In my day, wheels were big, trucks were narrow and decks were home made!
I've still got my board from about '77 - has Sims Conical wheels (one of each colour), they are angled out from the trucks to make grinding easier 
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Skateboard wheels ,why are they so small now?
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Posted 1 year ago #
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Torn from the darkest recess of grey matter are the names old green kyptonites and calfornia slalom trucks. Bringing it up to date i bought a board for my son recently and thought the same " why are the wheels so small?" .
Posted 1 year ago # -
Ah....
Sims Streetsnake wheels,
DNM bearings,
Indy trucks,
PP Bug deck
Fly tape.Back in t'day...
Posted 1 year ago # -
Small wheels in the early 90's were 35mm.
They flipz better innit!
Posted 1 year ago # -
My first "skateboard" was a plank of wood with a steel wheeled roller skate that was taken apart and screwed to the plank. I say plank, from memory it would have been about 14" L x 4" W. This was 1974 and was done after seeing "Skater Dater" which was the backup feature to "Rollerball".
Now them wheels really were hard and small.
Posted 1 year ago # -
I was running a Zorlac John Gibson set up around '86 (can't remember what hardwear was on it though). Also just about old enough to have ridden the 2 bowls (1 snake run i think) that they had at Thruxton race track in the mid/late '70s (i was about 7!), although missed out on Andover swimming pool/park.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Haze - Member
Some of the more well known places I skated...Barrow in Furness Skateshack (a personal favourite)
Ah happy memories - The Shack was at the bottom of my street, and as a kid i spent days helping Milly, Russ and Co carry all that ply up the stairs, so we got to ride it before it opened. Then later when Robin used to lock us in during the day so 5 ofnus had the whole park to ourselves, heading home filthy.
I remember seeing Tony Hawk and the Bones Brigade there too!
A few mates reopened it themselves a few years ago, but the whole complex has been flattened now.
Still miss skating, but don't bounce off the floor like I used to!
Posted 1 year ago # -
Aaaah Nice one Haze... Dicker's indoor bowl.. sweet memories... spent many a weekend down there in me youth! God bless the Birmingham wheels scene... How i miss the deadly levels of methane being belched out the ground on a hot day!
Posted 1 year ago # -
afrothunder88 - Member
On a sidenote, anyone into longboarding in the Bristol area? God knows theres enough hills and I wouldn't mind sessioning Bridge Valley Road before they reopen it.you can check out the forum on lushlongboards.com theres a fair few people who are around bristol.
Posted 1 year ago # -
This thread takes me back. Skating was my life from about 12 to 18 in the mid to late 80's / early 90's.
I'm a Brighton boy so for me it was The Level and the various mini ramps on the seafront at Saltden and Rottingdean plus going to Romford and Southsea.
Tried to get back into it a few years ago but it hurt like hell!
Posted 1 year ago # -
Tried to get back into it a few years ago but it hurt like hell!
Same here mdb and loved it as much as when I was younger, it just got a bit much hobbling into work most mornings.
I can still sit for ages watching this sort of stuff...
Posted 1 year ago # -
It was becoming a professional that put an end to my skating too...
Meeting with Directors with cuts all over your hands...
'you did that skateboarding?... my 7 yr old loves skateboarding!'
Posted 1 year ago # -
you can check out the forum on lushlongboards.com theres a fair few people who are around bristol.
I shall do just that, cheers!
Posted 1 year ago # -
Anyone want to buy a longboard?
Posted 1 year ago # -
Haze / Sid Killerest,
I built Dickers with Stampy, used to skate the Vert ramps mostly. Still see quite a few of the old guys around. Quite a few into MTBs now, if you remember Jester (Si Patton) hes running the (mtb) DH national series now.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Anyone want to buy a longboard?
Details?
Posted 1 year ago # -
It's a foundation longboard, circa '96, massive indys on it, some huge soft wheels (will have to check what make) they're so soft that the inside edges are a bit knackered, has amazing bearings though I'm not sure how good they are these days as I've not touched it in 12 or so years. I'll have to dig it out.
Posted 1 year ago # -
i started skating again around 98/99, back then it was almost impossible to get anything other than street stuff (longboards were ok funnily enough). for a while i rode santa cruz bullets or somesuch as it was the best i could get.
was also funny riding my fibreflex 42 around the village, the kids would literally stop and laugh at me as in their eyes i was way too old and my board was massive to them. yet now all the cool kids ride longboards down this way.
these days though i don't skate parks much at all, i'm afraid the fear of hurting myself - meaning i can't surf - is too much. a bit of slalom, downhill cruising (we've got a couple of 2 mile runs down this way) and sliding is fun though.
anyway, for some lovely kit have a look here at octanesport
Posted 1 year ago # -
oh, started around 75 or so on a 2x4 with rollerskates nailed to the bottom.
back in the day skated southsea for many many years, leigh park bowl was fun, indoor ramp at crantock, the funky little bowl in barnstable, ilfracombe bowl(that was a fun one), bournemouth (thats another fun one), farnborough, rom, loads of random half pipes and more i've forgotten. recently st georges, that bowl in wales just over the border (nice), newport indoor, mount hawke (my lad now goes to the under 11s session on monday night), saltash, helston, hayle, playing place (love that) and was instrumental in getting a major bowl built in penzance. in addition i once barged, drained and skated a swimming pool, a lifetime dream that, and a natural super smooth rock bowl in australia.
and i've got about 20 skateboards, tons of bits, and one of these : ) under lock and key. yes i could'nt believe the price either.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Matt - I travelled up from the Midlands a few times to skate the shack for the weekend, get stupidly stoned and kip in the car overnight or end up at a party.
Skated it with Milly on a couple of occasions and rode the comp up there with Gooey, Rocker et al. Long time ago when Andy Scott was only knee high and already pulling off stalefish fakies etc.
Fine memories except the black bogeys!
Scruff - I remember Jester and certainly remember Stampy. I reckon I'd probably know you too!
Posted 1 year ago # -
It's a foundation longboard, circa '96, massive indys on it, some huge soft wheels (will have to check what make) they're so soft that the inside edges are a bit knackered, has amazing bearings though I'm not sure how good they are these days as I've not touched it in 12 or so years. I'll have to dig it out.
Oooo, deck type and dimensions? How much are you after? I want a board to start learning how to slide on.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Hasn't anyone else got any old photos of them skating?
Posted 1 year ago # -
>In my day, wheels were big, trucks were narrow and decks were home made!
My first vaguely proper board was a '4 vouchers from hovis loaves + £3' thing (prior to that it was a single clay wheel skate separated over two ends of some floorboard timber). Next I replaced the (smallish) wheels with blue krytonic seconds (I think they were something like £16 or £20 circa '77 !) - istr they were about 65mm, and the larger ones were 75mm or so - so at the larger end of things..
Shortly followed by some ACS580 trucks - relatively wide, apart from slalom trucks.
Finally, a homemade deck which was an old ply cupboard door. Last time I used it for any distance was in about '89 - after a day's diy on my OH's flat I'd scoot down to the local kebab shop for supper. It's in the workshop at the bottom of the garden and still rideable after..err..32 years. Think I might need to learn how to foot drag, I never could, don't think my knees would take jumping off at any kind of speed now !Posted 1 year ago # -
afrothunder - It's at my parents. I'll try and get hold of it at the weekend. It must be over 45", but this is from memory. I'll get a pic. The wheels were super soft though so sliding might be tricky.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Hasn't anyone else got any old photos of them skating?
Posted this before, it's the only one I've got on the PC. Taken at Barrow, lipslide up the escalator...
Posted 1 year ago # -
Great to see that Haze - nice to see you're rocking just the one elbow pad! Used to love that ramp so much - gapping the roll over in the corner of your pic. The black bogeys were legendary!
I remember the night there when the guys from Zorlac had come up to see Dave Harkness, and he killed the place - somehow pulling off christ airs inbetween the rafters!
Would love to see any other pics you have from up there?
Some quality footage here: Deathbox Spirit of the Blitz. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXUfWV-twgA
Posted 1 year ago # -
afrothunder -It's at my parents. I'll try and get hold of it at the weekend. It must be over 45", but this is from memory. I'll get a pic. The wheels were super soft though so sliding might be tricky
I don't mind changing the wheels for something harder so that's fine. Drop me an email once you have a pic if that's okay? Email is in my profile. Cheers.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Scruff - Cool mate the dickers bowl was a classic.... yellow plastic coping and corners you could go through! Ace... I remember seeing Eric Dressen tear the place apart...Stale to tail on the vert wall? ridiculous! and Stampy's Skates - possibly the smallest shop ever? I always preferred it to Yah Dude... that place just smelled of patchouli oil and sweaty skaters.
Have you seen the Birmingham skate archive on facebook? well worth a look, full of blasts from the past!Posted 1 year ago # -
Sid, yes theres a few pics of me on the archive. Alex Luffman.
I was there when Dressen and the Dogtown boys demo'd but best thing I ever saw ever in skating was Gonz on the vert ramp no less, his style was so different to anyone elses.
Posted 1 year ago # -
I was on the spine when the Gonz turned up, he had his helmet on and I didn't recognise him at first. We took turns dropping in, just some nice grinds and stuff.
He upped the game with some huge frontside ollies, I soon realised who it was and sat down and watched in admiration.
Great style, a proper legend.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Blimey, a bast from my past.
I started boarding in the late 80's, my parents when they moved a few years ago dug a load of my old boards out, it was like a trip down memory lane.
I started riding ramp, I remember dropping in on the half pipe in Farnborough for the first time, it was pretty scary.
As I progressed into my teens, I rode more park & street, and got pretty good, had a bit of support - I even made it into a VHS video my parents still have! I used a few New Deal boards, then went onto World Industries, and finished up on Blind. Always with Independent trucks & Deathbox wheels.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Dressen and Gonz demos-
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=223736747861&oid=36008759279
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=216412337861&oid=36008759279
Posted 1 year ago #
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