I test a lot of setups. I wanted something that would be versatile. Something that I could test RKP and TKP trucks with, different wheel sizes, and do some freeriding and technical sliding. It needed to be stiff enough for some hard freeriding, have concave that helped me lock in, but not overzealous, and have a variable wheelbase. Being lightweight and having kicktails would be an added bonus. My plan was to have one platform that I could use for multiple reviews, that way I’d really feel the difference between different trucks and wheels on the same platform. The idea was to remove variables so I could better compare wheels and trucks.
I searched around a bit before landing on the Zenit Morning Wood V2. It fit a lot of my criteria, and looked to be an incredibly versatile setup. Zenit has some blemished decks for a good deal, so I grabbed one. It had some bubbling on the bottom layer, a cosmetic defect only. I was okay with it. Hell, I could cover them up with stickers and you’d almost never notice. Zenit’s shipping was fast, and I had my new deck quickly.
So how does the Zenit Morning Wood V2 hold up as an all-around setup for freeride, tech sliding, and cruising?
Not bad at all!
Table of Contents
Deck Specs
This is almost just a popsicle deck that’s been stretched in every direction with a few extra holes drilled into it. It tapers slightly towards the rear, with a more drastic concave up front than in the back. It’s not quite symmetrical as a result, but I’ve skated it both ways after spinning myself around down a hill and deciding to… roll with it.
- Width: 9.1″
- Length: 34.3″
- Wheelbase: 16.25″-18.75″
- Construction: 5 layers of maple, 2 layers of triaxial fiberglass
That along with a concave that’s mellow in the back and more drastic up front makes for a setup you could ride either way, but was made to be more directional. You’ll find just a bit more control up front thanks to that more steep concave. I sometimes found myself wishing the back had a bit more concave though, especially for heel slides and toe slides that sometimes got a bit out of control. Still, it’s just the right width to dig your heels or toes in for decent slides. For reference, my shoe size is a 9.5-10 in women’s, so that’s about a 7.5-8 in men’s.
The construction makes it lightweight, but those two layers of triaxial fiberglass keep it from flexing too much. It retains a lot of stiffness and pop as a result, so it’s great if you’re planning on using it as an oversized street deck.
Setups Tested
I tested this setup with quite a few trucks and wheels, including:
- 130mm Polar Bear trucks with 63mm Fatty Hawgs (a surprisingly fun setup)
- 169mm Independent Stage 11 Hollow Forged Trucks and 63mm Easy Hawgs as well as 62mm Orangatang Skiffs (A favorite)
- Bear Gen 6 Grizzlies in 50º all around and a 50º/40º split, also with Skiffs, as this was a wide setup (but manageable)
- Caliber II Trucks and 62mm Skiffs (also a bit too wide, but not terrible)
- 165mm Paris V3 trucks, 50º with 70mm Sector 9 Butterballs
- (Briefly) 150mm Paris V3 trucks, 50º with 70mm Cuei Big Sliders
I needed a 0.25″ riser for the TKP setup, as the cruiser wheels can get some wheelbite. The 130mm Bear trucks require just a little bit more, as they’re using offset wheels and swing under the deck further.
Freeriding and Technical Sliding
Concave and Rails
This is not a symmetrical deck. It might look like a popsicle deck at first, but it’s not. Popsicle decks have a slightly taller nose than tail, but other than that, the width is consistent along the deck. The Morning Wood V2 has a narrower rear, with a more shallow concave than it has up front. This gives you more space for your front foot, as well as more rail for steering, but a flatter back. It’s a bit more comfortable for heel slides, but I actually prefer toe slides. It’s not terrible for that either. I do wish the concave was still a bit deeper in the rear, but I’m glad that it’s deep where I want it, up front. You can actually tell from the photos that I shift my back foot around more on this deck than I do something like my Pantheon Gaia or Sector 9 Meridian.
A small ‘W’ in the back could help, but the whole reason Zenit went for less concave in the back was to improve comfort, and a ‘W’ wouldn’t make the ride more comfortable. A ‘W’ concave would make the purpose of this deck just too specific for freeriding. Toe slides became second nature on the platform in just a few runs, but it did sometimes feel like a balancing act, ensuring my foot is in just the right spot for leverage without losing grip on the top. It’s not bad, or even problematic, and I really don’t want to create that impression. After a few runs, I felt perfectly comfortable on the setup. I do still like the concave, it just not perfect for a real locked-in feeling.
Sloppy Footwork
If you’re riding using one of the shorter wheelbases, you may want to invest in a footstop, or at least consider using panhead hardware instead of the flat head you would typically use for a top mount. I found myself often using the front kick as a reference, which is far in front of the wheels on the shorter wheelbase positions. This meant that when I reduced or removed the weight from my back foot, as I do when sliding and foot braking, I’d accidentally bust out a bit of a nose manual. I never fell because of this, but it was risky, especially since I wasn’t expecting it.
Doing a long manual while foot braking is probably the coolest looking foot braking I or anyone else has ever done, but also not incredibly stable or controllable, which is kind of the point of foot braking over sliding. I went with a slightly longer wheelbase and didn’t notice weight distribution issues as much.
Grip Tape
The Zenit Morning Wood V2 can come with some laser-cut Jessup grip tape. I like it, but this is more fitting for riding the deck as a cruiser. I found myself wanting just a little bit more grip between me and the deck, but that’s because, while I try to remain multi-discipline, I’ve mostly been doing some light freeriding during quarantine. I’ll likely continue to use it until I wear it out, but after that, if I’m still using this mostly for freeride, I’ll go for something more coarse. To be fair, it’s perfectly coarse enough for some slower freeride, cruising, and street tricks, but I found myself wanting a bit more grip at times, especially when my foot placement wasn’t perfect on a toe slide and my back leg was feeling fatigued from multiple runs and the laziness I’ve acquired during quarantine.
Weight and Wood
For my reviews, I often skate a setup for a week or a few weeks. I take notes, often skating less than a mile before stopping to write something down on my iPhone to remember later. After I get comfortable on the new setup, I go back to a more familiar setup. I skate that, I have my fun, and then I go back to the setup I’m testing. In this case, when looking into its freeriding and tech sliding capabilities, I compared it to my dedicated freeriding setup, a Pantheon Gaia. The first thing I noticed when I got back to the Morning Wood was that I felt like I was being rattled out of my shoes.
The Zenit Morning Wood V2 has two layers of triaxial fiberglass along with 5 plies of Canadian maple. The Pantheon Gaia has 1 layer of triaxial fiberglass and 7 layers of Canadian maple. It’s a huge difference. The Gaia is heavier, thicker, and “weightier.” But it also absorbs vibrations much better.
I worsened this by tossing on my 169mm Independent trucks and some smaller, harder 62mm Orangatang Skiff wheels, so we can’t ignore that the rest of the setup made this a worst case scenario. This is the setup I got this for, for crazy slides on little wheels. While I love the stiffness the fiberglass provides, I wish there was a bit more wood to dampen those vibrations. You could always get thick, soft riser pads, which will help. I’ve been using a soft 0.25″ riser on them, and it helps a lot, but you still notice the lighter, thinner construction. I added a few 1/8″ drop through strips and found this was more comfortable and more safe from wheel bite.
Of course, it’s not all bad. My bicep and forearm muscles are often sore the morning after a day carrying my Gaia back up the hill. I’ve never had that problem with the Morning Wood V2, even after spending all day on it. You’re trading some weight for vibrations. On certain setups, you can negate the vibrations and just enjoy that easier walk back up the hill. The Morning Wood V2 is definitely a lightweight deck for the stiffness it provides.
Wheelbase Considerations
I found that, with my Paris and other RKP setups, I preferred this on the largest wheelbase. If you have 8 hole or even 6 hole pattern trucks, you can take advantage of the full 18.75-inch wheelbase. I recommend this. It’s where I felt like the setup felt most steady. I also found that, though I usually ride my Paris V3/2 trucks with double barrel bushings, even for freeride, it worked best for responsive freeride with some slightly softer cone bushings. I specifically went with Orangatang’s Knuckle, the soft and medium (87A and 89A) varieties.
You’ll find this deck has just enough space to work really well for both reverse and traditional kingpin trucks. It felt dead with shorter wheelbases on the RKP trucks, but that longer wheelbase with the right bushings felt fantastic.
Setup Ideas:
- Tech:
- 169mm Indy
- Orangatang Skiffs, Remember PeeWees, Powell Peralta G-Slides, Easy Hawgs
- Freeride:
- 165mm, 50º Paris V3
- Remember Hoots, Powell Peralta Snakes, or any of the above wheel options
- 165mm Cast Arsenal and any of the smaller wheel options. These turn a bit more due to using tall barrel bushings, so prepare for more wheelbite with larger wheels.
- 150mm and either wide or sideset wheels.
I mostly recommend 50º trucks, because I prefer a nimble setup on these shorter wheelbases, but feel free to try out a <45º setup. This isn’t really built for extreme downhill or even really fast freeriding, but with the right trucks and wheels, freeriding is fun and possible on this setup.
Cruising/Park/Street
I had been considering this or the Landyachtz Rallycat. I chose the Zenit for quite a few reasons. First, the stiffer construction including fiberglass. Second, no wheel arches. Third, no rocker, so it’s a more neutral testing platform (though I love rocker). And finally, I have too many Landyachtz boards already. I can’t help it, they keep trying new and unique ideas and I just have to grab one each time. I’m a sucker for a radically unique design. Still, the Rallycat is set up with 130mm TKP Bear trucks and 63mm Fatty Hawgs. I happen to have both of these.
My deck came in before the Indy trucks I had planned to use, so I threw on some 130mm trucks and Fatty Hawgs along with some risers to try it out. It’s a fantastic cruiser setup. I was a little floored at how much I liked this. It’s crazy nimble and would benefit from decent bushings (which are harder to find for pre-2020 Polar Bear trucks), but a lot of fun. Ridiculous fun. Nimble to the point that I might not suggest it for beginners, but anyone with the ankles of a skater would be fine on it. The setup is incredibly easy to just break traction and spin the deck around. It was a blast and I recently went back to riding it like this, just for some over the top fun. However, it’s worth noting that you’ll need at least a 1/4-inch riser. I’m actually using a 1/4″ riser along with a 1/8″ riser, as I was getting some wheelbite with the soft Bear bushings. This is why the Rallycat has wheel arches.
This cruising setup is a nimble freak, and I love it. It makes everything feel faster, and makes slides easy and fun.
As for street skating, it’s definitely larger than your average street deck. I have only one street setup, but I went with a narrow and lightweight setup on that one, a 7.75″ deck. This is not that. With a 9.1″ width, 169mm trucks, a 34″ length, and larger cruiser wheels, it’s definitely heavier and larger than a smaller setup. And, while my first ollies with it weren’t even remotely impressive, it’s easier than you’d expect for something this size. There’s a springiness to the pop. I actually got more height with it than I was expecting. It is, for its size, a lightweight deck. Combine that with the thinner and more rigid construction with what Zenit calls “dampening flex,” and it’s easy to get airborne. However, that wider size will make flip tricks a bit more difficult. Just be prepared if you have to do a kick flip on command to impress the neighborhood kids.
It’s definitely worth pointing out that this has a variable wheelbase. That means if you do find yourself wanting more agility or stability, or more pop or a wider turning radius, you have those options. You can easily adjust this so it feels right for whatever you’re doing.
Cruiser Setup Ideas:
- Go with the same as the tech slide setup above
- Try smaller trucks, like 130mm trucks, with wide, offset wheels for a nimble and comfortable cruiser setup.
Pros & Cons
Pros:
- Versatile
- Multiple wheelbase options over a 2.5″ range
- Even surface without large wheel arches
- Double kick
- Lightweight
- Stiff enough for some freeride
- Good pop for ollies and street tricks
Cons:
- Deck carries vibrations
- Concave is just a little too shallow intense freeride, but it’s still usable
- Thin yet stiff construction means less room for wheel wells
- May need a footstop for finding a reference when you use the smaller wheelbase
Overall
This review took a long time. That was largely due to the pandemic, which limited me to a few shorter hills in my area, left me unemployed and job hunting, which cuts into your free time somehow more than a steady job, and then starting a new job, leaving me using additional time to get caught up on work until I can get into a flow there. However, there’s a third reason, and I think it should be obvious from this review: this is a versatile deck, and that meant I was basically testing many different setups for just one review.
Outside of its versatility, it doesn’t seem overtly unique. However, it’s lightweight and has some subtle design choices to make it work great as both a cruiser and a freeride setup. It may not have a unique shape, lots of rocker, deep crescent shaped drops, a ‘W’ concave, or any other bells and whistles, but it’s exceedingly good at the basics. Someone took a street deck and said, “What if we could do some freeriding on that,” and made the Morning Wood V2. It worked.
My apartment is a museum of skateboard decks. However, if I’m being honest, there are perhaps five decks that I’m most frequently reaching for. This is one of them. That makes sense. I got it to be a good test platform for a variety of setups. With the right wheels, I can use trucks from 180mm down to 120mm on it, reverse kingpin or traditional kingpin. It also has just enough concave and shape to it to help me get into more tech sliding and practice freestyle and predrifts. It’s a jack-of-all trades kind of deck. It’s not the perfect freeride deck, but it can do it. It’s not the perfect street deck, but it has fantastic pop. It’s not small enough to work well as an everyday cruiser, but it’s fun to ride as one. I do think it may be one of the best techslide decks you can get though, due to the double kick and concave. Otherwise? It’s just a good jack-of-all-trades deck. This is a versatile setup, and if you’re looking for just one deck to cover many possible riding styles, this might be the right deck for you.
Oh, and, yes, the name is stupid. I try not to think about it.
