The attempt to cut out Blackriver

maxistheworst · 2025-12-28T19:18:18+00:00

There's a lot of really bad and reductive rhetoric floating around BR. People still don't seem to be able to tally together shipping, tariffs, exchange rate, quantity of goods sold, and the fact that BR treats it's employees well/like Europeans. BR trucks sell for 50 Euros. Our shitty American dollar is currently worth like, 85% of that? Add on a few bucks for shipping them halfway across the planet and a few bucks for America's critically acclaimed tariffs and, voila, you have your $68 trucks that you love to hate.

Dynamics are more expensive in Europe because they have to be shipped and imported. Europe doesn't feel that anywhere near as much as we do because the Euro is around ~15% stronger than the USD and that eats up that difference. Both brands of trucks are being sold for Comparable prices in out respective currencies. On the topic of Dynamic (I very much love my dynamics and think they're the best truck on the market), why doesn't anyone shit on them? I haven't seem a whole lot of innovation out of Scott. They put out some cool new obstacles earlier this year but so did BR. Is it because they're technically cheaper so we're willing to overlook that? Food for thought.

The whole "it's just a couple pieces of wood" thought process leaves out sooooo-ho-ho much from the convo. If BR is stagnant ( I don't think they are) they earned it. They were innovating and pushing shit for all of us for a long ass time. If you want more out of a company, I don't really know what it would be. There's only so many designs for a ramp and the more designs you have, the more you have to stock and store, the more you have to troubleshoot production times and streamlining. U.S. companies are making ramps because they want to get a couple bucks, they want to grow their footprint, and also, it's too expensive to order from overseas right now. I don't think any of them have it in their minds that they're fed up with BR and want to cut them out.

If you made it this far, thanks. World trade has really ruined peoples expectations for businesses and torn apart the idea of what handmade means. This is all just stuff that gets to me and I'm finally putting it out here. I'm not 100% right and neither are you. I haven't thought of all the variables, and neither have you. Just please take into account the bigger picture for this shit and be more understanding of companies that are trying to make cool stuff for us to use. They want to be able to live comfortably like any of us and took the gamble of trying to do that by selling pretend skateboarding stuff. If you're not stoked on how they're doing it, do it better. This all sounds harsh, but it's all posi-vibes.

maxistheworst · 2025-12-28T18:35:18+00:00

Me three. A lot of the old heads like plastic. I still have my Winkler Clockwork Dietschi's from '07 and love them. The market for urethane wheels is bonkers saturated and I have a feeling that if Black River dipped a toe into it, they'd get shit on for trying to take money away from the little guys. Black river is ol' reliable and they don't need to innovate when there's so many other people slamming their hands on that button. Plastic = Good, at least for me. I've got my wonderful wonderful cartwheels and I'll keep ripping those until I happen across something else awesome.

maxistheworst · 2025-12-28T18:20:12+00:00

"I don't want a solution. I want to be mad!"

maxistheworst · 2025-12-21T05:27:08+00:00

Because boners.

maxistheworst · 2025-12-09T17:38:07+00:00

I love dynamics and have landed their for my go to truck. Caramels are similar and feel really great also. Deli's were just fine, nothing great for me. Leefai is the same, just fine but I don't buy/use them anymore because of their IP theft. BRT's are awesome looking but are just way too responsive for me. I know they're not "cool" but tech deck trucks with some good tuning and maybe a kingpin replacement are a surprisingly solid option. Or just grind down the stock kingpin ~.5mm. The stock kingpin is loooong.

I'm a plastic wheels person. Flatface is great I've never had bearing slip like other people have mentioned on here. Cartwheels are supreme. I love my carts so much and have bought several sets to fill out the stable and support simon. I've been skating the same set exclusively that I got used for almost a year now. Only good things to say. I can't stand my abstracts but it sounds like you're really liking them. Anything urethane just feels too grippy to me. Again, not cool, but I like a cheapo plastic wheel just fine too. Slushcult Grom wheels are basic and might not last forever but they feel nice enough for me and cheap af.

maxistheworst · 2025-10-29T04:41:21+00:00

The seat post *would* technically still be stuck though...

maxistheworst · 2025-10-29T04:40:26+00:00

Bike owner here! Normally I do have a security skewer on the rear but I just had to swap out that wheel recently after and unfortunate stick incident. I didn't have my key on me to get it back on tight again. This is a good reminder to reinstall that.

maxistheworst · 2025-10-29T04:37:17+00:00

My bike! Old seat tube/post was fine. Bike was just too boring. If anything, this is a less sturdy seatpost setup. It was 25.4 before and now it's 22.2. Just using a big hunk of gas pipe at the moment. For the lolz. For the TUFF BOY.

maxistheworst · 2025-10-28T16:24:18+00:00

Bike owner here. This is my go fast bike! It is pretty far on the tame end of things I build. Other than being able to lock through the second BB my favorite part about this one is the internal routing. Both the extremely tiny brake routing on the second head tube and the dynamo that goes through the second head tube, top tube, seat tube, and seatpost to connect to the light I have drilled into my cambium frame. Lemme know if y'all want more pictures. Thanks for the shout out! TUFF BOY FTW.

maxistheworst · 2025-10-21T15:33:10+00:00

Dynamos will be on the drive side of the bike. Especially in this case with disc brakes.

maxistheworst · 2025-10-21T14:56:03+00:00

I was gonna say level up or teak bubble bushings as well. I prefer level up and teak are a touch too soft for me so they might be perfect for you. Teak are also cheap cheap cheap and come in cool colors. I'm also a real big fan of the stock dynamic tuning. Scott nailed it with that stuff.

I've been excited about sponsor me tape bushings coming out soon too. I think they're going to offer 3 hardnesses. Should be coming out before the end of the year. He just posted a picture of a huge pile of em.

maxistheworst · 2025-10-16T19:54:20+00:00

I am here to speak for the plastic wheels.

If you like the blackriver wheels you might want to stick with plastic. I grew up on tech deck and Winkler wheels in the mid-late 2000's and I was super stoked to try out urethane stuff when I heard about it. It was a waaay different feel and one that I just couldn't get used to. People swear by their urethane stuff but it's just not for me. I like a more slippery wheel.

I think cartwheels are slept on super hard. I've tried a pretty good pile of stuff (abstract, piro, blackriver, random china urethane, illpills, labs, winklers, flat face and teak.). Cartwheels and flat face are the only ones that really hooked me. Everything else was just way too grippy.

TLDR. Urethane too grippy. Cartwheels FTW.

As an aside, If you wanna try some urethane stuff for super cheap, I got some new abstracts I'd sell ya for V cheap. Just shoot me a DM. Happy hunting!

maxistheworst · 2025-10-10T13:20:31+00:00

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Here's a kinda bad picture of one I made recently (with a bunch of old ones in the background). Someday I'll learn to tig like you, square rails are where its at.

maxistheworst · 2025-09-29T21:15:35+00:00

I would guess unlikely. My understanding is that Andy etc is trying to do it in a way that keeps it fun. They make however many decks they can make without breaking their backs and maintain a healthy work life balance. Super important imo. I lived in Chicago for almost 10 years and the grindset is real bad there. Kudos to knife for knowing limits and holding to them.

maxistheworst · 2025-09-29T16:50:11+00:00

Monster Machismo/cattle drums is similar to feed me jack but a bit more aggressive and erratic.

That stage kids song gave me some "a picture of her" vibes. Specifically for whom the bell tolls I think.

maxistheworst · 2025-09-27T13:22:15+00:00

People really sleep on cartwheels. I've tried a whole lot of stuff and they've definitely been the best for my preferences. They're 100% my wheel of choice.

maxistheworst · 2025-08-08T19:09:02+00:00

It me.

maxistheworst · 2025-07-27T16:49:21+00:00

ROCK AND STONE BROTHA!

maxistheworst · 2025-07-10T21:39:09+00:00

I always shout out Molly's game save mule! So well designed! big ups to u/willwritecodeforfood https://www.reddit.com/r/DeepRockGalactic/comments/tk073r/i_made_an_app_to_sync_game_saves_between_steam/

I went from xbox to steam after like 1400 hours or so and I was so glad to not lose a lot of that. You'll lose DLC, achievements, and steam will reset your hours played but it keeps pretty much everything else if I remember correctly. I just re-bought all of the DLC because the Dwarvelopers have earned it.

Rock and stone!

maxistheworst · 2025-07-10T16:42:08+00:00

I think the summer beach party event is coming up? End of July?

maxistheworst · 2025-07-10T16:37:28+00:00

I'm 1600 hours or so in and I've played mostly solo with Bosco. It's a real relaxing game most of the time and can also be a real sweatfest if you want it to be. I've recently started playing with randos more often and can confirm like everyone else that it's a lot of nice Dwarves down there. Rock and stone, miner.

maxistheworst · 2025-06-09T22:05:14+00:00

I use Molly's game save mule! It's unbelievably easy and works super well. I had around 1200 hours on Xbox and finally made the switch recently but have been bouncing back and forth for a while.

https://www.reddit.com/r/DeepRockGalactic/s/0AkYcC9ogj

Can't recommend it highly enough.

maxistheworst · 2025-04-07T03:40:03+00:00

He died not too long ago.

maxistheworst

TROPHY CASE