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Full Trucker

Frikkin newb!!!
Feb 26, 2003
10,483
7,526
Exit, CO
Who here still skates?

I used to skate pretty adamantly... like 25 years ago. Haven't in a long time, but thinking of kinda getting back into it a bit. Back in the day (late 80s/early 90s) I was a street skater, never did any vert stuff. A little bit of street ramp here and there, and never really got good/brave enough to slide handrails. Not sure what I'm after now-a-days, but probably (definitely) not downhill skateboarding.

Looking for recommendations on a new boardª... last board I had was a Vision Kele Rosecran deck when decks were like 10x30 or larger and Bullet 66s were a thing. Should I get a long board? Regular board? What's cool? What kind of deck is good for what kind fo skating? Most "new" street decks look like what we used to call "freestyle" decks back in the day to me.

Side note: I see Tommy Guerrero still skates, which is pretty rad.




ª If I decide to pursue this, that is.
 

stevew

resident influencer
Sep 21, 2001
40,494
9,525
i like boards with shape and not a lot of nose...so i hate most modern boards.

loved skating....had no balance...

cab still skates....

the last deck i had goes for 1200.00 on ebay...zorlac double cut/shrunken head...
 

jimmydean

The Official Meat of Ridemonkey
Sep 10, 2001
40,939
13,133
Portland, OR
Tommy still hangs out in SF with many of the folks I used to skate with, including him. My buddy Tom just had a Dog Town board released a couple years ago.

I have basically stopped. I skate around the hood with the kids sometimes and the neighbor kid tried to challenge me to a kickflip contest when his dad had all his Lodge buddies over a few weeks ago. But I haven't skated with heart since '90 when I was skating with the H Street folks.

Matt Hensley retired in '93 so I don't feel bad. He was probably the radest dude I ever got to skate with. Tommy is one of the coolest guys you will ever meet.
 

jimmydean

The Official Meat of Ridemonkey
Sep 10, 2001
40,939
13,133
Portland, OR
i like boards with shape and not a lot of nose...so i hate most modern boards.
The boards that Mike Vallely is building at Street Plant are very old school shape with proper concave. My Vandals board will be display, way too skinny for me to skate.
 

Fool

The Thing cannot be described
Sep 10, 2001
2,761
1,471
Brooklyn
Several years ago, I was up as parent-attending for a child's birthday party. Turns out the dad had a mini-ramp in his ultra-rare Brooklyn garage. Several of us other idiot dads we like, ah, sweet, we should get boards and start skating again. That night, after the party, said dad crashed, broke a wrist on his right arm and pushed the ulna out just below the elbow on the other.
 

Atomic Dog

doesn't have a custom title yet.
Oct 22, 2002
1,207
1,340
In the basement at Weekly World News
Damnit, searched for a "raises hand" gif, this one seems appropriate.



Get whatever kind of board you think you'll enjoy. Things seem to be trending back towards wider and shaped boards again, so they are easy to find. I have two different boards set up at the moment:


8.5" wide and shaped, for street skating (Which often is mostly just doing slappies on the painted curbs at the school up the street these days.)

and one of these:



(9.38" wide) that I use for bombing around skateparks.
 

Westy

the teste
Nov 22, 2002
54,232
20,013
Sleazattle
House on my street has little ramps and rails built into the stone/concrete in front of the house.
ramps.JPG


Never seen anyone skate it but there is often a stream of sketchy characters coming and going.
 

jimmydean

The Official Meat of Ridemonkey
Sep 10, 2001
40,939
13,133
Portland, OR
I really need new trucks. The ones I have are leftover garbage but they are functional, so I haven't bothered. But they really suck and I need to get some titanium Indy's. Gah!
 

Westy

the teste
Nov 22, 2002
54,232
20,013
Sleazattle
At one point in high school over half my wardrobe was Thrasher "subscriber only" shirts they offered all the time. I was a subscriber from '84 until '91 when I joined the Navy.

I have mentioned this in another thread but my neighborhood is overrun with little kids wearing Thrasher t-shirts while riding razor scooters. Where is that giant meteor?
 

Full Trucker

Frikkin newb!!!
Feb 26, 2003
10,483
7,526
Exit, CO
The boards that Mike Vallely is building at Street Plant are very old school shape with proper concave. My Vandals board will be display, way too skinny for me to skate.
Nice, I was always a Vallely fan. I'll check this out. I think I just found out that Skull Skates is maybe still a thing?

I was never a fan of the Zorlac boards, but the Pusshead graphics were to die for.
Pushead is 100% one of the reasons I got into art and graphic design and stuff.

Get whatever kind of board you think you'll enjoy. Things seem to be trending back towards wider and shaped boards again, so they are easy to find.
I guess that's the thing... I'm not sure what kind of board I would enjoy or what kind of skating I'd do. I want something that I can ollie, maybe railslide/grind some curbs or ride a mini-skatepark. Dunno. Standard (shortboard?), old school, cruiser, mini-cruiser, long board, downhill... but even then there's various widths, lengths, wheelbases, concave shapes, blah blah blah. And here I thought bikes had a fucking problem with "standards" haha. I know I'll figure it out but damn.

Though I'm pretty stoked to find out that Thunder Trucks are still being made and people still wear red/black/white Jordans... and apparently skateboarding is still rad AF.


I think it's funny when I see all the trendy kids rocking Thrasher gear these days
Apparently new-old-stock of my favorite Thrasher sticker from back in the day is worth asking $150 for on eBay...

 

Changleen

Paranoid Member
Jan 9, 2004
14,335
2,448
Hypernormality
I also 'restarted' skating about 5 years ago. Got a Ban-this-Dragon deck and a Bustin boards Maestro longboard. I use the longboard most, it's much safer. I have been on a mini-ramp a few times, appropriately padded. Modern longboards a re a lot of fun though.
 

canadmos

Cake Tease
May 29, 2011
20,190
19,156
Canaderp
Skateboarding is one of those things that I just cannot do. Even as a kid, I'd try to ride and just end up death wobbling or crashing.

Same with snowboarding.

Probably part of the reason I bike so much, because I suck at everything else.
 

Westy

the teste
Nov 22, 2002
54,232
20,013
Sleazattle
Skateboarding is one of those things that I just cannot do. Even as a kid, I'd try to ride and just end up death wobbling or crashing.

Same with snowboarding.

Probably part of the reason I bike so much, because I suck at everything else.
I wanted to skate as a kid but the only smooth surface within miles of the house was my back patio. All the streets were coarse chipseal and invariably every ten feet you would find a rock that would halt all forward progress and put you on your face. My parents banned me from the patio after an errant deck went through the kitchen window. But I had a lot of trails in the woods to ride bikes on, so I cannot complain.
 

Atomic Dog

doesn't have a custom title yet.
Oct 22, 2002
1,207
1,340
In the basement at Weekly World News
I guess that's the thing... I'm not sure what kind of board I would enjoy or what kind of skating I'd do. I want something that I can ollie, maybe railslide/grind some curbs or ride a mini-skatepark. Dunno. Standard (shortboard?), old school, cruiser, mini-cruiser, long board, downhill... but even then there's various widths, lengths, wheelbases, concave shapes, blah blah blah. And here I thought bikes had a fucking problem with "standards" haha. I know I'll figure it out but damn.
The shorter the wheelbase, the easier ollies are, Under 15" is good, 14.5" is probably a good all around WB. That Lance Mountain above has a long wheelbase which makes it really stable going fast, but it's a lot of work to ollie it.

That being said, check out Chico Brenes on instagram. He came up during the 90s super skinny board era, but these days he has taken to riding huge long/wide boards. I'm pretty sure that dude could 360 flip a sheet of plywood if he wanted.

A good place to start would probably be 8.5 - 9" wide. You can get basic popsicle shapes in those sizes, but shaped boards are just kinda fun.
 

Full Trucker

Frikkin newb!!!
Feb 26, 2003
10,483
7,526
Exit, CO
The shorter the wheelbase, the easier ollies are, Under 15" is good, 14.5" is probably a good all around WB. That Lance Mountain above has a long wheelbase which makes it really stable going fast, but it's a lot of work to ollie it.

That being said, check out Chico Brenes on instagram. He came up during the 90s super skinny board era, but these days he has taken to riding huge long/wide boards. I'm pretty sure that dude could 360 flip a sheet of plywood if he wanted.

A good place to start would probably be 8.5 - 9" wide. You can get basic popsicle shapes in those sizes, but shaped boards are just kinda fun.

Great edit. Nothing super tech or super big/gnarly, but smooth. So many manuals and nose manuals... I guess I should mention that doing manuals is something I'm interested in. Super fun to just cruise around and see how long you can hold one. Doing an ollie into/out of them too... and shove-its...
 
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jimmydean

The Official Meat of Ridemonkey
Sep 10, 2001
40,939
13,133
Portland, OR
If I can heel flip my 35" beast, you can ollie just about anything.

I watch the videos Thrasher posts and the stuff guys pull off now is mind bending. I was lucky to do front side rail slides. The grinds now are just insane.

Just nutty.

 

jimmydean

The Official Meat of Ridemonkey
Sep 10, 2001
40,939
13,133
Portland, OR
Was that a frontside boneless to 50/50 at 1:05 from Pedro Delfino? People still do bonelesses?
Yes, actually it's become a very cool trick to toss out. Pools especially, backside boneless never goes out of style.

My favorite is the 50/50 to tail slide at the kink. So smooth.
 

Full Trucker

Frikkin newb!!!
Feb 26, 2003
10,483
7,526
Exit, CO
Shit yeah... that's the trick I was just trying to remember the name of. Kinda like a handless frontside boneless, right? We used to pop them off curbs without a spin, or 180 them. Dammit... I should definitely get a skateboard.ª

EDIT: What the actual fuck?






ªAnd maybe some wrist guards.
 
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boostindoubles

Nacho Libre
Mar 16, 2004
7,839
6,145
Yakistan
Nowhere for me to practice out on the farm. Lots of dirt and shovels and places to practice bunny hops though. Skateboarding is for short people! Like @canadmos the board sports and me did not jive. I tried hard for a couple years but got tired of slamming the ground.

I wore this issue out!

 

rideit

Bob the Builder
Aug 24, 2004
23,056
11,298
In the cleavage of the Tetons
Shit yeah... that's the trick I was just trying to remember the name of. Kinda like a handless frontside boneless, right? We used to pop them off curbs without a spin, or 180 them. Dammit... I should definitely get a skateboard.ª

EDIT: What the actual fuck?






ªAnd maybe some wrist guards.
If you get hurt before our annual high-country assualt, I will be conflicted.
I mean, I grew up skating vert and what we called street in the 80’s, but quit because I was always getting hurt.
Irony?
 
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