When the noses on skateboards started getting bigger, a lot of companies made boards that were doubled drilled. This meant that you could have either a 4 1/2" nose with a longer wheelbase for more stability or a 5 1/2" nose for better pop. A street skater would want the longer nose and somebody who skated more ramps would want the bigger wheelbase. The choice of nose size didn't last long and soon noses were the same length or slightly longer than the tail, just as decks are today.
One problem that arose from doing noseslides and crooked grinds was that the front bolts on your trucks would get messed up. The solution was to move the leading bolts back a little so that they wouldn't be subject to all the abuse. I've heard rumors of Ocean Howell drilling new holes in his trucks to prevent this problem. Venture was one of the first, if not the first company to make trucks with a six hole pattern. This allowed you to set up your hardware away from the nose and to noseslide without hassle. The reason for keeping the extra set of holes was because some companies weren't drilling their decks with the new smaller pattern at the time.
I'm not 100% sure on this, but I want to say that Chamley rode for Think.
Thrasher - November 1992 Volume 12 Number 11
9 comments:
I remember how weird the bolts looked with the smaller dimension. Over time, it just started to look normal but in the beginning, it was so strange.
Venture was the first set of trucks I bought that had 6 holes and they also were low profile with the green bushings.
gonz invented the adjustable wheelbase.
Correct on both counts; Jeff Chamley did ride for Think, and Venture was the fist with the six-hole pattern.
As someone who rode Indys back then, I was real tired of ruining hardware doing lots of the noseslide-nosegrind combo tricks. And I did indeed drill holes into my baseplates to accommodate.
-Rikku Markka
I thought the smaller spacing on the hardware was odd, too. It's one of those little things that throws you off at first.
Gonz did not invent the adjustable wheelbase. There were some before he turned pro. I'll see if I can dig up som e ads from the old mags.
This was the first board I ever saw with the optional wheelbase size. I think Gonz was the first.
That was the Gonz ad I was thinking of and it came out way before any other company was doing that sort of thing.
What happened to Jeff Chamley?
Jeff Chamley rode for Dogtown & K9 wheels, then Think, Venture & K9 until Think made wheels.He still skates a few times a year while working as a Union Electrician & raising 2 kids all by himself 😊
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