Rolling Russian Style
Impulse buys, some are good, but this one? VERY NICE!!! I bought his Soviet era skateboard from a seller in the Ukraine. Sure, I paid more in shipping than I did for the actual item but I couldn’t pass this up. That’s Leonid Brezhnev in the upper left, he was the leader in the USSR from 1977-1982, which is the period I’m guessing this skateboard was produced. ( Seller could only add 80’s ) It’s cast aluminum! I LIKE! The text translates to “Rolling.”
First off, hats off to the seller on this excellent packaging. It only took a couple weeks which seems impossible for budget shipping, even if shipping cost $60 from the Ukraine.
Here’s the Ukrainian auction text translated via Google.
Aluminum alloy log with a knock and a tail. Rubber “lining” under the legs, profile inscription “Rental”. Original cast pendants without platforms. Rubber wheels of 52?41 mm. with a metal core. skates made in the USSR in good condition. Aluminum alloy heavy skateboard 3.2 kvintage is very strong and reliable, made of aluminum alloy. the best Soviet skates !!!
It’s cast aluminum so it should be light, right? Wrong. Even solid aluminum ads up. It weighs in at 7.5 pounds so it’s a pound and a half heavier than my modern 8.5″ wide deck.
The base of the trucks are part of the deck mold. This is something you sometimes see with cheap plastic decks too.
It may look unidirectional, but there is definitely a tail and a nose. The section on the left is a steep angle and 3 1/8″ long. The other side is about 4″ long. The picture bellows misleading. The upturned bit on the right is actually longer that than the one on the left.
I’m not sure what this text means, I can’t quite make it out. The description did translate a word to “rental” but it’s hard to imagine they would cast a special rental ID on the bottom.
How does it ride? Well the trucks are very loose, although it’s entirely possible that mine is not the desired weight class… It’s turns, it’s tippy, and it’s slow. Those bearings could probably use some cleaning and lubrication. Lets’ take a closer look at those bearings after this pic…
Why yes, those oversized, non-standard sealed bearings do say USSR on them!
Someone did some dropping off of curbs.
These wheels are chunky and soft. Very soft, almost closer to rubber than urethane.
As is our custom, here is the Customs Declaration.
Hungry for more vintage Russian skateboards? Check out this advert as well.
