Skateboarding

[vivi]

We had a surprising number of skaters posting in the "Which Spyderco is in your pocket" topic. Here's one where we can talk skating without derailing knife talk :D

[TkoK83Spy]

Excellent! This should be fun!

[Mushroom]

I was one of the many kids captivated by the Tony Hawk Pro Skater video games. Ultimately, it's what got me into skating. I started with an old Birdhouse board that I'm sure I still have somewhere. I was young and never really got too advanced. Grinding small ledges or rails and a few basic flip tricks was the extent of my skill. Always wished I was better but never truly put the time in to make it happen.

I picked up long boarding like 10 years ago and did that heavy for a few years. I really liked long distance long boarding. Never did any crazy long trips but my friends and I would often do 30+ miles a day around Boston and the surrounding cities. Since then haven't really skated at all. I would still consider myself a fan of professional skateboarding though. A good skate montage never gets old.

[TkoK83Spy]

My friends and I that I grew up with in the neighborhood were huge into street skating from when we were 12-18 or so, some of the best years of my life! We would hit up local skate shops or order from the catalog CCS. We had all sorts of VHS tapes from various skate companies and would watch them in the mornings before going out for a day full of skateboarding in the neighborhood to get us all jacked up. My one friends father owned a construction company and concreted a large part of their back yard and made us a few different fun boxes, false ledges, a few different rails at different heights and a quarter pipe. We would tear that up for hours at a time, blaring music from the boombox. Neighborhood girls liked to come over and hang out and get grossed out from the swamp *** sweat marks on our boards from when we would just sit on them and talk haha. We didn't have any local skateparks in our area at the time, so that was our playground. We had a crew of 8 of us, and when we would ride together through the neighborhood...everyone knew we were coming. The adults would say it sounded like rolling thunder haha!

Another friend of mine's mother worked at a dental office when we were around 15. There was a local college nearby with all sorts of stairs and ledges and we would pile in her car and go skate there all day long for the length of her shift and she would pick us up afterwards. Hanging out with the college kids between their classes, hyping us up to do some tricks. It was such an awesome time and feeling.

Once a few of the older boys were old enough to drive, we would go skate in downtown Syracuse and it was a whole new experience. Especially night skating.

Then of course jobs, college, relationships put an end to all that. Funny Vivi mentioned skateboarding last night and the posts really took off. I knew I had still had one of mine at our house but wasn't sure where it was, I hadn't rode it in a couple years now. I wouldn't be trying any crazy tricks these days, just kind of bomb around and do some ollies, 180's, pop shove its, kickflips.

I know I've got a brand new deck in storage at my parents, signed by Jamie Thomas. Another used board that's also a Toy Machine like Vivi has (not the same deck though) And of course this beauty I'll post here, that has been used and abused over the years :D

[RLR]

Skated since I was early teens (serious skating: street, parks, mini ramps). Still did it on and off until almost a year ago when I ruptured my achilles tendon while, you guessed it, skating. I still have three completes around the house, street, park, and a Sector 9 48" that's a lot of fun. Even the art on some of my walls is skate related (and that's the same board I used for parks or cruising). Will probably get back out slowly this summer. Tricks are behind me. No more handrails or Ollies up and down flights of stairs. At 50 one should slow down.

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[RLR]

From back in the day:

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[DSH007]

Neighborhood girls liked to come over and hang out and get grossed out from the swamp *** sweat marks on our boards from when we would just sit on them and talk haha.

HAHAH, where's Bloke when you need him?! :p :D

I stood on a skateboard once. Even rolled down the hill a little bit. I consider myself lucky to be alive. I had a few friends that were really into it and I enjoyed hanging out/watching them do their tricks, but I was never quite coordinated enough myself hahah. It's nothing short of miraculous to me what some people can do on a skateboard..

[TkoK83Spy]

Neighborhood girls liked to come over and hang out and get grossed out from the swamp *** sweat marks on our boards from when we would just sit on them and talk haha.

HAHAH, where's Bloke when you need him?! :p :D

I stood on a skateboard once. Even rolled down the hill a little bit. I consider myself lucky to be alive. I had a few friends that were really into it and I enjoyed hanging out/watching them do their tricks, but I was never quite coordinated enough myself hahah. It's nothing short of miraculous to me what some people can do on a skateboard..

Skateboarding these days is so much more technical, compared to when I was big into in the mid-late 90's! It's absolutely incredible what they are doing these days. When I was growing up, guys like Rodney Mullen and Daewon Song were mind blowing. Guys these days can do things even crazier than those guys, which I never thought would be possible! That was a great VHS video with those two guys if you're ever bored and browsing YouTube. Not sure how good the clarity would be haha.

[Sharp Guy]

I was pretty good on a skateboard back in the day but nothing like what some of you guys do. I was much better on a slalom ski behind a boat :)

Not long ago (last summer?) one of our friends kids left a skateboard in their yard. I just had to climb on it. I was on it maybe 10 seconds when I felt my better half giving me the evil eye. I got off immediately (out of fear of her wrath) but not before exclaiming that I can still ride one of those better than most of the kids I see cruising by our house on longboards haha

Any of you old enough to remember taking a metal roller skate apart and mounting the halves to a 2x4 to make a skateboard? I'm barely old enough to remember one of my brothers doing that.

[vivi]

Neighborhood girls liked to come over and hang out and get grossed out from the swamp *** sweat marks on our boards from when we would just sit on them and talk haha.

HAHAH, where's Bloke when you need him?! :p :D

I stood on a skateboard once. Even rolled down the hill a little bit. I consider myself lucky to be alive. I had a few friends that were really into it and I enjoyed hanging out/watching them do their tricks, but I was never quite coordinated enough myself hahah. It's nothing short of miraculous to me what some people can do on a skateboard..

Skateboarding these days is so much more technical, compared to when I was big into in the mid-late 90's! It's absolutely incredible what they are doing these days. When I was growing up, guys like Rodney Mullen and Daewon Song were mind blowing. Guys these days can do things even crazier than those guys, which I never thought would be possible! That was a great VHS video with those two guys if you're ever bored and browsing YouTube. Not sure how good the clarity would be haha.

https://youtu.be/AhDf7Ylyrbc

I'm at work so I can't reply to everything, but here's rd3 from them. Entire video is amazing and worth the watch. Not as technical as todays stuff bit still some awesome tricks.

Saw a CCS mention! I used to love browsing their catalogs. I tried to order some parts for my new board from them and their selection sure was slim when I looked last year.

Side note: My lower back and core are both a bit sore from 2 hours of skating last night. Far cry from the days where I'd skate for 8-10 hours, wake up 100% and do it again. :p Can't imagine another ten years from now...

[TkoK83Spy]

Any of you old enough to remember taking a metal roller skate apart and mounting the halves to a 2x4 to make a skateboard? I'm barely old enough to remember one of my brothers doing that.

Hahaha, the ingenuity of kids is amazing! Not something we ever did, though I remember being around 10 or 11 when I tried to skateboard on my dad's creeper for working under the car and he asked me if I wanted a skateboard. We went to Toys R Us and got one...it was on from there!

[TkoK83Spy]

When I hopped on mine a couple summers ago, my daughter was pretty impressed and thought it was awesome. My wife knew I was always big into skateboarding and snowboarding in my younger years, so she didn't mind watching...though she told me to remember I'm not 17 anymore and don't heal as quickly these days haha! I told her I'm only 37, I'm not dead!

I text my mother, having her look for old school pictures when she has a chance. I know I've got some with some skateboarding shirts that are 3 times too big for me, likely rocking a sick bowl hair cut, parted down the middle. I'll post them if she finds them :p


Here's one my buddy sent me that his mom found just last year. Back in 1996. I'm rocking that way too big Etnies shirt! Bowl cuts EVERYWHERE :p

[Evil D]

Wanted to, never was any good. I was way more into (and skilled at) BMX/freestyle. My 12yo daughter is a budding skater though, she's got a pretty decent ollie and is working on a kickflip.

[Mad Mac]

In 1964, I was 17 and had one of the early production skateboards.
It was a short plank of solid oak with narrow trucks and clay wheels.
Bombed my neighborhood sidewalk a few times and put it away.

It wasn't until years later that wide trucks, urethane wheels and composite decks
made skateboarding the incredible sport that it is today.

With courage, athleticism and creativity, skateboarders somehow defy the laws of physics.

[TkoK83Spy]

Wanted to, never was any good. I was way more into (and skilled at) BMX/freestyle. My 12yo daughter is a budding skater though, she's got a pretty decent ollie and is working on a kickflip.

That's awesome David!! Keep encouraging her. Working on her kickflip at 12 is pretty impressive. I wish our girl friends were that coordinated growing up.

[TkoK83Spy]

In 1964, I was 17 and had one of the early production skateboards.
It was a short plank of solid oak with narrow trucks and clay wheels.
Bombed my neighborhood sidewalk a few times and put it away.

It wasn't until years later that wide trucks, urethane wheels and composite decks
made skateboarding the incredible sport that it is today.

With courage, athleticism and creativity, skateboarders somehow defy the laws of physics.

That's great Mac! I was hoping some of the guys that have been around from the onset of skateboarding would be able to chime in here.

This thread had flooded me with so many great memories today. I'm glad some of us share this sort of rare hobby in common, as well as the even more rare hobby of knives!

[James Y]

In 1964, I was 17 and had one of the early production skateboards.
It was a short plank of solid oak with narrow trucks and clay wheels.
Bombed my neighborhood sidewalk a few times and put it away.

It wasn't until years later that wide trucks, urethane wheels and composite decks
made skateboarding the incredible sport that it is today.

With courage, athleticism and creativity, skateboarders somehow defy the laws of physics.

My story isn’t interesting at all, but here goes:

When I was about 3 (circa 1966), my mom got my older brother, sister and me early skateboards. They had large, stiff wooden bodies and hard wheels. Nobody was doing any fancy tricks. I couldn’t balance on mine yet, so I used to kneel on it and push with my right leg. Then I’d lay on my belly when coasting downhill, hahaha.

In the ‘70s, I had a skateboard with urethane(?) wheels and a plastic body that I rode to school for a brief period. Some other kids did the same. Nothing like the skateboarders that came later with their hi-tech skateboards and amazing tricks.

Jim

[kennethsime]

I played a lot of THPS video games, those were my jam. I grew up in the country though, and never really had pavement or the skills to skate.

With COVID and work from home, I've been thinking about buying another skateboard. When I was 13 $100 was a ton of money. Now it's something I could spend if I wanted to. Hmm...

[benben]

Still have a Sims Superlight and Tony Alva board under a bed somewhere in my house? Both are from 1978 or 79?

[Naperville]

Don't have any of my old skate gear. Not sure what happened to it.

I visited a close cousin living in Rancho Palos Verdes, CA, back in 75 or 76 and I picked up equipment at the time.

For the better part of 4 years I skated everywhere that I went back at home in Illinois. My bedroom door was plastered with pictures of the skate scene, and friends out skating.

Because I picked it up late in life I learned some tricks, but I was never good enough to be sponsored by a shop. Bowl hair cuts, DEVO music, Alva Pig Decks, FiberFlex Decks, Kryptonics and Bones wheels, Tracker and Gullwing Trucks.

The most fun accomplishing nothing other than looking for wood ramps, half-pipes, and hills to bomb. Horrified later in life how fast time passed and nothing was accomplished, but I guess that is how my life was meant to be at the time.