Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Do You Do the Voodoo? -- Comet Voodoo Doll D2 Symmetrical Review

   The Comet Voodoo Doll D2 is aptly named, I say this because it is basically magic on downhills. I cannot explain how much of a tank this board is, its like riding down hills on table. This is the board that I have been seriously testing myself with on downhill, and I can say that I have never felt this confident on a board and going fast as hell. The D2 makes it easy to push yourself in all of your downhill desires.

Board Specifications
Pro's
Con's
Length: 36” Stable Heavy
Width: 10.25” Thick 1 set of mounting options
Wheelbase: 26-28.5” Slidey
Special features: Concave
Rocker
Symmetrical
Fast


Durable No tails

   The Voodoo D2, as I have said is incredibly fast. I cannot believe how stable this board is at speed, the most stable board I had before this was my Bhnagra, which still has a bit of flex to it, however, the D2 has NO flex to it. I remember pulling the D2 out of its box and being in shock about how heavy and thick it was.

   I bought the D2 as just a deck and not a completely customized complete, but I had enough wheel and truck options to try a few setups out. I tried paris 195mm trucks with orangatang durains, paris 180's and durians, and then tried paris 180's with orangatang 4 presidents 83a wheels and that has been my favorite combination so far. I also tried several bushing combinations, including divine, venom SHR, and Nipples, and I am currently rocking the medium nipples on my board, but want to upgrade to the yellow ones soon.

   The concave on the D2 is awesome! I feel like a lot of boards get a little too carried away with the concave on their decks and make it ridiculously deep. The D2 has the right amount, enough to really lock your feet into place, but not enough to hold them there permanently like a vice-grip. Which allows you to reposition your feet slightly when trying to transition between slide directions in a very smooth manner. I like having foot maneuverability as an available option while also knowing that I can put my feet in one spot and they will stay there if I want them to.

   There are two mounting options for one truck on this board, so you can decided to give your board the slightest bit of tail, or you can go for the fully symmetrical board. I personally chose to got for the symmetrical option, because I like coming out of 180 slide and know my switch slides will feel super similar.  I use my D2 for one purpose and for one purpose alone to go fast downhill. Which is why I went symmetrical with the set-up. I feel like the length of the board is really setup for hitting nasty slides. At 36 inches its a little smaller than alot of boards, but you don't really notice it going fast. The only thing the length does is chock your slides full of steeze. And who doesn't love that?
 
   If I ever wanted to take the board commuting or I wanted to do some freestyle/freeride with it I probably would have went with the little tail on the back. This would make dropping curbs much easier/possible and some sweet manual/shove it action would be very very possible. You can technically get some manuals on the board when its symmetrical, but obvious would be way easier if you have a tail to work with. Taking this board commuting though would be a bitch, cause it weighs about a bajillion pounds, haha. However you do feel like you run over everything from small pebbles to small children and not even notice it.

  Bottom line, would I recommend this board to someone looking for a campus cruiser? No, absolutely no. Would I recommend this board for someone looking to do some downhill and some serious freeride? YES!  A thousand times yes. This board has cast its voodoo spell on me and made me into a zombified hill crushing machine. I can't imagine a more fun board to go bat shit crazy fast on.

Any Questions, Comments, Concerns, words of Undying Love?
Love,
Wayne

My Current Setup:
Coment Voodoo D2
Paris 180mm trucks
Orangatang Nipple Bushings, Medium
Orangatang 4 President 70mm 83a Wheels
Bones Reds Bearings