Ultra Pro Black Label Review

Recently the guys over at Razor USA sent me an Ultra Pro Black Label for review. This model came out sometime after the Christmas season and has actually done really well in sales. Obviously some new features include a black paint job along with a new grip tape design and clamp. This scooter also includes abec 7 bearings and anodized red metal cores! As the photo on the right shows, The Ultra Pro comes with 21hx14w bars, full deck grip tape, 6 bolt clamp, metal core wheels, high quality bearings, and a reinforced fork all in a "Core Matte Black Finish".

Now, in my opinion, this scooter is a great "out of the box" scooter for riders just entering the scene and feeling it out. It's a complete scooter with the works. It has all the essential parts, with with a standard pro model you'd have to go out and purchase bars, forks, wheels, and so on to have a decent dialed set up. This scooter has many positives but with everything, it has its negatives.

I'll start with the negatives. The one item to me that stand out the most would be that clamp! I know a lot of you are thinking the same when I say "Why?". The clamp the original Ultra Pro came stock with( simple 2 bolt collar clamp) worked great in my opinion. So... they changed it up, it really does have more clamping power but at the cost of cosmetics. Second on the list would be the grip tape, I like the design and am glad Razor is not just sticking the original RUP (Razor Ultra Pro) grip on there but Razor is notorious for running terrible "one time use only" grip. The handle grips on this thing are gnarly as well, super hard rubber with Razor logos on them. My suggestion is to run to you nearest Scooter Shop and get a new clamp, grips, and grip tape!

Now the positives. One thing the deck has going for it is that it's a One Piece deck and its not half bad. I personally love the feel of ultra pro decks, they're light, they have a great grinding base and once you get used to it its generally an awesome deck. The fork is made from steel and has a pretty thing threaded tube along with a caged ball threaded headset. Once you learn how to dial-in a threaded headset, it'll be your best friend. It may not be the smoothest but it'll spin like crazy! This scooter comes with a tag that says something along the lines of:

Be Advised, Razor scooters are not compatible with any other after market scooter parts. Razor scooters are designed to use only Razor products.

Now that is not an exact quote but it that's the general gist. I found this not to be true. Razor products are very compatible with other brands. As many of you know, you can change every single part out on that scooter.

Now I have ridden RUPs, I actually rode a RUP set up just before I joined the Phoenix Team, so going out and riding this scooter was like hanging out with an old friend again. I have no issues getting used to the headtube angle( 81.5 degrees ) and the scooter right out of the box was actually dialed. The headset was tuned just right so i put the bars on and went for a stroll.

I rode some flat and hit the park a bit, one thing I noticed right away was that the wheels and bearings really aren't bad. I was able to gain and maintain speed really well, that's one thing that stood out to me the most as Pro Model wheels are sluggish and these were the opposite. I usually ride 18" wide bars so getting used to the 14" wide was a struggle( if you intend to ride wider than 14" wide i suggest buying the Ultra Pro Black Label Hi version as these come with 18" wide bars but you'd have to cut the length portion down as they come in at about 24" high). All in all I would highly recommend this scooter to anyone just starting out It's a very dialed set up with low trouble. With a few minor tweaks you can't go wrong.