Whoops we killed grip

[Mike D De Camp]

Duuude. Im such a dork. Been neglecting this thread, but have some amazing news to share.

We signed a new rider. Andrew Cannon.
http://www.alchemygrip.com/news012811AC.asp

Im hyped to say the least.

We also made tons of updates on our website.

Susej - Please. the descriptions are so loose. I'd rather have you al reccommend me the uses or your experiences with the grip.
Babe. That would be awesome. Please email me homey. I got you...

I'm going to hook up the latest photo's I have and some info about new products this weekend.
Pretty amazing start to 2011.

PS I was skating at the Circus with the SFL BC team. THREE of them were repping Naysayer, FUCK YEAH EBY.

[susej]

Mike, I feel terrible to have to do this, after you went through the trouble of sending me some free product, and my initial reaction having been positive. But my conscience is forcing me to now give a negative review.

The matrix that I first tried was pretty cool for a few days, but then the grit started disappearind anywhere there was a small wrinkle in the grip. No big deal. But then the grit in the area under my front foot started to completely wear away, and there was a big patch with no grip at all by the time I broke the board, after 10 days of use.

I tried the one with the complicated pattern that kind of looks like flowers on my next board. It immediately started catching on the edge of my soles, and getting pulled up. The pieces that got pulled up would immediately get torn off. Within 2 hours of riding the board, there were a bunch of spots now having no grip left, and the edges of the newly-pulled up areas interfering with adjusting my stance. Ripped it all off (comes off really easily!), and slapped on plain old Jessup. Much better.

Bummed I had to give negative feedback, but I had to be completely honest. Sorry Mike. I do wish you success with your business, and I'm glad you seem to be doing well.

[Mike D De Camp]

Awesome. (counter-intuitively but yes)

Now we're talking. Thanks so much for the feedback homey. But this is how I can improve my grip and grow!
Shedding grit, and ripping. It is concerning. Im sorry to hear that you had such trouble brother,

I haven't had any other problems with the grit. Hmm.
If you dont mind I'm going to look into some prototypes I have and see if maybe I can
ask you a few specific questions... to try and understand what you are seeing?

Thanks Susej - this is great opportunity for me to improve, it's amazing to have so many talented people
helping me.

I got a crazy email yesterday... a Pandora's box. I'll break the news here first, it may be a few weeks tho. Stay tuned.

[Mike D De Camp]

Thanks to all of you for checking back...

I have some definate thoughts on the problems you encountered susej.

I have some photos if you could comment on the various things if they are similar or congruent to the symptoms that the grip exhibited.

Firstly the Matrix grip, that was the all black one yes? no clear junctions. If so, that particular sheet was a hand sample, or prototype. And they are more unstable than the production quality materials.
see example.

*pictured is a tear in the all black sample that I was testing on this end parallel to the sheet you were riding.

*here is a shredded edge on the same all black Matrix
Regarding the area under your feet, where you noticed the grit was shedding and exposed areas of the backing or no grit at all.

*This is another sample, but utilizing a different grit and "special" material, not yet made public =)
BUT you can see the white backing material is exposed under my front foot area.

*detail
These next three images are pictures of Anthony's board from his qualifying run #1




These demonstrate the most damage I've seen inflicted in a sheet in one day. =)

He rode the Flower pattern on his qualifying second day, but although some small areas did rip off. the integrity
of the sheet stayed very much intact.

You have my sincere apologies susej. It's is a huge help if you take the time to discuss in further detail your issues, and Im always happy to send you more sheets. especially if you're interested in helping me on some more prototypes etc,

you shred!

[susej]

The one I was referring to was the all black Matrix. Like I said, I liked the feel of it for a few days, but since it started to wear out before the board broke, it makes me wonder how it'll go for someone who keeps the same deck for a few weeks (or months!). But if like you said that material was of a lower quality than your production materials, it seems you got that covered. It looked quite similar to what happened under your front foot on that other prototype you posted. Just picture that all around a couple of the cross-shaped holes in the grip.

The flower pattern one was a bigger problem for me. With all of those pointy tips exposed, it didn't take much to pull them up, and then get torn off, and rolling around under my feet. I kept feeling bumps, and it was the rolled up tips of the flower pattern stuck to the bottoms of my shoes. Makes me think that if there were more area, for example the tips of the flowers being connected back with the rest of the sheet, it might solve this problem.

Now I was wearing some really worn out shoes with shoe goo over the holes under the balls of my feet. The edges of the shoe goo might have been what was catching on the grip. Maybe it wouldn't have been an issue had I been wearing my new shoes.

If you're still willing to send me more sheets to test and give feedback, I'd be happy to give them a try. I go through a lot of decks!

[Mike D De Camp]

Thanks Susej. All of those points are really valuable to me. I tested the shoe goo and It did beat up some areas. But nothing horrendous. I'm going to hit you with a new package in a few and let's keep it rolling.

I stumbled across this pic of Schultz from the Maloof high ollie contest. I'd credit the photo, but it didn't have one. So let's just thank the interenet! lol*


Tampa Pro in a just over a week.
I'm down to one business card.
always something_

[Mike D De Camp]

Oh yeah.

WHOOPS, I think we did it again.



All black
10 x 34
two different grits available.

Stardust & Sphinx

[Bro]

Yo I wonder if you ever got my address...I thought my message never got through.

[Mike D De Camp]

Got it Bro, no worries! I'm sending out some stuff on Monday. I got you all packed up and ready to go.
Thanks for reminding me tho. Always helpful.

On related - our team keeps on growing.
We have an updated list that i'm overly stoked about.

It's all on the site, but since you're here, and Im here...

Spoiler Alert*

Chris Blake
Alejandro Burnell
Tim Ruggles
Felipe Gouveia
Brandon Schinabeck

[susej]

Cool! Thanks Mike!

[dijo]

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[dijo]

Daniel, danielandler Danile andler. Daniel-3d. LoPhuSC. relief Daniel Andler isc. LopHisC.

[tanner moore]

im diggin that all black grip! what is the difference between "sphinx" and "stardust" grit, though? also, will it be cheaper than the other design sheets, cause i wanna try it. big ups to you mike!


oh, and did you guys see Schultz mini mondays? oh my god

[Mike D De Camp]

Dijo - "tell me:"

Tanner - thanks for asking homey. They are two different base grits. The "Sphinx" is a kind of natural sand, found in the Nile Valley it's coarse and very durable. The "stardust" is actually an extremely rare form of Gem. It's actually only found in trace amounts in it's natural form within the earth. But it is a large component of asteroids and other extraterrestrial matter. We're lucky to have access to a synthesized version of this Gem. =) It's very very strong,

& YES. I'm so thankful that Anthony is getting a good amount of coverage from all sides. I've never seen anything like the way he skates.
Here's a nugget I had on my drive from Tampa AM 2010.

http://s1179.photobucket.com/albums/x384/ThrasherAlchemy/?action=view&current=M2U00153.mp4

[tanner moore]

Dudes been ripping for a long time. so underrated. Back to grip though, are these actually going into production or are they prototypes that may or may not be sold? just wondering, 'cause it sounds very interesting, usng sand an gems, and i would like to try some when its out.