Monday, March 23, 2015

Metal Decks.




Metal Machine Music.

Vert Is Dead is going to spend another week looking at inventors and companies that pushed the design envelope in ways to improve the skateboard. I went mostly with things from the late 1990s since at that point skateboarding's popularity was increasing and attracting more people. And free thinkers.

The one minor flaw with the wooden skateboard is that the deck wears out. A possible way to fix this problem is to replace the wood with metal. This is a concept that has been kicked around over the years without a feasible solution. Aircraft opted for a shape that resembled a popsicle deck as well as an early 1980s deck with cutaways. I believe the black guard on the nose and tail are replaceable skid plates so you can change them once they are too worn down. I cannot recall if I ever saw an Aircraft deck in real life.

On the other hand, Lars Tetens took the basic skateboard shape and added speed holes to it. The idea of taking something that can be hard to ride and removing surface area does not seem like a good one. Lars does get a few bonus points for being fashion forward enough to create a kilt with cargo pockets. He also slips in a promotion for either his or his friends' band. Ah, the 1990s. Of all the years, these were ten of them.

The Aircraft photos are possibly by Steve Sherman.

Aircraft: Slap - January 1999 Volume 8 Number 1

Lars Tetens: Slap - December 1998 Volume 7 Number 12

6 comments:

nonickname said...

Lars gets no points for trying to put sporran makers out of business.

Anonymous said...

I saw a kid with a metal deck. It was awful. Everyone misses tricks; no big deal. But when you bail on a metal deck, it sounds as if a metal ladder has crashed onto the ground. It was so damn loud, you knew who just bailed. Also, you think razor-tail on a wooden deck is bad? That's why they had the black plastic on the nose and tail, or you'd get sliced up. And think about shinners from those decks.

--Rikku Markka

stephen said...

Jesus H. What in THE fuck was that Lars dude thinking with those? Haha. Fuck. That other ad is only slightly better if possible

Anonymous said...

I like how both ads feature cowboy hats

Unknown said...

Saben si tienen algún costo una aircraft en la actualidad 26 de mayo 2021 ??

Justin said...

Creo que Aircraft ha estado fuera del negocio durante mucho tiempo.

I think Aircraft has been out of business for a long time. I hope Google got that translation right because I don't speak Spanish.