James, hopefully I can address the issues you guys are having with the description of the boards here. If not, I definitely suggest you guys ask for a refund. I can't say enough about how I wish communication and shipping had been handled differently. It wasn't my department, but I'm here trying to help. I can tell you that Madrid is now handling all the shipping and I agreed with Dream 34 that that's how it should have been handled from the beginning. I'm not sure why it wasn't, but it is now. Outside of that, I can't really comment on tracking numbers or shipping, other than to say all the boards are shipping and you'll all receive tracking numbers. I don't know on what day. As for the flat bottomed copers, I don't know that they ever will 'become' available, so I can't comment on exactly how it will be handled if they do. Dream 34 suggested we reach out to Z Flex, who apparently makes black flat-bottomed copers, and we'll do that. Understand that we're just as die-hard as you guys. I am, anyway. If flat-bottomed copers can be found, I'll work quite hard to make it happen for everyone.
Dream34, we didn't pull anything from Madrid's archives, we had two out of the original three boards that we know for sure existed. Possibly four. We had the hero screen-matched board and another production board that was also used by production. When you say "over the past several years almost every big skateboard company from the 80's has reissued vintage decks" and "in both those cases there were not any accuracy issues" there are so many unknowns and differences between what they did and what we just accomplished, it's not really a good or fair comparison. We certainly didn't choose which classic 80's board we wanted to re-issue based on the production availability of any of the components. Our goal was to tackle the McFly Valterra/Madrid boards and we brought the project to Madrid to work with them to re-create the most accurate production McFly boards possible. And, frankly, that's exactly what we did.
1. The problem with the trucks is that the company that originally produced them is no longer in business and the tooling for those trucks no longer exists. Without a cache of vintage trucks, Madrid compared the actual trucks on the screen used boards to available trucks and chose the ones that were the same quality, size, geometry and color.
2. From Madrid about the copers, "The copers were, without a doubt the hardest piece of the puzzle. You'd be surprised how few companies still even sell copers, and the flat bottoms are even more rare. If anyone gets their hands on flat bottom copers, we'd be happy to mail them the stickers." Dream 34 says that Z Flex produces a black version of the flat bottom copers. I'll pass that information on to Madrid and see if something can be done. But, suggesting that Madrid went with round copers because they were just being lazy or cheap is incorrect.
3. The wheels. Unfortunately, contrary to your assumption that Madrid still has the Fly Wheel molds, they do not. If it were that easy, we would have done it. Madrid had to make more wheels for this run of McFly boards. We would absolutely have prefered vintage style FLY wheels, but the molds just don't exist. Madrid wishes they were still around too. Your suggestion that Madrid is just pawning off 'dead stock' is also not correct. There were some wheels left over from the 2010 boards, and they probably did take them off their web store because our boards were going into production. But, the new run of wheels are exactly the same as the old run. They're the same size, shape and color as the original wheels and produced by Madrid. The only difference is the recessed logo vs. printed to appear recessed logo. It's a bummer for us too. I have two full sets of vintage FLY wheels, neither are the right color. Same boat.
I know those three things are a bummer, but fortunately, even though we hit those hurdles, we still managed to get a whole lot of epic things done. We completely redid the splatter pattern so it would be as accurate as possible, including matching all the colors even better. Madrid made a new board jig using the actual screen used board. The wheel well grooves were corrected based on the screen used board. The shape and placement of the grip tape and decals was updated using the screen used board. Every single Madrid decal was completely redesigned using original vintage decals, and all the colors were matched. Plus - we found the original screen used board and then agonized over making the best, most accurate production boards possible for everyone who wanted one.
The available hardware that Madrid was able to acquire so they could produce these boards in quantity for the fans of Back to the Future, was their best option, outside a few people's ability to find vintage parts. The deck is flawless and the hardware is fantastic. We certainly didn't work as hard as we did on this project just to **** you off, even the few die-hards of which we're members. We did it because it was an awesome opportunity and at the end of the day, the difference between what you're saying and what I'm saying is the word production. There is no doubt that a few of you could pull off a more accurate board with vintage parts, but I don't think any of you could pull off building 300 of them any more accurately than we did, which is very accurate. The communication was terrible and I'm here to do what I can to repair that. If you're still upset about the board and you don't want it, just ask for a refund.
P.S. You were correct when you suggested that Madrid made the original boards. The splatter pattern actually belonged to Bob Schmeltzer, who had/has his own line of skateboards and was the skateboard stunt double for Eric Stoltz. One of the coolest things about the screen-matched board, is that it was both Eric Stoltz's and Michael J. Fox's hero board, even though there was at least one other pretty much identical board. Luck of the draw. In the photo of Eric Stoltz and Bob Schmeltzer, the hero board is the one Eric Stoltz is holding. The board Bob Schmeltzer is holding has not turned up to my knowledge.
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