Cavalcade of Crappy AISI Skateboards
Like many things (most) on this site, this post started out as a relatively simple showcase of a board from Michiel Walrave to add to the crappy board series. And because it was a company I’d never heard of I tried to learn a little more about it and found out there are barely any pics old AISI boards out there. You might think maybe it’s actually “AISL” and not “AISI” but those searches returned nothing.
Here’e Michiel’s board. The bottom graphic features a rather large, screen looking butterfly which is trapped in the web of a gnarly looks spider in true 80’s fashion. It looks like a Tarantula, but the artist must not have done their research because Tarantulas don’t spin webs like that. The top graphic is another typically 80’s looking goat-head-demon-bat.
This deck doens’t appear to actually say AISI anywhere and the top deck says Space Aliens, but it does have AISI branded wheels so maybe it is, maybe it isn’t. It’s too good to pass up though.
Check out this very sad looking space alien holding what appears to be some sort of galactic pressure washer.
AISI related! Here are the wheels! About the only relevant result that shows up when searching for AISI wheels is an old Skull and Bones Skateboards thread from 2010 postulating they might be an Australian company.
It so nicely photographed by the seller I can’t help but include more pics. Who know if it will ever appear again?
Next we have the AISI Viper, unfortunately the only shot of the bottom graphic (see top of post) is pretty low res.
Here’s the last of my AISI finds, the Widow Walker. The color variation on the left is not a low res pic, rather it is a high res blurry photograph that I wouldn’t include except I cant find another shot of that color way.
Who has some AISI decks or knows more about the company? Let us know in the comments.
I had the “widow walker” back in 1993 when i was about 11-12 years old. Similir to the one on the right, only difference was my board was a wood color with the same red and black trim. My Fathers Girlfriend at the time bought it for me as a birthday present. All I can remember about the shop is that it was somewhere in Santa Barbara California, and across the street was a park with a very wide oak tree in it.
I have an old Aisi board, I’m looking at it now; it isn’t one of these though. It has the “Space aliens” art on the top. BUT the underside doesn’t have the sad alien. In it’s place, it has a big red fire breathing “Terrordactyl” instead. It’s kinda cool.
I got an Aisi “Rattler” for my birthday in 1986. Closest thing I could find to a powell peralta at the local toy store. No one in my neighborhood rode “pro” boards at that time, so I was just as cool as the kid down the street with the Executioner.
I happen to have a board which says space aliens on the top without the AISI wheels but it has the viper design on the bottom. Please respond if this is rare. I am thinking it is a misprint. Thanks!
My first wide deck was a crappy AISI Viper! Thanks for posting this, I’ve been trying to find it online for years. I asked my parents to get me a fat board from the states when they went to Hawaii I think. Must have been 1984 or 85. I remember trying to ramp skate it but the bearings were so terrible I couldn’t pump without major effort. My first board was a GT Grentec.