"For my first signature urban skate, I worked alongside the Powerslide design team to create my own personalised version of the brands flagship skate, the Hardcore Evo. I modified the design to meet my exact requirements, creating a skate specifically bred for intense urban and freeride skating. I'm very proud to present the Sam Crofts Evo 2022. Using the 2021 Hardcore Evo silhouette as the designs base, I firstly chose to remove the toe straps and toe caps as I don't do slalom and I'd already been removing these from my other HC evo's for some years now to help give the skate a more classic sneaker aesthetic. Having always loved skating at night and also taking inspirations from some of the my current favourite shoe designs I created a 3M reflective based design. Including full reflective side panels, hockey style waxed laces with 3M reflective flecs and reflective carry handles and accents. This created a dual look skate, a cool grey and silver model in the day, but with a completely unique 3M reflective look that really pops at night. I also added a slightly softer than usual clear cuff for increased comfort on longer sessions but still giving ample support on gaps and slides ect.. The complete skate comes with the latest urban TRINITY mount masterpiece from Powerslide, the Combat Rocker Frame in 4x80mm. For myself, given the frame's new rocker system, the 4x80mm Combat is the optimal set up in terms of balancing both agility and stability, with its 260mm length and multiple rockering options. And what´s really cool about the Combat 80 frame is the fact that you can even ride them with 84mm wheels. The Powerslide Combat Rocker Frame is designed to be the ultimate inline freeride frame, at the heart of this new frame are the revolutionary HXG rocker spacers. The hexagonal spacers can easily be adjusted to six different positions, meaning each wheel can be rockered individually creating an almost endless range of rockering options so you can really tailor the skate to your own personal needs. The frame is light and strong, constructed from 6061 aircraft aluminum and CNC machined to perfection. The minimalist design and unique triple void construction give the Combat frames exceptional performance. I chose this in a classic industrial silver finish to complement the skates overall look. Finally as an Undercover Wheels pro rider I of course added some of their high speed Raw White 80mm wheels and Wicked Abec 9 bearings. This is without a doubt the best urban model I have ever used, it's a real dream come true to see this design come to fruition and share my vision of the HC Evo with the urban world" - Text by Sam Crofts
