Your reviews are coming. I’ve been working on a new back end to present our product reviews, and I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Back populating the the old reviews has been taking a lot longer than I thought, and it’s finally made me realize how much static HTML can suck, especially when it’s really old and poorly formatted! That’s Danimal above riding a Toy Machine Billy Marks Fiberprime deck. I’ve got Atomic Wheels, Tarantula Trucks, Dekline shoes, and a host of other, long, long overdue reviews.

I’ve been hearing some rumblings about the new X Games Skateboard Park Course. It supposed to be concrete, and temporary, which are two things that sound like they are at odds. The street course at the Maloof Cup might have been made using prefab elements that can be disassembled and reused elsewhere, but will the same thing work on a bowl complex? The real interesting thing is that I’ve heard rumors that the X Games course will be made from concrete poured over a wood frame and/or styrofoam combo. Styrofoam in a skatepark construction is nothing new – (See here and here) It’s been used in the soon to open (already open?) Seattle SeaSk8 replacement, mainly for it’s lightweight benefits. The new location is on top of some underground elements of Seattle Center. Again, these are rumors, I haven’t been able to corroborate them, but concrete over a wood frame… puzzling. OK readers, who is connected? What’s really going on?

The action isn’t in the text this time. Check out the spectacular bail! This is the fifth installment of the Skateboard Action book, courtesy of Carl Warren who still does not live in Hood River. It almost looks like Rodney Mullen, but surely it can’t be? I don’t think his parents let him ride jump ramps.

Ok we had a few more entries into the Weirdo Skateboards giveaway, and I’ve narrowed it down to the three finalists. See them all after the jump. Aaron insists that is actually him in the photo above, if so, he doesn’t really need that deck. Damien, the contest was up for 10 days, so there will be no extension. I’m surprised we didn’t get more participation. Free stuff doesn’t have as much draw as it used to.

Matt in Ohio sent these pics of some driveway alterations he’s been working on. He’s taking a unique approach of pouring the concrete in a mold and then digging out a spot for it on the side of his driveway. He says he’s got several more planned. You can check out his progress here.

You’ve got until midnight tonight – (July 12th, 2009). This one is from Ryan. All you need to be entered to win this board is to take a picture of yourself or a friend skating like a weirdo. Define weirdo however you want.

Recently there’s been some discussion about bearings, manufacturers, and materials. I recall when my wife was in roller derby, someone handed out a flyer explaining the ABEC rating and bearing maintenance.  It stated that the ABEC rating was worthless unless you are HAULING (70 mph).   Spending the money to get a high ABEC rating, which ranges from 1-9, the highest being aircraft/rocket ship precision.

This prompted me to do some research, and I found this article from Transworld called, “The ABEC Myth,” which verified that many people are buying into an unnecessary level of precision.  In this article, Steve Heplar, national sales manager of Alliance Bearing Industry, says:

An ABEC 1 or 3 is all you really need on a skateboard. In skateboarding, you’re not using the precision of the bearing. Today, skateboard companies are selling bearings, mainly with ABEC 1, ABEC 3, ABEC 5, and ABEC 7 ratings. The common misconception is that the higher the ABEC rating, the better and faster the bearing. This isn’t necessarily true. The precision or the ABEC of the bearing doesn’t really matter because skateboarding is a non-precision application. …unless the skateboarder is going 70 miles an hour, which is rather unlikely.

Here’s a few more contenders for the Weirdo Skateboards giveaway, including Frankenberry, dad’s doing handstands and pregnant wives on roller skates. Come on Weirdos, the field is pretty narrow so far, so your chances are good. Get your dork session on before it’s too late!

I can’t recall the date exactly, but I’d say this was taken in 1990, or 91. There was a hipster nightclub in Chicago called Shelter. They would have all kinds of events and promotions, and since I was a partner in the silkscreen business that printed for them, I occasionally got to be involved behind the scenes in a minor way. For instance, I got to hang out with some the famous club kids from NYC, before they became famous murderers. Another event that I didn’t understand but certainly enjoyed, was the outdoor miniramp. Someone came up with the promotion to build a miniramp in the outdoor section of the club, whic was really large, if I recall correctly. The club was located in a sort of derelict industrial area, next to some railroad tracks, so noise wasn’t an issue. Originally I was actually supposed to build the damn thing, but somehow it got puled out from under me, and a guy named Sluggo took charge, which was kinfd of annoying as he was an employee of mine at the time. Sluggo? There are a few “Sluggos” in skateboarding scenes across the nation, this guy lives in Chicago. So they set up the ramp and had people skating it on nights when it was open. I don’t think anyone got paid to skate, out side of the opening night maybe, I think you just got in free. Basically, sweaty guys would skate and then drunk girls would watch them, or not. I brought some friends over to skate it a couple of times during the day when the club was closed. It was nothing special, except for the setting. I think maybe 12 ft wide and 5 feet tall, but that’s a guess. This shot is (Is NOT!) Chicago skate legend Steve “Dread” Snyder, the same guy from the famous Alva team ad, and more recently Uprise employee with his own Nike Blazer. The guy in the upper left hand corner is probably Jesse Neuhaus, and the Sessions sticker was for the short lived Chicago location of Sessions. Check out the Shot of the Week.

Poweredge Magazine is hitting the streets again. The first new issue is scheduled to come out in August. It’s a gutsy move when other mags are getting thinner or moving to online-only presences. Hopefully there is room for another. I was a fan of Poweredge back in the day, even when I considered Thrasher the best, it was nice to have a different voices out there. Check out the covers, the last one from 1991 above left, and the new 2009 one is on the right. It would have been cool if they had Todd Congelliere reprise his cover shot for the new volume. Check out Tod in the Santa Cruz vid Risk it! after the jump.

UPDATE: I guess that’s not Todd on the old cover. I assumed it was because his interview has the biggest headline. The guy on the new cover? Dayne Brummet.