Handrails

Handrails have sparked heated debate within skateboarding over the last couple of years.

I think essentially there are two schools to this choice of terrain: the Pat Duffy balls out approach, and the more technical 'street rail' stylistics of people like Guy Mariano (pictured performing a switch pop shove-it nosegrind past the skate stoppers).

Despite the love / hate relationship skaters have with handrails, either way you're going to get served at some point.

N.B. The best rail skaters skate more than just rails!

Shoe Goo

Shoe Goo is the answer to all of your problems... Or is it?

This ingenious adhesive repaired many a hole-ridden skate shoe and actually stayed put. However, Shoe Goo also contained solvents and chemicals that were highly nautious when inhaled- something a select few of silly children had fun experimenting with. When scientists looked a little closer, alarm bells rang and Shoe Goo was removed from Skateshop shelves. Apparently, the black or clear ooze caused cancer!

Since Shoe Goo's fall from grace, many new and improved products have hit the market, but at the end of the day nothing beat the goo.

The Video Camera

Both the tool and torment of contemporary skateboarding.

This is a VX100, but it could have been a VX2000, Panasonic hi definition camera or any other digitalised piece of filming apparatus. The end result is the same, we use them to capture lost moments of glory and pain.

It seems like today every skater is filming for something. There's always a camera lurking at the bottom of the stairs or next to the ledge, and more often than not it dictates the general mood and movement of a session.

Personally, I wish we were back in the dark ages, where skateboarding was there to be witnessed by those who took part. If you didn't see your mate ollie the Walmart double set in the rain, it's because you were too busy leading a normal life. The only people who tried to capture the moment were amateur photographers, your friends, who in turn had to wait for the film to develop (A trend that has also been revolutionised by digital cameras) and see if they'd set the light measurement accurately or not.

All that has changed since the tsunami of video swept the market, replacing contest ratings and individualism by last parts and deadlines. Even now, video is lagging as kids demand downloads by the minute. The filmer's fast buck has stopped and digital photography looks like the only way forward... That said, some filmers really do deserve respect and admiration for channeling some of the most influential and adrenalin fuelled images to date. They are the cinematographers and they are worth watching.

Red painted curbs

Oooohhh! If skaters have a strange fetish, it's got to be the red painted curb.

I say red because red is the standard issue colour for a curb designating a no stop zone in America, but it could be yellow, blue, green..Whatever. You see, these horizontal plains don't require much elbow grease to get a good slide and grind on (c.f. The Gonz frontside bluntslide c/o Bryce Kanights). Pros have flocked to them in mass, producing testimonial images of lengthy slappies and technical wizardry alike.

You can wax that ledge as much as you want, but it will never skate the same as a red painted curb.

Alien Workshop Tool

If you are in need of a tool for your skateboard- look no further than the Alien Workshop tool.

This tool is no bigger than a clipper lighter, and boasts a crosshead screw-driver, an allen key for bolts and kingpins, a bearing remover hook, slots for your kingpin nut, axle nut and bolt nuts, and it can also open a beer bottle if necessary.

Probably commendable for a design award, the Alien Workshop Tool is also a minor head sore for those unfamiliar with how to open and close it. A clue: Rotate the screw-driver tip and slot in.

Independent Trucks

Independent trucks are the standard by which all skateboard trucks are made.

As their motto says- "Built to grind!"

What more do you want from a truck?