It might be hard to believe it if you’re locked indoors to avoid a certain novel virus, but it’s spring. Of course, if you’re in the North East United States, you also may find this hard to believe because it was snowing today. Still, springtime means new decks from your favorite skate companies. This month started with a huge lineup reveal from Landyachtz, and this week we got new decks from another Canadian company, Zenit. Zenit’s reveal includes new freeride/downhill decks, new cruisers, a new pusher, and a new deck that blends mini cruiser, pusher, and a freestyle-focused deck. It’s all really cool, so let’s jump right in.
Table of Contents
Cat Nip
The Cat Nip is a completely new shape this year. Zenit didn’t update their popular dancer lineup this week, however, that didn’t stop them from releasing a new deck that’s perfect for portable freestyling.
The Cat Nip is a drop through deck with a micro drop to help orient your feet on the small standing platform. It’s 33.5″ long, with a wheelbase of 21.5″ and width of 9″. It’s got a small amount of rocker, and mellow concave. They gave it “sharp” rails though, directing your feet back to the center of the deck. And you might need that direction, because the Cat Nip has small kicktails on each end, with a sharp curve up that gives rider leverage over the deck. I’m not saying you could ollie this deck with ease, but it’s possible. More importantly, you could use it with other freestyle longboard techniques. It’s actually pressed in the Mini Marble’s mold, if you’re an existing Zenit rider, that should give you an idea of the concave feel.
The Cat Nip, like their other decks, includes a fiberglass and maple design, with their own “Zen-ply” layer for the graphic, which is by an artist local to their Canadian shop, Jerry3000. It’s still slightly flexible, not quite stiff. It could do some light freeriding.
It’s easy to draw comparisons to something like the Landyachtz Drop Cat 33. It’s a drop through platform, there’s rocker, a little area past the trucks, and they’re both named after cats, but there are subtle differences here. The Drop Cat 33 has a longer wheelbase (23.5″ compared to 21.5″). It’s also got a longer standing platform. The Drop Cat is stiff, with a lot of rocker, making it more for pushing and freeriding. The Cat Nip has a graduated rocker, kicktails, and more flexibility. While both are great for pushing and commuting, the Cat Nip will be better for freestyle thanks to functional kicktails and flexibility aiding in its pop, while the Drop Cat will be better for freeriding with its longer platform, rocker, and stiffer, heavier construction.
If you’re looking for freestyle on the go, the Cat Nip’s got you covered.
AB Maze
The AB Maze is a thinner, lighter, and slightly shorter version of the AB 2.0. It’s pressed in the same mold so it’ll retain the shape of the AB 2.0, just in a slightly smaller and lighter size. It’ll be more flexible as a result. This is Zenit’s go-to pusher. Lightweight, about the length of a standard popsicle deck, and low to the ground. This is a double drop board with full 1″ drops, and a forked mounting to make replacing trucks easy.
Zenit will set it up for you with both reverse kingpin trucks and traditional kingpin trucks. Both setups can accommodate 85mm Orangatang Caguamas, at least with the Paris Street trucks Zenit uses. For RKP trucks, Zenit uses 165mm Paris V3 or Savant trucks, and for TKP, they’re using Paris 149mm Street trucks. The latter should sound familiar to Pantheon fans. That’s the setup favored by the Ember and Pranayama. It looks like Pantheon will have close competition with this cruiser. A similar setup to the Ember actually comes in slightly cheaper on the Zenit.
The Maze AB is made from fiberglass, Canadian maple, and a fiberglass fork and drop reinforcement layer. There is only a little flex, which may leave some users wanting more, but others will prefer the stiffer ride. If you’re looking for a lightweight commuter, definitely consider the Maze AB. It’s going to give the Pantheon pushers and Bustin Sportster some serious competition.
Mini Rocket 33
If you were thinking you wanted a slimmer, more aerodynamic race version of the Rocket V3, the Mini Rocket 33 is your bet. It’s pressed in the same mold as the Rocket V3, but has a longer, pointed nose. The overall length is an inch shorter than the Rocket V3, with a reduced—but respectable—wheelbase range. You can use between a 21″ and a 25″ wheelbase on the Mini Rocket 33, down from 19.75″-28″ on the Rocket V3. That’s why both are still on sale (and for the same prices). The Mini Rocket 33 is for someone who wants a narrow deck that’s a full pound lighter than the V3. When you’re walking your setup back up a hill all day, a pound is definitely something you’ll notice.
The Mini Rocket is focused on racing and freeride first. It’s a narrow deck with stiff layers of maple, fiberglass, and multiple layers of carbon fiber. Each carbon fiber layer is slightly different, to prevent both longitudinal and torsional flex. That means it won’t twist or dip. It also means this is going to hold its shape for many years. It’s a more mellow concave, with wheel flares helping mark positions on the deck for your feet.
UFO
This isn’t from outer space, but you may fly past people too fast for them to identify what’s under your feet. The UFO is 32″ long, 9″ wide, with a slightly variable wheelbase between 21.75″-22.75″. It’s based on the Mini Marble, giving it a small kicktail in the back and some mellow rocker. It also has the sharp rail edges, pushing your feet back towards the center, and little micro drops from that platform. There are wheel flares for larger wheel setups as well. This is a downhill and freeride deck you can kick up at the end of a race. There are also weight saving cutouts, making it one of their lighter freeride setups, only 0.07lbs heavier than the new Mini Rocket 33.
This also features their maple, fiberglass, and carbon fiber construction, for an incredibly stiff deck that resists all flexing. However, it also includes a layer of woven kevlar and carbon fiber on the bottom. It might be the most techy construction you can find. When Zenit was ordering layers for this deck, they ordered one of most of the menu. The end result is a directional downhill deck with cruiser inspiration and micro drops for your feet to find a solid place to stand.
Vapor
The next two boards bring the A E S T H E T I C S to the Zenit lineup. The Vapor and Wave are two decks cut from the same tree, so to speak. They’re both based on the Morning Wood mold, for a street-like feel in a wider and longer package. Fun fact: I actually have a Morning Wood V2 in my shopping cart, but just can’t bring myself to buy it knowing I have so many setups to review still, and, due to the weather and COVID-19, I can’t get out as much as I’d like.
The Vapor and the Wave are slightly different. The Vapor has a 34″ length and the same 9″ width. The wheelbase varies between 17″ and 18″. The real difference is the nose and tail. While it retains the classic pointed nose cruiser shape, the Vapor still has a considerable nose for nollies and other nose-centric tricks. It’s still got that big rounded kicktail as well. The Vapor’s for someone who wants to do tricks, but still wants that slightly truncated and lighter cruiser shape.
You could set this up with RKP trucks, but with the shorter wheelbase, you’d likely prefer the TKPs. RKPs would potentially work better on the longer wheelbase. You could always grab it with TKPs, which, with the Paris Street trucks, would feel surfy and smooth. Then try it with some RKPs if you have them on hand. Zenit recommends 165mm trucks, but I feel like it would be more responsive with 150mm trucks and wider offset cruiser wheels, like Orangantang Fat Frees or Landyahctz Fatty Hawgs. The latter are some of my favorite cruiser wheels for using smaller trucks on wider decks.
Also, yes, the design is vaporwave inspired, if you’re into that kind of thing.
Wave
The Wave is the smaller option based off of the Morning Wood. It’s a little over a tenth of a pound lighter than the vapor, and 3.5 inches shorter as well, coming in at 30.5″. The wheel base is only an inch shorter though, coming in at 16″-17″. This is because the main difference is the shrunken kicktails. The kicktail is also flatter in the center, giving it a sort of cutout. It looks cool, and it certainly shortens the deck, but you might find it cuts a piece out of the most useful part of the tail for pop.
If the Vapor is a street cruiser made for tricks, the Wave is made to be a compact commuter and errand runner. It’s lighter and smaller, made to be compact. Pick the Wave over the Vapor if you want to get around and need something for trips to places, more than freestyle and tricks.
Wrapping it Up
And that’s it for Zenit this week. We could still see updates on Dancers, or even the precision trucks the company was working on in the future. This update focused on freeriding, downhill, and cruising, with some freestyling thrown in for good measure. It’s a fun update, and I think a lot of Zenit fans can find something new to get excited about. See anything you like?
