Sprayman

DirtyHarry;

Being a lifelong cyclist and, for the last 8 years, a full-time bicycle commuter, I am in the habit of siding with cyclists. However, I must agree with you on this one. I don't think I've ever seen a fat skateboarder, and that says a lot. Skateboardding is an entirely positive form of recreation, fitness, and competition.

I'm also a public school teacher, so I obviously spend my days around kids. I would much rather see one of them skating than staying home and playing video games.

I think we should show skateboarders as much respect as we'd like drivers to show us.

BigAura

Guess what, it's not your lawn.

KonAaron Snake 

It was clearly a self degrading joke..."Get off my lawn you darn whipper snappers".

aixaix 

Would you second this, iab?

Aaron, I would never have figured you for a Clash fan. Good on you, sir! How 'bout Ian Dury? Early Joe Jackson? Elvis (Costello)?

I gotta say, when I saw the title of this thread, I thought you were going to nominate yourself, for buying up all the nice ones.

RobbieTunes

I have never figured out how all the kids I see skating are named Dude.
I view them as part of our culture, Phys Ed rebels in better shape than most people.

I actually get it when they get finish 3 hours of skating, soaking wet, and light up a cigarette.

I think bike lanes are nice, but I also remember that they are made to accommodate the small, small fraction of people in the US that ride bikes with any regularity. They're great, but the vast majority of people didn't get the memo. To them, it's parking, it's space, and it's paved to meet their needs.

Bike lanes will start being bike lanes when they are full of bikes, and generally not until. Areas with steady bike traffic have motorists and other folks who are used to bikes being there. Until that happens, the occasional cyclist is too random to justify giving all that space, in the minds of many.

And, I agree that Sandinista is the Clash's best album, Joe Jackson should be heard by kids considering giving up piano, the Blockheads kind of got on my nerves, and Elvis Costello writes great hooks the end up in your head all day.

Never been into Black Flag and all the other rodent bands. Just not my kind of music. Give me some Ramones, or some late 70's George Benson, or Leo Kotke, or Buck Owens, or SRV, Cold Chisel, Ry Cooder or anything that says Genuine Houserockin' Music on the cover.

KonAaron Snake 

Man...you're hitting the Stiff Record classics. I especially love Joe Jackson, Wreckless Eric and The Jazz Butcher (not Stiff, but could have been).

I'm kind of all over the place with rock and music. I go from Joni Mitchell to the Sex Pistols. My favorites are early NYC Glam/Punk, early rock and rockabilly and 80s indie rock.

DRietz

Always thought skating was a great way to hurt yourself.

I did a lot of inline skating (fruit boots) in middle school, but I did a lot of sailing too.

I'm an odd kid. But, I like bikes. We all likes bikes. So, there's common ground. Carry on, you kvitchers!

DRietz

Oh, and Aaron, feel free to let me know when your Litespeed "beater" is ready for a new home.

KonAaron Snake 

Drietz...I'm working on it. I have most of the parts, but still need tires (Holiday is on Holiday) and a stem. I also want to throw in a new BB as I have no idea how old the cartridge is in the Stumpjumper.

The part I'm worried about is the Command shifters indexing with the Shimano rear derailleur and hyperglide cassette.

DRietz

I would honestly make that it into my do everything bike. What a cool little frame!

KonAaron Snake 

You're first in line if it doesn't float my boat. I'm extremely excited because I'll be well under my $400 limit on the build...except I'm not counting the parts value of the stuff I'm raiding from the Stump Jumper.

gomango

Accept no substitutes!

Simply the best live band ever.

Yep, the Clash.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16u0wwCfoJ4

...and these guys are amazing live as well.

The Black Keys

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_426RiwST8

David Newton

It's true. My 16 yo used to ride bikes with me, now he only rides his long-board with me. He isn't a sports guy, but gets a great workout, and does cool tricks.
It is a lot more fun for me too, watching him crash and stuff. He just rubs the blood on his pants.

mapleleafs-13 

I too have skated for 12 years, i was sponsored for about 8 of those years, did the whole contests and competition scene at the start a few commecials, a bit of travelling, then just did it for me, kind of slowed down this year, i'm getting old, i need less stress activities.

I know who Mark Appleyard is, he's from Oakville, Ont, which is really close to Toronto, but i'm sure he claims Toronto status cause no one really knows where oakville is if you're not from around here. His dad drives a bus in Oakville. Didn't skate with him much, he's more friends of homies that i know, we used to see him at spots downtown in his early career when i was a little skate rat, then he pretty much moved out to cali. My favorite part of him was either the Transworld IE video or the flip "sorry" video, where he skates to "hole".

Grant Patterson and Morgan Smith are also from Toronto ish.... Grant's really good, was on Blind skateboards, i believe he's on Redstar now with Paul Machnau. Also a kool fact is that Rick McCrank (one of my favs) is from Peterborough ONT, which is just outside of toronto, but he pretty much has lived in Van for a very long time.

As for Morgan Smith, he's killing it right now, if you've been paying attention to skateboarding still, he recently won Battle at the Berrics IV. Skunked Pj Ladd, which isn't an easy task and beat out Mike Mo, Rodrigo tx, and alex miruzov which was the Europe game of skate winner a little while back. He was so underrated, no one out side of Toronto knew how good he was actually until the last couple years with his recent video parts. We used to skate with him at the same spots and it was just unreal watching him. There's a spot in Toronto called Unitel, he nollie back heeled, sw b/s flip, and sw tre'd, it's a 3 flat 5 which is kinda long, he's done so much other stuff in toronto but that's what stands out for me, his lines as Ledge Land in London ontario are also rediculous as most of his lines. Very few skateboards are as technical and consistant as him. I used to frequent the same skate spots as him from time to time, super nice dude and on the next level of skateboarding, he's very similar to Pj ladd. Very few skateboarders would be able to keep up with Morgan, the only one right now that comes to mind is Luan Oliviera and Felipe Gustavo, both brazillian skaters, and unreal as well. We were all cheering for him and super hyped when he won BATB

I'm also surprised appleyard didn't do that well at the BATBIV, same with Wade Desarmoux, this guy is also one of those skaters you have to see skate, he's better than about 80% if pros i'd say. Unreal in talent, if you used to read transworlds, i remember reading am sections and they'd always have this one question that they'd ask the am "what am do you think should be pro" i remember seeing at like 8-9 checkouts in transworld that said Wade Desarmoux, this is before he went pro, unfortunately he was plagued with a bad injury for a while, but he's back rippin it now. DGK ALL DAY!!

If you wanna also scope out another kid who's dope check out Brandon Del Bianco, skates for element clothes, boards and wheels i believe? he got a "Bangin" part on the berrics and a trick in the trickopedia sections. He is also very skilled, we used to skate on the same team, then he got insanely good and went to cali and blah blah blah...

ANYWAYS TO ADDRESS THIS THREAD to the OP, after all my above rambling. About the skateboarding issue on bike lanes, i guess they're just trying to get around too, and this is definitely nothing even remotely close to the worth hazard for C&V. I would say stupid hipster kids hacking frames, potholes, door prizes, rust, bicycle neglectus syndrome, and a few other things definitely are worse that what you've mentioned.

Kids that arn't good at skateboarding don't really use the roads cause they're not confident getting around in traffic, as for the bike paths, i rarely see them, once in a while i'll see a kid with his family mongo pushing and wobbly on his board, i just slow down a bit, cause i know what it was like to suck when you start out skateboarding. Worse hazards on paths are slow moving traffic, or stupid people who walk on paths or bike on paths 4 wide taking up the path going one way, i usually yell at these people. also i find the annoying people on paths and roads are long boarders, i absolutely hate long boarding, it's whack. The majority of these people that i've seen are absolutely terrible at it and barely keep their balence and they still venture onto busy downtown roads.

ALSO it's cool to see that other C&V peeps did sidewalk surf (fancy term for skateboard), i thought i was the only one that was really into it. And your music choices are interesting, i can't listen to any of that stuff you guys mentioned, i don't know what it is about the majority of that rock/punk stuff i just can't do it, i'm pretty open to music but it just doesn't hit.

i'm more of that hip hop, jay z, nas, B.I.G., Outkast, UGK, kanye style, which i'm sure almost no one else on these forums listen to, also into that motown soul stuff, marvin gaye, temptations, james brown, jackson 5 sorta stuff and i of course MJ, i'm sure i'm one of the few on here that does listen to hip hop.

I've got this sorta stereotypical image of C&V people on this forum, and i definitely don't fit hahahah

Anyways this rant has gone long enough....

don't worry KonAaron Snake, we still love you......

(i dare frantik to even try to corrent all the spelling/grammatical errors there are in this post, i didn't even bother proofreading it, so there must be billions...)

mazdaspeed

I dunno... if people are in the bike lane it's annoying but I just ride around them. It's really hilly where I live though so you don't see a lot of skateboarders outside of skate parks. Longboarding is more of an emerging trend here, or at least it was until they all died.

Alan Edwards

My town never has skaters in the bike lane, they are on the sidewalk pissing of the old people.
Don't get Black Flag either. Watched Jane's Addiction and G&R at there first shows in Hollywood, crazy.

champion city

I can't say I've had much trouble with skateboarders in bike lanes here, but that may be because Edmonton doesn't have many bike lanes to start with. I've skateboarded for a number of years, and cycled for a few, and I'm sure I've annoyed people on both. Can't we all just get along!

RFC

Aaron, you are either high and kidding us or turning into an old man.

MUP's are just that, and I ride a lot of them.

Bike lanes are becoming more like MUP's. It is a little odd when runners choose the bike lane even though there is a sidewalk just up the curb. And as a hardcore runner until I was 35, I don't fully understand it. Skating (rollerblades) is another matter. Speed skating with 5 wheel skates is my cycling alternative. Once you get the form, it is an incredible workout and is great for crosstraining. And, it will give you buns of steel. I have skated thousands of miles. But, what is relevant here is that good skating requires a wide leg stroke (think Eric Heiden) that is wider than most sidewalks. Thus the streets. As to the boarders, more power to them. They are outside, working out, and kinetic.

mapleleafs-13 

this topic is causing quite a stir

Italuminium

I have the suspicion that many fixiedrews "graduated" from the skateboarding world. At least, over here.

BTW, I tried skateboarding once. It didn't work out. I loved playing Tony Hawk pro skater though

KonAaron Snake 

I tried too...broke my arm in 2 places and discovered bicycles.

I don't hate skate boarding...really. I just had run ins with four skaters in a week and thought a goofy rant would be funny. i wasn't looking for an A and S debate.

thinktubes 

Fun Thread!!! (after it ballooned to 70 replies in 24 hours, I figured I would poke my head inside)

Some C & V sticks:



And on the music end, a compilation LP of hardcore put out by Thrasher magazine (dig the packaging!)

gomango

A legit topic, even though I'd rather continue the "music" sideline.

The use of our trails and paths really drops off this time of the year in the Twin Cities, but it is hopping all summer.

Each year there is seemingly exponential growth in all types of use, with about zero "real" regulation.

Do I want Police enforcement on our paths?

Not so much.

Would it be nice to use a path where this is some resemblance of order on a Sunday afternoon?

Surely.

As gas prices continue to rise, this "use" issue will come to the front burner instead of bubbling under.

In increasingly heated conversations I'm afraid.

curbtender

My dad grew up in the 1920's and he told me about the time he found a single skate so he mounted it on a board and had a neighborhood dog pull him. It was all good until his mom sent him to buy milk and he broke the bottle coming back from the store on his "board with a skate".

Velognome 

Boys with wrenches!