Sk8face has been kicking around the web for a long time. I became aware of it back in 2008. I had just sort of assumed the project had fizzled out, but they’ve been working on it steadily. Now they are turning to Kickstarter to fund post production. If you’re scratching your head, Sk8face is a video documentary on skateboard graphics. The list of interviews is impressive. They’ve posted something like 35 micro excerpts on the Sk8face web site as well, including one with our Smithsonian friend Betsy Gordon.

For all the talk of patents, squares and radical new design, when you look at this wheel in profile, it’s still a circle. So essentially, the only thing different about this wheel is that the grooves are zigzagged. Grooves in a wheel, even on a skateboard, are nothing new. The wave pattern may be new on a skateboard, but look at your car tires and you’ll see a more intricate version of the same thing. The main advantage they can claim is more speed from a reduced contact patch, but then again any grooved skateboard wheel already has that. However, just like a car tire, these grooves should provide better traction in rain and dirt. So they look different, but at their core, they really aren’t very different at all from traditional grooved rain wheels. Let the science fight begin! The inventors of the Shark Wheel have been pouring their own prototypes in a garage, which is pretty cool, but of course there’s a Kickstarter project to fund mass production. Even if mass produced, these wheels will probably have to be offered at a premium because the molding and finishing process is going to involve more labor than the old…

This one actually looks pretty good too, able to go uphill, but certainly not as powerful as a Gnarboard. This is probably the nicest looking electric skateboard to date, it doesn’t look like a longboard with a brick strapped to it. It’s the first ever to use regenerative breaking too. Breaking recharges the batteries a little bit. Hella expensive (Yes, I said “hella”) though. Boosted Boards has raised $297,763 do date on Kickstarter. Their promo video is heavily biased towards green transportation vs. skateboarding fun.

Electric skateboards are a dime a dozen, but Gnarboards are the first ones to have any “oomph” to them. With speeds up to 28mph and the torque to go off-roading uphill, these things look damned fun. They don’t however, look like much of a skateboard anymore. I’ll give them props when I see the first motor-assisted megaramp jump. It looks like they are massive and solidly constructed. That takes money, which requires the prerequisite trip to Kickstarter. If I was a rock star I’d buy a fleet of them, get loaded, puke on my dog and then drive them into my (full) pool. Pretty impressive product, actually, considering it can tackle the Whiskeydrome. Video after the jump. – Thanks to Concretins Nik for the tip.