Flexdex® Skateboards, You Ride One You Want One

An Interview with Elliot Rabin, mastermind of Flexdex® performance skateboards  (1999)

Elliot peeking out behind his boards

Elliot in Indo

This way cool chica and good friend of mine Jessica Trent who lives in Southern Cal. hooked me up with some great sponsors for the 1998 East Coast Wahine Championships. She turned me onto Flexdex skateboards and when they sent two boards made especially for girls to my house to give away at the contest, it took a lot of self control not to take them both for a test-ride. The Wahine 29, a clear plastic deck with pink trucks, blue wheels, and grip tape cut into flowers and butterflies became first place prize in our Wahine Shortboard division. The Surf Diva 40, a long skateboard with sunflower grip tape (every petal a different color) and specially designed wheels and trucks for super smooth turns became first place in our Surf Diva Shortboard division. The two girls who won, Carrie Travers of Virginia Beach, VA and Christine Eccleston of Raleigh, NC were needless to say, stoked.

I was just as stoked when by chance I met Elliot Rabin, owner of flexdex skateboards in downtown Orlando, Florida where we had both come to see The Surfers play. I thanked him so much for the boards, nervous about meeting an industry owner. We were both there for the Surf Expo (I'm a rep for Baku swimwear), and over time and a lot of e-mail I found out what's really going on with these boards that never break.

How did FlexDex begin? And what's the deal behind a plastic skateboard deck?    Well, my dad bought this little plastics company call Ridout Plastics back in the late 60's. (Ridout was the name of the former owner). As a charged up little grom, I was stoked to find the materials necessary to build surfboards, skateboards, and surf leashes on the shelves of the family store. By the time I graduated from college, I had built over 500 surfboards with my best friend, Rusty Preisendorfer, and sold hundreds of skateboards made from fiberglass throughout Southern California from the back of my VW van. That period was pretty cool. We were room-mates in a house with 8 guys and a 4 car garage. We built a shaping room and glassing room in there. Study, surf, glass a board. Easy life.

Fast forward to Xmas 1995, where I was fooling around with skateboards with MY groms. We took the boards to the NSSA contests we were all surfing in. They had no name and were a strange green color. The material was leftover from some stuff we sell the Army for building lightweight shelters outside and had to be shrapnel-resistant. Well, the kids were stoked, but it was the dads (just regular guys like PT and Bob Hurley) that told me to go to the ASR show in Feb 1996 and give it a try. So I formed a division at Ridout Plastics called Flexdex® performance skateboards that are made from an unlaminated fiberglass composite that will never break. They offer a ride similar to surfing and snowboarding.

What type of boards does Flex-dex make?     Basically, we make FUN skateboards. We have created 12 different unique models which include several signature models that are tied to professional surfing and snowboarding athletes. The boards are made from a unique blend of 5 kinds of fiberglass material and 2 kinds of resin. They are molded into a composite material that is insanely tough. 30,000 pounds per square inch to break it. don't know anyone that large...do you? Besides being fun, they're cool looking, and girls like them too because they are less threatening to ride, and we even engineered 3 models to turn easier for them.

Who rides Flex-dex boards?     Surfers, snowboarders, wakeboarders, and oh-yes, skateboarders! They offer an alternative to the grind and ollie double kicktail boards. I hate classifying flexdex® as a long-board, when the longest flexdex® is only 41". If you like the way it feels when you carve off the bottom of a nice size wave or a deep carve on a snowboard, you'll like a flexdex® .

Are they for the street or the park?     Both. Longer boards, regardless of brand, are not really park boards, but you can ride them there anyway. However, the smaller ones, especially the Bee33 swallowtail is superb in a park.

Who are your big name team riders?  Like Slater, etc..? How'd you manage to get pro surfers into skateboards?    I think our ability to get the top guys has a lot to do with our attitude. Flexdex® is all about FUN. We're just a bunch of surfers making a really fun skateboard. It is such a natural board for surfers and snowboarders to ride. Sometimes I feel like the "candy man" where I let someone ride the boards, and they are hooked.

Pretty much all of the pro surfers have skated flexdex®  - but we started at the top with Kelly. That was pretty cool. We were only in business for 9 months when we hooked up in Florida at Surf Expo. It's really all about people doing business with people. He liked us. He loves to skate. And he liked the idea of making the best skateboard ever and tying it to Surfboarder for raising money! (His model was rated the number ONE longboard skateboard in 1998!) Guys like Slater don't make a lot of money on the skateboard deal, it's just a ton of fun and helps out charity organizations.

As far as the other pros, we try to associate ONLY with people who are good ambassadors of their sports, and, of course, who like to skate. So we have Kalani Robb and Tim Curran - WCT surfers, Jim Rippey - pro snowboarder and Big Air champ, Cara-Beth Burnside  - world's best woman skateboarder and Olympic snowboarder (4th place in 1998), the Surf Diva - world's best women's surf instructor, and the Wingnut - the world's best ambassador for surfing.

Tell me about your environmental concerns? I hear a large portion of your proceeds go directly to the Surfrider Foundation.    Even if I had never started flexdex® it wouldn't change my concerns or involvement. I strongly believe in supporting a few nationally based organizations that can make a difference. With a surfing related product, Surfrider was the natural first step there. All signature models raise money for various worthy causes and charities as a direct result of their sales. Slater's was the first. I did not even tell Surfrider what I was up to with that. Once I had secured the deal I tracked down the Executive Director of Surfrider and told him what I was up to. His eyes bulged out about 2 inches! He knew it was big. (In fact, this was history. The first surf/skate product that raised money for a charity as a direct result of sales. Not a percentage. Hard dollars from EVERY board!) We carried these concepts on and now link with the NSSA, the ISA, both of which promote surfing on a competitive level and world wide on a goodwill level. Our new Wingnut Model has a tie to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. (Wingnut has MS)

It seems Flexdex is the skateboard for surfers. Have you found it hard to get in the hard core skaters world?    Sure. The true test for the hard-core is a half-pipe or pool. Longboards and flexdex® boards really weren't designed for that. But, give them a couple of years when they get to be in their 20's and they're all stoked on flexdex® skateboards - they "over" the grind years and now just wanna have fun - you know - transportation and stuff.

How are Flex-dex boards different from other boards?  Is there any concern over the fact that since the product doesn't break, then people will only have to buy one?    They flex. We are all about drive and carve, getting a low center of gravity going, and accelerating through turns. These boards will never delam, break, or die. Ever.  30% more energy is transmitted to the wheels than wood decks. Our decks flex and twist with torque - turning sharper and accelerating through each turn. A flexdex® absorbs road vibrations - you can skate longer and harder. You tilt a wood deck to turn it. You DRIVE and CARVE a flexdex®. The Harder you Drive, the Tighter the carve.  Get it?

As for buying one, people should buy at least 2 - longer and shorter. The wheels wear, but the decks last! It's a better value that buying a wood board and having it snap a couple of weeks after you shelled out hard earned cash for it.

Tell me about your artistic influences? Your expressions and creativity through the skate templates?    Well, I was an art major in college. The shapes of flexdex® are partly my designs, partly an influence of my employees, and partly an influence of the pro we are working with. I am extremely proud of the efforts of everyone's contributions. The first flexdex® was the PRO41 longboard which was largely designed by my own grom. People need to know that guys like Slater really did have a huge design influence on their models. It is not about slapping someone's name on a board for the money (like some others do) but having a unique shape, color design, wheel and truck combo that personify the rider and make a unique board.  Slater is working on some cool graphic designs for his models for 1999. He's our artist for the 1999 K-Grip Skate line!

You know, I was sitting back and looking at the general look and feel of the flexdex® line and I saw a connection to my past art. I was heading in a direction that included stained glass, and you can see the shapes and curves of the grip tape that really shows that connection. I still design most of the stickers and I designed the logo as well. I think that's how I retain my sanity is having the outlet of art. Either that, or I plug in... crank the knob to 10, and jam.

Thanks Elliot! You've got me stoked, I'm going to ride the Wahine, See ya!    Thanks Anne! Bee good! -E