Easily the best skate product reviewer on youtube but not only that, probably one of the best reviewers on RU-vid in general. Ben goes so in depth and is so thorough with all of his reviews that you're never really left without any of the information that you clicked on the video for. I really appreciate how he explains ALL of the little details that you'd want to know about the product that most other reviewers might leave out and in a very clear and digestible way.
OMG, I was all "Wish I lived in the same city as these guys. They're so sweet and chill" and then I saw you skating next to Playland. 🤗 I'm a skateboarding noob at the ripe old age of 40 and it's nice to know there's guys like you out there at the skate parks. Hope I run into you someday. ❤️
they dont make 159s or 8.75 axle i mean im riding venture 6.1s for the hell of it and i ride indy normally. This pains me BC id jump on some AF1 aces if they made 8.75. For me its perfect for the size i ride up to shapes too. Ironically they make the 44 which is perfect for the 8.38 i ride but i havent ridden same size axle in like 10 years, and dont really care much about it. Still pretty EPIC that ace actually makes 8.35'' axles though for 8.38 riders since its grown in popularity in the coming years
I think it's pretty telling of Vans' ability to get their marketing message out on the skate line if someone who does shoe reviews can't articulate what the 'new' insole does. Great review and thanks!
Honestly the biggest improvement for me is that they look more like the OG halfcab. The Halfcab pros were always just a little bit goofy looking compared to the classics
you were so right about the flick on these shoes. SOOO bulky, skated them for the first time today and it was a bit of a struggle. hoping to get used to the flick soon cause these shoes look sick on feet
@@gwynssunbro1921 it was definitely a struggle through the first week, but once i wore down the rubber almost completely smooth thats when it started to feel normal. for me, that alone was enough to never buy them again because who wouldnt want to be able to flick perfectly right out the box?
This actually might be my favorite video of yours ben. Maybe it was the music, maybe it was the vibes, could have been the slight vlog style, not to sure....but it was phenomenal
13:59 thats a very good point actually. I was like "they would look really good with a pretty wide, low pantleg" but i didnt think about how they would not look good with slimmer types of pants
Thanks Ben, your vids always make me keen to go out for a skate! I've been rocking the Camel colourway Half Cabs as well, absolutely love them - but I'm a wide footer
Agree 100% about the flick on these. I had a session in them and my flick wasn't nearly as precise as it can be in the originals. May keep skating them to practice heelflip tricks as per your suggestion, though.
Do you think you would go crazy without your skateboard? I think I’d fall into a sad loop of yearning to skate, accepting it, and then wanting to skate again.
Thanks for the review, I'll be getting some. Love the old school vibe and don't really do kickflips so they should work well for my old man bowl skating and occasional 'posing' down the pub with my not so tight and not so baggy trousers. Excellent content as always dude.
I was never much into VAns (or better I haven't been for many years, I skated the Rowley XLT a lot when I was a kid), but now I bought myself a new pair of slip ons, I'm curious to feel how they improved them and if it's worth the price (I can usually find Lakai or Fallen for slightly cheaper). Great video as always Ben, spring in Canada looks amazing in this video.
The new half cabs actually more going on with the upgrades than the other skate classic models. They reinforced the collar a bit more, which is why they feel stiffer.
hope so i had always passed on the half-cab as great as it was to skate after they broke in they would totally soften up and id lose tricks. Even the new sk8-highs are epic changes imo. The classics would always tighten up as they broke in in the toe area...then the inner stitching/layers of fabric would often overlap and fold over inside and cause bruises on my toes and the side of my feet. I liked the sk8-highs way before the pros were coming out bc of all the vans....the soles/footbeds never blew out and they stayed stiff/tight. VS that classic vans softening up blow out feel in the heel/footbed where the sole/vulc rubber connects to the upper materials....From the rowley classic pros, to the old skool. I also skated TNT II religiously as well as the TNT SG. Which both would eventually blow out and soften up. The vans VERSA held up the longest before blowing out. And they stopped making that type of shoe after alex olson left Ive just always had a love hate relationship with vans bc day 1 some of their shoes would be epic then theyd just blow out so fast...and its just too expensive to keep skating shoes like that. VS high tops or the synthetic upper g6 emericas or etc. AT the time. Even cons have come a very long way
I just got some of those exact ones. nice black halfcabs. I love the early 90s, whether it's 1990 new deal videos or 1993 the real video. I wasn't even alive then, but skating a big board with smallish wheels and halfcabs is so much more fun than some boring popsicle (I like 90s eggshaped popsicles with really tapered kicks).
interesting adaptations vans is doing, reminds me of the emerica G6/cup sole implementation. As a laced/wino/slip on skater. The g6 slip on and g6 laced was a breath of fresh air. But the toe caps on these vans makes them feel like converse or huf shoes. As far as the toe flex/board feel. Overall they seem more durable, but seem to fit more like a boot. And the plastic heel insert is hit or miss IMO. It might be better for impact and manuals but idk about boardfeel its like riding the laced to g6 laced. Just a different overall feel and not exactly the same shoe. To fully respect vans i had to get some epoch pros bc i never skated them in general theyre a really clean/design and i generally stopped skating low profile vans shoes a few years ago. But the epoch is like somewhat of a mixed bag vans shoe so i dont have to do a translation like with the old skool/pro/skate classic, and same with the sk8-high classics/pro/skate classic. Plus i love them for driving the original designs hell even the older authentics with the inner breathing holes have a nice feel when i drive by trade. Im gonna skate the all leather epoch to get a feel for the potential vans is offering. I loved the alex olson collab VERSA that hit the streets right when i got out of HS and had plenty of free time to skate and get serious about skating and the way that shoe skated was a "benchmark" for the potential vans had over their "classics". I mean when i first got into skating i was pretty much only on vans the ethan fowlers grecos trujillo, no skools etc. I even tried the rowley squares just to skate something that wasnt the classic design. Its like skating the reynolds 2 and the reynolds3 and eventually liking the cruisers and the laceds more than anything with padding. I learned my first kickflps and variations growing up with my first pair of reynolds 2s. Just something about skating a "real" skate shoe if not for the first time and just really feeling the difference. These skate classics are vans way of showing how serious they are. BC prior to the "pro" classics existing they were kind of lost at sea. The versa discontinued....i really didnt like their cupsole direction after the versa personally. Which is why i wound up skating G6 emerica cup soles, and eventually went with converse bc vulc. As many vans as ive skated i wound up hating most of them XD. Even the classic rowley pros epic day 1 skate just blown out toe cap/sidewalls. Day 7....much like the reynolds 3s. Both have some epic day 1 kickflips/3 flips and bs 360 potential then once the upper starts softening up where it bonds to the rubber/vulc its over. hopefully these new vans can clear up the issue i had with vans footbeds softening up as well as the majority of the collars on their low profile shoes tearing/ripping from frequent half cabs....tbh with all this implementation to durability/feel which has always been my issue with vans. They really need to refresh the rowley classic properly with this type of "skate classics" design in mind and heavy intent on durability and insuring the toe cap/sides dont blow out...bc rowley classics like originals with the big tongue...were like one of the greatest/benchmark shoes ever to skate...just wouldnt last for shit. The vulc would separate, footbed would blow out and thats if youre lucky enough to skate them long enough for that to happen the box/toe cap would be blown out after a few sessions/kickflips and theyre just so damn good for them too.
Unreal that this absolutely wall-like stream of consciousness was actually (edited). Vans haven't felt durable to me in almost 15 years. Only shoes I consistently have to shoe goo repair. It doesn't take an essay for me to tell you that Vans is extremely lucky that Nike SB and Adidas only stole the amount of market that they did.
That was awesome you had Ewan Macgregor playing Ben Degros. Haha no you remind me of him when he plays Obi-Wan. That’s hot he joking too much is it?Oh Do a ACE truck review 😂.
You guys make skating look so fun. Excited for the next run of boards. Where are they gonna be from? I’ll probably get one for my birthday. Always look forward to your content, keep skating hard boys.
I'm more of a fan of your previous minimal/ editing/ music/ bs videos, I'm sure the vlog style will go well though. Whichever way, I always enjoy your content.
Half Cabs, like Sk8-Hi, are shoes I like seeing people wear and skate in, but for some reason I can’t stand how I personally look in them. I do like how they have the extra suede on the side compared to typical Old Skools that aren’t all suede.
Hey Ben, annoying "try this shoe comment" coming, I recently switched to cupsoles for the first time in 17 years, which is wild to think about. I picked up the adidas superstars and loved them. I couldn't find any advs lately so I picked up a pair of Buesnits. You should give the Buesnits a go though, would love to see what you think! Great vid as always, keep it real.
