I’d bet that practically the same day the name “sweeper” was coined, someone cracked the joke while cleaning off a ramp somewhere. You know, the one where you are sweeping out the flat or something and someone says “Hey, nice sweeper you just pulled!” I swear I thought I made that joke in with a picture post, but I can’t find it. Greg Baller of Freezine fame sent in some pictures of a board he made for a fundraiser. This is one of the all time great artsy fartsy concept boards.

There’s a new wackyboard in town, and it’s called the Soul Arc board. I’m not sure why everyone keeps feeling the need to further refine the basic skateboard in hopes of more accurately mimicking the surf or snow covered slopes. I think the skateboard does a fine job as is, but then again the world would be a dull place if we never tried anything new. These guys may have loused up a perfectly good skateboard, but they might be actually onto something as far as getting closer to the feel of steering like forefather and son of skateboarding, surfing and snowboarding respectively. [Source: The Skateboarders Journal]

I found the Whamo-O Wheelie Bar in my quest to over-document anything with a tenuous or strange relationship to skateboarding. I couldn’t find a clear picture of the apparatus that appeared to be made out of a sissy bar with a skateboard truck attached to it. Fortunately for me, and you dear readers, John Drummond (aka Livmo) is obsessed with skateboards and old Schwinn bicycles. He had turned to that modern day equivalent of the Smithsonian known as old auctions on eBay. From his hard drive to mine, I bring you photographic evidence of the Wham-O Wheelie Bar, which is indeed made with Super Surfer wheels and Chicago trucks. Now there’s a brand name (Chicago Trucks) that someone ought to resurrect.

I forgot to mark where I found this, so my apologies to the person who originally scanned this, but it wasn’t this site. This is not quite as wacky as the more recent bike and skateboard hybrids, but it does appear to be the first one. It’s the Wham-O Wheelie Bar. If they made one of these now, they have to call it the “Wham-O Manual Bar!” See the full ad and watch an old TV commercial after the jump.

Hey look, I’m not making this stuff up. This is a system for skateboard wheels that consists of an aluminum hub with interchangeable urethane treads. It dates back to around 2003 or so, possibly a little bit earlier. I believe they were made by Dragonetti, although I could be wrong. If not, I think it was some similar sounding name with an Italian sounding suffix. These pictures are from a used set, and I neglected to clean out the skatepark grime that accumulated on them, but you get the idea. The aluminum hub was actually a two piece fabrication. Pressure from the axle nut was supposed to compress the hub against the inner lip of the urethane wheel to keep it stable, but the reality was that normal use would cause the wheels to slip on the center hub. It seemed like a difficult but not insurmountable deficiency to overcome. This might have been a case where the product was rushed to market too soon. They don’t seem to be available anymore. In fact, this set belonged to Grover, and he was in contact with the manufacturer for a while about the performance issues. They said they had a solution…

Perfect for the Ryan Sheckler’s in your life: A Must For Teenage Skate Boarding Fanatics ! Is it a skate board…………. no it’s a Mirror ! For those who like the quirky side of life, try our skate board mirror… to be admired but definitely not to be ridden! It costs £110.00, and at today’s exchange rate, it can be yours for about $215.

I love eBay Watch, but I typically don’t try to by things on eBay unless there is one specific thing I need for a practical purpose. Sometimes during research I find myself on eBay, and there’s split second where I have to make a decision on whether or not to look at something else that catches my eye. If I do, it’s all over. I end up making a bunch of retarded bids. Half of them I know I have no chance of winning and the other half of my bids are influenced by irrational emotional attachment. Sometimes, after I come down, I find that I have won one or more useless items that I paid too much for. I call this phenomenon the “eBay Hangover.” I’ve had a nagging desire to own one of these 70’s era Techni-Ski skateboard ski simulators since I saw my first one in a magazine that was probably 20 years old. Now, unfortunately, I do own one. I’m not going to say how much it cost unless Neil picks it up in his column. More details to follow. I know you are all glued to your monitors…

I’m not one for the unprovoked posting of a bunch of product releases as ‘news’ but the Riprider from Creature has got to be the coolest thing I’ve seen in forever and a day. It’s so simple, obvious… and beautiful. I’m gushing. Hey N.H.S., hook a brother up! Oh wait, I just blew my bargaining chips…

Straight from the comments to the front page. When you think “urban,” the first thing that comes to mind is a bunch of white guys and and Tiki beach culture, right? RIGHT??? If ever there was a company with an identity crisis, it’s got to be Urban Skates. The Skub Brothers make spinner wheels and longboards, although it appears they got their start in rollerskates. They’ve even got a signature model skateboard spinner wheels. Care to hazard a guess? – thanks to Bailgun for the tip

Both of these are a joke, but one is actually serious. From Instructables, the Jet Powered and Folding skateboards. Yes, that’s a drag chute. Yes, he put rollerblade wheels on his trucks.