can look back on these days in years and see what we were before we became whatever it is we're going to become.

As of the writing of this stuff, Old Lew has been on the phone to Canada and has brushed up on his french with some dear folks up there. Hardrock maple veneers are gonna be here very soon, and not in small supply. That's when the press will get dialed in, molds will get fine-tuned, and we'll start getting you guys rolling on our wood.

Don't miss the blog posts going on behind this blog. Ben posted. Lew posted, and there's a lot going on on twitter.

More soon.

Can you read the code?

I got a QR code reader on my phone... super cool. you point the camera at this thing and bam! it tells you all about us! Somebody totally wired in might do that for fun. Who cares? We don't know!

It was bloomington!

Bloomington IN was the first stop on Roadtrip 17. I forgot that one.

Here's what we love about Bloomington: super chill, super enthusiastic people like Ian at Amused. Ian flat out RRRRRIIIPPPPS, but doesn't exude that jock jaded air of elitism that can make a skateshop feel like guitar center. He and the other guy there (you are awesome but I forgot yer name but I know you won't mind) they really run a great, encouraging shop. And rippers? Man they got rippers up there.

As for us, my foggy recollection of that day has us pulling up in two waves, with van B going to Amused and van A having to skip it. Van A was plenty bummed about that.

At the park, Viles went straight to work destroying the coping in the big bowl. Weston perched himself atop many a grind and reverted himself with panacea, at will. Kris Link found out the lines. Brumley crushed stuff under his frontsides, while Native lubed the whole place with cool.  Ben handled everything there with sickness and style, throwing a crazy smith to revert on the right-hand hip of the pool-bowl. 

Ian brown, Matt Simpson, Old Lew, Riley, and the Pterasaur all played around.  Matt killed some stuff and Lew learned a new twist on his signature fly-out-based skate style.

Local ripper Dallas showed us man-sized control and a trick bag years deep.  We were stoked.

We left Bloomington for Greencastle after a good few hours.

Once we dial in wood we're proud of, we will make sure that Amused has enough.  We got some raves from up there. Hand made boards from fickle will probably get used up there on the edge....at least by US, because we are coming back again and again. 

Good vibes to Dreamland for putting up a quality park. Props to Amused for repping the reasons we first started. Really. Thanks.

Road trip number 17.

We spent three great days on the road this past weekend. We set out from 1320 Chase Ave. in Northside around 11am on Thursday.

It was a crew of 12 comprised of Van A and Van B.  Lew's van (calm) and Matt's van (crazy).  Van A featured a trip-long delight of great music and discussion. Van B played "Total Eclipse of the Heart" on loop for 2 days.

Among the mob were Native Nik, Tennessee Josh Viles, Weston Vickers, Ben Osborne, John Brumley, Kris Link (bowlripper), Sunshine (photography), Kwaleb (video), Ian Brown, Riley, Matt and Lew, and a little kid who was raised by pteradactyls on a solitary Japanese island...

We motored out and skated three parks Thursday...

first we skated at... well I don't remember.  I will have to write that one up later.

Greensburg? Greensville? Green something. It was a pretty epic park.  We will hit that one a million times for sure. Bikers there were cool to us and the kids rode their scooters.  the session ended with epic bowl to flow transfers by brumley, sickness aplenty from Viles and Weston, and mileage of style from Native and Ben.  Lew tried to pick fights but everyone knew he was packing a huge hunting knife in the small of his back, so fickle had the run of the place. 

we were flat out tired by the time we got to Major Taylor in IndiAnapolis. But the young bucks ripped that place in the midnight darkness... these youngsters can flat out see in the dark! Such illnesses were perpetrated! Old Lew and Matt were tuckered and we all crashed at a hotel in carMEL IN.

The next day we started off with the complete destruction of our  hotel rooms with imaginary battles between the King of Evil and the Prince of Good Guys. Pteradactyl Boy enlisted the help of Van B and vanquished his bearded nemesis with minimal effort. 

We packed out to the Rise Skate Shop in Carmel IN. Shoes were cheap. Shoes were bought. Slayer slip ons. Bad brains mids and highs. Vans. The brand skaters can trust. Started with hand made, serving skateboarding since longtimeago. 

Rise was kind and helpful and we hope them healthy. 

We hit the Carmel park.  Even old Lew got a piece there.  It was empty. We always have a blast.  Only like 2 locals were there.

Then we motored up to Ft Wayne.  Not. A. Mistake. maaaaaan, we saw more epicness in that session... we are still getting emails and Facebook messages from the cool folks of the frozen north. We welcome you all to balmy Cincinnati soon.

One cool as hell thing about this trip was the massive quantity of high-quality footage and photos we came home with. Is hell really that cool? Maybe only in the movies and on our vans slayer slip ons. But there is no doubt that it will take a stout heart to drop any clips on the cutting room floor. Good thing Lew always has a massive hunting knife hidden in the small of his back. Mass thanks to Kwaleb and Sunshine, who are quickly getting chops in their chosen trades.

There was a dance party in the parking lot after the Sesh. It was high calorie. Cheese puffs were thrown. olsen twins were sung along with (gimme pizza slow version), breakdancing on gravel, shirtlessness, hairy chests were bumped, non-hairy chests were bumped. Dragons were slain, ninjas were repelled, dreadlocks were flying everywhere.  who knew Lew was a dancer?

We retreated to a hotel closer to our next stop.  Van B, Still playing Total Eclipse of the heart on loop, went straight to bed. Van A, the calm van, headed to a local McDonald's to feast and behold the local late night gothic and special needs community out in full force. No kidding. Faces painted and strapped pants and all. Out in the cornfield. It got to feeling time for bed. Early morning saw us to sleep.

The morning attack by Pteradactyl Child was rendered particularly memorable by the employment of a sharpened pencil.  Full-on stabbing attacks were withstood, endured, and overcome by the Bearded King of Evil using his extensive training in the dark arts and the liberal brandishing of his ever present hunting knife. You don't stab the King, son. Nightmares for years and years? Not the Pteradactyl Child.  He flat out THRIVES on terror(izing you). 

We headed to Kokomo.  That park is sick. You know it. There were those among he who prepped up. Clips and shots were taken and gotten. You shall see.

We hit the road for major Taylor once more and finished off anything that was left of the coping on the big quarter. Seriously, Viles and Weston. Somebody's gonna have to pay the bill in the coping damage there.

No radness was neglected. No sickness left untouched. He boyos laid track, mang. Old Lew was left shaking before the great responsibility of hand making boards for these young soldiers of Gnar. 

That's what we returned to: a burden to start fresh crafting handmade boards of our best possible quality. At first they'll be rustic, but over time we will get them polished and shiny.  Whether fickleboards are amazing, mediocre, or poor depends on our Passion and growing technical know-how. No matter what, though, we simply cannot keep putting out cookie cutter popsicles and say they're made by us or made in Cincinnati. It's got to be done right no matter how small, poor,or hated it might make us.

But we found flat out nothing but love out there in the road. Thanks go out to YOUthe reader and rider and writer of your own story of movement on your board. Special thanks to locals who moved over a notch for us and let us take up your parks on our visits.

We would love to succeed and have a great line of wood available soon.  It looks good, but we are humans and must move at an honest pace. By spring, you'll be able to find rough-hewn fickleboards here and there. We are shooting for epic.

Pray for Jason Jessee. 

new era

this is it. we are so close we can taste it. it may be a couple of weeks, it may be a couple of months, but our new wood is for sure...

we are done ordering our wood from factories. from here on out, each Fickle board (for better or worse) is a hand crafted piece. Masterpiece? Well, we guarantee they'll be pieces of something.

We are shooting to outperform the consistency of mass-production, and put epic wood in your hands with each board.

How?

Well, first off, we don't have to put out 10 thousand boards a week to fill contract orders with huge distributors and clients. Second off, we don't have 400 shop and small company board orders to get out the door besides Fickle Boards.

Third, we're not sweating appearances. Look for us with Flat Blacks, Stencils, Simple screens, and stains for the beginning months/years. We're putting it all in the DIY basket, here. Folks shopping for candy graphics can enjoy many epic and historical companies. We suggest you try your luck with an Deluxe board from any of their companies. Some of that wood is still domestic. We heard that it's the ones with the "green layer". Dunno.

No matter what, you can count on anything we put out wood-wise to be handled by Lew and the crew here in our studio and workshop in Cincinnati.

We'll see you out there!

Lew (driving)
Weston
Ben
Native
josh
Kris Link
Brumley
Sunshine (Photography)
Caleb (filmer)

There's the present roster for our upcoming trip south...

Next Road Trip: GBR 2010

Fickle's on the road this October 14th through 20th, down to the GA bowlrider comp... We'll be camping in Columbus GA, and hanging out with the Doghouse crew... those guys are an interesting scene. we found much love amongst them over the last year or so... we can't wait to skate with all you all... y'all...

If you are on the road there, like knoxville or chattanooga or something, hit us up and let's try to get in a sesh... the crew is huge this time:

we're camping out and crashing with folks down there. it's epic all over again. thanks to all the folks who put us up and put up with us. Thanks to Mike Mills down there in the ATL area who always has been down with Fickle. Thanks to Will Boatwright for holding it down on the daily at Brookies...

We spent a goodly portion of last February on a road trip, camping out at Kona in Jacksonville, FL. Here are some notes from Weston's perspective. This year, we'll load up with a bunch of freshly pressed boards and go again in Feb. No kidding. the road trip, funded by quality handmade lumber, is the way to go.

update

this is old Lew.

we just skated at Louisville last night. yesterday, really. just till right before dark. it was real fun... i wore my army pants for the first time. it wasn't quite cold enough for hesh holiday...

well, I just wanted to let all of our friends out there know how things are going here at Fickle Corporate.

we are welding on the press, a little more each week, making trips to the steel supply store and designing and fabricating and having a blast creating a press that will last for years and produce amazing wood at longer lengths...

we are also more sure than ever that the skateboard wood market has gone completely insane. You see, I spend time on the phone and face to face with wood suppliers... some people make fun of how much phone time I spend... and I have more than "learned"... I've SEEN with my own eyes that the american skateboard wood market is a sick place.

sick in a bad way, that is.

I won't go into all of it, but this is why we're pressing our own from here on out. That means handmade boards. That means temp and humidity control. That means some custom shapes. That means artistic, custom finishes and a punk/DIY aesthetic. In other words, we're going to completely rock and completely suck at that same time.

We won't be pressing thousands of boards per week, like the majority of American Wood Houses. We won't have to spend time ignoring our wood customers and marginalizing the small guys, because we're only going to press Fickle Boards.

This shrinks us down, to some extent, but not really. We'll see... We think you are going to love our new wood, but we'll let you guys and girls be the judges. For sure, we're going to have the satisfaction of skating wood that our own hands have touched.

As it is, you can trust Fickle to be trying to do it right, and be sacrificing to get it right, the whole time. We just can't stand to be another "heat-transfer-on-a-popsicle-from-wherever-it's-cheapest" wood company. We are shifting the whole thing to be a company that makes your board fresh, in our own lab.

So keep looking for the new, Cincinnati-Pressed Fickle Wood this year. We aren't quitting, and we're sure you'll be stoked! Until then, we'll see you out there!

TNT sez trix are dumb.

9LIVES "Tony Trujillo" from Six Stair on Vimeo.

we got rippers. we do. okay.

but we all agree that TNT is spot on in this clip where he gets philosophical at the end and says that tricks aren't what skateboarding is about. Go Thirty. Enjoy the feeling of speed and flow. Learn to flow and carve and just RIDE. Side step the pissing contest about who is "best", and just do what you do, period.

We are stunned at how liberating and good for us skateboarding can be. Stunned.

Good Words from Matt...

Guess what boys and girls... we are getting very close to pressing wood right here in Cincinnati. No ordering from some big company that doesn't care about skaters (other than having someone to sell their crap to). We have been working with the only wood shop around that can deliver a high quality wood, and you know what? As good as that wood is, we need better. Why do we think we can do it better? Because we love skateboarding and we will skate the wood we make. What more motivation is there to do it right? We have the raddest crew. The may not be the "hardest" rippers out there (although some of them are). What they are is a crew that loves skating for skating, not for their newest youtube clip or video part. That is why you will only occasionally get lucky enough to get a flip cam or phone clip of us. We all love skating too much to stop and film. If you want to see us skate get off of your computer and get out to the park. We will spend our time skating and making the most solid board you will ever skate.

Josh Viles did some bonelesseses... please enjoy.

Ever skated with josh? Our pleasure.

Many Many thanks to Jamie Dahl, photographer, for these images. We are stoked.

We cannot escape the irony of that Cincinnati hat. Fickle Boards is HQ'ed in Cincinnati, but has home in so many other places. Thanks and shouts to Mountain Bike and Skate in Knoxville for taking GREAT care of Josh, as a rider. You guys are a rare example of a good sponsor. Josh, and all of us appreciate that greatly. Shouts to all heads in Knoxville who keep cheering our effort to break out the good wood.

NJ Skateshop Visit

Had a good visit. Scored a sweet tee shirt. Nice folks at NJ. Thanks Ryan.