A
New Beast Rises! – Original Drop Beast Review
Long ago in the days of ancient Greece there was once a monster known
as the Original Beast. This dark evil beast had the head of a lion and two
tails. It looked something like this….
Well the legendary Hero Waynanidas saw this monsterous beast and knew
what he must do! He confronted the Beast and thoroughly shredded it to pieces (http://longboard-life.blogspot.com/2012/02/beastiality-original-beast-freeride.html)!
The victorious hero thought that he had nothing left to do but celebrate with
months of festivities. Which is exactly what he did!
However, during his celebrations Waynanidas didn’t notice that a new
was Beast spawning. This new Beast dropped from the very sky above and became
known by the local people as the “drop beast.” When Waynanidas heard this news
he knew that once again he must shred this beast!
The new Original Drop Beast is
a cut above the rest. I liked the older version of the Beast but this one is
something else entirely. The lowered platform with the new concave is
everything I could have hoped for. However, before we do anything else, let’s
talk about the specifications of the new Original Dropped Beast.
Specs:
|
Original Drop Beast
|
Length
|
41in
|
Wheelsbase
|
30-31in (depending on Trucks)
|
Width
|
10in
|
Drop
|
0.95in
|
Special Features
|
Double Drop, Symmetrical, Waist, Double Kicks
|
The Dropped Beast is a board centered around freeride, which for those
of you who aren’t sure what freeride means, it is a type of riding that
involves lots of powerslides and creativity while heading down a hill. The Drop
Beast comes in two lengths 41 and 44 inches (which means there is not a 38in
option in this version of the Beast, like there was in the older version). The
deck is stiff, has a waist, drop-through mounting, a dropped platform, and two
kicktails. All of which make the Drop Beast a very versatile board that can
handle its own in many different styles of riding. This makes it a very good
choice for an all-around board that can handle some serious challenges when
it’s time to get down and dirty on the hills.
Commuting:
The very first day I rode my
Drop Beast was for push race in Charlotte, NC and I’m talking the very first
time I even rode it. One of the things I really like about this Beast is that
it is SO low to the ground. It makes pushing it around town totally easy. The
race I took it to was a 5 mile push race on a pretty flat course and riding the
Drop Beast after always riding taller boards made the race too easy! I felt
like I could push all day long and not feel a thing.
Freestyle:
The Drop Beast wasn’t
necessarily designed to be a freestyle board specifically, however, the
addition of two massive kicktails on the board make it a freestyle machine
anyways. Although kicktails are becoming more and more of a trend in all types
of boards, they have only recently started being added to freeride boards.
Kicks have been coming out in all sorts of shapes and varieties lately and
Original got it right with their kicktails. They have a ton of pop to them! I
love hitting things like shove-its and tiger claws on the Drop Beast, I have
even hit some ollies on this board because the tails have so much pop.
The Drop Beast is such a low
riding son of a gun that is great for downhilling! You feel like you’re
standing on solid ground and not on a skateboard flying downhill when you’re
going fast on this board. The drop platform altered the concave of this board
when compared to the previous models of the beast. Instead of the platform
feeling like you’re standing in a tube, due to the concave, the drop platform
flattened it out a bit. Now you have two foot spots and edges where the
platform meets the drop. The result is a very stable feeling board no matter
the speed you are hitting.
Freeride:
Freeride is where the Drop
Beast is truly at home! Like I mentioned above it is a board designed for
freeride, so this is naturally where it naturally excels. The drop platform is
exceptional at holding your feet in place for long slides. Which was honestly a
little counter-intuitive to me because I thought having more concave in the
deck would lock me in better, however, being able to push your feet up against
the point where the drop meets neck of the deck is fantastic. Instead of having
to install a footstop on your board like lots of people do on their freeride
setups… the board has two built right in.
In addition to having two great footstops and an awesome platform to
slide from the tails bring your freeride game up a notch as well. You can work
on awesome slides from the tails, hit wheelie slides, and do all sorts of things
that only a tail can offer you. The Drop Beast is just such a great freeride
board and has actually moved to the top of my freeride favorites, which was a
pleasant surprise.
I absolutely would. I liked this board a whole lot more than the older
model of the Beast and have found that it has become one of my go to boards for
many situations. I even hit my first real bigspin on the Drop Beast, so that
was exciting. This new strain of Beast can really do it all, commute,
freestyle, push, downhill, and freeride. Freeriding the Drop Beast was a dream
come true. My slides feel more controlled and are significantly longer. If you
are looking for a board that can do a little bit of everything but that has a
flare for freeride then look no further than the Original Drop Beast.
Any Questions, Comments, Concerns, Death Threats, Chain Mail???
Send it my way!
Wayne
Send it my way!
Wayne
My Favorite Setup:
-Original Drop Beast 41
-Paris 195mm Trucks
-Orangatang Baluts 72.5mm 83a Purple
-Orangatang Nipples Medium Purple
-Bones Redz
