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Tactical Skaters !!!

LOL . . . Sorry DJ.

I was about 10 years before Z-boys and the drought. I was doing downhill in Duluth. Very steep and lotza gnar.

We also used to sail-skate, which is like sailboarding on a surfboard, up at the AFB. They had some heavy winds and huge parking lots, but we never did go out on the runway. Without getting caught . . .

We also used to tow rope behind a Heathkit mini bike which is the first one that had a Fat Tire on it.

BTW I'm not sure I could hit anything with an AR-15 from a skateboard. I don't think there's a law about it because the skateboarder is considered a pedestrian in California.

It's not officially a vehicle.

But if you come to Clovis for the cowboy shootout, they get to Ride in a mine car, going down a track, while they shoot at pop-up targets.

I might be able to handle that if they weren't shooting back. ;)
 
The Sundown Sliders are a famous group of skaters from San Francisco, and I got to see them race at Roscoe's Wrecker over on the coast.

I tried that run one time and I wiped out on the first turn. Too fast for my old ass!
 
This is one of my favorite boards.
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It's fast and it's comfortable and it rolls over anything. You can pump energy into it like crazy.

The deck is a maple Disco 45 from The Soda Factory in Rhode Island.

The trucks are 180mm Billet aluminum Indeez from Surf Rods.

Bearings are a hoarded set of 8mm Blue Balls from the now-defunct Mile High Skates in Denver.

The wheels are the famous 75mm translucent purple Grapey Apes, from the Purple Skunk shop in San Francisco.

If you look closely at the wedges you'll see a lot of positive wedge on the front truck to make it steer fast and a lot of negative wedge on the rear truck to make it tilt without much steering.

This differential in Behavior between the front and rear suspension allows you to pump the board down the street by shifting your weight around and you don't have to actually put your foot down and kick it very often.

Because the deck flexes in the correct ways, you can make it steer around a very tight corner even though it's a very long board.

There is so much traction it is very difficult to make this one slide sideways, but I can kick the tail out pretty easy to square off corners.

It's not my fastest board but is definitely one of the most fun boards I own.
 
LOL, you lost me at "this is one of my favorite boards". The shops that sell boards and accessories sure have some colorful names.
 
I picked up this vintage Alva Tri Logo a little while back in a thrift store, $12,99 minus 25% :)
I always wanted an Alva board when I was a young skater growing up in SoCal...I'm 53 now.

Comes with Grind King Jay Adams 6.0 Silver Trucks and DogTown wheels

I told my wife I had to buy it. It's really just a man cave wall hanger at this time.

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I never got into skateboarding, but we were doing mountain cross and bmx freestyle stunts before they were mainstream.

Funny story, I broke one bike completely in two doing a bunny hop once. Broke the front half loose right where both bars welded onto the seat post tube. I knew as soon as I landed it that something was wrong and I was going down hard. Faceplant straight into the asphalt. Had to walk and carry my bike home in pieces over each shoulder after I stopped my nose and mouth bleeding.

That bike took all kinds of abuse doing long jumps and we even welded it back together until I could save up enough money mowing lawns to buy another bike later that year.

It's really a wonder why one of us didn't end up killed out. Especially up toward Rebel Rock and an off chute of Shepherds Trail down the old steam locomotive track path.
 
@JRExplorer3
That is a pretty Advanced skateboard from the mid 70s. I started out in 1963, on boards that were far more primitive.

I had a Hang Ten from Nash with steel wheels and by '68 I had an aluminum Pro Surfer with Chicago wheels and trucks.

But by 1975 I was riding a G&S warptail very similar to that Alva, and Fresno had an actual concrete skatepark.

That park lasted about two years before they got sued and tore it all down.

Nowadays I'm way too big to ride anything with less than 24 in wheelbase, and my favorite ride has a 33 in wheelbase. Needless to say I stay out of swimming pools and ditches. I am strictly into long distance Road riding.

I can do a little downhill but by the third stand-up slide my knees are too weak to continue.

If you want to do some real long distance cruising, and you need something stable because you are old, they have the Big Lazy. I have 2 for some reason.
BigLazys0.jpg
This is basically a rolling water ski. LOL
 
@John A.

I never knew BMX. By that time in history I had a motorcycle and a pickup truck for fun.

But I carried a lot of weight on my Schwinn as a paperboy, and with the weight positioned properly on the Stingray seat I could do a very long impressive wheelie.

I didn't have a Stingray. I had a 26" Tornado, heavily modified after watching Easy Rider. 7 ft long. Apehangers. Skyscraper trussed sisssybar to carry the weight of papers both on and behind the Stingray seat. 20" front wheel, and 1" forks from EMT. I cut a 10' stick in half, to build them. The construction was accomplished with Dad's hammer, vise, hacksaw, and electric drill. I still have them all, but the bike was sold in 1972. Sturmey-Archer 3-speed laced to a fat JC Higgens wheel from the 30's, with t-handle stick shift.

One day it started to all go sideways, and after nearly hitting a car head-on I found I'd broken the rear stay loose from the seatpost.
Cracked the factory welds right through.

I wish there was a photo of that bike. I painted it candy purple metallic, but it was no chromed showboat, & the construction was unique. I've never seen another done like it.
 
@JRExplorer3
That is a pretty Advanced skateboard from the mid 70s. I started out in 1963, on boards that were far more primitive.

I had a Hang Ten from Nash with steel wheels and by '68 I had an aluminum Pro Surfer with Chicago wheels and trucks.

But by 1975 I was riding a G&S warptail very similar to that Alva, and Fresno had an actual concrete skatepark.

That park lasted about two years before they got sued and tore it all down.

Nowadays I'm way too big to ride anything with less than 24 in wheelbase, and my favorite ride has a 33 in wheelbase. Needless to say I stay out of swimming pools and ditches. I am strictly into long distance Road riding.

I can do a little downhill but by the third stand-up slide my knees are too weak to continue.

If you want to do some real long distance cruising, and you need something stable because you are old, they have the Big Lazy. I have 2 for some reason.
View attachment 20022
This is basically a rolling water ski. LOL

I started skating first while overseas in the Philippines 1975, 5th grade. My dad was in the Marines and we were stationed at Subic Bay.
I started with cheap plastic toy store boards. My second board and first with a kicktail was a red plastic Huffy Thunder and I rode the wheels off that sucker. Broke my collarbone too.....
pic from the net
v7QYmTl.jpg


We next moved to SoCal, San Pedro. I rode a cheap box store board I got as Xmas a present, Pro-Class with Track Force trucks and wheels.
1978-79 at 13 yrs old, My mom flipped out when my dad took me to the skateboard pro-am shop where I spent all my paper route money putting together my first "real" board.
A Sims Hardcore deck with Tracker Full Tracks with red riser pads, Green Sims Snakes with German Sims racing bearings. I also added a tail skidplate, nose guard, and truck grind guards.
A few hundred bucks. A pretty penny for a 13 yr. old.

Found a pic of the Sims Hardcore deck......Man..good times with that board.
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By 16/17 I had my first car and skating fell away to surfing and bodyboarding.
 
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It's Amurica, DJ. We do it all.

But not everyone lives in a concrete jungle. Whe I lived in the country there was no skating.

I was a Kryptonic guy. Blue Kryps were FAST. First good DH wheel ever. Sims got popular a lot later.

Nowadays I ride ABEC 11 ZigZag reflex formula. Fast roll, controlled slides, and wear well.

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