This advert for Vision skateboards V6 concave came from the 1989 July issue of Thrasher. It’s hard to tell from the tone of the advert in this time period whether or not they were being facetious. It’s essentially the precursor to today’s modern popsicle boards, only they took it a little bit further. The ad copy says it’s completely symmetrical and evenly balanced. How is it that Vision could have been a good three or so years ahead of the curve and still manage to disappear by the time everyone caught up?
It doesn’t appear to be an idea that they fully got behind as evidenced by the fact the the concave is only available in certain, unnamed pro models. They are still trying to figure out the shape part, the hourglass is a little bit odd. It looks like a board with two tails was the way they wanted to go, but the solution ended up being closer to two noses.
30 comments
Someguy
Vision didn’t make the first twin kick deck. I can’t remember the name of the company that did, but I do know a for sure who it was made for cause I remember seeing it when I was in 6th grade back in the almost mid 80s when a friend of mine whos dad owned a skate shop up in Richmond VA and he’d bring in a new deck or a set of trucks or something literally every day and trade it to me for my lunch money so he could eat 2 trays lol. Yes, he was a fat kid but cool as could be nonetheless lol. Anyway, I remember the moment I saw it and absolutely loved the graphics. It was called the Mike Vallely barn yard and thats the day lip tricks really took off! I mean really, if you was even good enough to stand on it straight you could pull off pop shuvits coming and going and I don’t think I rode anything else after cause Vallely was my favorite skater anyway so it worked out good for me lol. But the Mike Vallely barnyard was the first double kick deck even though they hadn’t refined it down to be very skinny like they are today. They was still stupid wide but was like a double kick hammerhead looking deck at first and slowly got refined down to 7 and 8 inch wide decks like today’s ones. Mike Vallely actually still makes skateboards but he does it with his wife and kids in his garage In Idaho.
Chris Armstrong
I had the double vision “mini” version of this board, that was almost identical to a modern deck size (about 7
Fred Bengtsson
Why is nobody mentioning Gonz in this article?
He is the one who helped Vision with this shape/idea.
He has talked about this in numerous interviews.
George
“How is it that Vision could have been a good three or so years ahead of the curve and still manage to disappear by the time everyone caught up?”
One reason – Brad Dorfman.
Daryl
I loved this board. The nose/tail added a good 6 inches to my ollie and made shovits a breeze. It was heavy, but the shape made sense.
SDreal
The first person I saw riding switch was Willy Santos back in the late 80s, around 87-88. He could already do all of the main tricks at the time. So he started experimenting with doing everything opposite footed, just riding around doing railslides, ollies, anything. I remembering thinking it was a waste of time. How wrong was I? He was easily the first person I ever saw do a switch kickflip. If someone else did it before 88, I’d be surprised.
Someguy
Mike Vallely had been doing them and so had Rodney Mullens. For some years to. Coolest trick I’ve ever seen still to this date is Mike Vallely doing a switch kickflip landing on top of a fire hydrant and did a spin or 2 then came off of it and never checked up landing it.
pablo
Wow, i remember my friend buying that board, and it seemed so huge. But it made sense if you were not going to do ollie high-yas, or an other trick that required kicked your foot past the nose.
When we test tried it, it was so amazing to ride. doing things like nose bump to ollie blunt, or nose stalls, or nollie to railslide became so easy compared to other boards with their relatively small noses.
I slowed down on skateboarding in 91’….then the popsicles came around, and it took 10 years for me to get used to them. How I wish I was consistent with skating, so I could have gotten used to the popsicles….but then small wheels were the rage too, and I bummed on skateboarding altogether. I always loved it, but like any relationship, I had ups and downs with it.
I still fondly remember this board to this day. Thanks for posting.
Factionskate&bmxinc
I had that board in ’90. It was goofy but no doubt ground breaking. That board allowed me to ollie higher than anyone I knew because of that huge nose. It definitely helped my skating at the time. EVERYONE who saw that board was shocked because they were still riding fish-shaped spoon nosed boards. Didn’t Hawk’s board with the big nose come out around the same time?
talentlessquitter
Ask Tony Hawk about those two tails again… 🙂
JDopi
I actually remember there was a Vision Double Tail Mini that was very symmetrical . BTW I seem to remember Frankie Hill doing alot of switch in one of his really early Bones/Powell vids.
JustOld
Same as above, anywhere to buy NOS or rip-offs of this deck, used to have a few, like 7 of them, and would love to have one again!?
ScapS
Is it still possible to order this board somewhere? I really loved this board. Used to have 2 of em…and I want one again…
jsin
Don’t look back. That double vision was 10-ply, wide and heavy (no one was selling 7-ply decks until about ’92). I saw the DV ad in one of mags back then and thought it made absolute sense…but I didn’t have any money to buy one.
Duke
This is just not true. We all had 7 ply decks in the 80s.
tierre newell
I remember this boared only from this exact add arond that time I was taking a temporary hiatus from skating but I know this to be the predesessor to boards of today so being the nostalgic person I am I looked this up.
John
I remember this board quite well! Didn’t really care for it though and still don’t really care for the newer boards out there. Give me a Jeff Grosso Coke bottle board over ANY of the new popsicle stick boards any day. What I loved about the old boards is that there was a nose AND a tail. Some tricks, like a ton of flippy no-complys, were easier when using the nose of the board. I’m glad companies started reissuing some of those old decks. They were the best.
skaterhusseindave
My girlfriend in ’86 predicted the switch revolution. In ’87 I helped with a benefit event for the Michigan School for the Blind, and one of the featured pros or sponsored ams was none other than backwards Bernie O’Dowd…”he skates as well backwards as forwards folks!” It might have been ’88, I’m not positive, but still well before Salman.
curtis
I’m sure the middle is wider than the average board of today
Simply Stupid
That Vision board would be useless for anything so weak in the middle disasters would be disastrous. Salman Agah and Tony Hawk had some early Switch quality for vert and such but street wise it was something people were doing for a long time. It’s crazy to think how slow Skateboarding began then after 30 or so years there was an explosion or evolution of possibilities being exploited on the plank.
Yea
Wrong that board ruled bought it 88-89′ and proceded to sk8 switch day1 and the advantage to dismounting from crazy unreasable grinds and slappy taik and nose slide, not slappy to tail or nose slide, just rolling up to curb and thrust board at an angle into tail or nose slide plus the ollies on it were unreal compaired to the tiny nosed boards of the time Matt Rodriguez bought it from me when he was little and loved it, it was the future period
the manuvers I did on it weren’t even being done yet on the street like fakie to slappy frontside tailslide to disaster to switcht bs 50-50 to switch bs180 out yeah thats right all in 25 feet of curb at high speed, switch slappy hurricane style grinds and the rails put at the concave bend made going monorail to front or back truck hurricane style or fieble style grinds unreal but the rails had to be placed right at the bend about 3″ in from edge I want one today having that front foot control and being abel to sk8 it nomatter how you landed on it cause it was allways goin forward and knowin when you 180 you were set up to sk8 switch it just made you tried everything and wanted to switch all the time
Keith
^ replying to Tom. People were skating switch long before Burnquist did anything. He wasn’t even on the radar until 95’s Slam City Jam.
If anybody is the godfather of switch, it’s Salman Agah.
Rocco does talk about getting the mold for the Vallely Barn Animals from Vision in The Man who Souled the World. The Vision double tail was more gimmicky than anything when it was first released. Even when the Vallely came out, I didn’t think the shape was that functional. The New Deal siamese twin seemed a bit more useable.
One of those Vision double tails sold on ebay in the past few months.
Tom Miller
I rode a few of those boards when they came out. I remember thinking, “Wow, this is the future.” It makes all the sense in the world that skateboarding would evolve from goofy or regular to goofy and regular, i.e. birth of switch (as opposed to just fakie, an important distinction).
The hilarious part was that I spent some amount of time actually trying to do tricks goofy (I’m regular). At some point I remember saying to myself, “This is too hard. Fuck that.”
I figured that board would usher in skaters who were fluent both ways faster than it actually did. To my recollection, it wasn’t until Burnquist showed up that anybody rode switch so well that you saw the potential of going both ways.
As others have said, it was definitely ahead of its time.
curtis
very interesting! I bought that Vallely board the first time I saw it. but I hated the concave (I did not think there was enough) and traded it within a week. this looks like a board I’d wanna ride today. I like the side cut.
Simply Stupid
Steve Rocco said he bought the press that board was made with from Vision to make the Valleley. It is an unsubstantiated quote. I used to skate with this Dude named JJ who rode for Vision right before their Eternal (and deserved) collapse in 99′. That dude was talented but because of rolling for Vision nobody would touch him after because of hard feelings. This should be the first tail-tail board.
sea cliff vert ramp
It was shaped by Chuck Hults at PS Stix’s wood shop aka Schmitt Stix. He runs Deckcrafters these days.
chris
i remember that one too. i think it had a totem pole like graphic. I remember thinking how silly it was too… Later, I did eventually go on to buy that first Vallely double kick board though.
Concretin Nik
I really miss the deep concave of the early 90s.
nweyesk8
the Vision twin board was innovative, but the ‘nose’ was huge, being exactly like the tail. Also this board came out when boards were still averaging 10″ wide which made it heavy too.
aaron
My buddy had that board right when it came out. He was hyped on it, because so much of our skating was shuv-its and mini-ramp tom foolery then. It was just a little ahead of it’s time and didn’t have the proper marketing. I still give this board credit as the first popsicle shape, not the W.I. Vallely (as he likes to claim).