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Archives des maple veneer - Roarockit Blog
Shaper of the month : Matheus Iark

Shaper of the month : Matheus Iark

Thank you for taking the time to be a part of our “Shaper of the month” articles.
It is a pleasure to see and put forward your work!

– We will start with a little presentation of yourself. Where do you come from? How old are you? What is your life goal and what do you do now?

I’m 30 years old from a small town in the south of Brazil but have been living in Germany since 2012. I like skateboards since I can remember and got my first one when I was around 10 years old. It wasn’t really a great setup with it’s plasticky wheels and rubber bushings, but I learned how to comfortably cruise with it. When I was around 13 I got my first real skateboard and started learning some tricks. I was riding regularly for about 2 years, then on and off until 2012 when I moved to Germany. In 2014 I got my first longboard, which I used to cruise around and commute, but also learned a few dance steps. About a year later I bought a proper dancer, then a mini cruiser, then a downhill deck and so on.

By the end of 2015 I built my first deck, I really enjoyed the building process and the feeling of riding a self-made board, so I started looking more into it and found out about Roarockit.

Shortly after I got a TAP kit, better tools and built a couple more decks, which were not perfect, but already much better than the first one. Now my main project is a downhill deck for myself and the crew I’m part of (we are Draft Train Media on Instagram and Youtube). I also have my personal Youtube channel with some skate videos, where I also plan to post the production process of my next decks.

I have the dream to make deck building (and woodworking in general) a way of living, but there’s still a very long way until I get to a level of product quality and design that is commercially viable, so for now I keep it as a hobby, improving on every deck I make.

– Have  you recently started woodworking?

Yes and no. In my childhood and teenage years I helped my dad build some simple stuff out of wood, like a small house for our dog, and with some friends a small ramp and a grinding box for street skating. The first deck I built was with hardware store plywood and a heavily improvised press with whatever heavy stuff I could find to bend it. It wasn’t pretty, but it’s still very rideable.

– What is your relationship with Canadian Maple veneer? Why is it so special to you?

It’s actually a love-hate relationship. It’s a fantastic material to work with, I can bend it relatively easily and the deck I’ve built with it feels very solid. Problem is, it’s a difficult material to find where I live and a bit more expensive than I would like, so that still holds me back. Right now my plan is to use cheaper hardware store plywood for prototyping then when I achieve the results I’m satisfied with, get a batch of Canadian Maple veneer to make higher quality decks.

– How did you find out about Roarockit and why did you choose a TAP system instead of another kind of press?

The first time I read about Roarockit was at diyskate.com. I was looking for information about how to build a press and came across the Roarockit TAP, which was a surprise as I had never heard of deck pressing with a vacuum bag. I don’t have a lot of storage space or a workshop, I make the builds either on my apartment’s balcony or in the building’s backyard, so being able to fold and store my press in a shelf made all the difference, which is something I wouldn’t be able to do with a bottle jack press for example. The usage is very simple, making a mold out of hard foam is much easier and cheaper than wood or concrete, which is nice for amateur builders as myself, and if you take your time to do it right, the results are outstanding for such a simple deck-pressing method. The tutorial videos on Roarockit’s Youtube channel are also excellent and helped me avoid many mistakes.

– You wrote an excellent article of your experience with our kit. You can read the article here. It’s a really good one thank you! What is your relation with blogging and the website LongboardEnvy? And why write an article about Roarockit?

I’ve actually never had a Blog myself. The opportunity to write for Longboard Envy came after I posted on /r/longboarding a short review on the Ronin Cast Katana trucks I had recently bought. I couldn’t find any reviews on it so I decided to share my experience with them with the community, then JC from Longboard Envy contacted me inviting for a guest post with a bit more in depth analysis of those trucks. Some time after that, he invited me to write on an ongoing basis and I joined.

The idea of writing about the Roarockit TAP bag kit came from both the need of original content for Longboard Envy and some tips and details about using it that I gathered by reading articles about it, watching tutorial videos and my personal experience designing and building a deck. I wanted to put it all together in one place to help first builders get a good idea of the whole process.

– What are you working on now? And what are your future projects?

Right now I’m sketching some ideas for boards I want to build for the next season. One of them is a 1960’s style, flat, solid wood board. I really like how they look and I want to learn how to stain wood. I want to learn how to apply fiberglass and carbon fiber in order to build a light but super stiff downhill deck and I have a couple of waiting orders from friends for a cruiser and a slalom deck.

– Any comments or special thanks?

Thank you Roarockit for inviting me to be part of Shaper of the Month and for making it’s products available in Europe, to my friends who support me in deck building, specially Kim and Roberto who painted the amazing custom art on my decks, and the longboarding community on Reddit who is really helpful as well.

Thank you ?

Youtube: Matheus Iark

Team Riders 2019

Team Riders 2019

It’s that time of year again !

 

Along with many Freerides organised all over the world, the IDF Championships (International Downhill Federation) have also taken off !

Starting with two races in the Philippines, where we will be able to follow the progress of Team Rider Julien Fouchard and new this year riding another Roarockit Luge is Olivier Gerling.

With Julien coming in 5th of Europe and 17th in the overall world ranking IDF Championships last season 2018 and 10th of Europe and 27th world ranking for Olivier Gerling, they are bombing the hills all over the world this year.

 

 

 

Competing this 2019 season in the following races :

Julien & Olivier on the starting line Seaside Philippines

Seaside, PHILIPPINES

Keeping It High, PHILIPPINES

Sanki, RUSSIE

Barcelone, Espagne

Verdicchio, ITALIE

Kozakov Challenge, REPUBLIQUE TCHEQUE

Transylvania, ROUMANIE

La Violenta, ARGENTINE

Yaku Raymi, PEROU

Thoroughly looking forward to following these two in their adventures and races of this season 2019 ! It is going to be epic !

And of course the best of luck to all riders out there ! Enjoy and ride safe !

 

Update: Before we had the chance to publish this, the races in the Philipinnes have come and gone.
Julien and Olivier both performing superbly, until a crash has led Julien to sadly step back from the competition this year. We wish Julien and Zen Rasta (also involved in the crash) a fast recovery!

And to Olivier a massif congratulations for finishing 3rd overall! Felicitations!

 

Dream it, Make it, Ride it
Roarockit

News, rankings and more available on the IDF website : https://internationaldownhillfederation.org/
Follow Julien Fouchard on Facebook and Instagram
Olivier Gerling –> Facebook Instagram

 

Olivier on podium with his Roarockit Street Luge

Team Luge Rider Julien Fouchard

Team Luge Rider Julien Fouchard

photo rico du talus
Today we are taking a moment to introduce Julien Fouchard: Roarockit Skateboard Europe’s Luge Team Rider.

This introduction is very overdue, as Julien Fouchard has now been riding for the Roarockit Team since 2016.

An enthusiast of the Street Luge and Classic Luge, Julien has been riding since 2012 and started riding competitively in 2013.

 

 

His accomplishments include:

Season of 2014

Peyragudes photo Jean Esquerre

Rider Julien FoochPhoto Jean Esquerre

Photo Maxime Lassale PND Julien

  • 3rd place Street Luge Championships of the South-West of France
  • 4th place Classic Luge, Pyrenee Championships
  • 15th place Classic Luge, France Championship (CDF)
  • 9th place Classic Luge, International Championships (IDF)

Season of 2015

  • 5th place Classic Luge, France Championship

Season of 2016

  • 3rd place, Classic Luge France Championship
  • 5th place, Street Luge, France Championship

Season of 2017

Couldn’t compete due to car problems

 

 

 

We met Julien back in 2014 during events such as Peyragudes Never Dies, Le Rigalet, La D35 (…etc.). So many great events out there!
Julien was looking for a Luge that would meet his needs and enable him to take part in Championships and events across the world.

 

Roarockit technology makes it possible to build all types of custom boards, but a Street Luge entirely made of veneer and vinyl glue with oversize dimensions and shapes had not yet been done. We were up for the challenge and launched ourselves into the making of a unique Street Luge!

 

After several months, the first luge was ready. Made entirely using the Roarockit Thin Air Press, Canadian maple veneer and Titebond III glue. Julien participated in several freerides to test it, see if improvements were needed and to get a maximum amount of feedback on the board from other riders. Returns were positive but some improvements could be made: a little wider and shorter.

Rider Julien Fooch13336140_1041605175914704_6322777066245595461_n 13343033_1041605505914671_784504067822531516_n

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

luge in thin air press

 

The second prototype was then a success! A Street Luge entirely handmade with Roarockit technology, a one-of-a-kind Luge.

The making of this first Street Luge entirely out of veneer is a great pride. A successful collaboration between rider Julien Fouchard, who brought his knowledge of the discipline and Roarockit for the technicalities of the build. The graphics were done by rider and artist Thomas, aka LeGrinch, Lako – Art & Co

 

 

IMG_3090

 

in the press
This coming season of 2018 Julien will be taking part in several Freerides: the Rigalet, Montaut Express, Saint Pathik…etc.

And also the IDF championships: Transylvania, Kozakov, Verdiccilio.

We are thoroughly looking forward to following his accomplishments this season and are stoked of having such an awesome Roarockit Ambassador and Team Rider!

Plus big shout out to Julien, for his input on the successful build of the Street Luge !

 

May it be a successful year of downhill events for Team Rider Julien Fouchard!

 

 

DREAM IT, MAKE IT, RIDE IT

Follow Julien on facebook & instagram