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Hello, bladies and bladers! We hope you are all doing well and have some time on your hands because this post is going to be long. Grab some snacks, make yourself comfortable, and we will talk about upcoming projects, changes, and other things. This post even has videos (both high and low quality)! Our main topics for today are: the ROCKIN’ 572 frame and ROCKIN’ H-blocks.

How we came up with the 572 and H-blocks

We got the idea of making the H-blocks a while ago because of our interest in aggressive skating. Other projects have kept us busy though (hopefully you have heard about some of them): big wheel rockered UFS frames, actual big wheels, and bearings. They have been completed now, and having released a certain number of products, we now have the time and funds, and as ever the desire to start working on the H-blocks.

The idea came into existence during our (Anastasia and Jevgeny’s) skating sessions. They usually go like this: we skate for about 15 minutes through the suburbs, and get to our local skatepark. We warm up and do some skatepark activities like stalls, pumping and jumping on quarters, halfpipe, and so on. Once we get a bit tired, we skate further on and after another 10 minutes we arrive at a large area that is great for flatland skating. We practice some wizardskating and flatland skills, and then it’s just a 6km tour to finish the session and get home.

Having spent some time at the skate park I thought: how much more freedom would it give me if I had some H-blocks to put onto my frames! To tell you the truth, when I got that idea I hadn’t even tried grinding. I was only hoping to try it someday.

I got even more excited when I thought to myself: what if I had a frame that could do both flatland and aggressive skating elements? Like a 70/30 mix of flatland and aggressive, maybe?

I talked to several people about my idea. This is how I came to talk with Justin Thursday for the first time after having followed his work for quite a while. Sometime later we made our first H-block prototypes that were specially designed to fit the upcoming frame prototype, ROCKIN’ 572. The frames were expected to arrive in 3-4 weeks. I couldn’t wait that long and mounted the H-blocks onto the ROCKIN’ 576 for their first test. I could not grind back then, but I could stall and skate. Which I promptly did and as one can imagine, I was very impressed. It was exactly what I had dreamt of. I even made several attempts at a soulgrind and to my surprise, I managed to do my very first one that day.

We were off to a great start and 3 weeks later we received the prototypes of the 572 frames. 4 pairs were sent to skaters of varying skill levels for testing and research. Soon enough, the feedback started coming in.

Reports from our testers

Ulf

The first video report we got was from Ulf Wolf (YouTube Channel, Instagram: @momix.61).

Onno

Onno Kael (Instagram: @onnokael) contacted me after several testing sessions, and here is what he said:
“I had a short session on a PRail and on a small curb and would like to share my thoughts on the frame and H-block. First, both the frame and the H-Block are grinding (sliding) super well on both PVC and metal. For curbs, one would need a lot of wax. No sign of wheelbite whatsoever. The H-block is actually very well-designed. This setup is tons of fun. But. The frame has that heel lift and all my boots have a heel raise as well. Together this gives me a kind of “high heels” feeling. Soulgrinds and frontsides were great, but as for Topsides and Royals the frame is too high and one can’t get the boot low enough (at least for me). I skated the frame with 5 wheels as well and found the rocker less pronounced.”

Marco

We got most information and input from the awesome skater Marco Grandotto (Instagram: @marcograndotto) and here’s the edit Marco came up with after frame testing:

Here is what Marco thinks about this whole project:

When I first got the 572 frames I didn’t know what to expect. I was in for a surprise!
They are shorter than my standard swivel setup, which is why I found them so strange in the first few minutes I had them on. I skated the 5-configuration twice just to check it out, and then switched to the H-block configuration which is where it’s at with the 572 frames.

The H-block setup is where they shine. They are like Oysi’s big brother, but having the same size wheels is a benefit in terms of stability and speed (my god, how fast I can be in the bowl, scary!). The 2nd and 4th wheels are also a tiny bit closer to the H-block than on the Oysi, and the H-block is not so wide. This makes you have to skate a bit more precisely to avoid wheelbite, but I’ve never gotten it to be honest.
The H-block configuration is still very swively but way more stable than the 5-wheel one, it is responsive and solid, and easy to control.

Another aspect that surprised me is how very light they are. The grinding experience was good, though in the beginning they were slower than my other aluminum setup. In my latest sessions I noticed they are sliding really well even without wax, probably this material needs a bit extra breaking in time. With a bit of wax on the copings the slide is impressively fast, so smooth you can barely feel the coping. Also, the block design seems to be perfect for the purpose. The overall design is great and even as I was doing wizard moves I didn’t feel anything was sticking or was somehow wrong in the frame; a really smooth experience.

The only thing missing with this frame is the possibility to do royales, which it isn’t intended for. But in the end it gives you more than what it takes away. I have been skating aggressively since ‘95, so grinding is a really big part of my skating experience. With wizard skating, grinds are something you don’t really need, don’t do, and do not consider at all, at least for “pure” wizard skating. The possibility to mix the two styles opens up a whole new dimension. I believe this frame is for wizard skaters who want to grind, rather than for aggressive people who want to wiz. Being able to mix the two styles with a rockered setup like this instead of a flat one makes you focus more on the tricks than on driving the frames correctly, as they feel so natural.

Also, I wanted to show in my video how fast the change from the 5- to the 4-wheel configuration (and vice versa) is, which I think is a strong selling point for this frame. For real, I wanna do unities and royales so bad, but when I have to grab a pair for the session I’d rather take the 572s as they are. I’m glad I can skate them, thank you again and again.

I can definitely say the frame has my stamp of approval, and I really hope many people with an open and experimentally curious mind buy it.

My personal experience and thoughts about these 2 projects

Now back to my story, let’s pick up when I actually got my hands (feet) on the 572 frames and mounted the H-blocks onto them.

It’s very clear how good of an aggressive skater I am in this video. Basically, it’s me skating this frame for the first time and trying to do a soulgrind.

I was pretty happy after this very short session. Every new thing is hard when we’re just beginning to learn it. In my second session I started landing my feet where they needed to be and at the end of it I already started getting some grinds.

The 3rd session is where it really became fun and the fear of falling or sliding out was gone.

Then I saw that I was able to make more attempts in one session and actually got the feel for grinds.

The 4th session was the most fun back then as I was able to get some speed and wasn’t afraid to miss the P-Rail anymore. Practice is everything.

Sometime around 4 weeks later I started practicing in skateparks and in a mini ramp. Nothing spectacular still, but I started trying frontsides and soulstalls as well.

2 weeks and ~10 sessions later is basically where I am now. My soulgrinds on low ledges have become quite stable and they actually feel good. The longest souldgrind I got so far was about 3.5 meters long and was really fun. The stalls I do in the mini ramp have gotten much better and I am kind of happy with my current results.

I think this can be called a proof of concept.

My personal conclusions:
1) I got wheelbite maybe 5-7 times altogether. The H-Block is really preventing me from getting it. Powerslide RAW RED (85A) and Rollerblade Supreme (used to be 80mm, worn down to exactly 72mm) (85A) wheels were used.
2) My progress with stalls and soulgrinds is remarkable (for me at least).
3) The frame is great fun to skate.
4) The agility appears to make it more pleasant to skate aggressively as well.
5) One is able to do most of the flatland moves and powerstops and powerslides don’t make the frame catch the ground and slide away.
6) The frame grinds better after the walls have been scratched.
7) Due to my frequent skating on heelraised frames I did not really feel the heel raise on the frame at all.
8) Hblocks alone seem like an “aggressive skating starter pack” and will allow to learn basic grinds such as soulgrind, mizou, makio, frontside/backside and some other. But offcourse, some grinds won’t be possible at all (royale for example).

Conclusions and changes based on testing

We realized the frame had some great potential, but several things needed changing:
1) The real frame will be made 1.5mm lower than the prototype,
2) The heel lift will be reduced a bit,
3) The rocker will be made a tiny bit less pronounced,
4) The H-Blocks functional design originally created by Justin Thursday won’t be changed.

We see this particular setup as an awesome tool for flatland skaters who want to expand their interests and get into aggressive skating. We believe that it might work the other way around too: for aggressive skaters who would love to try flatland. The H-Blocks alone are the easiest and probably cheapest (the retail price of the H-blocks still remains unclear) way to try aggressive skating along with flatland.

More detailed specifics of ROCKIN’ 572 and ROCKIN’ H-blocks

We have also decided to make the H-blocks compatible with as many products on the market as possible. A solution was found that will allow them to fit all the 5-wheeled ROCKIN’ Frames, as well as other 5-wheeled frames. We have tested them on some third-party frames and they work well. We will not be providing the list of compatible products until we confirm some details with other companies. The H-Blocks will be made of glass-filled-nylon and they will come in color black with some minor hardware.

Packaging of a default ROCKIN’ 572 will contain:
– ROCKIN’ 572 Frames (1 pair)
– ROCKIN’ H-Blocks (1 pair) (Designed by Justin Thursday)
– 10x Axles
– 10x Wheel spacers
– 8x M6 mounting bolts (10mm and 16mm)

ROCKIN’ Adapters will most probably not be included with the ROCKIN’ 572 frames. Let us know if you think that they should be.

The default colors of the ROCKIN’ 572 Frames will be black (as always) and silver.
Wheelbase: 292mm

Special thanks to Justin Thursday for his amazing work.

Release dates

We have finally come to a point where we can name the release dates (approximately): late November / early December 2022.

Okay guys, that’s it.
Right now we are already preparing the next post about upcoming changes in our packaging, branding, frames, and products.
Stay tuned.
– Anastasia and Jevgeny