This is a review I wrote back in 2005. I still get a lot of search traffic from people looking for details about his board, so I thought I’d repost it here.

A few updates: I have changed the setup on this board since I wrote the original review. It still has Randal-I 180 trucks on it — both with the original 50 degree base plates. I’m no longer running Gravity Street-Gs wheels on it, as they are no longer in production. I’m currently using blue Gravity Burners on this board. As noted below, I think if you go bigger than a 66mm wheel you will simply need too many riser pads under your trucks, making the board ride too high. With no concave or wheel cutouts, this deck just doesn’t have the clearance to run bigger wheels.

This is  not a speed board. It is really made for turning and flowing. Therefore, depending on your weight, you may want to tweek the bushing setup. I would use the softest bushings you can get away with for maximum turning without having the kingpin nut all loose. You can have turny trucks that are loose and rattling.

I had an email conversation with Don, at Loaded Boards, when they sent me a Vanguard to try out a couple of years ago.  Turns out the Fibreflex Funshape is one of the board they studied while designing the Vanguard. The Vanguard turned out to be a lot flexier, and of course it has concave. But I was impressed that Don had done the research and he really had nice things to say about the Funshape.

OK – here’s the old review…

Earlier this year I had a hankering for a Fibreflex. I was thinking about purchasing the Cutaway, but then my friend Jim offered me his Funshape for free. The boards are pretty much alike, so I said “deal”.

House selling, packing, moving, and new job have all conspired against my Fibreflex until last week, when I finally put it together. As part of a new obsession with turning style, I decided the FF would be perfect for my needs. I set it up with Randal-II 180mm trucks, a 1/8″ riser under each, and 82a 66mm Gravity Street-G wheels.

As you see, this board has no kicktail. It is 43″ x 8.75″. It is a flowing and turning machine. As you will also notice, it is a cambered board. However, it’s not bouncy. It has just enough camber so that when combined with the flexibility of the board, it’s pretty stable. Not the best for board-walking, but not too bad either.

Fibreflex Funshape - click for full sized image.

With the particular wheel/truck combo I selected I had no wheel-bite problems. I’ve been riding this board a lot, mostly just carving around a nearby parking lot. The flex is snappy and responsive, but stiff enough to transmit plenty of turning leverage to the trucks. The whole thing handles really well, and it’s made me appreciate even more the simple act of flowing and carving. Here’s a link to some video of me doing some turns and different style grabs. As you can see, this board flows.

Because of the board’s shape, I think that if you went to any taller wheels you’d need to add some risers. I’m not sure that’s a good idea. I think this is really the optimum setup height for this board. So personally, I’d stick with 65mm or 66mm wheels.

Which brings up another point. Great board. If I had any recommendation for the manufacturer, it would be this: make the shape appropriate and workable with larger diameter wheels. No one wants to jack their board way up in the air, but this board screams for some 70mm+ wheels. These boards should all have either cut-outs or a nose shape like the FF Pintail. Either one would allow larger wheels without lots of risers.

You normally see this board set up with the 150mm Randal-II trucks. I found that the wider 180mm R-II’s gave the board a much greater feeling of stability while retaining a pretty sharp turn. With 180s, this board never feels like it will tip over. You can press your turns hard with total confidence.

Later,

B

I purchased my first Comet longboard in 1999, at the Purple Skunk skateshop, in San Fransisco. It has been a favorite board for 10 years, and I still ride it. Since then, I’ve acquired several other Comet boards.

First, a little about Comet Skateboards. Comet one of just a few skateboard manufacturers that attempts to minimize its environmental impact. They have been at the forefront of this effort too. They use solar power in their manufacturing process. They use a lot of highly renewable materials in their boards. They don’t finish their boards with toxic paints and coatings. They even recycle their wood scraps. Check out their site for more about there sustainability efforts.

Side view of Pagan, showing low profile and spoon concave.

OK, now, about the Comet Pagan. The Pagan is one of Comets downhill/speed boards. They make it in two configurations — a drop-through (where the trucks actually drop through the deck, lowering the entire board), and the flush-mount (on which the trucks are mounted in a recessed area, lowering the board by the thickness of the baseplates). Both of these configurations have the effect of increasing the stability of the board by lowering the center of gravity. I decided to get the drop-through deck.

Top of deck, showing proper mounting hardware for a drop-though deck.

One of Comet’s early innovations for downhill riding is their “spoon concave”. I don’t know if they still use that terminology, but since it is highly descriptive of the product I continue to use it. The entire riding surface of the board is bowed slightly down toward the middle of it’s length, producing a rocker (there have been many boards with rocker before). In addition, the board has a nice concave. Combining the two – rocker and concave – creates a nice “pocket” for your front foot, just behind the front truck. This feature increases the feeling of stabilty provided by the drop-through truck mounting.

View of concave and spoon.

The spoon concave has one other effect. It changes the angle of the front truck just slightly, as the truck is actually tipped up just a bit. This changes the turning geometry of the board, also increase stabilty somewhat.

Why is stability important? Because this board is made for going very, very fast. Faster than I will probably ever go. However, as you’ll see in my previous post, stability can help you even at lower-fast speeds if your course is on crappy concrete or is particularly technical.

As you can see, the board is shaped to minimize the potential for wheel bite with larger wheels. I’m not going to say wheelbite is impossible, but with my 72mm wheels and Randal trucks it isn’t a problem. I realize that these days 72mm is not considered that big. But I don’t really like huge, bulky wheels. Maybe if I were racing, but for my kind of riding I like agility and fast acceleration.

Shot of milehighskates.com kingpin/bushing mods

The Pagan is 10″ wide, at its widest point, and 42″ long. This is good size for me. I’m 6′ tall, and a little over 200 pounds. For smaller riders, or those who prefer a shorter board, Comet makes a smaller version called the Loki. It looks killer too. The Pagan is a nice, big platform. Easy to move your feet around, but the spoon concave lets you feel locked in when you need it. It allows a nice variety of stances — from wide to narrow.

Comet’s earliest boards were pretty flexy. Their newer downhill boards, like this, are not. Under my 200 pounds, this board is just flexy enough to absorb a little shock. It is really a very stiff board. Again – it is made for going at the higher end of downhill speeds (people are hitting 50mph + these days), so most of the flex has been eliminated.

I ordered this board as a complete setup from Milehigh Skates. It is set up with Randal-II 180mm trucks, and Retro Freeride wheels (72mm, 80a). Mark, the owner of Mile High, sets all the boards up himself. He is probably the only person I know from whom I’d buy a complete. He is the only person I really trust to do it right. Mark doesn’t just slap the components together. In particular, he customizes every set of Randal trucks he sends out. He “faces” the hangers (check his website to find out what that means), puts in better king pins, and installs better bushings and flat washers.

Closeup of mounting hardware, on bottom. Little washers prevent the lock nuts from pulling into the board.

Don’t get me wrong — a stock Randal is great. Mark just makes them better. Mounting trucks on a drop-through deck requires some little washers and the right hardware to make it work well, and Mark does all that too. He also uses really good bearings and good bearing spacers, so the wheels are set up just right. No slop. A totally solid setup, right out of the box.

I think my previous post does a good job of describing how well I think this board rides. I think the drop-through and spoon rocker really make a big difference when you are turning at a good rate of speed. Especially when you are making a 90 degree turn around a corner at 20+ mph. I have a lot of boards, and I can tell you this board just handles those situations better. Lower is better.

Since that first session on this beast, I’ve had a chance to ride the Pagan on a mellow, longer hill with nice smooth asphalt. I was just blown away. On the crappy, patched concrete around here, I feel like the Pagan allowed me to get down the hill and make a hard turn in one piece. It drifted a bit, but any board would drift on the surfaces in my area. However, on smooth ashphalt, this sucker rides like a formula-1 race car. Fast fast fast, and just hugs the ground, but still turns and carves all buttery-like.

I need to get it out somewhere and try a few slides. The pavement here is really really bad for sliding, but I’ll find some.

Rear cutout area - prevents wheelbite.

OK, to wrap up this review, as you can see, I’m pretty stoked about this board. I think it is a very versitile board for riding hills, suitable for relaxed carving or free riding, as well as fast hill bombing. Just really a superior board, made by a company that cares about the planet.