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I gave up in my teens, attracted by pushbikes and the irresistible FS1E. Not a hard decision in a northern town where the only facilities were soggy bits of plywood leant against walls until the local bobby turned up.
Fast forward to my 40s, I'm living in a city with an absurdly high skatepark per inhabitant ratio, have bought my 2yo his first board, and I'm thinking about the Hosoi hammerhead I think is still in my Dad's loft.
Any words of wisdom? All I want to do is drop into and carve around a concrete bowl, and being self employed I don't want to break anything important. Nothing can go too wrong can it? Apart from being Embarrassing Dad.
I'm living in a city with an absurdly high skatepark per inhabitant ratio,
Do you live in Sheffield?
I stopped at 13/14 and picked up bmx. Now im 41 im sure I can still feel those early hits in my knees.
Words of wisdom? Wear a helmet and elbow pads and go enjoy yourself.
San Sebastian, but I think even my home town has a couple of parks these days. Those letters to the council did work, just took them about 3 decades to do anything...
What condition is the Hosoi deck in ? Because if it's an 80's original it may be better to sell it - And defo don't do the helmet ! You want safety take up knitting ! As for the age thing - As Duane Peters says "you didn't quit skateboarding because your old - you got old because you quit skateboarding" As for being embarrassed - your more likely to find the kids getting stoked for you that your still trying to get some ..
Get a board and go ride,47 here and still skate a few times a year after a break of about 15 years ,pads are good and don't get carried away I reckon, it's a great feeling to be rolling again, even got myself a longboard for cruising round car parks..
Last year Southsea had their anniversary Love the Skatepark Day.
So me and my lad went, thinking I could relive old times.
At 50 it was the first time I'd ridden there in 35 years!
I wasn't very good 😆
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Got a board and skated the local bowl and ramps - then got out of the habit again. Need to start up. There's loads of middle aged shredders, and a forum with the same name
Do it, you'll have to wrap a few scooters around some mummies boys necks and horse them into a nearby skip, skateparks have changed a bit since the eighties and nineties, but do it before its too late, #neverold
I wouldn't just go to the skatepark, you are beter off practicing first
Bloke at Southsea told me my Sims Comp IIs are worth a bit 🙂
What condition is the Hosoi deck in ? Because if it's an 80's original it may be better to sell it
Aye. Up to you if you want to keep it. But the Hammerhead would be worth a few bob. Even in tatty condition it'd probably make enough to buy a new board, if that's what you wanted.
My dad tells me he's just donated my Jeff Kendall (with 70mm Kryps) to my nephew, can't really ask for it back, but the Hosoi is still there. As new late 80s I guess, never mounted - I was given it, but it was hideously old fashioned by then so never used it.
Hate to ask this, but what wheels for concrete bowls? The tiny, hard ones on my niece's board seemed to roll really slow so I was slowing right down between pumps. Or maybe wasn't trying hard enough...! Being a cyclist I immediately blame the equipment for any shortcoming 🙂
I bought some super soft ones, can't remember what they are off the top off my head. They roll great 🙂
On of the best things having odd days off in the week is the empty pump track and skate parks.
20 years ago it was a day trip to weston park or wheels in brum, now there is a ramp at every corner and concrete bowls all over.
Soft kryps for me I hated super hard wheels.
A few weeks ago I bought a pair of Thunders, bearings and a set of Fast Skateboard Co wheels in 52mm. The griptape on my old deck came off in seconds (17 years, glue dried out) so I had my first roll for the first time in.. 17 years. The biggest problem seems to be my back foot firmly planted on the tail. I'm thinking this is from moving onto snowboards. The exact opposite seemed to be a weird feeling going from skate to snow with the back foot. I felt sketchy at first but soon felt confident pushing about. I expected to do better, the balance and coordination has vanished.
Also just bought a few StreetPlant Vallely decks, numbered and auto'd but chose not to skate the Mammoth after saying that I would!
If that Hosoi has never been mounted then it's going to be worth a fair bit. There's a big market for original Hosoi's and if it's a colourway that's desirable you could be quids in
Seems like loads of us old boys are getting back into it. Glad the boards have got wider again. Amazed at how much old decks are going for, if only we knew...
It's the same with most things. Like if you go out and buy a few of the first trick scooters. They'll be worth a fortune in 30 years. Well, maybe not :O)
Never mounted Boba Fatt, no marks on tail etc, but it's got some badly applied griptape and a few scuffs on the bottom from knocking around the garage for years. It's purple. Was given to me by a mate after he snapped my Schmitt Yard Stix 😯
Would probably rather have a modern board tbh.
Personal experience here,after 35 years not skating and returning, wear pads!! The bigger the better because concrete hurts more than it used to,and you don't bounce back up as quickly.
This place opened near us recently...
It's coaxed a few of us out of retirement, not me yet although I have visited and had a potter around on a mates board.
It's probably been around 10 years since I stopped skating (second time around) but the muscle memory is all still there. Very shaky at first but it didn't take long to hit the coping and my natural instinct was telling me axle stalls and 50-50's should follow.
I stepped off at that point but may revisit later in the year when racing is out the way, injuries are likely and I don't want to waste the hard work I put in on the bike last winter.
42 here and not ridden a skateboard since e I was 42. I reckon the balance would come back pretty quick but my weight would put a lot of strain on a deck these days.
I started going down the new local bowl last year, after 3 visits I fell and knackered the cartilage in my knee which put me off the bike for weeks, couldn't even walk for a week. yes I was wearing pads. Yoof were fine, even got fist bumps off one of them for my lines.
41 this year. Dug out my old Rudy Johnson 40oz board last year complete with Thunder trucks and cockroach wheels. That was the last board I bought in my late teens. Before that had numerous Rob Roskopps, and lost count of how many SMA Natas's I wore out.
Considering I'm about 3 stone heavier than when I last skated over 20 years ago I didn't get on too badly. Man, skaters are spoiled these days with all the concrete parks around, there's load round here plus we've got Rush Indoor Skatepark just down the road. I go down there with my skateboard and my BMX and alternate. Although mostly ride my BMX if I'm honest as its much easier and kinder on a 40 year old that's ruined his body over the years!
This is the local bowl, there's a concrete halfpipe behind it with a tombstone (are they still called that? 😳 ) Note child on scooter...!
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My experience has been much like yours Haze, really sketchy at first but soon felt normal again, was keeping up with my niece who's been riding for a couple of years. I'm tempted to wear my HRM because I'm pretty sure I was somewhere near max 😆
I'm taking the lad up tomorrow and I'm hoping to drop into the shallow end, but I'm getting sweaty palms just typing the words.
i keep eyeing my Toy Machine Jamie Thomas board (that's not been used for at least 18 years) and telling myself I'm gonna get back out on it... i'm actually lighter now than i was then, so that shouldn't be an issue.
this summer, definitely.
If self employed get some pads. Go big or go home!
Did exactly as you talking about when still in LDN, kids were skating or on BMX, I was just dropping in riding bowls nice & easy etc (dagenham) came off hand hit concrete in a bad way off bike for 2 weeks hurt like hell, just be careful as crashing isn't the problem it's crashing when bike riding is your no 1 pastime.
Would probably rather have a modern board tbh.
If you're not really fussed about the Hosoi, sell it!
There are a lot of re-issues out there these days, but they're not the same thing. There's a good market for classic boards like that and it could well be worth a few hundred. I'm sure you'd get a ton for it at the very least.
The hardest bit is turning up at the skatepark with baggy jeans on, kids start arriving with skinny jeans and you now look a joke! I suppose it's similar to going back in time 20 years,some old guy turns up on a skateboard wearing skinny jeans and a bald head. You're going to chuckle, aren't you ;O)
Well slight derailment of plans. Went up to the bowl this morning with the lad and his cousin. Had psyched myself to drop into the bowl. But while carving around on the lad's board (a tiny polyprop thing) my front foot slipped off the nose and folded beneath me, pretty nasty sprain.
So now looking at one legged turbo sessions to kick off the summer, exactly as was warned a few posts up the page!
Can see the funny side at the moment but that'll wear off after a few days of resting it.
43 and landed my first trey flip this year 🙂
really steezed it too 😀
£40 for Z Flex skateboards.
Buy them all please before I'm tempted. Thank you.
http://www.boardridersguide.com/brands/z-flex
