Americans don’t have the market cornered on wacky skateboard inspired technology. From Germany comes the DIY Struller scooter and skateboard combo and from the UK we have the Magic Wheel, which is like a skateboard if it had one bicycle wheel replacing the front truck. Err.. and a shopping cart wheel on the back truck I guess. I’m reaching here. Will somebody please post some actual skateboarding on this web site? [ Source: Magic Wheel – Gearfuse ]

Is inline skating back from the dead? Yes, according to the Press Enterprise story “Inline Skating Part of Action Sports Tour Lineup.” I’m not sure why that warrants the headline. it seems like only a few years ago that inline skating was dropped from the X-Games. So uh… kudos to the Dew AST for having it’s finger on the pulse of Extreme!™ youth trends so that the skateboarding community can heckle the booters instead of BMX guys or worse, each other. Exclusive video of the official promo video for inline skating after the jump. The crappy watermarked image that I couldn’t be bothered to fix in Photoshop is “courtesy” of All Posters, who claims that it has “pure color and exceptional detail that is suitable for museum or gallery display.”

OK, I’m going to cop to not putting a lot of effort into SnA since the baby was born. The obvious lameness of this post title ought to give you a hint about how sleep deprivation is affecting me. Hopefully it’ll settle down with time. Here’s the first in a long line of quick and dirty posts. At one point in time I was thinking about having a gallery of “No skateboarding” signs from around the world until I realized how boring it would likely be. Now it could contain at least two interesting signs. All those skateboarding bulldogs on YouTube are going to pissed off about this “No Skateboarding Dogs” sign spotted on Chuck Woodbury’s Roadside Journal. Yes, I know, the sign is meant to say “No Skateboarding, No Dogs,” but it’s amusing none the less. Second, we have this “Thou Shalt Not Skateboard” sign in front of the Claremont Presbyterian Church in the city of Ontario California, as reported by the Daily Bulletin. At least they have a sense of humor. Also attached, “No Skating or Grinding,” but Kickflipping is apparently allowed. And what is that middle symbol? No Moonwalking? And now for something completely unrelated, a spider…

Our pal Steve Grover turned 40 yesterday. Happy Birthday dude!

So Here it is the long lost version of “My Great Movie” assembled in late 04 early 05. Its an epic saga of a group skaters that had only 2 parks to ride with in an hours drive, not like today where we have 5 parks with in twenty minuets of my house. and 10 with in an hour thank gawd. Bonus film “Washed Up Old Vert Skaters.” A title bestowed by some street skater trying to ollie to tail at the old beaverton ramp while I was in the middle of a run. – GVK Off!

The 70’s was a funny time in skateboarding. At times, the industry and the public at large tended to view it almost as a carnival ride or amusement park attraction. Case in point, Skateball. I received a couple old pictures of a Skateball installation at the Olympic Skatepark in Crystal Lake Illinois a few years back when SnA was being updated on a very infrequent basis. Seeing the Radical post reminded me of them, so I dug them up. Fortunately, I was still able to contact Jeff Hottle for some larger scans, and he obliged with a few bonus shots as well. Skateball was basically pinball on a halfpipe, where the skater simulated the ball. It’s one of those things you hear rumors about but don’t quite give them credit unless you actually see it. Five pictures and a little history after the jump.

Hip hop skateboarders? Now I’ve seen everything. No seriously, I think this guy does a better job than most singing about skateboarding without making it sound silly.

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, right? What if there is a better way to do something? The now ubiquitous Independent Trucks were an innovation – the result of two different explorations of the idea of independent suspension in a skateboard truck. So good for slalom that some considered it cheating to use them – but not what most skaters wanted. Somehow they managed to straighten out the axle and improve the turning and the rest is history, or is it mathematics? Metallurgy?