Skateboard Blues

[Oak Tree]

On a recent trip back to my moms house, my eye was caught by this old skateboard. It was given to me by an older cousin probably 35-40 years ago. It was missing the bearings in one wheel, which is why he gave it away. I never repaired it cuz it was skinny and big wide boards were the going thing. Now I see it as a late 70’s gold ano board that is pretty cool. All that’s history.
Today I replaced the bearings and got about 2 rides before a 40 yr Turbine wheel exploded.

 

[AndyA]

Cousin Oak:
Ouch! I didn't know wheels could do that. My skateboard days were back in the Composite Wheel period (somewhat later than the Jurassic, but not much). If it's not too private a question, what part of your anatomy did you land on?

 

[MattiThundrrr]

I think a board like that would look super cool as the deck of a rack on the back of a BMX/beach bum type cruiser

 

[Oldbiscuit]

I cleaned out my folks house after we moved them into assisted living. Found my old skate board ( homemade with steel wheels from clamp on steel skates) , tossed it in the trash with so many other memories !

 

[Oak Tree]

Cousin Oak:
Ouch! I didn't know wheels could do that. My skateboard days were back in the Composite Wheel period (somewhat later than the Jurassic, but not much). If it's not too private a question, what part of your anatomy did you land on?

Amazingly, my teenage instincts came surging back and I landed on my feet and ran it out.
the story continues…
So I took this old relic to a skate shop and the kids there had to order me some wheels that they said would fit. Several weeks later, they called and I went back. Wheels did not fit. I bought them anyway and modified brand new wheels by cutting/sanding off the back side of the wheels. I think some of those wheels are still in my lungs in the powder form. New wheels work great! This thing really carves!
And so now, I have some bark knocked off my knee and elbow and a fresh X-ray of my hand. (Nothing broken!)

 

[Oak Tree]

I think a board like that would look super cool as the deck of a rack on the back of a BMX/beach bum type cruiser

No, I was thinking of those brackets that carry a surfboard on the side of the bike. I might make a bracket on my beach cruiser that holds this little gold ano board.

 

[Karate Chicken Industries]

I seem to remember one of the Z Boys saying they carried their skateboards on the handlebars of their bikes, which is how I got myself and my deck to Skatopia in Buena Park BITD. Sometimes I skated the four miles each way.

 

[MattiThundrrr]

I'm such a fool, I skated to the spot.

 

[Oak Tree]

@Ulu
Any help with the manufacture of this old skateboard?
Thanks

 

[Ulu]

No, sorry.

I saw a similar one on sale at the Schwinn shop in Duluth MN. It was 1967, I was about 12, and Mom took me there and bought me an aluminum ProSurfer.

They both had Chicago trucks & Chicago composition wheels.

Flat aluminum boards were so easy to make that I imagine that there were quite a number of guys out there doing it.

The ProSurfer was extruded aluminum & required an extrusion die pressing. Then it was trimmed and pressed in a forming die to turn down all the edges.

The board was a tray, upside down. Riveted trucks.

And that would be the Key, because if the trucks are riveted on, it’s a factory made board.

If screwed on, it might not be.

<edit> Clearly that board is plywood, but when I looked at it on my cell phone it appeared to be an aluminum board.

Anyhow, style-wise could go all the way back to that era, as far as I can tell.

The wheels appear to be about 1982 manufacture. That’s the first time I can remember that style.

 

[Oak Tree]

Thanks for the info and history. I can’t find any manufacturers marks on board or trucks. It is an aluminum board. I’ll post more pics with the new wheels this weekend.

 

[Ulu]

Show the trucks?

 

[Oak Tree]

 

[Ulu]

I seem to remember one of the Z Boys saying they carried their skateboards on the handlebars of their bikes, which is how I got myself and my deck to Skatopia in Buena Park BITD. Sometimes I skated the four miles each way.

This was a bit after my time. When the Z boys were taking off I had hung up my Chicago clay wheel skates, and I was in engineering school with a Ford and a Yamaha.

When I moved out to California, I bought a G&S warptail with blue Kryptonics and tracker trucks. Fast wheels. Not too grippy.

I joined the Mogul Bowl skate park, but then they tore it down right away.

I never really learned to skate very well in a bowl. I was strictly into obstacle course because Duluth was on a hill and the roads were crap.

Anyhow I have rusty bearings from way back…..

I like to skate on the 5/16” id Seismic bearings ($$$) but I used to skate on these 3/8” id BlueBall bearings ($) back when I was 240 pounds.

This was an old soldier that suffered total de-lamb on me after I rammed it into the concrete too hard.

It was any epoxy failure and the guy who built it used the same epoxy on his experimental aircraft landing gear.

It did not work out for him either.

 

[Ulu]

Monster skurf possibilities, with men’s size 11 flip-flop for scale.

@Oak Tree
I was gonna guess that that’s about a 1975 Tracker truck. I sent the photo off to some skate historians for analysis..

my geezer skate pages
https://gnarwheels.proboards.com/thread/2/lordy-all-old-souls?page=102&scrollTo=4431

 

[Ulu]

I’m thinking now I need a little tow behind chariot so I can pull some of these babies to the local park. I used to skate the 4 miles there but when I got there I only had one board to ride.

So then I built this rack that I could put in my truck and take half a dozen boards really easy.

 

[Ulu]

This is kind of rare. These Cindys trucks were built to order by a guy that builds fake cobras for a living now. This one is about 7 inches and on a super low angle baseplate, so it doesn’t turn too much as it pivots.

This is much less rare. INDeesz from SurfRods.

This one is raked up, wedged up, the board is raked up in the front, and it turns like a bandit.

This was designed for long distance pushing and pumping and was cut down from a 48” dancer that I ordered pressed for the purpose.

It’s part of an unfinished series of art boards called Gods of the Bongo Congo.

 

[Ulu]

Here is a pro surfer from eBay and you’ll notice it only had three fasteners on each of the trucks.

Mine was exactly like this but it was gold anodized.

It had Chicago trucks and I’m pretty sure yours had the later four-screw Chicago trucks.

 

[Ulu]

My first board was like this, except with green printing instead of blue.
This was from Nash.