Just when you were thinking "What's really good?"
Along comes the new Krux Velvet Downlow.
Take a gander at this sweet lookin' thang:

I know. Black on a black background is hard to see.
Check the close up.

Sure they look tasty, but wait till you feel that soft velvet slide along that 16 stair rail you've been wanting to grind.
But don't take my word for it. Run on down to your local shop and feel a pair for yourself.
You won't be disappointed.
In stores July 1st.

When we were in Croaita, Slovenia and Italy Louie's homeboys Giovanni and Giovanni took us to all the spots. I'd call them tour guides but what they really are is homies to the heart.
We had a full article on our trip in the May issue of the Skateboard Mag but Giovanni (Duece) sent me these photos and they're so nice that I wanted to make a little blog out of it.
Here's a photo of Silas Baxter Neal flipping Giovanni the bird. You can see Gio in the reflection.


Next up we have Captain Lou.
Buisness Lou was our liasion to all things Itlalian (Birra Morretti).
This is a funtain in Spilt Croatia.

Whoops! I mispelled fountain but "funtain" sounds more like it.

This is the other Giovanni (aka Stage Dive).
He're you can see him and Louie in charracter for our Ice commercial (see it at kruxtrucks.com). If you look close you can see the Ice truck in the window of that jewelry shop. This was in Ljubijana Slovenia.


Here's another one of Silas. I'm guessing that that's a Birra Moretti in front of him. So photogenic!


This is Ronald (me).
I'm lookin' a little hungover in this photo. Postin' up in front of the mediterranean with the phone from the Ice commercial. Split Croatia.


Here we are in our lovely tour van. Looks like Caswell and Brian are on different sides of the energy spectrum.


Here's a shot of our esteemed photographer Brian Uyeda trying to bust a nut...open.


This was probably the hottest move of the trip. Caswell with a nosegrind on this savage Slovenian hubba.


Thanks to the Giovannis for everything!!!
ronald

After the recent posts about the new Krux Velvet Downlows I had a few shredders hit me up with some queries like: "How do they grind?" and "Does the Velvet tear?"

Good questions.
So I set up a pair and took them to the streets! (ok, the skatepark)

Right off the bat they grinded super fast. Like when you have a brand new pair of painted trucks.
I took 'em to the ledge, I took 'em to the flatbar. I even took them into the bowl and slashed the pool coping. They ground perfectly on everything.
50-50's, 5-0's, feebles, crooked's: no problem. Whalebone throws down R+D like that.
Here's a shot of a 5-0.


Now I normally ride the 4.0's and have only ridden downlows on other teamriders' boards, so I brought my old board as a backup. I never even touched it. I was having a blast and my new ride felt really light. I don't know if I'm going to switch to the downlows but I'm thinking about it.

The other quetion was "Does the velvet tear?"
Answer: Not at all.
The velvet isn't a piece of cloth. It's applied like paint so it only comes off where you grind it; like a normal truck.

Here's a photo of my truck after the sesh:


No tearing or anything.

Check the close up.


So there you have it. They grind awesome as do all Krux but in a way these new Krux Velvet Downlows may, in fact, be "The Smoothest Grind".

Bonus skate shot:


Here we have "The Whalebone" on a Creature "Gore" 7.6 with some Ricta 51 Naturals and the new Velvet Downlows. Jersey by NorCal .

Well, me and my boy Jason Strubing (aka: Justin Strubings brother, aka: Jason from Skateworks) went on down to checkout the Circa premeire on Friday. Standard Hollywood skate affair. "Star studded cavalcade" is the first term that comes to mind. Schmoozing with Attiba in the lobby, Koston sightings...I thought I saw Vincent Gallo for a second but it was really Jim Greco. Vincent Greco?
I went to checkout Colt Cannon and Windsor James' parts and hang with the boys.
The video is tasty but I"m just gonna throw out one spoiler and leave it at that: "Ender ender".

I love my new camera. A few 7 and 7's and I just start snapping away...
Ghost like who?

Here's a photo of Colt and I. Not my best photo. We hung with him most of the night. Good times!

Next up we have Billy Roper and his lady.

Always nice hangin' with the Ropes.
Next up. Man of the hour. Windsor James!

I'm going to go ahead and deem his part "tasty". It truly is. But hey don't take my word for it, peep vid.
This is for the aspiring shredders out there: When you make it big and you're at your video premiere, about to reveal 3 years footage of hardwork, rock your sneaks like Windsor:

The video was good. Everyone seemed in a good mood and the night went well on through the night.
Highlights for the Bone include jocking pro skaters Ryan Smith and Sierra Fellers and having my phone stolen.
Had to throw in one more shot of Windsor and this pretty girl.

Thanks Circa, thanks Hollywood, thanks Detroit Pistons for setting off the night proper!

Sun Diego held an awesome KFC this last Saturday May 13th and they had quite a crowd and an arsenal of kickflipin', kick ass skaters!
One of many skaters to sign up for the KFC at Sun Diego in hopes to claiming the title

Gabe Ryan pulled 27 kickflips in round one but only 8 kickflips in round 2... not enough to claim the title at a powerhouse shop like Sun Diego. But good job on chokin' big guy!

Marius Syvanen going big at the KFC! He took 2nd place with 28 kickflips in round 1 and a whoppin 91 kickflips in the final.. but still not enough to win. (Note to self: I wonder what he's pointing at? Looks like how baseball players point at the outfield fence before the smack down a homerun. :Note to self is now over)

And last in the news but not last in the KFC Challenge, Mr. Wes Kremer shownin' everyone else how you gotta do it to be the KFC Champ at Sun Diego Skateshop! He pulled 47 Kickflips in round 1 and a HUGE 114 kickflips in Round 2. Maybe you gots to be wearin' the headphones to win. I wonder what he was listening to? Kelly Clarksten, Limp Bizkit or something that is actually good? What's good? Whatever the heck Wes was listening to is what's good.

So a big congrats to Wes for being the KFC Champ and not chokin' at the Krux Kickflip Challenge... let's see if you can beat "The Bone". Probably.. his bones are startin' (and I said "startin'") to become old bones, haha! Just kidding Ron! We know you'd win!
Here are some more photos of some of the KFC finals:


Apparently this little monster did some 30+ Kickflips in Round 1.. I think it must be Nick... but I could be wrong! Good job guy!

Here are the KFC Sun Diego Results Finals:
1st - Wes Kremer: 47 kickflips in round 1/114 in round 2
2nd - Marius Syvanen: 28 kickflips in round 1/91 in round 2
3rd - Mark Castro: 10 kickflips in round 1/30 in round 2
4th - Nick Svarez: 32 kickflips in round 1/25 in round 2
5th - Aaron Powell: 21 kickflips in round 1/18 in round 2
6th - Tyler Marrett: 30 kickflips in round 1/7 in round 2
7th - Oscar Mendez: 15 kickflips in round 1/6 in round 2
8th - Gabe Ryan: 27 kickflips in round 1/8 in round 2
9th - Dean Davis: 10 kickflips in round 1/3 in round 2
10th - Steve Shipler: 14 kickflips in round 1/0000 in round 2 (biggest KFC Finals Choke)!! Sorry Steve!
A big shout out to Sun Diego for hosting a bad ass KFC this year! Thanks guys!

Here's a list of Krux Kickflip Challenges happening this weekend:
Friday May 19th : Prestige Skateboards in Boide, ID
Friday May 19th : Northwest Snowboards in Olympia, WA
Saturday May 20th : Northwest Snowboards in Tacoma, WA
Sunday May 21st : Snowboard Connection in Seattle, WA

Do you have what it take to be the next Krux Kickflip Challenge Champ?? Go find out!