Here’s your weekly dose of sweepers, norks, layback grinds, gore and bonelesses from the Unorthodox people of Stockwell Skatepark.
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Author: Zac
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Royal Welcomes Miles Silvas
Royal Trucks have a new rider grinding their product this week as they welcome Miles Silvas to the team. The 17 year old from Sacramento, USA has a great welcome video online today, watch this.
It’s official. Alex Olson has jumped ship from Vans and joined Nike Skateboarding footwear and apparel. Talking to ESPN this week, Olson speaks on how it all came about:
“Basically I was unhappy with Vans six month prior to me signing with Nike. My contract had been up but I just hadn’t signed my new contract. I had some questions about my contract and they said, “Why don’t you come down and we’ll talk?” I hated going down to Vans, I don’t like going down to Orange County. I think when my contract was up I asked Brian Anderson if he could just ask if there was any possibility of me riding for Nike. Robin [Fleming] had left Vans and I felt like a loner on the team and it wasn’t making me motivated to skate. Six months passed and I still hadn’t signed my contract and then Hunter [Mu] called me and asked if my contract was up and I said, “Yeah.” Nike offered me an apparel and shoe contract and the timing was right and I was stoked to sign a contract with Nike.”
Written by Ralph Lloyd Davis
On 25th March 2012, Larry Stevenson aged 81 lost his battle against Parkinson’s disease and signed off on one of skateboarding’s most important chapters: the creation of the kicktail.
A passionate surfer, Larry was quick to seek similar sensations a skateboard could provide when the waves were calm. Bitten by the bug, Larry started his own skateboard company Makaha Skateboards in 1963 and went on to sell hundreds of thousands of boards to fellow thrill seekers.
Even though Larry and Makaha were not alone in mass producing top quality skateboards, his love of carving through the ocean pushed him to create a feature that everyone takes for granted today: the kicktail. Awarded the US patent in 1971 for the kicktail and double kicktail, Larry’s vision and design had revolutionised skateboarding forever. Without it we would all be barefoot gorilla-gripping in a world of pain.
As homage to Larry Stevenson and first Makaha kicktail, we compiled a few lists of skateboard inventions and ideas that have hit the mark, missed the mark and have yet to make a mark (or not). Skateboarding is all about progression. Whether it’s tricks or trucks, the diversity and creativity on display make for an ever-evolving culture that throws the rulebook out of the window in search of the next high.
What you read here may not be your choice and we could have listed many more, but we will leave that to you, so leave a comment below on what you would have picked and feel free to leave a tribute message in honour of one of skateboarding’s biggest legends.
Top 3 failed skate experiments:
1. Powell Boneite – Despite being backed by the Bones Brigade, this soggy board construction had everyone disappointed as it soaked up ever drop of moisture and consequently fell apart.
2. Acme Single Bearing wheels – In a bid to make boards lighter, Acme removed one bearing from each wheel and half the speed and stability we desperately needed in the early 90’s.
3. Tracker Floater Trucks – Another brainfart in the undercarriage department that sought to axle slippage and shredded threads. All it gave us was a head ache and bent metal.
Top 3 successful skate experiments:
1. Double tail construction – Following Larry Stevenson’s lead, it wasn’t for another 20 years that World Industries introduced the Mike Vallely double tail board that provided an essential breakthrough for skateboarding’s progression.
2. Mega-Ramps – Danny Way is a legend and a pioneer. When he unveiled the Mega Ramp with DC he took transition to a whole new level and set a standard that separates the men from the boys.
3. Santa Cruz Everslick – You will always need wax to slide a lengthy curb, but Santa Cruz introduced an extra layer to our boards that sent us slip-sliding much further than before. It might have faded out of the limelight over the years, but Santa Cruz are bringing it back with couple of famous re-issues and more contemporary models.
Top 3 ongoing skate experiments:
1. Pay-per-view webclips – A recent interview with media mogul Steve Berra has rung the bell for online video content. The video cassette and DVD are gathering dust and it’s time to find an economically sound service that separates the wheat from the chafe.
2. Urethane formulas – It’s been a game of catch-up since Bones introduced their Street Tech Formula. Period.
3. Board construction – Helium, extra plies, deeper concave, Epoxy glues, Teflon fibres… The search for the strongest (yet economically sound) board design is raging.
Top 3 extinct skate experiments:
1. Bridgebolts – Production costs are probably what robbed the infamous bridge bolts of their future alongside the allen key and crossheaded screws an bolts that dominate the market today. Either that or the danger of being sued for damages when kids placed the bridge bolts upside down in an attempt to ollie higher and further…?
2. RipGrip – RipGrip disappeared with street grabs and thumb tape. Today we leave it up to our shoes to do the gripping.
3. Osiris D3s – Probably the most incompetent skate shoe design ever manufactured yet undeniably the most successful cashcow the footwear industry has ever known. Today, fans of the D3 can be found crushing food for the fetishists or at a rave somewhere.
Raise a glass this week to the legend and innovator that is Larry Stevenson. Our thoughts go out to his son Curtis, his family and friends. RIP.
Skateboarding has many legends who helped pave the way for us to enjoy skateboarding as we know it today and Larry Stevenson’s name is high up there on the list.
Larry Stevenson invented the kick tail so that we could ‘surf on land’. It was an absolutely vital experiment that effectively changed the streets of California forever. In the early 1960’s, Stevenson was a lifeguard on Venice Beach and carved out his very own Makaha boards to push his idea by the aid of clay wheels. He had unfortunately been fighting Parkinson’s disease and died on Sunday, aged 81 at Santa Monica UCLA Medical Centre.
Larry was awardeed a Skateboarding Hall of Fame Award in 2010 but could not the ceremony due to illness so listen to his son Curtis’ speech and click here for our blog feature dedicated to Larry.
Larry Stevenson RIP.
Lifeblood Skateboards from the US will be available in the UK’s skate shops from this April with UK rippers Tom Lawson and Tommy Fachiri repping the decks once they land.
Watch footage of the pair ripping Kings Park in Bourmouth and other South Coast spots in this video edit below and if you want to know more about Lifeblood, the riders and more, then watch their first full length here.
Nothing like another great use of urban spaces. This time, Rocky Norton and Johnny Gomez make good use of the sessions that went down on the ditches of Albuquerque, New Mexico by erecting an art show in the Infamous Indian School Ditch there. These galleries will be moving across ditches around the US accompanied by a full length documentary this September so watch this space and get inspired.
Deer Man of Dark Woods returns to our screens this week. Refresh your darkest memories of the Barrier Kult carnage that proceeds when the Deer Man cometh. Pick up threaded memoirs from here.
This year’s Wängl Tängl mini ramp comp saw Manhead, Andy Scott, Micky Iglesias, Phil Zwijsen, Martino Cattaneo and Kevin Blaser, Nassim Guammez and Daan all taking the prize money split evenly.
“When it’s on, it’s on“. Classic stuff.
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Douwe Macare edit
Dutchman Douwe Macare has dropped a wonderful, first edit for his shoe sponsor this morning. Get on this.