Hi Everyone,

Is it me or are modern Standard Bicycle decks just too stiff? I'm finding it really difficult to do a decent in-the-hands riffle shuffle out of the box and despite spending time working them in they never seem to get significantly softer.

It’s not you. The store quality Bikes have been more stiff since operations moved to Erlanger (circa 2009 or 2010? I can’t recall for certain). The Richard Turner gold seals were as close as I could find to the old 808 Rider, blue seal quality of the Cincinnati days. The Turner decks are harder to come by now, so I gave the Elite Edition Bikes a whirl on Penguin and actually quite like them. They also come with a blank facer, double backer, and two identical Jokers.

I should mention - a relative bought me a brick from Costco for Christmas 2021 and the quality seemed better than years prior. However, in general the quality has never returned to what it once was. I’ve no insight into the quality control, variance, or distribution network, but when you find a deck you like, buy em in bulk!

Thanks for that.