During the finale of Men in Blazers they aired a TV commercial for the Mini Cooper Countryman featuring Tony Hawk hauling his kids out to a waterpark in the middle of the desert. While trying to find the commercial online saw that he had ditched Jeep and signed some sort of extended agreement with Mini USA last year, appearing in several videos. And thanks to longtime contributor Matthijs, I also had some pictures of a weird MINI Skater, which is small skateboard with a built in strap binding produced by the Mini Cooper parent company some time around 2002. And just when you thought you couldn’t get enough MINI skateboard action, MINI released some augmented reality glasses that pair with your MINI to provide enhanced safety and visibility. I am not making this up! Whenever there’s a need to illustrate dangerous pedestrian (no driving) behavior, you can bet you’ll find a skateboard or two, and even a dog.

Tank treads on a skateboard. I don’t think this is a new Idea. I believe there was a motorized prototype or two (or three) quite a while ago. This promo video declares the Rockboard Descender as the future of skateboarding, which might be true provided you’re only interested in going downhill at relatively slow speeds. Those treads make this thing fast as a snail. That’s friction for you. If you really want to ride off road, just get those big oversized dirt wheels that have been around in one form or another since the 70’s. I’m actually very excited these are being mass produced. One day, one of them will turn up at the Good Will. – Thanks to Josh at BPA for the tip.

Bustyourbuns has the most comprehensive photos of a Skatewing for sale that I’ve ever seen. There’s a reserve still to be met, and hefty $73 shipping charge for this Australian skateboard, even though it ships from California. I’ve got the cheap-o plastic version of this 80’s wacky board, but the wooden one must be a thing to behold. I’m not sure if t’s the same skatewing being passed around or if it was a systematic falling of the manufacturer, but every one I’ve seen pictures of seems to have the same stress fractures covering the entire board. Apparently, the wings were designed by an Australian yacht racer who designed the first winged keel, and so this was some sort of attempt to cash in on his fame beyond the yachting world. Two things I did not know about the skatewing; the wheels were called B52 Wing Commanda’s, and you could join the Commanda’s Club. I guess they weren’t worried about trademark infringement with Sims B52 wheels, but were somehow adverse to using the proper spelling of “commander.” (Update: Sold for $123.50 + $72.89 shipping) – Thanks to Matthijs for the tip.

Inline skate wheels on a plastic board, and it’s even got built in handles! I’m not sure what the two circular holes are for, maybe dislocating a finger? You can buy this piece of radicalness for $100, or just give your neighbor $50 to punch you in the face and you’ll still come out ahead! – Thanks to… I can’t remember. But thanks.

This concept from Förster Skateboards should look familiar. I think this is the fifth iteration of a natural wood skateboard shown on Skate and Annoy over the years. (1,2, 3, 4) – Thanks to Matthijs for the tip.

You’re looking at the modern day equivalent of a cowcatcher for skateboards. The solution to a, errr… problem that I guess technically exists. If you’re that worried about pebbles, maybe a softer wheel is your answer. Although I guess if my mom were to take up skateboarding again, I might feel better about her chances of not breaking a hip or wrist might be slightly improved with this contraption, mostly because she’d be too embarrassed to actually ride something like this in public. Yeah, my mom has attitude. Like all good wacky skateboard inventions, there’s a kickstarter page for the Rockochet. Bonus points for a good name! – Thanks to Simon Mrozinski for the tip.

At first, maybe only marginally skateboard related, but upon closer inspection, this would be like the orthopedic shoes and braces that Forest Gump wore, effectively making it impossible to push mongo. Mongo-bashing aside, here’s the scoop. In 2008 Tomáš Moravec modified a pallet in Bratislava, Slovakia to run on the tram tracks. Unfortunately there’s no close up of his wheel setup. (UPDATE: Close up added) We’ve got plenty of light rail and wood pallets in Portland, I’m just saying… [Source: For the Win via Reddit]

Another skateboard with LED lights, but this one has a little more to it. The Lighbohrd has the battery built into the board and induction charging via licensed Power Mat technology. The lights mimic an automobile, white in from, red in the back, but they also light up specific areas of the board graphics and the lighting intensity and even flashing patters can be controlled by rubbing a magnet over the board. So this is nifty and all… but they don’t expect the skateboard market to make them rich. Lightboard technology has been integrated into snowboards and clothing as well. So they’ve got a business plan, but they haven’t thought out the awkwardly spelled product name and web domain, and once you get to the Lighbohrd web site there aren’t a lot actual pictures of the board. Even so, the Lightbohrd does have the dubious honor of being the “coolest lighted skateboard” to date. – Thanks to Orezona for the tip.

Ah, the Long Rider! I first became aware of the Long Rider back in 2005, but only saw a couple small pictures. In 2009 I uncovered an ad for a Long Rider in the Montgomery Ward catalog from 1984. Since that time, I bought one from a reader named Dan Kite who saw it on the site and offered his up for a very reasonable price. I marveled over it, and then I tried riding it a few times but the bearings were sort of shot. Long Riders are sized for (ahem) much smaller riders, so it sat in my basement for a couple years. Recently I picked up one on eBay that Matthijs tipped me off to. It came in the original packaging and it was essentially brand new. Bonus! It was in a different color from the one I already had. So I jumped on it. We had a philosophical discussion about the purchase the other night before we went to the Briefs show. Both my wife and Grover were puzzled by why I spend any money on these things. The answer? I buy them because they are magical and weird!

The biggest engineering obstacle that the guys at Marbel have managed to overcome is designing an electric skateboard that doesn’t actually look like an electric skateboard. As far as that goes, it’s got a leg up on the competition for sure. You can use the handheld controller or use an iPhone app. You can also use the app to “tune” the board’s acceleration curve and set the max speed below the 20mph it can comfortably reach. A full charge will take you at least 10mph in real world surroundings. If ever an electric skateboard could go mainstream, this might be it. It’s already reached it’s funding goal on Kickstarter, so expect to start seeing these in the wild at some point. [Source: BGR] – Thanks to Heath for the tip.