Cool/Old/Weird/Crappy board of the month: Surf Flyer
May 16th, 2008 by Kilwag
The Surf Flyer appears to be a European phenomenon. At least nobody from North America has chimed in about them. This one comes to us from Dean Tyrell ( It’s his week!) Believe me when I say that there are virtually no other shots of the vintage Surf Flyer skateboard anywhere on the web, so help me Google. The wheels of these things were supposed to be near rubber-like and super slow. On the detail shots you can see some sort of weird bearing covers that probably didn’t help either. The truck design is another winning design that looks more ’60s technology than ’70s. Can anyone date these? Follow through to see more pictures of a Surf Flyer than you’ll likely ever want to. Someone has to do it.
The Surf Flyer
Thanks again to Dean. Click to enlarge.
May 16th, 2008 at 9:57 am
DIg the crazee kingpin.
One angle missing, from the back of the truck at board level.
May 16th, 2008 at 11:20 am
NO BUSHINGS?
May 16th, 2008 at 11:41 am
Each truck looks like it has one giant bushing. That huge chunk of black/gray rubber.
May 16th, 2008 at 3:46 pm
It was the first “skateboard” that I ever set foot on. That would probably have been 1976 or thereabouts. Even on a smooth wooden floor the board went about 6 feet and then stopped. And forget about trying to steer. Basically the trucks attached the wheels to the board. That was about as much as they did.
May 18th, 2008 at 11:51 pm
Two parts supermarket shopping trolley and one part “surfboard” (the shopping trolley with the busted front wheels that is) But wait, dig that smoooth deck shape!! Kinda looks like the Flip Mountain Crest, doesn’t it? There is another 70s UK connection there… Maybe Lance has one of these stashed away in his collection too…
May 19th, 2008 at 12:23 am
The thing with these was the trucks, which are single action, not double action. Basically, they only move along one axis, not two, like every other truck we know. This means they don’t really turn AT ALL, and consequently, they’re a nightmare.
May 19th, 2008 at 3:37 pm
My older cousin gave me a crap-ass plastic board with these trucks circa ‘79. We were living in Indiana at the time so the Brits didn’t have the market cornered on this “technology”. This thing didn’t turn or go fast, but was able to generate speed wobbles. Highly embarrassing to show up on this POS when everyone else was riding G&Ss & Santa Cruzes. How did I ever get past that point in my skate career?
November 13th, 2008 at 5:25 pm
Wow, Blast from the past. I can date this reasonably well as I bought one in Bournemouth UK just before my eleventh birthday which was the Summer of ‘78 Thanks to the original poster. Never thought I’d see one of these again. It rode quite well I recall - for a cheap ’70s plank on wheels, not much in the corners and pretty hard to mod in any way. Reminds me of Skate City and Weymouth Skatepark action of the late ’70s - pleant of them to be seen around then.