Pump It Like A Fat Bloke...

out testing the modified truck...

chuffed.

Tweakers Delight

A bit of background, I tried a Randal 150 on the front of my LDP board, wedged 10 degrees, now wtith the soft bushings and loose truck required to get the pump feel I wanted I found there was a bit of slop in the hanger in fact the hanger moved side to side quite a bit.
So I took a Dremel-a-like tool to the kingpin hole in the hanger and opened the hole out from the existing slot like hole...


enough to enable this (3/8" bore spherical bearing) to fit into the hole...



Then fixed it in place with JB Weld adhesive.



Have fitted a 2.75" grade 8 kingpin, orange Khiro barrel on the bottom, white on the top with flat washers.

Here's a bit of dodgy out of focus video filmed on my phone (it's tricky holding the phone and moving the truck) nut, top washer and top bushing removed so you can see how it works...

Big Cock

on a roundabout!

Here Be Treasure (part3)

This is all taken from Alpine Sports Newsletter 5 (1980ish)...

"EXETER
One un-rad council facility in Heavitree but dedicated skaters who used to do things like travel up to Thunder virtually every week (or so it seemed)

FLEET
Free park made out of Architrac modules: fibreglass/concrete. Two squared bowls with emminentley grindable lip. The only problem is that the place is very hard to find. It's actually in the grounds of the cricket club. Be persistent.
( this was one of my favourite skateparks ever, happy days)

FRASERBURGH
Our most northerly facility to date is a small mellow council park featuring a banked freestyle area and a curved halfpipe running into an 8' deep bowl. One unique feature is a 2m full pipe to shelter from the rain in or to use as a changing room. The park is opposite the Precision Pneumatics factory so if you ask anyone for "the toolies" they'll give you directions.

GIILINGHAM
The Black Lion Skatepark
The best Skateparks Construction park built to date. Commercial/still open/telephone now working again. Very highly recommended.

GLASGOW
Kelvingrove. This council park is a supervised one and is therefore a bit more interesting than many. It is currently Scotlands number one park but is not up to the standard of some of the commercial parks elsewhere. Recommended nevertheless.
Quarrieknowe Street (parkhead district) Radical banking, take your own brush
Helenslea Park Opening late summer. Halfpipe, bowl, freestyle area, Council/free/unsupervised = mellow

HARROW
Solid Surf Skatepark behind the leisure centre in Christchurch Avenue. Highly recommended park. Competing with Guildford as the best free skate going and currently winning because of the lack of hassle associated. No forbidding notice on the fence. No fence (in places). Although the commercial future of Harrow doesn't look very good again the skating present is excellent. The Harrow Boyz have given up propping up our counter and are now keeping their park skateable in the face of opposition from muddy wheeled bikers. Definitely worth a visit.

It now seems unlikely that Harrow will re-open as a commercial park. The Rolling Thunder management seem to have given up their attempt to re-open the park in the face of protracted and frustrating negotiations combined with repeated attacks on the clubhouse by vandals.
The Harrow Boyz have taken matters into their own hands instead and have continued to clean the place up so that now only the snake-run is full of water (nothing changes) Action still centres on the pool and the halfpipe and there is obviously now no admission charge
The rather short sighted view at the park is that the collapse of negotiations is a good thing since they are now able to run "their" park for themselves. Nobody seems to appreciate that the local authorities can be absolutely blind to the fact that the park is well used by lots of skaters but notice every time there is another attack on the clubhouse by vandals. As long as they can dismiss the park as a dangerous eyesore and ignore the fact that hundreds of people still use the park, more than ever now it's free, the future of Harrow will remain in doubt"

blimey even more to come....

Per Holknekt - Freestyle deck

You know sometimes you I could just kick myself for selling stuff on ebay...

Sold this back in 2004 to someone in Germany if my memory serves me right (which at my age it doesn't all the time).

Per Holknekt went on to appear in the Swedish version of Big Brother in 2000 and is now Creative Director for Swedish fashion company Odd Molly.

Z-Rollers (again)

I've just spent a few hours with a can of PlusGas and a gurt big hammer tweaking my Z-Rollers.
Got the rollers spinning a bit better now, lubed them with some Bones Speed Cream.

Then stuck them on eBay.

A bit of freestyle

On holiday in Weymouth staying in a caravan 78 (possibly) and I find a nice smooth bit of concrete path outside the shower block to practice my freestyle moves. Rodney Mullen hadn't even been born (well if he had he wasn't skating yet) and I'm busting out a railstand. Sims Taperkick/Bennett Pro's/Powerflex 5's.
Got an urge for a freestyle board now...

Here Be Treasure (part2)

..."BLACKPOOL:
Blackpool Leisure Beach.
A lot of people have felt the need to tell about this one which is apparently in a poor state of repair. Perhaps they'll have fixed it up for the summer season. There's one good ramp which the regulars use in conjunction with a launch ramp. High possibility rating as it's easy to draw an admiring crowd by pulling off backside kick turns.

BREAN:
Brean Down Leisure Centre, Near Burnham -on-Sea, Somerset.
the place with the seventeen foot halfpipe. This is now closed. One solitary correspondent insists that he still uses it but this has not been corroborated. This is not one to make a special journey for.

BRISTOL:
dame Emily Smythe, Bedminster, nr train station.
Council near disaster fast tarmac surface which appeals to slalomists and rollerskaters. Sort of concrete, sort of halfpipe which has to be seen to be believed, but don't take this as a recommendation that you make the journey. The bottom corner of the halfpipe was being put to good use when I went there to have a look because Lockleaze was full of water and there was nowhere else to go.

Lockleaze.
this is sited in an adventure playground near the football stadium at the very end of Shaldon Road. The bowl is highly recommended on sight and by word of mouth, but it has virtually no drainage and was full of water when we went to look. There is also a halfpipe with similar problems and a free-standing ramp.

CLEETHORPES:
Council? provided ramps and so on next to the swimming pool. Seasonal committed regular skaters and committed council employee = hope for the future.

COLWYN BAY:
Something but we don't know what. If you're in the area have a look and let us know what you find, but I gather you'd be better off down the road in Llandudno.

COSHAM:
On our way back from Southsea we spotted this council facility in Southampton Road, Cosham. It's concrete and is located in the back of a school/youth club or something similar. Southsea makes more sense.

EDINBURGH:
Several completely useless council built "Skateboard rinks". These wonders, each one of which probably cost more than most commercial parks, feature ill lain paving stones sloping down into drainage gulleys. We gather that one of these parks has now been stolen by local residents to make crazy paving which is a fitting end to the matter. The repercussions still rumble on however and skateboarding in Scotland suffered immense damage because such a vast amount of public money was squandered on facilities which, for obvious reasons, were never even used.
Holyrood ParkThis park is closed to traffic on Sundays and is turning into Scotland's answer to Hyde Park. Slalom/Speed/Freestyle/Rollerskates. a useful place to keep in touch with other skaters.
Meadowbank Scotland's National Sports centre is the location for regular training sessions organised on an invitational basis by the S.S.A. It will also be the site for "Skate 80" a skate demo taking place on June 8th.
Blues, 1 Wemyss Place, Edinburgh. Rollerskates/Sales and hire available, but not skateboards."

more to come...

Here Be Treasure

From Alpine Sports Newsletter 5...

"Well yes there's still quite an expanse of usable concrete around if you know where to look... This list is far from definitive but it is a start and is as accurate as we can make it. We have included a few places which are not strictly skateboard parks like Churchill Square in Brighton...

ANDOVER:
The Hampshire Skateboard Club, The Old Swimming Pool, London Road Andover Hants.
Self converted swimming pool with uniquelong flat wall. New improved coping . Ex Skatewave wood surface half-pipe. Food, club room, ultra welcoming

BRIGHTON:
The Barn, Old Barn Way, Southwick
Classic Skateparks construction number, but a bit on the cramped side.
Fell out of favour during the golden period of The Cage but is now making something of a comeback as Pig City's only real skatepark.

The Level
more central council type skatepark which is not taken very seriously.

Churchill Square
the shopping centre in the middle of town which comes alive around 7:00 every evening. The best place to go if you want to find out what's happening in Brighton.

Alpine Sports, Western Road, Brighton.
Rollerskates and as much skateboard gear as possible. This branch does not carry the full range but should be able to obtain items stocked in London within one week.

BARNSTAPLE:
Earth and Ocean Skatepark, Severn Brethen Bank, Banstaple, North Devon
Probably the best park in the Southwest. Highly recommended by several correspondents. Food and games still available. Skateable even when they decide not to open, if you take my point.

BIRMINGHAM:
Two council provided faciliites using wooden half pipes from Arrow in Wolverhampton.
Small Heath - Milward Street Adventure Playground, Green Road
Just off the Coventry Road in the centre of town. Three halfpipes, one with wooden coping. Stop Press - one may now have moved to Kidderminster.

Hockley Fly-over
Another adventure playground which should boast a halfpipe by now. Unconfirmed as yet.

BATH:
Completely unconfirmed, but there is supposed to be something somewhere, Come on, somebody send us details. Your reward will be in the great skatepark in the sky."

to be continued...

Chuffed...

...that this photo has been shortlisted for inclusion in the eighth edition of the Schmap Brighton Guide, to be published mid-August 2009.

www.schmap.com

Not bad for a 50p camera and a free roll of out of date fillum. :)

Fingers crossed it gets included.

What happened next?

Surrey Radness

Fancy footwork sequence

Eric Lowell showing me how to do some fancy moves on my Fibreflex kicktail when he came over from Texas last year.
Venue is Dorney Rowing Lake carpark...

Kookfield

Kookfield from Alec Brown on Vimeo.

Kookfield yesterday evening

Jellyhead drops in under the moon...

A fun session with Jellyhead, Steve, Dave, Mark, Harry & Sean.