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Santa Cruz Graphite Loaded Deck - 1989

Posted: Sat Jul 12, 2008 3:54 pm
by Harvey Mills
Hi Guys

Does anyone know about the construction of these boards- ie what does 'graphite loaded' actually mean?

Many thanks...

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/19553644@N08/2661228850/" title="148984127_o by harvey.mills@btinternet.com, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3064/266 ... 3812_o.jpg" width="513" height="768" alt="148984127_o"></a>

Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2008 12:19 pm
by Chris Eggers
Hi

I own a Santa Cruz "H-Bomb" graphite loaded deck. It has green layers between the plys.
I believe it is some sort of carbon layer.
It was bought well before 1989, late seventies I think. I remember it was very expensive.
I bought it in England back then, at Surrey Skateboards.

I think carbon is some kind of graphite. Maybe someone can explain it.

Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2008 12:26 pm
by Harvey Mills
Thanks for the reply Chris.

Yeah, I wondered if it was a sandwich construction, with carbon fibre layers between maple ply.

Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2008 12:32 pm
by Chris Eggers
I cannot post a photo. I can send you one via email if you want. It does not have the original graphics though. These peeled off.

Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2008 12:45 pm
by Harvey Mills
That'd be great Chris - thanks. Be very interested to see it.

Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2008 12:49 pm
by Chris Eggers
...on its way........

Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2008 2:41 pm
by Harvey Mills
Got it thanks, Chris - thats a great looking board - very sweet shape. Does it flex much?

Posted: Wed Jul 16, 2008 1:17 pm
by Chris Eggers
no. it doesn´t. it is kind of narrow. i like it but i don´t use it anymore´....

Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2008 3:37 am
by Wesley Tucker
"Graphite loaded" was simply Santa Cruz's way of describing the inclusion of the new and radical carbon graphite fiber. When the boards were introduced in 1978 about the only thing then using CG was F-16 fighter planes, skis and tennis rackets. (I exaggerate . . . but not much.)

Unlike the FiberFlex Bowtuff, the Santa Cruz boards were maple/glass laminates BUT also had glas in between each layer of maple. (FFs were glas/maple/maple/maple/glas, SCs were glas/maple/glas/maple/glas/maple/glas.)

Whether or not each layer also had CG reinforcement I do not know. What I do know is that on the top and bottom of the board is a three-inch wide strip of CG cloth under the resin.

Having ridden FibreFlexes for three years and Turner SummerSkis for one when I got my H-Bomb in '79, I could immediately feel the difference. FFs were "squishy" and felt very soft. Turner's were snappy and flexed very accuratly and returned to shape immediately coming out of a turn. The H-Bomb was a compromise between the two: the flex was not as precise as the SummerSki (a little squishy but not much,) but the return was much more dynamic than the FibreFlex.

The lineal descendant of the Santa Cruz boards are the Roe PS Series. They feel exacltly the same way as my H-Bomb did 30 years ago. The only difference is Gareth offered them in various thicknesses and thus varying flexes. The FibreFlexes and Santa Cruz boards were one-size-fits-all. That meant my 160-pound teenage frame didn't really flex the board quite as much as Henry Hester's 225 pounds.

Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2008 1:49 pm
by Harvey Mills
Great, thanks Wes - thats cleared that up. Had my suspicions about the layered construction but didn't realise about the 3" strip of cloth top and bottom.

Posted: Sun Mar 01, 2009 2:08 pm
by John Davies
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Here is Jake Phelps' review of the Santa Cruz Graphite Loaded Slalom board in the October 1989 issue of Thrasher magazine.

Posted: Mon Mar 02, 2009 3:42 am
by Pat Chewning
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I can see the carbon fiber inside my Santa Cruz slalom deck from approx 1978.....

Posted: Mon Mar 09, 2009 6:49 pm
by John Davies
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Here's the Santa Cruz advert that appeared in the January 1990 issue of Thrasher.