I saw this in Concrete Wave a while back but I forgot to post it. I thought it was a gag advert at first, in part due to the fact that you can’t currently find any mention of it on the Venom web site. However, it appears to be aimed at a real niche market… people with downhill gear that wish their boards had tails. My first thought was to goof on it, but this is one of the oddest yet most functional products I’ve seen. I know you’re saying “just buy a board with a tail” but then this isn’t meant for you. It’s meant for guys who typically spend a lot of cash on downhill equipment and like to have their setup dialed in. These boards are not disposable in the tradition of the typical short board that gets ridden until it falls apart in a comparatively shorter time. It is what it is. Goofy but extremely useful for a subset of skateboarders. It sells for about $20.
Sicktail
4-28-2011 by Kilwag modified 4-27-11 - 67 comments
Categories: Skate
Tags: downhill, longboards, Some Product
Categories: Skate
Tags: downhill, longboards, Some Product
4-28-2011 by Kilwag modified 4-27-11 - 67 comments
Categories: Skate
Tags: downhill, longboards, Some Product
67 comments
Erin
yeah, I like sicktail. I have been using it. Because I love to ride in the downhill.And I believe it helps me a lot to turn and get more speed. It’s not too much costly. Thanks for sharing. longboard trucks
vic guitar
if it aint a skooter or a push bike its all good .get real and skate loosers
Gav
Hahaha pretty sure the sicktail is about 50/50 taking the piss. I mean… it’s called a sicktail? Can’t imagine anyone being all serious about strapping a kicktail on a downhill board, it’s for goofing around
Bevilacqua
You got it: more fun, playing around.
Good idea, no ?
Michael
PS: I do understand why they call it sick tail because I just threw up a little. It is good to think outside the box a little(sometimes)but over all that concept just kind of bugs me/offends my eyes. For the record I am half trolling and half speaking my mind here. Discuss?!
Michael
Jim Gray charges! I would not want to get hit by him in a jam session! Imagine if Pat Ngoho rode a board that was 7.75*31.5 with a 14″ wheelbase that would be CRAZY!
curtis
I used to ride the Jim Gray “stretch” board (89? 90?)it was about 40 inches long kind of a fish shape. super fun, wish I still had it. one time some dude showed up at the park with some of those trucks on his mainstream deck. that was fun too, I might buy some of those if I could get some light weight ones. I like those “Loaded” videos, I want to skate like that too. but if I were a guy who spent a lot of cash on gear, I would have several boards in the trunk of my mercedes. this reminds me of that weird toy board that is like 10 inches long with the weird tail bolted to it
carvin marvin
very few longboards have the right concave, stiffness and tail for riding transition, and then they come with goofy trucks and squishy wheels (indy and spitfire 62 or 63, or big spf)
i ride some old 44 inch lib techs (dogtown did a nice 44 inch) i wish skull skates had steeper tails
Michael
I used to messenger in SF on a fixed gear bicycle. I don’t think my knees could take it anymore though. I used to love my old FLIP “new school” shape long board. It was fun to kick flip that and or bomb or slide a hill in SF.
boy ipoh
well at least it’s longboards not fixie /fixed gear.
curtis
at least it has the 6 hole pattern, cos I prefer trucks made in 1989
masterochicken
Actually, a bunch of the longboard truck companies use the the old school mounting pattern because it is stronger.
talentlessquitter
Bleh;nonsense! Which companies then?Names?
You gonna bring another myth into the world?
shvitz
>Which companies then?Names?
>You gonna bring another myth into the world?
Randal
Bear
Caliber
Crail
Paris
Holey
…
talentlessquitter
Sorry,I read ‘longboard companies’. I made my comment thinking there are very few new longboard DECKS with the old school pattern out there.
So I agree with shvitz.
Mac
Or maybe Suspenders! “Did he make it?”
http://www.surfwarez.com/ProductDetails/DownOne.asp?Image1=SkateboarderVol.4.2.640.jpg
curtis
Kilwags description of this product as something “for guys who typically spend a lot of cash on longboard equipment and like to have it dialed in” made me wanna puke. I am working on an invention that is going to make tails obsolete. it’s kinda like bindings that hook the feet to the board for catching big air, but different.
Gavin
Daddy-Yo?
shvitz
Bing!
Nailed it…
kilwag
Sky hooks!
Glenn
“Shortboard” is a crap term but in a world where there are narrow minded wankers posting “That’s not Skateboarding, it’s Longboarding” on Youtube videos, I think maybe we need it.
The generation of kids who got into skating via video games learn a little history.
I dream of the day when confused looking kids don’t refer to my Slalom setup as a “Longboard” even though it’s half an inch shorter than their standard issue “Shortboard”.
It’s all skating.
PIGCITY
I ride a Gravity 36″ deck, hell its just 3″ longer than the Label Blender I used to ride, I don’t see what the deal is. I am a 6ft plus so ride the slightly bigger board as a regular deck. Never gone anywhere near a pintail though and those tails look pretty flaky. Why not just get a longer with a decent kicktail in the first place – its a no brainer
Tim Laidlaw
Certainly gives a whole new meaning to getting a little tail
lou sassel
NO KOOKS 666 SATAN – pretty much sums it up
Concretin Nik
It’s not a kicktail, it’s a spoiler. You know, like the ones on the back of low-rider pick-up trucks and lil’ early 90s Honda Civics.
Michael
I personally don’t like the term “term” other than that. I don’t care.
bp
You don’t like the term shortboard? I don’t like the term longboard. Big or small, it’s all skateboarding kook!
wes
oh my fucking god…
ICantSk84S**T
I think that the tail is a pretty rad thing. There are alot of longboards that dont have tails or have a pin tail that is not very effective. Some of these boards are used as commuters and cruisers too not just DH. Having a tail that you can bolt on is useful for those days around town when you wanna get up on a curb, of play around with manuals.
I also think that people forget the big picture. We are all out there trying to have a good time, and some people cant skate for s**t and can really throw down on a BMX or mountain bike. I say whatever your drug of choice is, youre still a junkie. Get out and ride!
markypoo
amen man
talentlessquitter
I am one of those that can’t skate for sh*t and I should have switched to BMX 20 years ago.But hey;my heart still tells me I am a SKATER.I’d like to have a Banghra but have you seen that pricetag? I skated a downhill longboard this spring and I have come to the conclusion that I can’t do without a lil’ cicktail.I have even lowered myself into considering a Sector 9…
Bevilacqua
Must be a question of generation. I feel lost without a tail … Even slalomers in recent trends tend to favor a small tail to lock the rear foot.
And when things get rough, a tail is a great help for me to unleash a desperate slide.
I went over my preventions against Loaded and bought a nice 2nd hand Banghra … and 2 S9 as well !
nweyesk8
or buy a longboard with a kicktail, it’s not that hard to tell your local shop, “no, I don’t want a kooky pintail, I want a kick tail, get me one or I will spend my money elsewhere” and when you bomb hills, stay off the tail, pretty simple solution….
Bevilacqua
Very funny idea – I prefer the DIY version, but it is a very clever idea actually.
Even LBL, Neversummer or Loaded realised a tail adds some fun to any board (Penguin,? and banghra for instance).
Gavin
What’s the diy? Lop off a tail from an old board? Cause I can see that working. Seems like a tail in a different plane than the rest of the board would feel weird but I guess you’d get used to it pretty quick. I may try it on one of my flat cruisers to see what it feels like.
talentlessquitter
He he.
You americans have issues…
markypoo
this foo! haha it started in america what are you doing in this conversation???????
markypoo
everybody needs to calm down because their angry they didnt invent a revolutionary new product that only adds more of a thrill to rolling down a hill and crashing at the bottom
skuz
awesome! haters gonna hate, skaters gonna skate!!
krahamgoats
I showed up at a park in Grand Junktion CO where all the locs used longboards. “What a bunch of kooks” I thought. Then I tried some of their boards and had a great time. The older I get, the more accepting i am of diferent things to ride. Caster boards are fun, and have you ever tried a razor scooter in a big bowl? deadly. I’ll always get pissed when I see mtn bikes at the park though.
zeno01
Ugh, mtn bikes at the skatepark…
Moustache Max D
It’s totally a dork session type thing. We have double-kick street/tranny setups that we ride all the time, but sometimes you’re out bombing hills and you want to do a boneless or manual. Boom, enter the sicktail and get extra radical.
Precisions grind just fine.
– the guy in the picture up there
Billy Bones
Even more proof that precision trucks grind nicely.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IX0-UmATupA
Casey M.
Maybe the imaginary line between people that ride different sized skateboards is just in your head. Dudes just want to skate, a tail opens up a lot of windows if you can’t take your quiver with you.
Gnarles Copinghagen
I skate all different sizes of boards. It’s all skating. It’s all fun. I skate the same stuff with all of them.
kilwag
WINNER: Casey!
Barf
I think everybody’s missing the point. This wasn’t an attempt to “show those darn shortboarders”. This was the longboarder’s version of a dork session. Dude’s just playing around. Does the guy have to spend all his time charging hills, or is he allowed to play for fun sometimes?
zeno01
I f’n HATE the term “short-board.” No, this is a skateboard, your riding the long skateboard, damnit!
It goes in the file of BS phrases such as “practicing” on a skateboard. NO, unless judges from the Dew Tour are showing up later, your just skateboarding!
Baxter
Once again, What the fuck is a short board? It’s called a skateboard, just cause you may feel the need to ride some kooked out drop deck with backwards trucks dosn’t mean my board is in any way short.
kilwag
Yeah… normally I wouldn’t use the term, I find it annoying. But when talking about them in the same context as a longboard, it makes it easier. Because like it or not, a longboard is still a skateboard.
Frodo
The trouble with trying to take a straight up longboard to good old fashioned skateboard terrains (stairs, curbs, bowls, as skated in that video) is that the longboarder’s style always looks so whack. Because of how the 35 inch wheelbase and no functional nose or tail impedes their movement. Even a talented longboarder, such as that dude who apparently owns Venom, ends up looking like a 9 year old skater who has been skating for like 8 months.
Jerkins
That was lame.
masterochicken
I’ve always wondered how precisions grind.
shvitz
^^^ Zak Maytum, head of Venom, shredding.
shvitz
From the minds behind: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPf0vM1i5mE
GUY
Zach might be a kook but he makes some dam good bushings. Definitely recommend trying them, I think they are way better than bones hardcore bushings.
Gavin
I’ll give them a shot. To be honest I’ve never tried Bones either. I think I have a set of rotten DumDums right now.
guy
Sweet, I hope you like them.
Gavin
This seems so try-hard. Yeah you can do short board tricks on a long board, but why? Just so you can legitmize something that needs no legitimazation? So you can get in the face of others and say “see? You were wrong about longboards”. The more I think about this the more it pisses me off. Since when in the fuck did skateboarding have to prove anything to anyone? If it was fun, yeah, but grabbing a board designed to carve and bomb hills then going out of your way to learn tricks the board has no business doing and doing them in a way that looks forced dosnt look fun. Maybe I’m wrong and this is where it’s at, but I think this here is some kook bullshit.
colinwalshrules
this IS kook bullshit. knee pads and a helmet for a curb. really? So stoked Im not that guy.
Baxter
What the fuck is a short board?
colinwalshrules
…..yeah some kid on OSU campus said that it was cool I had one of those “trick boards” I wanted to pee in his eye lids and super glue them shut.
enemy combatant
Shortboard dinosaurs like you are a dying breed.
kilwag
Yeah all the new skateparks would tend to disagree with that.
ssk
cracking me up
kilwag
WINNER: CWR!
talentlessquitter
You read Concrete Wave?…Right.
Must be “strictly for the good interviews and the articles” then. 😉