QUAD DILEMMA
ASK THE DOCTOR
Hey Rick, I've got a few questions. My
friend and I are building our 5th or 6th ramp.
a quarter piper, and we wanted a more effi-
cient design. Our present ramp is just a
bunch of triangles with 2 ply's. The riding
surface is a little warped and when we
skate it, the whole ramp moves back. We
thought of buying the ramp brochure for
$3.00 but it's all halfpipes. If you know of a
functional, solid 4 pipe design could you
let me know. When I got my June issue, I
was shocked to see your column wasn't in
it, I sure hope you weren't cut or even
worse, quit.
Thanks a lot
Zach Reynolds
Courtney, B.C.
Canada
Do yourself a favor. Buy the Thrasher
ramp plans, inside you'll be stoked to
find that it also includes quarter-pipe
ramps. Definitely a well spent three
bucks. Actually with a little common
sense I'm sure you can make your pre-
sent ramp work for you. To stop your
ramp from moving, you will either have
to secure it to the ground or weight it
down with something like sand bags or
burly pieces of lumber. Leaning your
ramp up against a wall or curb works
good, too.
TECHNICAL QUESTION
Hey, Dr. Rick,
What the hell does P.V.C. stand for?
Rick Charnoski
Allentown, PA
P.V.C. stands for Poly Vinyl Chloride.
Basically its just plastic pipe, mainly
used for plumbing. Some skaters have
used it for coping on their ramps. The
biggest and most widely used adapta-
tion of P.V.C. to skating of course would
be the "Grindmaster" device, the first
commercially sold truck slider/protec-
tor, and I'll tell ya, the way these street
rats are grinding everything in sight
these days you're seeing the biggest
P.V.C. sales boom in plumbing history.
FAST BUCKS, SLOW WHEELS
SKATING LIVES ON
Having looked through recent issue of
the mag, I have noticed plenty of new man
ufacturers, some offering pretty bogus
equipment. Do they figure that since "skat-
10
ing is back it's time to make a fast buck
again? Where were these guys 2 years ago
during the slump? I have been skating for
about 7 years and have survived and seen
many changes, over-commercializing al-
most killed skateboarding in '80-'82. Is it
destiny that this cycle is repeating itself?
What's next, a new generation of
skateparks? Skating is for radical individu-
als and is not meant to be controlled and
profitized? Am I right?
John Sills
Tucson, AZ
This sort of thing will happen in many
different sports and other such ac-
tivities where equipment and acces
sories are involved. If someone will buy
it, someone's going to sell it. It goes
both ways. If someone sells it, someone
will buy it, whether they need it or not,
and that's usually where your rip offs
come in. Of course, there will be cheap
equipment, simply because there is at
demand. Sad but true. It's the American
way, or rather the way of America. Obvi-
ously you're smart enough to know this,
so you're smart enough not to purchase
the crap. Hopefully other people will be-
come more knowledgeable and little by
little there will be less bunk skate equip
ment.
The business of skating always did
have its ups and downs. Right now it's
up, it's happening, it's bitchin' to have a
skate. I'm sure in a couple of years, after
the last trendy has bought the latest col-
orful skateboard and just about the time
when they're ready to "take skateboard-
ing to the Olympics," the bottom's
going to fall out again. Every time this
cycle repeats itself you're going to find
that a certain percentage of the masses
will latch onto skateboarding for all the
right reasons. Skaters like yourself, will
always be around.
TROUBLE STARTS WITH "T"
AND THAT RHYMES WITH "P"
AND THAT STANDS FOR POOL
Me and some of my skate friends got
permission from the city to empty this pool
in a vacant house soon to be turned to an
office site, sometime during the year, and
some guy keeps coming in and trying to re-
fill the pool saying that we are a bunch of
lying freaks to tell him we have permissioon
from the city. We try to tell him it's true, but
he won't believe us and threatens to call
the cops. I think we should go get someone
that we talked to before to write it out on a
paper so the guy will believe us. What do
you think we should do?
Thanks a lot
J.L
Px, AZ
Dr. Rick Blackhart
If, in fact, you do have permission
from the city you should definitely get it
in writing. Of course, the guy's not
going to believe that a bunch of skaters
in an empty pool have official permis-
sion to be there.
I've been in many similar situations.
and have yet to come across anyone
with permission from city officials to
skate a vacant house pool. You had bet-
ter recheck your sources to make sure
they're valid, then get it on paper. Better
yet, ask the "someone that you talked
to" to come out and maybe confront the
other guy. The only other alternative
might be a midnight pool party by the
light of a full moon. Good luck, I hope
it's a good pool.
LOVE BITES
Help me! Boy, do I have a big problem.
My boyfriend Billy introduced me to
skateboarding. I loved it so much, I went
out and got a cute board of my own. But
soon after I got my board, he had knee
surgery. He has to stay off the board for a
couple of months. Meanwhile I'm itching to
skate. A friend of mine, who used to skate a
lot is willing to teach me a few radical
moves. But, I'm afraid Billy would get jeal-
ous if I skate with him. What should I do?
Also, my board has acquired several
nicks and scratches. What kind of paint
would you suggest I use to retouch the sur-
face. And how often should I wash the
wheels? Should I scotch-guard it? How
often should I dust the grip tape?
Love,
Jyanut
San Jose, CA
Since Billy was the one who intro-
duced you to skating in the first place he
shouldn't have any problem with you
wanting to learn how to skate better,
even if your teacher is another guy. Just
keep those "radical moves" confined to
skate
related activities and you
shouldn't have anything to worry about,
neither should he, but I'm afraid that's
really up to you.
As far as your cute little board goes,
until it develops severe cracks or is ab-
solutely worn to the bone, leave it alone.
If you start worrying about every little
nick and scratch in your stick, then
you'll be spending more time touching
up than getting down. Washing your
wheels? Wipe 'em down if they're get-
ting real greasy but don't go throwing
them in the washing machine. Scotch
guard? Dust the grip tape? Where have
you been riding girl, in the mud?
DRB
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