TRAMPA NEWS

Trampa Boards, up close & personal: the full story!

Trampa is the most innovative, proactive and downright coolest British manufacturer out there. Here, Remolition presents a full spotlight feature all about where they came from, where they're at, and where they’re going…

Part 1

Many humble mountainboarders have lofty plans to develop their own decks or parts, yet most don’t got past prototypes. Trampa is a little different; they are not your typical manufacturer, having become a company that lovingly produces every single bit of hardware a rider could possibly need. Dan Wilson chatted to Ted and got the lowdown on this Great British company. From the beginning...

It was 2002. Rob Edgar had been developing a new kind of rigid board deck from plastic composites developed at work. He shared his idea with friends Ed Statham, Ted Orr & Jonny Richards, all boardsport fiends, and Hillbilly ATB (based in Nottingham) was conceived.

The guys used scraps of metal from a lorry factory to make the prototype moulds, and old skateboard parts were robbed for testing on their first hand cut decks. Clearly onto something special they struck a deal with Ben Bisco from TKC (Scrub manufacturer/distributor), who allowed them to utilize component parts from the reliable existing Scrub range, including wheels, bindings and trucks, to be used with the deck: The Trampa (as in trampoline).

This now-infamous “bomb-proof” deck was their unique secret weapon, made from (essentially) a fiber-reinforced thermoplastic. These legendary decks are baked liked cakes. The flex and stiffness is adjusted by laying the weave (that comes on a roll) in different directions, and by altering the number of layers. The layered material is shaped to cover the highly polished moulds, vacuum-sealed, and OVEN cooked. Later, after cooling & stripping down, they are cut to final shape using seriously high-pressure water jets, normally reserved for 1ft thick steel. This is the only way to do the job as lasers get too hot and bubble the surface, while -as anybody who’s tried it knows- metal jigsaw blades are blunt within seconds of cutting. 

Decks could be cut any shape, and experimentation began, with the first boards available in two shapes with a choice ply's depending on rider weight. The crew hit the roads and made themselves visible at events all over the country, encouraging riders to try them out for themselves.

This was it: Hillbilly ATB’s patented Trampa deck had arrived on the market. Major pop and sweet torsional flex included.

The initial collaborations with Scrub came through J Bisson at All Terrain Boarding magazine (himself a keen engineer + board-builder), and before long a working relationship with G-4s ( at the time the Rolls Royce of Mountainboarding) was happening too. Trampa utilised their trucks and bindings, with wheels from Primo. ATB mag loved the boards and helped inspire the boys. Next came upgrade kits for Grass Board, Mongoose, Bio Hazard, MBS and more, and the fully-customizable nature of Trampa boards continued its evolution. They even started experimenting with NoSno parts and creating longboard decks too.

Boards featured nearly every bit of tech going, from Revo trucks to Kheo bindings. The Anarkite (board above) parts were being developed by an independant developer and Trampa forged a great working relationship. Back in 2003, the lads had started to take their products to the masses and became regular faces at events, shows & demos everywhere. Their wonky old market stall became the place to be, taking in indoor snow-shows, outdoors wind-fests, and just about every UK & euro mountainboard/kite landboard event on the calender. They met lots of new people along the way and partied like crazy with their amazing team of riders who they’d started sponsoring; In ’03 it consisted of a young, new wave of riders like Tom Kirkman, Laurie Kaye and Ollie Morrison, who were all riding prototype Trampa boards with Scrub components.

The team had an epic time, learning, riding and working together. There were European road trips, Ollie received his long-standing ‘Bomber’ nickname, Tom became World Champ for the first time (on his custom Trampa), Tom Reese joined age 17 and beat Leon Robbins, and AJ Lawson collaborated on some international Trampa missions.

With most technological developments in the sport coming from trucks & bindings, Trampa became deservedly well-known for their individual decks. With standard drilling patterns and deck size, Trampa’s personalisation of the ride was a breath of fresh air. They could offer truly custom boards, created bespoke to suit the rider’s preferences.
They also experimented with colour on the decks; it had to be a special powder-coating, and the bright glossy boards looked real good. However, it added a surprising lot of weight to the deck and, in R & D, eventually started scratching off, so was not pursued. One was even used in this Kite mag test where they chucked loads of different boards off a cliff in Devon! Needless to say, the Trampa was fine.

As they moved on, in 2005, the ‘Hillbilly’ part of their name was dropped (pure coincidence that there was an American brand with the same name!), and Ted personally took over Trampa full-time. He re-invented the ‘brand’ and started pushing the company style in a much smarter, more professional direction. Working with lots of new riders as the others moved on, they started developing new products like the Trampa Dampas which were co-developed by Mark Daniels from Kitedeck & De-x. The use of the boards with kites alongside downhill was a key factor in growth and development. They also made new working relationships with Headworx, working with the team out of Coastal, and from there got links to another affiliate, Buff Headgear. While there in 05, they also encouraged a young Tom Reese, who then beat Leon Robbins age 13!

Soon, they began to sponsor major events, and then made the decision to put on their own freestyle-based comp: The Trampa Challenge. The first one went well and the team line-up expanded with some top international riders like crazy Swiss man Marco Dahler, Aussie “Wild Boar” Ryan Slater & previous World Freestyle Champions Renny Myles & Arno VDV...

Trampa had secured their products relevance in both the gravity-powered side of boarding as well as the wind-powered market; they'd made their own decks, started their own competitions, given loads of riders the chance to be 'pros' and loads more people the chance to be riders. Yep, they'd come a real long way- both physically and metaphorically... What was next?