ISSA - International Slalom Skateboarding Association

The C-81 is our new fome core slalomboard. The deck is really stiff, 81cm long and 22 cm wide. There is no real concave: it is flat, but there is a lip which is like a gas pedal. The camber is 1.5cm. Most people use it with a 110mm tracker race x or tracker b2 in the front and airflow OS-truck 110mm in the back. I love it with b2's and 129mm OS-truck. Ride it with Abec11 Gumballs or 3dm Avalons or Avilas and you will love it!



This board won the Pro GS at the Slalom World Cup 04 in PAris

Just a better picture:


rmn

Hi, it looks as though there are two possible wheelbases.
I heard about a 62cm wheelbase, what is the other one ?

And by the way what type of pads do you use to prevent wheelbyte with big wheels (avallon - avilla) does a single angled riser pad suffice ?

The two wheelbases are 62cm and 60cm.

Of course it is possible to ride Avilas if you put on risers like that:




rmn

ok, thanks.
60 is good, is that the setup you rode for the paris world cup ?

Yes, I rode the smaller one in Paris, because the GS in Paris had some hard offsets. I usually ride the bigger wheelbase with a 129mm OS truck and a RT-X 106. (In Paris I had the smaller wheelbase and a 110 OS truck)

rmn

How is the wheelbase measured inner truck bolts or axle to axle ?

It's the middle of the base to the middle of the base.
Inner truck bolts measured would be ~56.5cm and ~53cm.

rmn

One last thing, you also have an airflow truck on the front, what is it ?

... the front truck looks like a painted Tracker RT-X to me with an Airflow sticker.
I have to paint my Trackers in yellow to confuse you guys pretending that they are Magnesiums...LOL

yoyo

Right Yoyo! It's Just a black painted RT-X with an Airflow sticker. I put Airflow stickers on every truck....

rmn

Ah, ok
Dumb question then.

these different ways of counting wheelbase is a perpetual source of confusion ...

Usually what we skaters define as "wheelbase" is wrong when actually referring to the "truckbase".
Every truck has a different geometry, which turns out to a different wheelbase on the same deck.
Measuring the inner truckholes would be the true "truckbase" / (wheelbase for the layman).
My 2c on this.

YOYO

Well usually i count from closer drillings, about 6 cm under the "average" that is considered here (used by Swiss shops). Most american online shops do that, don't they ?
(Of course the "real" wheelbase vary with trucks.)
This actually confused me, i thought this deck had a longer wheelbase like the "Freerider69" and "Raceline71" used to.

But if you are talking about the deck only you have to measure by truck holes....

rmn

Yesterday I got my new Airflow C81 equipped with Rt-X in the Front , Rt-S Offset in the back, Grippins 84a/92a, wedged risers 11°.

IT ROCKS !!!!!! Like riding on rails !!!!!!

Good Job, Chris !!!!!

hallo carsten


Mein Freitag ist gerettet. Danke für Dein kompliment.
Hofe Dich also in Antibes zu sehen .
gruss chris

I can't go to Antibes, but I will be in Brixlegg/ Austria next weekend for the OldSchoolSkateJam . On Sunday there is the Blitzrace Slalom event with 1000,-Euro price money and lots of sponsor stuff.
Hopefully the weather in Switzerland this weekend is fine, so we are able tu use your start ramps for the contest ?!
cheers,
Carsten

Hi Carsten

The Mad Cow Boardercross is allredy done last sunday with perfect
conditions. Sunshine happy riders beer and this in the middle of the bigest city of switzerland zürich. That mins, you will ride from the
Airflow starting ramp at the slalom in brixleg.
cheers chris

www.airflow-skateboards.com

That sounds good ! We will have lots of fun ! Me and Heiko will arrive appr. around 5pm....check in at the Hotel....and have beer, beer , beer with the "legends".

is it to long to be ridden on a TS corse?

Not it isn't. I just tried it on a very tight course and it works great! It's just a question of your truck setup.

Modify your RT-X like that:



...put an Airflow 110 in the rear....



and run Wheels with centerset or turn them "inside-outside":




or just put a narrow truck like an Airflow 95 on your board.

rmn[/img]

Hi Ramon,

as i always told you "inside outside".
Ramon is riding a tight of 1.2m and super offset!!
I am impressed.

how is the RTX modifiyed?
how can I do it?

The only visible "modification" of the RTX in the picture is a wedge under the base plate. If you're not familiar with wedging your trucks, just remember that for slalom, the thick ends of both front and rear wedges will point towards the tail. This increases turning in the front truck and decreases it in the rear, making the front looser for getting through cones and making the rear stick better. For general longboardiing, both wedges are usually placed with the thick end towards the middle of the board, increasing turning in both. The other wedge issues have to do with how much wedge you need for the desired effect. You'll just have to try it out and see.

Take my advice with a grain of salt. It may be that I don't know WTF I'm talking about

cameron, there are some extra washers under the bushing. that makes the hanger turn more...

Right Martin. The extra washers and two "cone" bushings make the truck a lot more agile.

rmn

O.K thanks
I may try doing that on other RTX's I have

I tried turning my wheels inside out (alavons) and it does kinda turn tighter, but there is not as much traction as I want, because I have been sliding when I don't want to slide, maybe I will just get some center set wheels.

I had one shipped to me at Da Farm. A lot of people liked it for sure. I have it set-up with some Seismics for now.

Will do some testing in Colorado and hope to add a Split-fire to the rear while I'm there.

Hi!
well a question from Barcelona's GS and city riders:::
this will maybe my next set up:: (so i need the recomendation of pros&friends..)
the c81 with::
- airflow 129mm OS and RTS 129 mm ( do u recommend a smaller truck on the front? and if i use both RTS 129?
and gumballs (by d way, what are the correct duros for rear&front wheels?¿
And can i have a "nice" pump with this truck size on flat surfaces? because it will be also a freeride city board..
To finish, I'm a lightweight (65 kg.), so the stiffness of the board will be like a rock or can I flex it a little bit while compressing... I used to ride an Airflow RL71 and later an Indiana Chief 85, so I'm new on this kind of material..

I'll hear your hardware posts and tunning recommendations with attention (mainly 'cos i won't buy the board until knowing a little bit ,,,it's an expensive one and i hope it's worth it)

Cyann Ochoa

Hi Cyann,

First of all a warm welcome to you. We've been hoping for Spanish riders to one day show up and race with us, but we've heard very little from you all! We'd all be delighted to hear what you're up to.

About the C81. This is my experience but it won't answer all your questions, so I invite others to join in.

I use it for GS with a Tracker RTS (106 mm) rear and RTX front. I intend to switch to an OS truck rear, but I just haven't gotten around to it. I think this is quite a common setup. You can see it on Ramons pictures above too. There you see how a 109mm truck fits the width of the deck.

I always use the 3dm range of wheels. Avalons being my standard choice of wheels. The Avilas with their larger diameter is probably faster in some GS cases and I think I would then use the trimmed Avilas and I consider the untrimmed a bit tooo wide.

The board is very stiff. It's not a such and surfy longboard style board like many of the other Swiss boards. This is a hard core racing machine. I don't think it flexes for me and I weigh 20 kg more than you! I think you'll find it hard as a rock, but that's exactly what I want for racing.

You'll definitely be able to pump it on flat as well as on slopes. It's a good allround board although it's a bit too long for tight courses. Some of the amateurs like to use it on basically all courses because the am courses tend to be a bit easier with longer cone distances than the Pro courses.

As a general cruising board you need to be a bit careful with it. It's got very thin edges and it won't like hitting curbs here and there. Also when you stand with the board upright you don't really want to have it hit the asphalt. It's a performance race machine and that's what it does best!

See you!

/Jani

Wow thats definitley a quick and hopeful answer, and mainly, yes this wont be my cruisin n GS board, maybe to "racing style, very specialized, not for "hardcore and dirty" use" (waiting arg to change my opinion),,, so i ill try such a different board, Aiflow RL81, with 129mm trackers, not tu run tight cones, but sure for a good locomotion&fun needing.

anyway, does anybody had tried the RAptor BX and TomHawk from indiana?¿ or a forum where i can find specs n comments,,,

u see, im not a TS racer, but i love to pump around nd do some amateur GS,,, we are like 10 in the crew, every tuesday on the barcelona´s hills (montjuic, pearson st.) so u can join us if u visit the city!



cheers!


cyann

Don't tell Chris, but outside of the courses I use my C81 as a cruisingboard and I love it!

Of course it's main purpose is GS but I just put a lot of wedged risers under my front truck and then you can run really tight courses as well. The board is superstiff, which makes it work great at higher speeds, so apart from being a true race machine I use it for cruising, sliding and DH.

The stiffness does make it less 'surfy' than a soft board with a lot of camber, but that kind of board won't do that well in courses.

As Jani said the edges are a little fragile, but they will definately take a hit or so without breaking. If you intend to use it as an everyday board just put some protective ducttape along the edge. I did that at the tail so that it won't be worn out and it works great!

Aloha Cyann

Barcelona is one of the european cities I would really like to go to: next year perhaps Happy to see there is all kind of skaters there.

as Jani said the C81 is a "performance" board, light and stiff to go fast
so it's definiely not the same as a flex wood board, but if you know how
to pump and carve, it's a great toy!
So of course it's a race board, but as said Marcus it's also a good freeridin' board
No problem to use it where usually I would have ride with a longboard.
(I've been in Zurich last week end and did a session with Chris Hart
and Ramon. I borrowed Ramon's C81 to go freeridin' on the road going downhill to the lake - the board was mounted with 106 RTX front truck and OS airflow rear truck, even with this quite narrow truck I enjoyed cruisin' these little alpine downhill).
If you protect the edges, it's a solid board.

(Contrary to most of the others people writin' here I'm not part of the Airflow team - anyway you can trust them - I 've raced on C81 before. I'm now riding Pavel sk8boards, the shape are differents but they have in common that they are light, stiff and kind of wedges to block your feets. This is a good concept!)

i already ordered the board with a friend who lives in switz, so..

-markus, whats ur set up? do u recommend me 129 mm or 110 (mainly cruisin n GS, i dont need to get trough tight cones..) and u slide with these board?, i just thougth that was too short for it... well i should try it..
by the way, are the OS trucks designed "not-to-slide" and to have a good rear traction? or is just a matter of wheels? and what do u think of putting RTS on both sides?
all my doubts ill banish soon,,,, when i ride it..

A great value answers... merci!

I'm using Radikal trucks and since you can change the width of them by using different axels it's hard to tell what truck to use. Sometimes I use them narrow, other times wide...

Also it depends on what wheels you intend to use. Some wheels are centerset which means you need a wider truck, others have side set hubs and then you need narrower truck.

The board is kind of wide so I should probably go for the 129mm trucks if I were you.

I should also use rtx in front and rts i rear. It's not a very big difference I think, but why not have a rtx in the front? The board will become more lively and that's what you want I believe...

The OS truck is designed for racing, to maximize grip and to follow the front truck. I don't think that's what you are looking for.

Good luck!

Hi all !

Here is mine... one of my favorite deck ( up to now... ), very stiff, no flex but very versatile.

I 've used it during Hannover special slalom's ( tracker combo 106mm + manx wheels ) and during St Germain super G ( tracker combo 129mm + avilas trimmed ). I also use it for cruising in Paris with my son on my back, and to go working every day !!!!

My actual set up is trackers RT-X / S 106mm and avilas trimmed ( 76A / 80A ). I found something cheap to protect it ( about 5 euros a meter ), as you can see on pics, no need of glue !
If you want to compete : Go for it.... If you want to carve and cruise on something different ( and a bit expensive ) : Go for it !!!!

ps : I dedicate my "S" sticker to Jani ( souvenir from Stockholm... )

uuuhhhmm so finally i got my board,,, my "swiss conection" in basel didnt found it a C81, but he bought me a nice (but not so rockin board ) that im proud of:: fibretech raceline 78 cm, fibre-wood and concave!, i really liked the shape but not soo much the set up that a swiss folk recommended to my friend:: aluminium seismic 130 mm 45`rear (shiit!), n front gtruck with blue avalon 68 cm and bones.
great pump n carve, a little bit loosey on DH.

lookin forward to put the pictures in other index.


...but thanks for the reviews... and cheers!

Basel Beach Mountain should have a C81...but well, it's too late now.

rmn

it is never to late to ride a C81
If anyone would like to try a C81 please contact me
cheers chris

check it out!
www.airflow-skateboards.com/movies/c81.mov

(2 years ago)

chris

hello everybody is it possible to ride
c-81 for spécial slalom I 've already the deck
I ride it with indy 101 with white khiro bushing and tuner TTC
I gone take a set of Radikal do you think it will be a nice set up with
avalons wheels

thanks

Sure! Sounds like a very nice, agile setup!

rmn

ok thanks
I'll try it
and I'll send pics