I forgot to mark where I found this, so my apologies to the person who originally scanned this, but it wasn’t this site. This is not quite as wacky as the more recent bike and skateboard hybrids, but it does appear to be the first one. It’s the Wham-O Wheelie Bar. If they made one of these now, they have to call it the “Wham-O Manual Bar!” See the full ad and watch an old TV commercial after the jump.

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Hey look, I’m not making this stuff up. This is a system for skateboard wheels that consists of an aluminum hub with interchangeable urethane treads. It dates back to around 2003 or so, possibly a little bit earlier. I believe they were made by Dragonetti, although I could be wrong. If not, I think it was some similar sounding name with an Italian sounding suffix. These pictures are from a used set, and I neglected to clean out the skatepark grime that accumulated on them, but you get the idea. The aluminum hub was actually a two piece fabrication. Pressure from the axle nut was supposed to compress the hub against the inner lip of the urethane wheel to keep it stable, but the reality was that normal use would cause the wheels to slip on the center hub. It seemed like a difficult but not insurmountable deficiency to overcome. This might have been a case where the product was rushed to market too soon. They don’t seem to be available anymore. In fact, this set belonged to Grover, and he was in contact with the manufacturer for a while about the performance issues. They said they had a solution figured out and were supposed to send him a replacement set under warranty but nothing ever came of it. The costs of the initial wheel and hub combo was moderately more expensive than a traditional wheel, but the replacement treads were priced to make them cheaper than buying a new set of standard wheels. There are some more pictures after the jump.

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Perfect for the Ryan Sheckler’s in your life:

A Must For Teenage Skate Boarding Fanatics ! Is it a skate board…………. no it’s a Mirror ! For those who like the quirky side of life, try our skate board mirror… to be admired but definitely not to be ridden !

It costs £110.00, and at today’s exchange rate, it can be yours for about $215.

I love eBay Watch, but I typically don’t try to by things on eBay unless there is one specific thing I need for a practical purpose. Sometimes during research I find myself on eBay, and there’s split second where I have to make a decision on whether or not to look at something else that catches my eye. If I do, it’s all over. I end up making a bunch of retarded bids. Half of them I know I have no chance of winning and the other half of my bids are influenced by irrational emotional attachment. Sometimes, after I come down, I find that I have won one or more useless items that I paid too much for. I call this phenomenon the “eBay Hangover.” I’ve had a nagging desire to own one of these 70’s era Techni-Ski skateboard ski simulators since I saw my first one in a magazine that was probably 20 years old. Now, unfortunately, I do own one. I’m not going to say how much it cost unless Neil picks it up in his column. More details to follow. I know you are all glued to your monitors…

I’m not one for the unprovoked posting of a bunch of product releases as ‘news’ but the Riprider from Creature has got to be the coolest thing I’ve seen in forever and a day. It’s so simple, obvious… and beautiful. I’m gushing. Hey N.H.S., hook a brother up! Oh wait, I just blew my bargaining chips…

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Straight from the comments to the front page. When you think “urban,” the first thing that comes to mind is a bunch of white guys and and Tiki beach culture, right? RIGHT??? If ever there was a company with an identity crisis, it’s got to be Urban Skates. The Skub Brothers make spinner wheels and longboards, although it appears they got their start in rollerskates. They’ve even got a signature model skateboard spinner wheels. Care to hazard a guess?

- thanks to Bailgun for the tip

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Both of these are a joke, but one is actually serious. From Instructables, the Jet Powered and Folding skateboards. Yes, that’s a drag chute. Yes, he put rollerblade wheels on his trucks.

Hello, I have recently developed these unique performance wheels. They are pictured being track tested by professional rider Josh Rolf at speeds in excess of 50mph. Aside from being really fast, and incredibly sweet looking, they also drift, and slide predictably and comfortably. This wheel system also allows riders to inexpensively swap out their tires in order to change appearance, and durometer. I believe this awesome wheel system would be an excellent addition to your outstanding product line. I look forward to hearing from you, and hopefully we can work something out.

First of all, this is not a new idea. You may recall there was a company that sold the same type of system for short boards in the early 2000’s (Dang! Do I write the ’00s instead?) I can’t remember the name, but Grover actually tried a set and found them craptacular. They would spin on the hub. That seems like a problem that would be easy enough to fix though. Second of all, I swear I read the word “inexpensive” in there somewhere, but at $300 for the rims and $20 per tire???? That’s not inexpensive. Good luck with that patent.

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Before anyone gets their panties in a bunch, these skateboards from Greece is for Lovers are not meant to be ridden, they just meant to be marveled at, or puzzled over. Although they appear to sell some items, these skateboards titled Tougher than Leather and Ridden in Stone appear to be more like exercises than actual products. greece is for Lovers is a design studio that likes to dabble in Greece-schtick items, some of them more useful than others, and some of them just amusing. If you want to see the full size versions head on over to Greece is for Lovers from the links above. In the event that they close up shop, there are somewhat smaller versions archived after the jump.

- Thanks to Eric Cherry for the tip.

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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.

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