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.

These Gymboree underpants fit like a glove that is several sizes too small, but my wife keeps buying them. What do you mean they aren’t for adults? Yes, this is a multiple picture post. Never question my commitment.

You’re not on a skateboard, you’re “Onda Board!” Airplane time killing magic from Sky Mall, circa 2011. Fully adjustable Torsion Shock System! That’s exciting.

As a sometime purveyor of and fan of hand screened skateboards, I’ve had Lovenskate on my radar before. Their new promo The Connoisseur of Quality really takes it to the next level. The next level of what? The next level of quality. Well done lads.

[Source: Huck] – Thanks to MC for the tip.

You’re looking at a hand carved figure of a girl riding a skateboard, or at least, sitting on it while breaking in some new bowling shoes. It dates back to an undetermined point in the 70’s, and was carved for the highly collected Swiss company called Anri. Actually, it’s hard to tell where the company is located. There’s no address listed anywhere, and the history page talk of the Swiss Alps and a region of Austria-Hungary that was annexed by Italy. So maybe it’s Italian. The ANRI history goes back to 1919, so that might explain why this carving sold for $65.

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.

When it’s time to kick up your wheels, do it with one of our deluxe skateboards. All are constructed of maple hardwood with silkscreened designs and sand grip tape surface… Each model has 9″ trucks, precision bearings and kicktails.

From the 1986 Sears Wishbook, featuring the usual suspects from Variflex as well as a couple unknown brands, a “vinyl” skateboard, prepackaged plastic accessories and some craptacular safety equipment. Aside from the Variflex Voodoo, there’s a Bad Moon Rising, Demon, Maze, Shock Treatment, and a Robota.

Hello… Witty commentary on the state of skateboarding in popular culture. Who are you to ignore it? Nay, who the fuck are you to ignore this? What have you ever done to enhance the collective consciousness of skateboarding?

[Photo sans homophobia from Wiskate.]

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