Changing times ahead for Burnside with new construction within spitting distance. It will interesting to see if the locals can make it work with their new neighbors, who are undoubtedly going to be used to a less Burnsidey atmosphere. The property taxes are definitely going to give the owners some clout with city hall. In the meantime, Burnside needs lights, and they’ve got quite a ways to go to reach their target, so consider donating.

Thank you, private property owner, for greatly overestimating my skills, and indeed the skills of most of the skateboarding population, when it came time for you to decide whether or not this ledge needed to be skate-stoppered. That’s very kind of you, I couldn’t possibly. You’re too kind.

I don’t know what’s been like in your neck of the woods, but it’s been an unseasonably hot summer here in Portland. Time to cool off. Check out these fishing lures made out of recycled skateboards from Maxximus Skateboards. Their main product is actually skateboards, pressed and hand screened (as they should be…) in Savannah, Georgia. I found out about them through an article on independent board manufacturers on the Ride Channel.

Update: Seeing all the Confederate battle flag bullshit on that Facebook page makes me want to pull this post. I spent half my childhood life, and indeed my earliest memories are of living in Georgia. I will always have fond memories and a special place in my heart for Georgia and the south. But there’s no excuse for pride in a racist heritage or ignorance of the true meaning of the Confederate Battle flag. I guess you can be enlightened on some fronts and still be backwards and ignorant in others. And for the record, I think the General Lee car from the Dukes of Hazard should be left intact.

Let’s see… cleaning out the old inbox here. What’s this? The Sturgeon Bay Skatepark Initiative has met their finding goal and hopes to break ground on a new Grindline park in June. I wonder how that’s coming along… It’s finished? That was fast. Wait, what’s the date on that email? 2014. OK , well, that makes sense. Hold on, now they’re saying it was built by Dreamland. Maybe Wisconsin has the same wacky law that Washington has. Whatever, looks fun. Did you know Wisconsin ranks 6th out of all the states in beer consumption? I would have thought that the state with The Beer That Made Milwaukee Famous would have ranked higher than Vermont. Sturgeon are kind of gnarly.

Yeah, yeah, electric skateboard. Big deal. The thing that makes Kickr different, aside from front wheel drive, is the ability to add the drive unit to almost any skateboard, and the fact that you control speed via your foot and a pressure sensitive switch. There’s even a “cruise control” setting which is kind of amazing. Having a foot controller may be nice for streamlining, but could lead to some situations where shifting your balance has unintended consequences. Take your foot off the sensor and you’re rolling unassisted. Parts of it look pretty polished. Others, not so much, mainly the griptape covered friction drive wheel and the dangly cords. They met their original goal on Kickstarter, but it look s like they’ve hit some sort of speed bump (I slay me!) in production. You can’t actually order the Kickr online, you can only ask to be notified when they are accepting payments again. As my 9 year old son said after looking over my shoulder at this: “It’s kind of dumb, but also kind of cool.”

– Thanks to Matthijs for the tip

So “skatercross” is thing now? Apparently there’s some sort of competitive circuit for it, at least that’s what Skateboard Supercross (SBSX) would have you to believe. You’re looking at an “Official SBSX Track” in New York City built by a Swiss mountain bike-centric company called Velosolutions. I’m not sure what they mean by official track, and it seems unclear whether or not this is a public park or not. Looks like it was spearheaded by Brooklyn Bike Park which is some combination of bike shop/rental/park. The Skateboard Supercross video shows skateboards, but the Velosolutions pics and Brooklyn Bike Park association implies this was built with bikes foremost in mind. It looks fun though. I like the illustration on the track. Again with the asphalt though. I guess it’s easier and cheaper to work than concrete. Probably less slippery in inclement weather. Better for bikes too.

Blockhead Skateboards holds a strange place in my personal skateboarding history. It is easily one of the top 4 brands that I admired in the 80’s, and yet I never actually owned one. I did own one of those Easter Island head shirts, and we interviewed Sam Cunningham in issue #5 of Skate and Annoy when it was a zine. And our buddy Swiv was on the flow team for a while. Added to the list of things I said I would do but never quite got around to is making a website for Blockhead Skateboards. Well, Dave and Ron have done fine without my help, and now they are back in business with new decks and re-issues as well. If you blinked then you missed the availability of the original Streetstyle deck cut from blanks pressed when the deck was in the final phases of production. These uncut blanks (maple and fiberglass) were almost 30 years old, and were kept in storage by a former manager of the Uncle Wiggley wood shop. Only 30 of these were made available, and not surprisingly, they sold out within a day. So, I apologize to our readers for not getting this out sooner. If it’s any consolation, There’s still lots of Blockhead goodness available, and you can still get a Skate Crate from Dave. I’m kicking myself for not ponying up for one of these…

This picture doesn’t do the size of these bearing covers justice. These tiny wheels are not the result of hipster irony or a 90’s street skating reenactment hobbyist. It’s a result of Zoo Bombing, slipping axles, exposed axle nuts being ground down, and yes, economics. It’s his birthday soon, so he’s looking forward to a new set of wheels and trucks.

Check out eBay Watch: April 2015.

The competition was fierce in the Austin X-Games with multiple corporations battling for mind share in the critical 16-25 year old male consumer category. Some mind blowing social media tricks were unveiled in marketplace competition for the first time. Crowds cheered as skillful, death defying advertising strategies were executed at will. And there was some skateboarding too. Monster Energy wants you to know how well their guys placed in the . Pierre Luc Gagnon and Curren Caples scored a gold while Tom Scharr got a bronze. They sent photos too, in case you don’t believe them. That’s right, we’re not afraid to toe the corporate line.

UPDATE: Adding pics as they send them, Nyjah Houston, etc…