What skateboard deck did you grow up riding?

[robin3mj]

My first and best "real" board was a Lance Mountain:


I was the least hardcore of my skater buddies and before this board I had a couple handmedowns from them. All were Powell Peralta though.

I just watched the recent Bones Brigade docu- worth a look if you were from that era.

This also reminds me of a funny story. This board was still kicking around my (parents') garage as late as 1999. I know this because my cousin (who is my age but lives in a completely different universe than myself) was getting married right after I graduated college. And for some reason, he was over the day before the wedding, probably borrowing something or doing last minute errands. Anyway, he finds the board in the garage, rides down the driveway, and promptly breaks his collarbone. Good thing a sling color-coordinates with a penguin suit.

[Honus]

1985 Madrid Bill Danforth Misfits with Indy trucks. That was an awesome board- had it when I was in college. My roomie at the time was a former sponsored skater and I really sucked compared to him.

[cs124]

Woah, this brings back memories. No photos from that era unfortunately...
Let me think... there was a Variflex complete. Blue and white with skulls (i think!). Broke it.
Then there was a Vision Gonz. That one was purple and pink with flowers and a clown or something. Transferred the Variflex trucks and got new wheels. That deck was retired after I got a bunch of autographs on it. The only dude I remember now was Christian Hosoi.
So I replaced it with a scratched up hand-me-down Schmitt Stix of some sort. Handed it on to one of the other guys in the group after a few months and
got on an unbranded "blank" deck. Dog's dick red, huge concave and a weird double kick tail. Good on ramp, very hard to handle on the street.
Last one was a Santa Cruz Steve Alba. The one with the naked girl holding a snake, with pygmies looking on excitedly. That was a ripper.

But the best board I ever rode was my mate's Santa Cruz John Lucero. That thing just popped. I could ollie over stuff that I couldn't get near on my own board. He would let me ride the thing whenever I wanted, but wouldn't sell it to me, even for new MSRP. Silly bugger!

[arcadian]

Tony Hawk Mini

Amazing how difficult it is now. Used to feel pretty natural. Have you tried it lately? I am getting old.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j...60847217271676

[holliscx]

Screen shot 2013-02-13 at 3.57.09 PM.jpg

^ click to embiggen of these the cab and vision jump out although that natural g&s is pretty sweet too

[rphetteplace]

I need to sleep on this but I'm thinking about buying 3 of my favorite decks and hanging them somewhere as artwork. This thread has brought back a lot of positive memories and skate decks are really cheap modern art.

Not all that cheap. Huge collectors market for vintage skateboard decks.

[cs124]

Tony Hawk Mini

Amazing how difficult it is now. Used to feel pretty natural. Have you tried it lately? I am getting old.

Redirect Notice

yes, yes and yes. Damn near crapped myself.

[golivar]

I had a cheap-o Valterra deck. I think it was called "Diablo" and it had a pretty cool illustration of the devil on it. I was a bit too uncoordinated to be a good skater, though, so I guess that's why I took up BMX freestyle instead. I had a sweet Haro Master (still have it, actually).

[houston]

Steve Stedham with the skeleton riding a B-52 with a bomb in his hand. Loved that board and it was a great canvas to display my everpresent lack of coordination. Lots of my friends progressed to half pipes and several tricks. I didn't.

[Hoonjr]

Ah skateboarding. My first love.
First board was a Vision Mark Gonzales mini
Favorite by far was a H-street Matt Hensley king size. I had a bunch in between including a Hosoi Hammerhead. Terrible street board. No vert to skate in central Maine!

[Rosko]

Nice thread, glad I found it! My first board was around 79-80, ordered from a magazine. G&S fiberflex with bennett trucks and red Yo-Yo wheels, similar to this but blue. I loved that thing! So many blue fiberglass splinters though.

When"big" boards hit I sold it on to my cousin and saved my lawn mowing money to buy my holy grail at the time:

set that one up with the nice Kryptonics and trackers with the full coverage copers- may have even had a 'bird' on it (if you remember that).
thirty years later and still going, takes a little longer to get up nowadays.


some pics of some random parks, ramps etc if anyone is interested:
temple of the stuntwood - a set on Flickr
Skatepark and ramp construction - a set on Flickr

[Corso]

Started on a mail order fiber flex clone, with "california slalom" wide trucks, then made my own decks out of solid oak, like a G&S, then made ones from plywood modeled after the original Alva's. mid to late 70s. Ouch....

Gone through too many others to count, but still have a Dogtown Street and a McGill. Last deck I bought: Deathbox Jay adams.

[mumbleypeg]

I started on a clay wheeled super surfer. It evolved to have Cadillac wheels. Started making/copying Logan ash decks in my grandfathers shop.Then had various , bahne's , and G&S. one Turner that was beautifully made. I made several cutting down water skis or simply bolting trucks and wheels on full sized skis. Made some nicely laminated ones along the lines of what Tom Sims was doing...I also made some ugly but functional ones out of marine plywood.....Chicago, tracker, independent and even a set of Seagull trucks. Cadillac, kryptonics, UFO, and Bones....I can't remember how many pairs of vans I went through. I always wanted a z-flex and never got one.

[holliscx]

Pretty sweet deck for $32

FOLLY :: Skate Deck Spring Sale | Folly

folly_fun_deck.jpg

[Dallas Tex]

I started on a clay wheeled super surfer. It evolved to have Cadillac wheels. Started making/copying Logan ash decks in my grandfathers shop.Then had various , bahne's , and G&S. one Turner that was beautifully made. I made several cutting down water skis or simply bolting trucks and wheels on full sized skis. Made some nicely laminated ones along the lines of what Tom Sims was doing...I also made some ugly but functional ones out of marine plywood.....Chicago, tracker, independent and even a set of Seagull trucks. Cadillac, kryptonics, UFO, and Bones....I can't remember how many pairs of vans I went through. I always wanted a z-flex and never got one.

These are the brands that I remember too. Along with Woodflow decks and PowerFlex wheels.

[DrZRM]

Screen shot 2013-02-13 at 3.57.09 PM.jpg

^ click to embiggen of these the cab and vision jump out although that natural g&s is pretty sweet too

Aw man, I had that argyle Uncle Wiggley in the top row, and a Christian Hasoi I loved, Hammerhead?

Great thread.

[rmplum]

This is an old thread revival - but I stumbled upon this podcast that everybody posting their 80s skate nostalgia here may appreciate:

The Nine Club - Podcast | Listen To The Latest Interviews

The Mike Vallely episode is tremendous - it's 5 hours long but well worth it. Christain Hosoi was kinda meh, Tommy Guerrero was pretty good as was Lance Mountain. I still have a bunch more cued up to go through.

I'm currently building up an Elephant Brand #1 board - which is neat and perfect for what I need/want: old school shape, but with modern concave. The Vision re-issues are supposedly well done in this vein, and I have a Powell Street Cab that is as well.

Ryan


-btw, current wheels and skatepark surfaces are FAST. Whoa.

[j44ke]

Funny this thread pops up. Spoke to a long lost friend this week on the occasion of the death of a mutual acquaintance and as part of our reminiscing he said “I still have your board,” a G&S Bowl Rider with Lazer trucks and Powerflex wheels. I gave it to him when I was moving to AZ and he lost his license and needed some way to get to work that wasn’t walking.

[dgaddis]

If y'all haven't seen 'Bones Brigade' documentary...go find it, NOW. Even if you're not, or never were, into skating I assure you that you'll love it. If you're on the forum, you know what it means to be passionate about something (so many people really don't understand what it means....) and those guys passion for skating is so great to see.

I've kicked around getting another board, but I know I'll just get hurt. Funny enough in the last two weeks I saw on social media that two of my college roommates (who I used to skate with) have both bought boards again recently haha.

I've always loved skating, but I was really truly terrible at it. I could ollie all day, but out of a least 1 million kickflips I've only ever landed one.

[rmplum]

If y'all haven't seen 'Bones Brigade' documentary...go find it, NOW. Even if you're not, or never were, into skating I assure you that you'll love it. If you're on the forum, you know what it means to be passionate about something (so many people really don't understand what it means....) and those guys passion for skating is so great to see.

I've kicked around getting another board, but I know I'll just get hurt. Funny enough in the last two weeks I saw on social media that two of my college roommates (who I used to skate with) have both bought boards again recently haha.

I've always loved skating, but I was really truly terrible at it. I could ollie all day, but out of a least 1 million kickflips I've only ever landed one.

That was good. I also watched "The Man Who Souled The World" last night - it was ok-ish.

The hardest thing for me about getting back into skateboarding is the self-preservation instinct that I have much more of now than I did when I was in middle school. Things can go sideways in a hurry - especially for a hack like me.