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MOTTO — Make it Your Own On the surface (no pun intended!), grip tape is something that is so fundamental to skateboarding, it’s a wonder that customization hasn’t come sooner. Those who saw the rider profile on Steve Lange in our 2008 Buyer’s Guide were able to see first hand his work with grip tape. Rob Riley and his company Motto are changing the face of skateboarding by offering customized grip tape. I began my interview with Rob about what led to his working grip tape customization. “Back in 2002, I worked on a big project creating stencils for Burton Snowboards that really fueled the idea to collaborate with independent artists in bringing back grip customization from the Dogtown days,” Rob recalls.
Like others, Rob sees customizing grip tape at the heart of skating. “You set up your own deck the way you want it, and with Motto we just brought that customization to the grip tape.” Rob believes that customizing grip tape is a way to further express your own creativity. Rob sees it as a collaboration when skaters put down an artist’s grip tape design and then add their own art to it. “I really enjoy the ability that Motto has to work with so many people on their own ideas. If there is a really good skate scene in a specific area, there tends to be a lot more creative influence and more customization either by individual riders or the shops themselves.”
Motto uses the Internet to help them connect with artists all over the world who want to see their art get out there. An important part of Motto is featuring the original art of independent artists. Local skate shops are also very important to Motto, and a big part of Motto’s mission is to help them grow. “We see skate shops as a key element in building the skate community we love,” says Rob. Shops and companies can also have Motto create their own customized grip tape at Motto’s website, which also features artists’ grip tape and stencils for purchase.When I asked Rob about his most memorable project, the first thing he mentioned did not concern a skateboard, but rather a lab - the Oakley Rolling Lab, to be precise. It seems the eyewear company wanted to lay down extremely complex patterns of laser-cut grip  tape on all its floors and stages. As Rob recalls, “Laying down large, interlocking puzzles of grip tape under a tight deadline was a brutal but rewarding experience.” emotto.com
ROAROCKIT — Laminate Your Own Skate Deck It’s one thing to get your own unique image on a deck or a customized grip tape job; it’s quite another to completely design your own deck, from the laminates on up. Enter Roarockit. Roarockit was started by Ted Hunter and his wife, Norah Jackson. He initially got involved with the product after having some success with skate-building courses in Hawaii back in 2001.“After figuring out the process and helping each of the 25 students make their own decks from scratch, I wanted to share the experience with skaters everywhere by creating a builder’s kit,” he says. Ted and Norah believe that skaters want more choices. They believe that factory-produced decks don’t always offer the exact right deck for an individual. Unlike simply choosing different hardware and attaching it to a premade deck, the Roarockit kit allows builders to custom-build the deck itself. As Norah explains, “This means skaters can now make their own choices for their deck, including the composition, materials, style, weight, shape, concaves, nose and tail shape, and of course the graphics.” Ted believes skaters’ needs are like those of any other athlete: “They require the proper gear to suit their abilities and what discipline they are riding, from the bowl to the hill. Being able to hand-build a deck means total control over how that deck performs for their style of riding.” The process for creating your own deck from scratch is rather intriguing but, thankfully, not too difficult. Skaters shape their own foam molds, glue up their own veneer layers and use a vacuum bag with a simple hand pump to press the veneers of wood together. If you can use a roller and have ever used a bicycle pump,chances are you can handle the Roarockit. Roarockit’s “Thin Air Press” technology was first adopted mainly by longboarders, who picked up on its ability to make unique shapes.“The technology is brand new to skateboard deck making,” says Norah. “Like any new product, it needs to be proven before believed. At first, there were skeptics (from the street deck world) who dismissed the whole process, but our recent sales results indicate that more street deck kits are sold than longboard kits.”It’s now dawning on skaters that the Roarockit Thin Air Press method can be a successful process for street skaters who just want to make a solid deck to put custom graphics onto. It’s also being used by serious longboard designers who make prototypes for refining custom shapes. Skaters both young and old are discovering what those in the manufacturing sector have known for years — the vacuum technology is worthwhile.What the Thin Air Press and the one-sided foam mold have been able to do is make creating a custom deck a much easier and less time-consuming process. “Creating a deck with concave and rocker was a challenge that not every builder was able to master successfully,” says Norah.
“The feedback we get from skaters who have used our kit is that we have simplified the process, and it is now super-easy to shape any kind of deck they want to ride.” Roarockit provides folks with a great deal of information to ensure success with their projects. There are numerous “how to” videos on their website along with hundreds of postings on skateboard forums. Ted and Norah are pleased with how things are developing. Explains Ted: “We know that the Roarockit method has changed the way custom decks are made, we’ve made it affordable and easy to do, and we provide the tools and materials to make it happen.” Norah says their customers are from all over the world and are all kinds of people, into all types of skateboarding.“Our Internet customers are all styles of riders: street, pool, bowl, luge, slalom, downhill,cruising, racing, and ‘transportation-ists,’ old and young. They build decks for school projects, for casual riding, serious custom builds and for their small business and even as art pieces for hanging on the wall.” Roarockit has recently opened a deck building school in downtown Toronto. Students of all ages and experience levels come in to build decks, taking advantage of the assistance and a workshop environment. Weekly “Open Studio”evenings are set up for custom builds on a dropin basis. The After School program is open to all ages; surprisingly, there have been many parent/kid teams who have signed up to work together. Other customers are woodworkers and RC hobbyists, who purchase Thin Air Press kits from retailers such as Lee Valley Tools, Woodcraft and Rockler in North America and Carba-Tec in Australia. roarockit.com
SOUL RYDE — Custom Laser Engraving Soul Ryde was profiled about six months ago. Owner Michael Salmon grew up in South Carolina and got his start in college, making boards tailored specifically to individuals. “All of my decks had graphics that were completely custom to the customers’ interests and personality,” he said. Using a special laser engraving system,Soul Ryde is able to create incredibly intricate graphics in the wood. The 3-D effect is stunning,and the decks are truly exquisite. Some might even say the Soul Ryde decks are almost too nice to ride; they are truly works of art. Michael believes that skaters like the idea of customization because it gives them options and the ability to make something their own. “It makes it personal for them. It lets them be different from the masses, knowing that they own the only one like it, and they don’t have to worry about the next guy having the same exact board. It’s an extension of who they are.” A key obstacle to the growth of customization is building enough volume to make it work. As Michael points out, creating a business around customization can make it hard to get numbers. “You can’t just load stores up with product and sell masses online, because every product is unique to the buyer. It takes times to make the name for yourself and for the orders to start rolling in.”Soul Ryde realizes that there will always need to be stock boards for the stores and the beginners. For the true riders and enthusiasts, however, customization is where it’s going, says Michael. “Pretty much everything has already been done, and you can only reinvent the wheel so many times. I think that more and more custom options will become available as well as
more competitive pricing, which in turn will drive more of the market toward the customization side of things.”As it has for the other companies profiled in this article, the Internet has been a lifeline for Soul Ryde’s business. “It has helped us tremendously [because] it has allowed us to offer a dedicated part of our site to customizing your own board right online. This way the buyer can build and design their own board right there before they buy it,” Michael says. When it comes to profiling a typical customer,Soul Ryde isn’t just limited to just one type. As Michael says, “I’m not sure if we really have a typical customer. They range from board collectors who just want a piece of art, to everyday guys who just really want a rad custom. We do sell a lot of boards as gifts,though.” The idea of using a personalized skateboard as a gift seems to be really taking off. soulryde.com
RESTLESS — Custom Graphics and Shapes Based in Montreal, Quebec, Restless wanted to bring something different to the Longboard community. Not only can you design your own graphics, you can also customize your own shape. The company was founded by four passionate skaters: Christian Chenard-Lemire, Alaric LeBlanc, Dither Floresand François-Olivier Théberge. As Christian explains, “we saw Restless as away for riders to design their board and have a professional finished product at an affordable price. We noticed that many Longboarders created their own decks. Restless wanted to take customization to a great level and their site definitely provides customers with an enormous amount of choice. It took Restless almost three years to fine-tune their methods and they are still tweaking things. At one point the company was working with skateshops, but found that when it comes to customization, things just get way too complicated. For Restless, customization is more than just putting a different kind of wheels or trucks on your deck. “Customization will mean having a personalized graphic and also designing the shape, concave, tail and nose of your board” says Chris. Most of their customers are between 16 and 30 and Chris was quick to point out they do receive a number of female clients. Those with an artistic background seem to have really tapped into what their site offers. When I asked Chris for details about some of their more memorable images they have received, he was a bit coy. ”When you offer customization on the level that we do, you’re bound to have people making really funny-looking boards. Without going into details, let’s just say that some people would like
to have graphics on their boards that I wouldn’t show to a kid.” Viva la difference! Restlessboards.com
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