BlueZeal News

By Pete Crewdson -Â Product Manager, BlueZealÂ

Tailwhip’s, Icepick’s, Peg Stall’s and Foot Plant’s… Don’t worry, those terms mean nothing to me as well, but watching them can be incredibly entertaining. This Sunday saw the first ever Oblivion Exe Games urban skate competition, taking place at Flowerpot Playing Fields and skate park in (unusually) sunny Exeter. Accompanied by some great music, inline skaters, BMXers and skateboarders took to the ramps to be in with the chance of winning some great prizes.

Something to cool us all down…

Source: Snulife

We’ve been looking at new products recently that we can hopefully make available to you in the BlueZeal store, and every now and then these things creep up:

They’ve always met with a fairly resounding ‘no’ in the BlueZeal office. But what do you think? Sure we’ve always been firmly on the side of function over form, but we reckon this is going a little too far. I personally can’t really picture myself belting down a hill in these with a straight face.
Do any of you think differently, or better yet, do any of you own all-terrain skates and love them to bits? We’re always ready to be swayed, and it’s certainly true that we’ve not gone so far as to get a pair in the office to give them a chance of persuading us of their worth. Chuck us a comment if you reckon our presumptions are all wrong.

Sorry. What is it with the temptation to add really bad puns to blog titles? Ach. Anyway…

…we’ve had a rash of excellent new skates in recently, and there’s definitely a few worth taking a look at if you’re looking for a pair of sturdy and modern recreational skates. The MX 405 are already becoming a firm favourite with our customers, being a great quality skate at the high end of our mid-range skates. With large diameter 80mm wheels (meaning they’re perfect for sustained speed with minimum effort along smooth pavewalks and sea-front paving), a strong frame and breathable liners, these skates are the best you can get at the £50 mark.

I nearly finished that header off with ‘for the sake of your feet’, but the rhyming was making me feel a bit ill, so i decided to spare you all. :P

I’ve just had a refreshing (if hectic) week up in Durham, where the temperatures were cool and it was raining frequently… only to return to sunny Devon and be blasted with the hottest temps we’ve had here in a long time. It’s the kind of weather that pretty much rules out anything other than either spending all day in the sea, or sitting next to your open fridgefreezer until the electrics short.

What a great day to get paddling.

By Nigel Wilkinson, MD. BlueZeal.

With our normal blogger enjoying a well-earned break the update falls to me this week. Lots is happening in the great outdoors at the moment as the sun makes a belated appearance this summer. Rollerblades are flying out the door and it’s good to see so many of you making sure you are getting the protection pads at the same time. I’ve seen some real horrors which basic protection could avoid.

We’ve been seeing lots of reviews recently for all the newly released mp3-jackets for snowboarding… and frankly being a bit underwhelmed.
Burton’s Audex, for example, is designed to integrate an ipod, with speakers and battery pack built into the jacket itself. But the manufacturers instructions include advice to take care not to “drop the jacket”. Take care not to drop it?? Most snowboarders, however decent their skills, will take the odd tumble now and then, and the impact from that is bound to be at least twice as damaging as dropping the jacket on the floor. It doesn’t really bode well for it’s performance.
It also has a fairly mirth-inducing warning to keep the battery in temperatures higher than 13DegreesC. So you can wear the jacket when you snowboard down to the shops in England then.
It’s probably does stay fairly warm there in the jacket lining, but with a warning like that i’d still be very cautious if taking it into even -10 temps.