30 THRASHER
Wheel
The origins of skateboarding
date back 40 some odd years.
From the initial act of
someone stealing their sister's
rollerskates and nailing them
onto a piece of wood to
imagining the loop of life, all
were inspirations that became
revolutions in skateboarding.
The following is a list of
fifteen things that changed
skateboarding forever.
1.The urethane wheel
Before the invention of plastic, wheels were
made with clay. Urethane was introduced in the 60s
for the rollerskaters, but they were too stupid to see
the benefits until ten years later, after
8) The frontside air
Credit is either given to George Orton (stink bug)
or Tony Alva (tuck knee) for this advancement in
skateboarding. But when it first happened, the world
freaked out. It showed that not only could the verti-
cal plane be ridden but mastered.
9) Ramps
The first wooden ramps were nothing more than
simulated pool walls. The quest to get to the top of
anything and everything was on every kid's mind
and in their driveway. Rim shot, one wheeler or
snapback gnarler, the world wanted to get
weightless, and they did.
10) The Ollie
Little did Alan Gelfand know that his little ollie
pop would change the face of skateboarding
forever. What started innocently enough in his
hometown of Hollywood, Florida, would be felt all
over the world. The act of levitating your board by
snapping your back foot and leading with your front
THE FIFTEEN BIGGEST
REVOLUTIONS
IN SKATEBOARDING
skateboarding had gone off. Speed, control,
stability, swimming pools and drainage ditches
were now part of the picture..
2) Griptape
Back when surfers ruled our sport, they waxed
up their decks and rode
barefoot, leading to injuries and
less control. With the addition of
griptape, the era of the
gluefooted skater was born.
3) Up curbies
Skateboarding was stuck in
the stone age until someone
figured out that by shifting your
weight from front to back over at
curb, it could be done at speed.
That same motion is still being
used in skating today on ramps
and in the streets.
4) Precision bearings
The pre-precision era was a
dark time for skaters, who had.
to manually install 16 individual
loose bearings in each wheel for
it to roll. This took hours of set-
up time and exact nut adjustment, and if your
bearings fell out far from home, start walkin'.
5) Kicktails
Before the birth of the kicktail, some skaters.
added wedges to the board butt to make kickturns
easier, especially on vert. Pool and pipe riding and
other trickery were pushed to new levels.
6) Gyrating
When someone finally figured out that using
your body as a recoil mechanism could sustain your
speed for long periods of time, it opened many
doors for skaters to draw new lines and pump
spots.
7) Laminated decks
Decks of the ancient times were not very strong.
They were usually made of one solid piece of oak or
maple. Logan Earth Ski in the late 70s was one of
the first to introduce the maple ply laminating pro-
cess that is standard today.
foot made anything possible. A little nod goes out to
Rodney Mullen for taking it to the flatground. More
than anything, the ollie could possibly be the
biggest revolution of all.
11) The invert
Pool skating was in its dry stage when Bobby.
Valdez launched himself into the history books by
planting his hand on the edge of a pool, throwing
himself upside down and then re-entering. It
ushered in a new type of butt jack gymnastic
approach to skating that was felt for years
afterwards. In the mid-eighties, it mutated to the
parking lot and ended up being called the
streetplant.
12) Curb grinding
After people mocked ramp skating, they began
to look at street skating differently and took it to
every curb, ledge, step and bump they could find.
Grinds, railslides and hip flights all were the shots
first fired during the street revolution.
13) The Kickflip
A traditional kickflip was done with your toes
under the deck and jumping up. After the ollie, it
became the ollieflip. Now that it's just considered a
kickflip, it ain't hard to understand that it is the most
popular trick in the world today. Since it's develop-
ment, it has progressed into all different types of
riding: kickflip 5-0, 360 kickflip and kickflip lipslide.
I think Rodney may have something to do with this
as well.
14) Concave
Concave changed everything. Instead of mass
produced planks, the science of bending wood to fit
the foot revolutionized maneuverability.
15) Switchstance
Anyone who knows anything about
skateboarding today will tell you it's all about
switchstance. It has opened up a whole new way of
thinking as well as skating. If you wire a trick one
way, it's only logical to try it switch, and spots are
no longer goofy or regular. Switchstance skating
has yet to be completely mastered and made to look
unidirectional.
-Jake Phelps
Norway
ஷ,ஆகும்,
Charger
DRD
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