SKATEBOARDING

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They're not skate shops after all...

can anyone recommend some decent hi top shoes? I need to start protecting my ankles as i'm getting old. i've only just starting skating parks, used to skate longboards a bit, bombing hills and carving.

cheers

Most of my friends who skate in hi-tops use Converse All-Star "Chucks" or their knockoffs.

I've also seen one or two boarders use Asics or Adidas wrestling hi-tops.

I thought Chucks are used for basketball? Well how ubiquitous they are...

Converse All-Star "Chuck" Hi-tops are perhaps one of the most universal sports shoes ever created. In my wrestling years, our heavyweight wrestler used to wear Chucks on the mat during matches because he had such large feet that getting him "real" wrestling shoes would have required a special order and lots of $$$. I've also seen lots of amateur boxers use them in the ring as well as Pop Warners and little leaguers using them in instances where finding cleats in small sizes was next to impossible.



In addition, Chucks are very popular with weightlifters due to the ankle binding support they give...

I use them for BMX and if I were coordinated enough to skateboard, would likely opt for Chucks for that purpose as well...

got some vans hi tops. they were on sale - woo!

got some vans hi tops. they were on sale - woo!

And VANS can be good too...

yeh they're pretty good. my last pair of vans lasted years and years.

Hi there fellow skaters. I'm 38 and still skate every 2-3 days as my fitness routine. Before music became my full-time hobby, I was a skateboard racer, traveled all over the USA racing, as well as skating pools and roundwall parks wherever I went, such as Louisville KY, Owls Head NY, Red Bank NJ to name a small sample, as well as what my localitiy had to offer. Before that, I broke my ankle while skating roundwall, which quashed my interest for a little while. Before that, I was just getting back into it after finding decks with the longer wheelbases that I was accustomed to. Before that, before my 20s, I skated everything I had local access to, so, lots of street skating and backyard ramps, a random pool here and there, and big metal-surfaced ramps that were just coming into fashion. I got my first skateboard at age 9, right after the 70s wave died and so had no one to skate with, no public skateparks (no videos to watch back then either) - it was all self-discovery for my first 5 years on board.

I also snowboarded quite a bit, and surfed a few times. I stopped these when I stopped racing. Then I discovered AS, which makes it all clear why I quit skating with other people and in public;. Apart from the skating, I didn't really have much in common with many of my fellow adult skaters, which is why I gravitated to music full-time.

If this seems at all like a buzz-kill, I don't intend it to be that way. Just saying that I can relate to everything said here.


As for the question about blank decks for $20, that is in US dollars, and not including the extra costs of importing them to Canada. If I were you, I'd go for an Ebay dealer that has a good rep amongst fellow skaters. Try the deck and if it's good, keep going with that brand in the future. There are lots of blank decks that are every bit as good as the pro-decks,

hey flismflop

by skateboard racing do you mean what is commonly referred to as downhill these days? or slalom racing?

i very nearly got into downhill racing... until i came off one day bombing a hill near my old place and busted my knee up.

I use to ride alot for the past 4 years while in college. I would usually ride our hilly golf course. It was super steep and no room to carve. That stuffs crazy man. I was bombing a next to our football stadium a couple of months back. I prob hit 30mph+ and ran a 4 way stop and a car didn't see me but luckily I had reacted quick and made a turn behind it in the intersection. I was soo close to eating s*** with no pads and a helmet. Downhill is fun if u have a helmet and good knee pads (187 pro). Or a full leather suit. How bad is ur knee messed up? How often do u ride downhill? Slalom looks fun.

I did both, although slalom was what I did most and subsequently earned notoriety for. The speedboarders and the slalomers sometimes coordinate events, as well as generally help each other out, and so the opportunities to do both are there.

Bdubs,
For vert and park riding, I'm using 140mm (5.5") hangers, with center-set wheels that have a 35mm-wide contact patch, with a deck that is 8&5/8" (219mm) wide. The Indy 149 hanger may or may not actually be 149mm, as they seem to change it with each "Stage". I stopped buying Indys when they went to a proprietary kingpin, so am not informed on their current measurement scheme. I use Tracker RTX (also known as Tacker Axis), which turns similar to Indys. Tracker uses actual millimeters in their model number.

I agree that the Chuck Taylor (knock-offs) are best, but use orthotics or good insoles. I didn't, ended up with what I call chronic push-foot syndrome, and had to have surgery. It was a hammer-toe on the second toe with a fallen metatarsal arch. All better now, as long I use the orthotics.

-duke