Gnarboots

Yeah... It's kind of redundant, but I couldn't help but think of it when seeing the clip of Jovontae Turner poppin' that wheelie on the MASHSF site. How many of you come from a skate background? Do you think years of skating help your riding? And lastly, comparisons?

Personally, I've been skating for 18 years and yes, learning to ride a FG was easy, I think due largely to honing balance and leg/footwork an' s**t on a skate. Comparisons? I get almost as much pleasure bombing a hill and fanning out skids as I do powerslides! Bikes are prettier, but I like that skaters aren't always talking about and showing off their gear. Just kidding, guys!

(Imagine it though... "Dude, check out these sick NOS gold Indy 145s! NJS and everything. Too bad they stamped it right there, though. Guess I can't do any grinds. Oh well...")

dirtyphotons

all the kids i used to skate with now ride fixed gears.

we sucked then, and suck slightly less now, so i guess that's progress.

summerinside

um, peep my avitar...

but there's a far stronger fetish around bikes than skateboards... sure there are some NOS boards out there that go for a grip, but all in all you get a skateboard to ride the crud out of it and then focus it once you've gotten a new one.

sometime i'll have to scan in some of my older skate photos and post em up here.

bldzr

has it really taken this long to realize that Fixed gears are the new skateboards?
1) highest visibility people doing silly tricks on them are in California
2) EXTREEEEEEEME!
3) Everybody's getting into doing tricks that show control, but have little to do with practical riding.
4) fashion fashion fashion
5) sponsors

sounds like it's only a matter of time to me before something involving fixed gears can be found in the X-games.

absntr

Still skate occasionally. Have been doing since I was 10. summerinside -- it always pleases me to see the old Powell logo. I loved it when they started replacing the skeleton dude to whatever the skater was -- like Barbee's ragdoll board had the doll in the logo instead. One of my favourite graphics, as well as the Bucky Lasek baseball crowd. Though I veered towards H-Street a lot.

From last summer (not me, but I took this of my friend at the park):

Dogbait

I have no skate background. However, I used to work with Animal Chin's father... Does that count?

Dogbait

brianallan

A'hoy there ****ty ass wilson skatepark.

I think fixed gear riding helps my manuals.

"It was easy to adapt to riding a fixed gear"

is it difficult to ride a bike?

ColinT

Im a huge skate nerd. I mostly have a background in slalom and downhill skateboarding. And Ill say that riding a fixed is alot like riding a skateboard downhill in traffic. It takes skill, it can always get sketchy, and once you master it there is nothing better. Plus for the gear nerds there is plenty of high end, rare race stuff to geek on (ie foam core boards, cnc'ed offset trucks, titanium axles, ceramic bearings).

-=(8)=-

I saw the 70's wave and jumped on the 80's wave.
I sucked and have the scars to prove it !
I still have my pink skull & sword complte with rails and rat bones ....

queerpunk

i used to have a skateboard that i would go dumpsterdiving about three years ago.

never was part of a scene though, nor did i learn tricks or visit messageboards.

46x17

been skating for almost 19 years now.

skating everything from bowls to slalom to downhill.

going 50mph on a skateboard definitely puts the "fixie - no brakes" issue in perspective.

and yeah, riding a fixed gear bicycle is a lot easier - that is why everyone is picking it up - kind of like snowboarding.

dudeman

i have been skating for 12ish years and my bike has pretty much takin over all skate time in the past year. due to most major citys ruining all the good skate spots, a lot of skateboarders are getting into track bikes. its just as much fun and you dont need any special plazas, ramps, ledges,ect. to have a good time.
i'm not sure if this is "the new skateboarding" but i do know that skateboarders are going to take track bikes and do things on them that you never thought possible.

youth

yeah, i skated from age 11 to 14, broke my arm twice in six months, and kind of laid off. but i have recently started skating again. today i road my board to work

OH YEAH

TODAY (JUNE 21) IS INTERNATIONAL GO SKATEBOARDING DAY. IF YOU HAVEN'T SKATED TODAY, GO SKATE

k moving along, i was saying today i road my board to work and then when i needed to do an errand for my boss i went home and got my bike. i like to mix it up. getting back into skating is proving interesting-- my leg muscles are super sore every time that i spend a day thrashing around with friends, and i suck worse now than i did when i was little. you can't blame me; getting back into skating when you have titanium plates held into the bones in your arm by about 13 screws each proves to be a bit scary. but i got some ****** sector 9 wheels for my deck so that i can crush richmond sidewalks, and mostly i just cruise around now.

but yes, i definitely see a connection in the cultures and mindsets that skateboarding and "fixed-gear riding" represent. basically, we're all a bunch of ****ing punk kids. the end.

youth

sponsors? ****, next thing you know nike is going to release a track frame

gnatthew

49x16, Cadence Clothing, and yes PUMA all sponsor riders.

onetwentyeight 

word is nike is already looking into how to market to the fixed gear community.

techone

yep I've skated for about 19yrs. Altho moving to the UK has put a serious dent in the time I spend on a board.
And I collect NOS decks, probably have as much money tied up in those as I do in my bikes...

progre-ss

I started skating back in the mid 80s. Slowed down towards end of high school as I became a jock and joined the football team. Started again when I went to college as I had to take a crosstown bus and would skate from my place to the bus stop and from the bus stop to school. Found out last year that the City of Nepean (Ottawa) built a free concrete skatepark near the college I went to, of course many years after I had graduated. Now, in my mid 30s, I've got 4 boys who are into skating and we are planning on building a 16'-20' wide, 3.5'-4' tall miniramp in the backyard. I remember when I first was able to ollie...over another board. I was so happy! Or taking the bus into downtown from the burbs and skating all the cool spots! That was the life! Eat, sleep, skate. Skating these days is sooooo technical and huge!! Daewon vs. Rodney? Damn!

What was the OPs question again? Oh yeah...I used to skate and now I ride an FG. I also snowboard too.

freebird

Flow.

marqueemoon

Count me in on the semi-retired skater party.

Offhoff

Longboarder and street luger here, but that all came well after I started riding a fixed gear. Its fun to go fast downhill but as a mode of transport its a joke when you own a bike.

carleton

IMO, There's not enough money to be made off of fixed gear, yet. When every kid begs their mom for a fixie for christmas and Bam Magera rides a fixie, then Nike will get in.

If they do get in, they might buy a company on the down-low to get some instant cred. Like the did with Hurley. Lots of people still think that Hurly is "Rider Owned".

Gnarboots

That f**king RULES, progre-ss! You are an awesome dad.

A few more things I love in respect to the two:
FGs can climb hills LAMF, but skateboards can ride vert ramps.
You can nerd out on backwards circles just like you can doing 360s all afternoon.
You can have crazy long distance urban adventures on both.

Skate and bike and destroy.

~stella

YEAH!!!! (^that's me)

i used to skate a lot more, but bikes have been taking over most of my time these days.

i'm way into skate photography still though.

dudeman

sick crail!