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| Pre-1980 Vintage Gear (6027 Posts)
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kook stuff
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On 1/10/2001 Glen
wrote in from
(216.102.nnn.nnn)
here is a link to some of the garbage, uh, I mean "vintage" stuff
http://www.tstonramp.com/~markj/skate4.html
I'll try to dig up some of the other stuff
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glen
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On 1/9/2001
hugh r
wrote in from
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Hey Glen,
Do you have any pictures of that crazy stuff? I would love to scan and post them! HR
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kook gear
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On 1/9/2001 Glen
wrote in from
(216.102.nnn.nnn)
on the subject of kook gear.
My favorite was the snowplow looking device that was supposed to clear rocks out of your way. The wheelie board with a second set of trucks and wheels that you wheelied back onto. Suspenders, velcro footstraps and velcro griptape that would lock your feet to the board...with no way to release. The skatehanger which attached to your belt and you would hook your front trucks to, to carry your board on your hip. Rebound trucks, no real solid pivot just a sloppy double bushing thing. The original skatebrake, step on it and measure your flying longjump.
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Ice blades
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On 1/9/2001 Herbn
wrote in from
(216.107.nnn.nnn)
Mike Weed had something to do with them,nah ,maybe he just tested them for the product test,combined on a longboard with a sail,i thought there might be some potential."Megatrons" i think they were of british origin,they were cored out pretty good though ,it was probabely your wide big wheels,or dead fat wood board,or the ten other accesories that almost all of us bolted on at one time or another.
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old school ideas
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On 1/9/2001
STEVIEB
wrote in from
(213.122.nnn.nnn)
All that chat about Bennetts & lonnie tofts carpeted 8-wheeler has got me thinking about some of the crazy things that where advertised in skateborder mag,Does anyone remember the ice blades that you could fitted instead of wheels or axle extentions before wider trucks came out, I'm ,sure there where dozens more but I didn't keep my old mags.I had a nice set of fulltrack copys that had metal riserpads built into the baseplates I could hardly lift my board,I guess for every good idea there are ten bad ones.
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Chap-Butt
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On 1/6/2001
Chris Chaput
wrote in from
(63.168.nnn.nnn)
Something old, something new. I put an old Chapstik on my scanner (twice) and fit the halves together in an image editor and enlarged and stretched it out to be a 48" by 12" buttboard. The guys at Hot Heels in Austria would love to see a guy who uses the same board for standup and classic luge (buttboarding). Here is a picture of the Big Chapstick. The original Chapstick was a "function first" board that was way ahead of the G&S Teamrider and other boards that got more and more blunt as needlenosed swallow tails started to fade. I have always looked at a deck as place to put your feet, not something that cuts through water and need fins. The new generation of function specific decks includes this new Parallel Stance Speedboard that is also 48" by 12" (the largest allowable) and is aimed at solving the phenomenal Todd Lehr.
The Z-Roller trucks work well on a "rail" type of streetluge where there is a lot of tortional twisting to slow the responsiveness of its geometry. The Randal luge truck's 60 degree pivot angle also steers quickly but with a five foot wheelbase and low CG, is as steady as a rock.
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shag carpet
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On 1/4/2001
tropicalian
wrote in from
(206.107.nnn.nnn)
My buddy's got bright green shag on his longboard. Its one of the coolest rides on campus, he rides it barefoot to class.
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shag pile
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On 1/4/2001
STEVIEB
wrote in from
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I guess shag pile carpet as grip tape never caught on !
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Toft wan't alone, but we sure were.
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On 1/3/2001
GBJ
wrote in from
(207.172.nnn.nnn)
The first thing I'd like to point out that there is one, among us who post here, who saw the functionality of a wide, square-tailed, blunt-nosed board well before the market followed suit. Chaput's Chapsticks, although not necessarily as wide as the Toft designs, were equally ahead of their time. Right, Chris? As for Lazer baseplates and Bennett hangers; I never said they were good. I said they were what the people in my area accepted as the defacto replacement for Bennett plates. Now that you mention it, the angle of the pivot cup in the baseplate WAS an awkward fit with the hanger pivot, but we made due. I'm more surprised when I consider that nobody in my circles ever considered any other of the alternatives I've seen listed here.
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Adjustatrac
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On 1/3/2001 Herbn
wrote in from
(216.107.nnn.nnn)
I sort of like the idea,while the orig, sold as an accessory added weight to a deck ment to be ridden as is plus it was'nt exactly high tech,Pvc i think,not exactly the stuff strength to weight ratios are made of.But, if you made it out of high grade aluminum or carbon fiber,it would stiffen up a flexy board a little,act as a bit of a riser(not to thick mind you),and then you could change the ride of your board with out redrilling,i remember thinking powell double beamers would require very slight modifications like dovetailing the beams to make a adjustatrack type system.Mmmmm maybe somthing to work on! I don't understand quitting skating(or anything else for that matter)like that
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Lonnie
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On 1/3/2001 Glen
wrote in from
(216.102.nnn.nnn)
The board that Lonnie is riding, that looks like a Powell, has the adjustable wheelbase tracks on it. A few guys played with this device. Paul adn Dave Hackett, Tom Fain, Lonnie, etc. and most of them gave up on them after a month. They were heavy and who needed to constantly change their wheelbase on a pool or freestyle board.
BTW, rumor has it that Lonnie had a board burning party at the beach in the 80's claimng never to ride again. I hear he he now windsurfs a lot. Like accross the channel to the Snata Barbara Islands. 10-40 miles offshore in a real rough channel.
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LAzer Bennetts
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On 1/3/2001 Glen
wrote in from
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The ACS plates are close to the Bennett pivot angle but if you look at how they line up with the king pin, no bushings, you will see that the kingpin will rub the front part of the kingpin hole. Being that the ACS pivot is urethane or rubber it will allow it to bend into posistion to "work" but it is still not the idea solution and changes the Bennett geometry.
The Lazer plates are nowhere near the right angle to use for Bennetts. Like Herbn said, their pivot hooked more. I had the Lazer Slaloms and the Lazer 8" trucks and all I remember about them is masive amounts of kingpin breakage. I actually broke two in one day at Marina skatepark.
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Toft lite
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On 1/3/2001 Herbn
wrote in from
(216.107.nnn.nnn)
I guess you're talking about the shape of the board,i wish the picture was brighter,you'd see the wheelwells that don't go to the edge of the board,which has been done a couple times since.
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KNOCKED OFF
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On 1/2/2001
STEVIEB
wrote in from
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I'm guessing the TOFT interview is around 77 which would make me think ACS were not alone in knocking off other peoples ideas.Judging by the photos it would seem Lonnie had the privilage of owning the first powell-peralta brite lite ! 2 years before powell
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Recreating the past
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On 1/2/2001 Herbn
wrote in from
(216.107.nnn.nnn)
I should just start making cores,many v-lam cores,wait til spring to glass them(temp),tite bond doesn't seem as temp,dependant as epoxy,then again i could just drag out my heater.With the eventual goal of making various narrow semilongboards 34-37inches to match some old trucks i got, Indy 109 and the like.All with wedgetails or maybe real mellow benttails,added during the glassing.Essentially making the boards i should have been making in 79.
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Recreating the past
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On 1/2/2001 Herbn
wrote in from
(216.107.nnn.nnn)
I should just start making cores,many v-lam cores,wait til spring to glass them(temp),tite bond doesn't seem as temp,dependant as epoxy,then again i could just drag out my heater.With the eventual goal of making various narrow semilongboards 34-37inches to match some old trucks i got Indy 109 and the like.All with wedgetails or maybe real mellow benttails,added during the glassing.Essentially making the boards i should have been making in 79.
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Z-Rollers
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On 1/2/2001
Lansing
wrote in from
(24.218.nnn.nnn)
Herbn - I was actually talking about the classic, old school Z-Rollers from 20+ years ago (which are still made), NOT the big urethane Z-Roller ("Z-Maxi") made for street luge.
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Z rollers
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On 1/2/2001 Herbn
wrote in from
(216.107.nnn.nnn)
Not even in the same school as Bennetts and Acs,I road rollers once,and you definitely need to get used to them,the space that the roller needs(we are talking about the big urithane roller)gives the truck major rake,that makes it feel swervy,but it's really just a mismatch of truck geometry,how anybody uses them for highspeed luge is beyond me,then again the few times i've tried to skate on anything but my feet,have been very wobbly.
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Lazers
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On 1/2/2001 Herbn
wrote in from
(216.107.nnn.nnn)
I've seen lots of "they fit" combinations and a few of them were even close,i don't think the Lazer/bennett thing is a good match,i'm going strictly from memory but Lazers had sort of a hook in the hanger,a shallow pivot,but alot of rake,they looked cool but i never thought they worked that good.
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Bennett, ACS, Z-Roller, etc.
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On 1/2/2001
Lansing
wrote in from
(24.218.nnn.nnn)
I'd still like to see someone do a quasi-scientific head-to-head test of Bennetts, ACS, Z-Rollers, Lazers, Gullwings and whatever else. Same deck, same wheels - Run some cones and just skate around.
C'mon - There must be several of you out there who own *all* of these vintage trucks. Sure, as Chris Chaput points out they are all "yer Grandfather's technology," and even conventional truck design made improvements since '80. Granted. But who cares?
Now that none of these are made anymore (except the Z-Rollers), surely someone with no "conflict of interest" could take an afternoon, do a test, and post their results (subjective as they may be). Yes, we all know what people *said* about them (emphasis on past tense) 15-25 years ago, and we know what the results are "supposed" to be (Phoenix's turn better than Bennetts, Bennetts turn better than ACS, ACS turn better than Cal Slalom, Z-Rollers are the "smoothest" ride, blah blah blah). But I wonder if all that is really true, or based partially on myth, oral legend, and paid ads (printed or indirectly via sponsored skaters).
Lansing
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Big deal about Bennetts?
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On 1/1/2001 todcar
wrote in from
(198.39.nnn.nnn)
here's the reason you guys as far as I can tell. If I recall properly, almost all trucks that were out BEFORE bennett hijackers were of the chicago truck, x-caliber truck and other very simple virtually unaltered roller skate trucks. With the advent of the Bennetts, suddenly there were trucks with a sharper turning geometry, high riding height-allowing larger (road rider 4) wheels, slightly wider hangers (maybe 3/8") the "high-tech" composite baseplate, and the extra cool red rubbers, black baseplate color pattern. So, for about 2 bucks more than the old junk, you could have this advance in design and materials.
Of course they were knocked off. ACS is probably the biggest guilty party as far as this is concerned. ACS also knoccked off a tracker dupe to show you their originality.
The hijacker (cool name) was followed by the Pro, Ad-trac and vector. Then they vanished. For many of us they were the "threshold" truck in taking skateboarding into a more serious performance level. Check the old mags in 77. Everybody is riding bennets for freestyle, park and slalom. tracker changed the slalom market.
the rest is history.
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Bennett Vector
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On 1/1/2001 Pre-School Rider
wrote in from
(209.198.nnn.nnn)
The Ultimate Bennett was the short-lived Vector series from '79-'81.They featured that quick-turn geometry,but came in the Pro width,and as a "Stak+Trac" wide axle truck with Many washers to shim in the exact axle width for your board.The baseplates were Way different,being made of Aluminium,and using a bolt that threaded down into the baseplate w/out the jam nut(that kingpin bolt was trick 'cause it was a wide truss head,so it was low-profile{no grinding hangups}and wide enough to serve as the bushing retaining washer too).Neat thing was that it still featured the 8 hole pattern that allowed you to adjust your wheelbase without poking holes everywhere in your board. GBJ,we used ACS and California Slalom bases for the baseplate conversion on old Bennetts-I never thought of using Lazer plates,and I should have as I snapped those hangers really easily at the pivots.
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toft interview
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On 1/1/2001
hugh r
wrote in from
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I have posted an old Lonnie Toft interview on my site (Thanks to herbn for the scan!) Off of the NCDSA links page... HR
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Z-Rollers
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On 1/1/2001
Lansing
wrote in from
(24.218.nnn.nnn)
Since we're discussing trucks at the moment --
Anybody see the guy trying to sell his vintage Z-Rollers on eBay?
http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1106228219
He claims they are "the Holy Grail of old school skateboard trucks," and wants $250 for them.
Now, I don't have a problem with someone hyping up whatever they're trying to sell, but one of his main selling points is that they are OUT OF PRODUCTION, and only the Z-Roller street-luge trucks are currently available (which he bashes as "stupid, new school, paintrollers").
This is outright false. Z-Products (the same company that makes the luge trucks) also makes the *exact* same, "old school" Z-Roller trucks that were made 20+ years ago.
You can order them direct from Z-Prod for $46 plus $5 shipping.
http://www.zprod.com/accessories.htm
So for him to claim they are out-of-production is very uncool...I just hope no sucker falls for it.
BTW - I never tried the Z-Rollers. Anyone have experience with them, now or then? Since we were debating ACS vs. Bennetts, how do the classic Z-Rollers compare? I always dug the way they looked, and since you can get 'em for $50 I was thinking of picking up a pair; the 149mm's may even work for a narrow-ish longboard, and would certainly add tons of "style-points".
Lansing
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Bennett
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On 1/1/2001 Herbn
wrote in from
(216.107.nnn.nnn)
Not that i'm selling that would be against club rules:)but when one of my bases broke i replaced both baseplates with ACS plates ,it does work,so i have a unbroken fantastic plastic base.On another matter i see very little evidence of any longboard roots,sure they were always around,Sims,Kanoa,valsurf,walker,essentially Sims is the holygrail of longboarding and then homemades,and we know how good most homemades are especially "back in the day" the prime/peak of longboarding,speed,cruising ,whatever is in the present.$.02
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