ISSA - International Slalom Skateboarding Association

Hi, as the Fibreflex thread is pretty much dead now, I put my thread here. I bought this Fibreflex slalom skateboard from Ebay. Do you know which model this is and when it was built? Was this one of the re-issue decks at the beginning of the 2000s or could it be a deck from the 90s? Hopefully you can help me, I searched through lots of forums from other internet sites already, but without success.

Hey Dan, I don't know the model name but I'm guessing by looking at the "new school"(I hate that term by the way) hole pattern drilled into your deck (I'm guessing the "Old-pattern" that currently has those Seismics mounted in them was done with 2 extra holes drilled after purchase to accomodate those and any other slalom/downhill trucks since generally slalom/downhill does not use the "new school" hole pattern), that your deck is one of the more recent fiberflex reproductions made after they quit making serious slalom decks. I think they went back to that extra camber too. G&S started making those after "serious slalomers" quit riding cambered decks and started using the much stiffer and flatter (but concave) slalom decks in use today. That transition started slowly after all of us watched Italian Luca Giammarco show up with tremendous jet-lag to San Luis Obisbo/Morro Bay in 2003 with a 1970's era solid oak kicktail deck with simple but slightly rebuilt late-70's/early-80's European trucks and just about take the World Title using the same setup in every event and only changed his truck adjustments (and maybe) his wheels (maybe not). A few people labelled a "freak" for that, but slowly a few of us at a time started catching on as to why Luca is soooooooo fast and consistent, it's because his board has no camber, no flex and it reacts instantly and very predictably.
He does however race on maybe one or two other decks once in awhile, it has been documented but generally he used/uses that same old oak deck for consistency.

On the flipside, that deck really could be 1970's vintage that I'm familiar with but I doubt it.

Also, here's a heads-up: Put an Indy, Tracker RT-X(not the "S") up front and negative wedge that Seismic in back 5-10 degrees(with a sharp edged wedge riser pointing forward). Seismic trucks are not very good in front for exactly the same reason they are a pretty good truck in back. In slalom, the front and back trucks do two different things so you don't really want the same thing for both ends.

Someday, those black plastic Seismics will be a collector's item so keep 'em and keep 'em in good shape.

Adios - Paul.

Thanks for your long answer and input on the slalom development, Paul! I didn't really know those reasons for the change in construction of slalom boards over the years. I love the flex and camber of the Fibreflex, I recently set it up with new Bennett Alligators and I will definitely try out your suggestion for a Tracker truck in the front. By the way, those older Seismic trucks are still up for sale very cheap on the German Amazon site. I also bought those trucks for my 70s Banzai Aluminium skateboard a while ago.
Note on the picture below: I recently found this very similar looking Fibreflex from the 90s on the internet. The Jim Gray Fibreflex Model looks pretty much identical in shape, colorway and both have camber, only the sticker on my deck looks different. Maybe my deck is a later reproduction of this Jim Gray Slalom Model.

Thanks again, greetz Daniel

Daniel Schickentanz wrote:By the way, those older Seismic trucks are still up for sale very cheap on the German Amazon site. I also bought those trucks for my 70s Banzai Aluminium skateboard a while ago.

Be aware that there were two manufacturers of those early Seismic trucks. One by Seismic and one by Seismic's partner in Germany. I recall they weren't equal, although coming from the identical blueprints.

/Jani

Dennis's Picture - Small world, I know Dennis Allgeier, and he would likely know since he collects a lot of stuff and really tries to collect Fiberflex decks. I didn't think about the 1990's Jim Gray model, so the deck you have very well could be from that run in the 1990's.

Adios - Paul