How many old guys still skateboard?

3puttcop · 05-22-06, 07:44 PM

I just rediscovered skateboarding.... My 8 year year-old son just got intrested so I have been working with him. Now I got an Old School type board and have not had more fun in a long time. When I was a young teen in early 80's skateboarding and surfing was all I did. I stopped in 1984-5 when football was my life. Then skateboarded after college for a few years on a friends backyard ramp, but aint skateboarded in 12 years. I'm now 38 and hooked again.

Wondering how may old guys still skate?

brian · 05-22-06, 07:46 PM

sk8er fag......get a 20".

alkaline747trio · 05-22-06, 07:51 PM

Maybe no old farts, but my young self still longboards.

Cube Dweller · 05-22-06, 07:54 PM

35. Still have my Bones Brigade Tony Hawk from the late 80's. No ramps or jumps though, just around the hood. Indy 159's brah

White Shark · 05-22-06, 08:00 PM

38" Think longboard with off road wheels. I also have my Schmitt Stix Reese Simpson.

I need one of these though...

My favorite was the 1988 Schmitt Stix Joe Lopes BBQ board. It's available again as a retro release. A lot of companies are offering old school decks. I love the graphics. I actually still have my original Lopes BBQ t-shirt after all of these years.

http://www.skatesonhaight.com/Old_Sc...oards_s/85.htm

...

Cube Dweller · 05-22-06, 08:31 PM

Nice Shark. My fav. was the Sims Screamer. My first real deck was a Sims Flagship though..

Cube Dweller · 05-22-06, 08:36 PM

Screamer:

Cube Dweller · 05-22-06, 08:37 PM

BTW, that deck just sold for $480 on ebay, NOS.

Red Herring · 05-22-06, 08:46 PM

I don't any more, but it makes me cringe when the kids skate by with these hard as nails wheels... just sounds horrible. "In my day

..." it was all about grip and speed. Carving up long stretches of steep down hill, arguing about the merits of kryptonics green vs red, truck tension and bearings.... ahhh... those were some fun times. I am glad to see that the boards are starting to come round to more old school style, with kickass bearings, and softer, sticky urethane wheels!

3puttcop · 05-22-06, 08:46 PM

Your right about old school stuff....I got a z-flex deck, old powell rat bones wheels, and 9' indys...All new stuff but its same stuff I rode 23+ years ago.

Red Herring · 05-22-06, 08:50 PM

I think you need to add this to your ineeda list Shark....

Das Board, by BWM.

WristPin · 05-22-06, 08:54 PM

i was visiting my buddies shop. for some reason a skate board was stuffed in a corner.

i was feeling cocky,( i hadnt hopped on on of these things for six years or so. i started skating in '90 or so.), so i busted out with an acid drop, and landed it, ollied over the floor lift and stopped.

i said out loud 'fuck yea, i still got it!'

so

rusty_tlc · 05-22-06, 09:05 PM

A few years back I was working in a factory that had skateboards to get around on. I never really skated before but gave it a shot. It was fun, I couldn't do any tricks but I scooted along pretty well for a 45 year old fat guy.

flintknapper · 05-22-06, 09:09 PM

I'd like to see some of you guys "board" on the "skateboards" we had in 1963.

Basically a piece of wood about 5-6" wide, maybe 20" long, METAL wheels about 3" apart (side to side). God help you if you ran over the smallest of pebbles. They were real popular for about 2-3 years (especially with orthopedic surgeons) then they kinda died out for a few years. Virtually everyone that had one of these early "boards with wheels" also had broken bones.

Thank goodness they made them better later on!

e9999 · 05-22-06, 09:19 PM

this old guy started to snowboard recently after many many years of skiing....

cruiseroutfit · 05-22-06, 09:27 PM

I used to skate everyday... now I am lucky to go once a week..

White Shark · 05-22-06, 09:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by flintknapper

I'd like to see some of you guys "board" on the "skateboards" we had in 1963.

Basically a piece of wood about 5-6" wide, maybe 20" long, METAL wheels about 3" apart (side to side). God help you if you ran over the smallest of pebbles. They were real popular for about 2-3 years (especially with orthopedic surgeons) then they kinda died out for a few years. Virtually everyone that had one of these early "boards with wheels" also had broken bones.

Thank goodness they made them better later on!

I turn 36 tomorrow (happy birthday to me!), but I've skated them all. I managed a surf / skate shop for 3 years back in the day. We had a lot of guys who collected old school stuff from the 60's and 70's. Old school Sims, Kryptonics, Dogtown, and before.....

Getting back to the old ways are often better than the new innovations. Today's boards suck. They have little deck or wheel durometer variation. The boards in the 1980's reached the pinnacle of concavity, flex, wheel / truck technology, and really represented the technological hey-day of skateboarding...the Golden Years of skateboard design, if you will... That is why the retro boards are so hot. Largely because the stuff on the market today is lame as compared to the offerings of yesteryear.

The 70's offered better wheels and skate parks, but the 80's brought science and technology into producing the epitome of skate design into the mix. The 90's were the years when skating went public with Tony Hawk Skateboarding video games. (Some of my favorite games when my kids drag me over to the Playstation). The 00's? Who knows? We still have 3.5 years to go....Maybe the resurgence of old school equipment......

surfpig · 05-22-06, 09:56 PM

I haven't skateboarded in years! A very occasional spin on a longboard is about it. My brother in law has one of these, and talked me into trying it... What a kick! I was slaloming down the hill like I knew what I was doing! Kind of got me thinking... but no hills here in sacto... Luckily there's snow, and boards...

gulp3000 · 05-22-06, 10:02 PM

It's been a long, long time. If remember correctly, I had an Alva board, Kryptonics, and halftracks.

Jman · 05-22-06, 10:04 PM

The board in my basement is celebrating its 25th year. Of course, I haven't used it much, the bushings are hard as rocks, but I took it out a bit a few months ago. I've also freaked out a few kids in the park--their board gets away, I stop it, get on, ride it back, do a 360, then leave . . . a 43 year old guy wearing a suit.

I can remember back in the early 1980s, some older guy stopped me in the parking lot of a super market and asked if he could ride my board. He took his shoes off, then started shredding barefoot, and talking about the older wooden and fibreglass boards he rode in the 1960s and 1970s.

Cube, a good buddy had the SIMS flagship--nice.