Richie Belton & Ben Gilley.

Handrail Destroyers.

Richie was a hot shoe am at the turn of the century. He rode for Hollywood, Pig Wheels, and Adio shoes. Ben was a new pro for Black Label who would later ride for Zero.

Richie: Thrasher - September 2001 Volume 21 Number 9

Ben: Thrasher - November 2001 Volume 21 Number 11

Bam Margera & Mike Vallely.

Tough Destruction.

The turn of the century was a wild time for new trucks. There were so many different brands populating the back pages of the magazines. I actually wonder if Independent, Thunder, and Venture sales were down at this point? I assume Indy was doing fine, but Thunder and Venture were in the back pages as well, with Venture often running one page ads instead of the usual two pagers we are used to.

Of all the types of companies to launch, trucks have to be the biggest risk. Developing a new truck is a difficult process with more steps than a board or wheel so if you aren't prepared to do the work, it might not turn out great. It might not turn out great even if you do the work either. I know most skaters are ridiculously loyal to whatever truck they like the best and the thought of switching isn't an option. Or maybe there are more adventuresome people out there than I realize. I also never factor in the folks who simply don't care about their setup a whole lot, which always strikes me as odd. Here's this thing you're going to spend a lot of time with so you should care a little about how it is put together and what it looks like.

Bam: Transworld - August 2001 Volume 19 Number 8

Mike: Thrasher - October 2001 Volume 21 Number 10

Erik Ellington #6.

Aluminar Alloy.

You have to appreciate marketing buzzwords.

I think Erik was riding for Destructo prior to shuffling over to Destroyer. He was on Thunder by early 2002.

The Mule once was hassled for claiming shotgun in the van by a former Small Room/Powell Peralta/SMA/Foundation skater. Jamie Thomas had to step in and Erik got to keep his seat.

It's worth noting the contrast in advertisement styles between what ran in Transworld and Thrasher. Giant must have figured Destroyer fit more with Thrasher's vibe because they eased up on running ads in Transworld for the second half of 2001.

Red: Transworld - June 2001 Volume 19 Number 6

Pink: Thrasher - August 2001 Volume 21 Number 8

Destroyer Trucks.

Dead set on destruction redux.

Destroyer was a third truck brand by Giant that was launched in the second half of 2000. This was in addition to the Destructo and Monster product lines. I never realized it was a separate brand and thought it was simply the name of a Destructo truck model until Kinetic Skateshop pointed this out to me. The initial team was Donny Barley, Bam Margera, and Mike Vallely. Donny and Mike were previously on Destructo and Bam would have been new to the team having left Toy Machine for Element. The trucks look like a beefed up Destructo, which makes sense. The graphic design is also somewhat similar, which could be why I never noticed Destroyer was its own entity.

Barley: Transworld - December 2000 Volume 18 Number 12

Vallely: Transworld - February 2001 Volume 19 Number 2

Bam: Transworld - April 2001 Volume 19 Number 4

Brian Anderson #14.

Who are some of your favorite skaters?

Ben Schroeder.

Good call. He's gnarly. Have you ever seen him skate recently?

Not in person. Ever.

He's the real Trainwreck. Nonstop.

Jake Phelps chats with Brian about his favorite skateboarders. BA's truck sponsorship history has gone from Indy to Monster and then back to Indy. He presently rides for Ace.

This wraps up another scary Halloween week. I'm curious as to whether any of the guys on the team actually rode the trucks. Skateboarding was going wild with ways to hold your wheels on the board at the turn of the century. I was hoping for somebody to leave a comment that they had some Monsters and the trucks were either really good or really terrible.

For the quote: Thrasher - April 2000 Volume 20 Number 4

MSG: Transworld - January 2001 Volume 19 Number 1

DJ Hurricane: Transworld - August 2001 Volume 19 Number 8

Heath Kirchart #15.

Moody Monster.

Heath was riding the liquid metal of Mercury prior to joining Monster. Since Jamie Thomas was also on Mercury, I would assume he asked Heath to be part of the new project. It was probably a better deal financially over what Mercury could pay, too. Both of these tricks were in Transworld's Sight Unseen video from 2001.

Five-zero: Transworld - December 2000 Volume 18 Number 12

Tail skidder: Transworld - April 2001 Volume 19 Number 4

Alex "Trainwreck" Gall #4.

Invited Gest.

Alex and Matt Rodriguez had the first Gest boards on Krooked way back in 2002. The idea of a guest pro model was met with confusion at the time, but what was once an oddity that only Mark Gonzales could get away with has become an industry norm. Weird how often that happens.

Crooks: Transworld - February 2001 Volume 19 Number 2

Flips: Transworld - July 2001 Volume 19 Number 7