We did a review of the Muirskate Podiums and Markers a couple weeks ago, and that was an awesome time- the concept of a shop making their own products is definitely new and welcome. Great way for the shop to make themselves some money, and get their own personal tastes into their products. I’m a fan.
Muirskate has always had this tradition of partnering with boardmakers to have a budget board for people to pick up in case they didn’t want to spend too much on their first board or whatnot. In the past it was Rayne with the Muiracle, but for now, it’s Earthwing with the Muirderer!
I talked to Scott a few weeks ago and he was (as always) generous enough to send me a Muirderer 33 (there are two sizes, 33 and 36) to test out and write about. What a wholesome man, I’d totally buy him a dinner. Funny story- it got stuck in Canadian Customs for a couple weeks before it was released to my house and panic ensued, but I did some calling and I found my board and got it to my house eventually. After experimenting with some different truck setups and wheel choices and shredding it for a few weeks as my daily putt board, I’m confident that I have experienced all this board has to give.
The Muirderer 33 is a 33 inch (go figure) long single kick board with pretty generous freeride-esque concave. It’s 9.75 inches wide, which is pretty wide for a board that’s only 33 inches long, but it makes a lot of sense. I’ll get into that later. It’s got some really mellow W concave, wheel flares, a flat kicktail and a bit of a flared-up nose to help you catch those ollies. All in all, a pretty fun shape that’s meant to do a lot of things on a miniature scale. I assume the 37 came first, and then they shrunk it down to make the 33. Great choice, in my opinion.
So, the first setup I had for the Muirderer was Paris 150s and Orangatang Skiffs- I had a lot of trouble with that setup, since I got wheelbite and not enough turn. Pretty bad choice on my part, I should’ve known better, since Earthwing makes a lot of their stuff based off of Independent 169s. So I got myself a set of 159s, and the setup worked a lot better. The wheel wells are perfect for Indys. I had no trouble with wheelbite, and even running a really leany setup on my Indys, I had nothing to worry about. I’d strongly recommend going with either Independents or your favorite TKP (traditional kingpin) truck with this board.
Now, about the concave. I found the concave to be so, so comfortable and appropriate for the board’s size. It’s just straight up, mellow progressive radial concave complemented by some small-ish wheel flares. I like the design cue behind this- since the board is short, there’s nothing that gets in the way of you using the full length of the board as your standing platform. You can realistically put your feet wherever and they wouldn’t feel squished out of form or cramped at all. The board tapers towards the front of the board. Intended or not, it makes it easy to wedge your foot into one of the wheel flares for a nice lock for the front foot. In the back, you can rest your feet near or on the wheel flares as a good reference point for your tuck or slides. The W is very mellow- I usually can’t tell it’s there, but it definitely adds to support when you’re putting out a quick heelside check. For reference, it’s like a Tesseract, but with less concave, smaller wheel flares and much less W. The kicktail! It’s functional, flat like a street kick, and there’s not much else about it. It works and I’m thankful for that.
The construction is of maple, and for the most part it’s been durable. There’s a little chipping on the wheel wells and the wheel flares are definitely seeing some wear from sliding along the ground, but that’s with any skateboard and I’m alright with it. The one thing that’s concerning me is that the board’s gotten twisty since I got it. It’s not warped, but torsionally, it’s not the stiffest board. It’s small, so it doesn’t make that large of a difference, but I can jump in the middle and the board will flex a solid 4 centimeters. Again, not an issue since my feet are near the bolts anyway, but I’m curious about the 37 version since it’s larger and people with smaller stances will definitely be putting a lot of pressure in the middle of the board.
All in all, the Muirskate x Earthwing Muirderer is one of the best small decks that I’ve stood on and used extensively. It will be staying in my quiver as that board I’ll hop onto for beer runs and going out to meet friends. It’s functional enough for some meme-ey freeride at the local outlaws! I strongly recommend it for its price point as well. Get out there and swoop one up!