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!

Fake Valterra (and Variflex) decks  with graphics like the ‘Ramp Champ’, ‘Skate Zombie’ and this 1986 ‘Land Shark’ show up all the time and are hardly worth mentioning, since the graphics are mostly identical to the original ones and look like they were produced by the same manufacturers.  This ‘Land Shark’ is a bit different: it has the worst shape ever and it comes with the original box! It’s a miracle the seller kept the box for all this time, maybe he used it to hide this piece of crap while he was not skating. For sale on eBay.

I mean THE BRIEFS ARE BACK!!!!! Get it, their backs, and they’re back. I just want to make sure you get the full comedic brilliance here, let it soak in. The Briefs have recently reformed and are touring. They’ll be in Portland at East End on Saturday. It’s a small venue, so if it isn’t sold out I’ll be surprised. It’s the Briefs man! These photos are from a 2006 show in Portland. I love the Briefs. I’ve been waiting for this show since… 2006 I guess. I think the last time I saw them was in Chicago at the not-so-secret show with Naked Raygun the night before Riot Fest 2006. I’m going to bring a new pair of shoes to throw onstage again.

I thought I was going to steal these two Sport Girl dolls for $10, but they ended up going for $42, which is more than a grown man should spend on skateboarding dolls from the 70’s. I’ve shown this unlicensed Farrah Fawcett packaging before, but I’ve never seen the red variant. The three bullet points on the Sport Girl are Rooted, washable hair, twist and turn waist and vinyl head. Vinyl head? How luxurious! And there you have it, day 3 of “Doll a Day” week.

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.

Sure, the last post was about something manly and useful – making your own concrete coping. Now I’ve decided that it’s “Doll a Day” week. This is Dashing Daisy, a Barbie clone made in the 70’s and sold in the UK. It’s actually “sort of” interesting in that she was allegedly designed by a mod fashion designer Mary Quant who was a bit of a celebrity in the UK fashion world at the time. Even so, they look like junk. I guess the Dashing Daisy variant had more movement than the standard Dull Daisy. The skateboard version came in at least 2 colors that I’ve found, and seems to go for about $75 U.S. despite the lack of perceived quality. Daisy Doll Skidoo 65705 is dated at 1977. WTF is a skidoo?

Kevin Cann sent in some pics of homemade concrete coping he pours from a mould he made from a 2 part rubber mix of an existing block. He oils the mold up with a little motor oil before adding a high strength concrete, and then vibrates the mold to settle the mix and eliminate as many bubbles as possible. 12 hours later he pops it out and cures it in water for 5 days.

Barbie’s sister Stacie riding a skateboard in a McDonalds Happy Meal toy that dates back to 2000. Apparently “Awesome Skateboard Stacie” was a toy on it’s own before it became a downsized Happy Meal toy. I found a 1999 commercial for Awesome Skateboard Stacie, who had two friends that skated too.

Yes, its been an event heavy week for posts on S&A, but even if you’re not interested in attending the Mt Tabor Downhill Challenge on July 26th, you should still check out last year’s course review video for John Huey and Danny Tumia’s spot-on portrayals of “Wide World of Sports” era presenters. It’s a well done bit, the kind we should be making at Skate and Annoy. Hat’s off to the folks at PDX Dowwnhill. As noted, this is not specifically a longboarding event, not that there’s anything wrong with that….

This is mockup of PEP# 326, with notes by the colorist. You know how comic books are drawn by one guy, inked by another, and colored by another? PEP #326 was published in June of 1977, which explains the combination of two massive 70’s fads, the skateboard and the CB Radio. I still hate Archie, if you’re wondering, but I’m also trying to feature him once a week. This colorist’s proof starts at $90 on eBay. There are no other skateboard stories or illustrations in this issue. – Thanks to David Maes for the tip.