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Xsjado Black Mooks Review - 04/04/23
 It
seems that when a new innovative frame comes to the
market has the freshmen curse, in that the frame ends
up broken or don't work properly. I never break frames
and when Fifty-50 developed the UFS frame, I was lucky
enough to get the first batch that had air bubbles inside
them causing them to crack. The first ever suspension
frame were developed by Fiziks, however the back rocker
were weak and broke easily.
The year 2000 was not only a start of a new century,
but also the offspring of frame innovation. Omar Wysong
was the first to ride his skates freestyle giving everyone
a new way of thought process. The spawn of the freestyle
frame movement brought the Ground Control Murda Blocks,
Fifty-50 juice blocks, They Kizer Wysong Freestyle frames,
Karma Concept (is that still around?), and now the most
anticipated frames…the Xsjado frames.
Just like some of the new innovative frames, the freshmen
curse was upon the Xsjados. As you all know, many of
the frames were recalled due to the mass amount of breaking
the frames delivered. The ad they did states "What
if your frames were as strong as a tree", but the
results of the frame changed the slogan to "What
if your frames were made of glass." The problem
with the frames was not so much of the architecture
of it, but ore of the way they were poured. Like the
UFS Fifty-50 frames, it had air bubbles inside causing
them to break. It's amazing how one little thing such
as that can make the frame weaker.
Almost everyone who go the beige Mook frames broke
them instantaneously. Only the few had a pair of good
frames that did not break, including me, which kept
up for about 4 months of skating (they're still good,
they just have a huge groove). When I tired them out,
I didn't like them. It altered my way in doing front
royals, which took a while for me to adapt to my skating.
 It
felt like I was doing royals on my old frames that had
a deep groove after I used them for a year. On the plus
side, the frames made my skates very light, which I
absolutely love. I kept hearing how everyone loved them
and got use to them easily…well before they cracked
anyway. I felt bad for the people whose frames cracked.
The obvious thing that everyone notices on these frames
is the massive groove on the bottom of the frame, but
that is not only specialty these frames deliver. The
sides of the frame is shaped to give you two small surface
areas of grinding making it faster on souls. You'll
see the difference when the side of the frame is grinded
and not the middle area.
The difference between the beige frame and the black
frame is not just the color, but the internal structure
of the frames. The beige frames have small X's going
with the arch. The black frames have a bar going across
from the back wheel to the front. Some old frames would
enforce the "H" block area with a bar going
from one side of the frame to the other, but because
this way is supported by two other wheels, the frame
is supported by the long bar across the frame.
Before I attached these frames to my skates, I was
riding 8 wheel frames for a month or so. I had a feeling
that I would have to get use to the frames again, but
I didn't have to. I had already adapted the frames to
my skating and the royales came easier and faster than
the beige frames. When I first use the beige fames,
I was using soft boot skates. At the time I put the
black frames, they were on some hard boot skates. I
thought that might have been the reason why the royales
came easy, but I put the frames on the soft boot skates
and they felt just the same way as I was skating with
the hard boot skates. What's even better, the soft boot
with Xsjados became the lightest skates I've ever had.
I first skated these frames on ledges. It my have been
more mental thought, but they frames seemed more of
an enjoyable session than usual. For me, it must have
been the lightness of the skates. Grinding on these
frames seemed normal. Everyone has this fear or intension
that you will not align your frame properly because
of these frames, but unless you are a beginner skating,
your head is already programmed for your feet to land
in the middle of the frames. If you do misalign your
feet, then the arch will instantaneously slide your
skates to the middle of the frame.
 When
I had the beige frames, I was afraid to skate rails
on them. If there's one thing you will know about me,
it's that I'm not a fan of skating rails. I would have
to have a clear head to skate one and one day, a couple
of my friends and I skated a rail, disregarding the
fact that I had Xsjados on and they felt fine. I didn't
have to warm up on them, and they slid like butter in
a frying pan. You definitely have to get used to them
on rails, but it won't take you long.
The big difference I found with Xsjados was when I
grinded on round ledges or fat rails. I skated the round
ledges in Embarcadero (downtown SF) and they were wonders
on royales and full torques. It took me a while to get
use to it, but it didn't take long for me to enjoy the
frames for that day. Double-sided rails/ledges are a
different story. If there are rails, I would enjoy square
rails, but when I skated it, grinding was fast on it.
It must have been because the rail was in a skate with
many dents from skateboarders. It is a different feeling
from skating regular frames. With Xsjados, you have
two points on the frame where the ledges/rail hit.
The strength of these frames can obtain the same strength
as your regular standard frame when doing gaps. I didn't
jump the leap of faith, but they worked well on a good
13-stair gap. Obviously an enormous gap will give different
results than gaping off a curb, but Xsjados did not
have any different results when landing gaps (of course
Fiziks would give a different effect).
One problem that I found with these frames are not
in all parks, but the ones with a small rail coping
copings. They were harder to grind because the arches
of the grove touch do not touch the rail at all grinding
on the concrete around it. They are trouble especially
on royales, frontsides, and full torques, however if
you have a park that does not have any coping at the
top of quarter pipes or bowls , you'll have the time
of your life grinding/cessing that obstacles that are
harder with regular frames.
The frames are not bad. They are light, but take a
while to get use to when grinding. Once you do, you
will enjoy these frames to the fullest. It doesn't really
make a difference if you're using a soft boot or a hard
boot on these skates as I first thought it would, but
more influenced in how you do the grinds. Just a warning,
when you put these on, you will have the inspiration
to skate like Farmer or Latimer and if that means growing
a beard like Dustin (which he doesn't have anymore)
or downsize your clothes from a XXL to an L (just like
Farrmy). If you like to skate fast just like me, so
I would recommend purchasing big sized wheels like 58mm
or even push it to the limits and use 60mm.
Many of you may still be prone to the four-wheel movement,
but if you happen to get yourself a hand of these frames,
open your mind and try them out. I was not too fond
of these frames at first, but I gave it a good week
or two of straight skating and I liked it. These frames
will eventually break, but don't count on that being
the first couple of weeks you skate them. The curse
is now over and everyone can enjoy the black magic of
Xsjado coming May 1, 2004.
- Apollo
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