Tag Archives: skate

Random Longboard Playlist

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A longboard is, for those who don’t know, a skateboard.  A very long skateboard.  It’s great for just cruising around on, carving, getting a little speed.  Recently I went for a skate on my longboard, and hit shuffle on Ipodicus.

I was rewarded with the following soundtrack.  The random tunes varied across numerous genres and kept surprising me as I rolled around.

  1. AC/DC – “This House Is On Fire”
  2. Television – “Prove It”
  3. Thin Lizzy – “Mama Nature Said”
  4. Kool & The Gang – “In the Hood (Beat System Remix)”
  5. Pixies – “Tame”
  6. Dead Kennedys – “Hellnation”
  7. Weezer – “Run Away”
  8. Syd Dale – “Disco Tek”
  9. Black Flag – “Out of This World”
  10. El Cabrero with Pedro Bacan – “Con Tristeza Y Con Locura”
  11. Volbeat – “Magic Zone”
  12. Robert Johnson – “Cross Road Blues”
  13. Queen – “Made in Heaven”
  14. The Monkees – “Words”
  15. Public Enemy – “Incident at 66.6 FM”
  16. No Doubt – “Don’t Speak”
  17. Yomanda – “Synth and Strings”
  18. Viking Skull – “Beers, Drugs and Bitches”
  19. Hysterica – “Devil in Me”
  20. Discharge – “The Nightmare Continues”
  21. Camarosmith – “Choker”
  22. Britney Spears – “Boys”

There you go – some interesting choices from Ipodicus there.  The highlight was Syd Dale, that is a tune!

If you’d like to read more about my longboard, you can check it out here.

Mindless Skateboards: “Hunter” Longboard

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The skate shop in Chester closed down recently.  Bad news.  They had some pretty cool stuff.  As chance would have it, I turned up on the very last day, and managed to pick up a couple of bargains.

The big bargain of the day was this Mindless Skateboards Hunter model, which I picked up for under half price.  I had been hoping to pick up a new longboard for the collection for a while, and it had been my birthday not too long before – so I actually had a bit of cash to spend.  This board was perfect.

Mindless "Hunter" longboard

Mindless “Hunter” longboard

The Hunter is the ideal shape that I was looking for, pin tail (with a nice concave) so it offered a different ride to my other longboards.  At 44 inches long, it’s a little shorter than my Sector 9 board.  It’s solid but not too heavy, with a very stylish striped graphic that is reflected on the grip tape cut away.

Soft (80A) wheels provide a slick yet comfortable ride – ideal for cruising.  I’ve taken this longboard out and found that it glides very nicely and was easy to get used to.  With winter well on it’s way, further rides will probably have to wait a while – which is not a good thing!  Come spring, this board will be excellent to carve the local area.

The only down side with this board is that, as a complete, the deck comes ready shrink wrapped.  Great for keeping the graphic in nice condition, but annoying when trying to remove the deck from it’s plastic prison.

As my Sector 9 board had been around for a while, this Mindless longboard has made a fine addition.  Not exactly a replacement, but it will fare well as my day to day standard board.  The price was excellent for a man on a budget (like me) without compromising on quality.  Overall, I’m very impressed.IMG_2576

Technical Specifications:

  • Length: 44″
  • Width: 9 “
  • 100% Canadian maple deck with concave, complete with di-cut grip tape
  • 6″ Six Star Raw trucks
  • 95A SHR cushion & 14 x 8mm rubber wedge riser
  • 70 x 42mm 80A SHR wheels
  • ABEC-5 chrome bearings

Soundtrack: Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath

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Skateboard Museum: Variflex Joker

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After the red plastic skateboard, I “graduated” to what was commonly known as a Turbo Two. These were larger, wider boards in the contemporary style, but cheap Far East versions. It was another step up, but I soon learned that the board wasn’t going to last long.

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Variflex Joker. Camera strap in view AGAIN.

My next skateboard was a slight step up again – a Variflex Joker. This was a complete board sold with higher grade components. Aluminium trucks, polyurethane wheels and the deck itself had a much nicer shape and feel.

The graphics were also a really good job and very much in the style of the time. A skull wearing a jester’s hat, with a playing card design. Not exactly Powell Peralta but still very cool. It actually looked like someone at Variflex had taken a sneak peak at VCJ’s sketchbook and stolen the idea. Powell must have been mad.

However Variflex were not in the best shape in the late 80’s – they’d fallen to being a purveyor of intro level complete boards and were not in the same league as Powell, Santa Cruz or Vision. A nice board for a starter, the Joker would also be superseded by a higher quality deck.

I kept the trucks and wheels though for a while, and put them on my next set up. This was a Zorlac deck which I rode for a while with the Variflex under carriage, until I was able to afford Indy’s and Santa Cruz wheels.

I don’t remember what happened to my original Variflex Joker. Around 2006 I found a website selling new Variflex skateboards – apparently old stock rather than re-issues – and picked this sample up for a very reasonable price. It was in perfect condition and came complete with all the plastics, everything. I’ve only ever ridden it a couple of times as this skateboard is really just a memento. It’s a great item to have in my Skateboard Museum.

Technical Specifications:

  • Length: 30.5″
  • Width: 10.25″
  • Wheelbase: 15.75″
  • Wooden deck with concave and kicktail (complete with griptape)
  • Metal Variflex trucks
  • Variflex Street Rage II wheels (polyurethane, estimated 90a)
  • Plastic rails, nose saver, tail saver, copers and lapper

Purchased from Skate Pool

Soundtrack: Metallica, Anthrax, The Stupids

 

My First Skateboard

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Sometime in the early 80’s (1980 or ’81, I believe) my Gran informed me that she had picked up a present for me.  Gran sometimes did that, finding bargains at charity shops and jumble sales for me.  These items usually turned out be toys and games that were great fun.  This time, my present turned out be something different: a skateboard.

It was a small red plastic skateboard that she had found at some local kids garage sale, and bought for a few pence.  At that time my only concept of a skateboard was of a craze that had peaked a few years ago when I was younger.  Kids didn’t ride skateboards anymore and the thought of actually trying to ride it didn’t appeal to me.  So the skateboard was left in the garage for years and never used.

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Red plastic skateboard. Amateurish camera strap in view.

Fast forward a few years and I saw the film “Back to the Future”.  This is something of a cliche now, but suddenly my eyes were opened to the possibility of what I could do with that old plastic board.  Out of the blue skateboards had become “cool”.  The toy in the garage that bemused me previously now had serious potential.  That looked like fun.

Our driveway at the time was about twenty feet long and fairly steep.  I decided that I would dig the skateboard out of the garage junk and ride it down the drive.  Placing the board at the top of the drive, I held it in place with my front foot.  Then carefully lifted my back foot off the ground, placed it on the board and started rolling.  I rolled about three feet, lost my balance and fell.  Grazes to right hand and that was it.  No more skateboard.

The board went back in the garage junk pile, there to stay forever more.

But it played on my mind.  Over the next week or so, I could remember the few seconds of riding the board successfully.  And I could imagine what it would be like to ride it again.  I could see in my mind’s eye what it would be like, and what I would have to do to stay on.  I liked that feeling.  My imagination was sparked.  What if I made it to the bottom of the drive?  Wouldn’t that feel great?

So I tried again.  Skateboard at the top of the drive, facing downhill.  One foot on, then the other.  Rolling.  Keeping my balance this time, like I had in my mind’s eye.  And I made it.  I rode the board to the bottom of the drive.

When I reached the bottom I felt great.  I felt a feeling of accomplishment that I hadn’t felt before.  This was to be the beginning of an amazing relationship.

I then began to learn to ride the board, down the drive, along the street.  I learned to turn, left and right, and keep rolling.  Big sweeping turns and short, quick turns, leaning to each side.

At the time I was unaware of (then modern) skateboarding tricks so learnt from old 1970’s books.  I practised over and over, doing the same moves and fine tuning them.  Kick turns left and right, round corners – over and over again.  Hour after hour, learning and perfecting just very basic techniques.

That’s over twenty five years ago now.  I’ve had many skateboards since then, of different sizes, shapes and styles.  Learnt new tricks.  Travelled to new spots.  Met great people, some of whom I’m still friends with.  Some aren’t with us anymore.

I still have the small, red plastic skateboard that I learnt to ride.  It’s faded and looks a bit worse for wear now.  It only cost a few pence and was eventually superseded by larger, better quality boards.  But of all the skateboards I’ve ever owned, it’s probably the most important.

Thanks, Gran.

 

 

Technical Specifications:

  • Length: 22.5″
  • Width: 5.75″
  • Wheelbase: 12″
  • Plastic deck, flat with no concave.  Minimal kicktail.
  • Metal trucks.
  • Wheels: Unknown – hard – not polyurethane.

Soundtrack: Huey Lewis & the News.