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Vintage Racing Gear - What did YOU ride?

Posted: Wed Nov 20, 2002 1:49 am
by Henry Julier
A lot of you guys and gals slalomed in the 70's, so I thought I would start this thread so you all could remenisce about your old Fibreflexes and Turners and Hobies...

I didn't have a board in 1973 or around that date because I was born in 1984. But I really love hearing about and seeing pics of older boards... so I'll ask you again,

What did you ride?

Posted: Wed Nov 20, 2002 4:33 am
by Andy Bittner
Back then? 90kg Quicksilver, original Gullwings and OJs (either SuperJuice or Slaloms, depending on the course). I still keep a version of the same board in my active quiver, with updated wheels. It is so soft and forgiving, that I'll occasionally bust it out to help me get accustomed to a course that is giving me a hard time when I'm riding my higher performance decks.

Posted: Mon Nov 25, 2002 10:54 pm
by Neil Gendzwill
I had a Fibreflex cutaway with Bennett Pros and Giro rollerskate wheels, and a 70 kg Quicksilver that I never used much as I was too heavy. The G&S got stolen out of my backyard one night, I've never gotten over it...

Posted: Tue Nov 26, 2002 1:10 am
by Pat Chewning
A Santa Cruz slalom board (w/carbon fibre) with Tracker trucks. Bought it in 1977 or 1978 when on spring break (went to California from Colorado). I still have it. Here's a picture:

http://www.sendpix.com/albums/021125/19 ... c05155f9b/



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Pat Chewning on 2002-11-25 22:17 ]</font>

Posted: Wed Nov 27, 2002 12:08 am
by George Gould
in the beginning i did ride loose ball bearing wheels and sure grip trucks. never really rode slalom tho' until i saw it live around 1977 and i was blown away. my best recollection from that time was a Maheraja, Bennet Pro's and R/R 4's, sometimes ojs and Sims snakes. i still have a handout from SkateBoard Heaven (Ft.Lauderdale) dated 1977 that talks about night time slalom league races. they had 2 lane t/s races in age groups. i don't remember the timing system. i pretty much rode one board for everything cause that was all i could afford. the park changed in 78 and they put in snake runs instead of the hill. bulldozed by 1980.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: george gould on 2002-11-29 11:31 ]</font>

Posted: Thu Nov 28, 2002 1:27 am
by John Gilmour
Started on Hang Ten with Chicago trucks and Hang Ten wheels, Then a Wayne Brown Kicktail with Road Rider 4's and Suregrips, then I got my first real turny trucks.

Bennett Hijackers. Changed everything.

I couldn't mount the Bennetts on my Wayne Brown as the hole patterens were different and I did not have a drill so I put the Bennetts on the old Hang ten. Started pumping around on that.

Then I got a 24 inch fibreflex kicktail- put the Bennetts on that with Road Rider 4's- taht board was great since it worked for downhill, slalom, freestyle.

Later I bought every fibreflex I could. I got the 28 inch Fibreflex Pro Slalom Bennett Pros and Road rider 4's

, A Fibreflex Henry Hester deck (I broke a bunch of those and kept buying them) with Bennett Pro Ad Tracks and OJ superjuice That board was my killer slalom set up.

A Steve Cathey double cutaway 26 inch deck. With powerflex 5's.

I had the team riders the 27 inch rocker, just about every fibreflex ever made.

Later I put Full tracks on my Hester. Trackers quickly replaced all my trucks I had 1/2 tracks and mid tracks and full tracks and ex tracks and six tracks and everything in Magnesium when I could get it.

I still had my share of pool decks- even some funky decks like the Kryptonics decks.

Later I bought a Turner- drilled it wrong and hated it. Then I found I couldn't pump it as well on the flats as my Hester......but the board seemed so stable at speed.

That is when I really got into slalom. I would win slalom contests, but this Turner was amazing. Unfortunately no one was setting fast courses- almost all of it was flatland with ramps.

So I set my own courses. Some continue to this day.

The Turner at speed was just about the most thrilling ride ever. I rode it with Kryptonics CS-62's and Tracker Fulls. It took a whlie to get used to it... but it seemed like I learned something new about the deck everytime I went out and rode.

That was my set up for the next 20 years. Except for the Blackbirds Bob made me- which were ....I thought ..... the future of slalom since they raced well and were a lot of fun to pump around on- in fact the most fun when set up with Seismics and Stradas. Unfortunately that formula is lost at the moment- but hopefully someday will return.

Now I enjoy riding a lot of different boards, I've got a Roe Bottle Rocket with a seismic Front and TTC rear that I really like and A Roe Unlimitied with PVD Ground Effects and Avalons. I still miss that Blackbird for its feel around town.

I think this is the year when we will see large strides in deck technology.

Posted: Thu Nov 28, 2002 8:12 am
by Bob Frias
The year is 200 and I got my first slalom deck. I had ridden vert all my life and would have laughed at slalom in 78.

M<y first deck was a Fibreflex that was waaaaay to soft for me.

I then graduated to a Fibreflex Response with Fultracks and OJ's.


Nirvana hit when I got Turner cut-away.


From then on it's been Turner. There is no other source for me. No other deck.


My current set-up's are here about this site.


We all grow eventually.



Turner is being fully grown in my opinion.


But hey,...... that's me


Bob

Posted: Sun Dec 01, 2002 6:27 pm
by Wesley Tucker
I pretty much rode then what I ride now. What's your point?

P.S. I have a bucket full of coned out, hollowed-out Kryp C-65 reds. Wonder what they'll fetch on eBay in 20 years?

Posted: Sun Dec 01, 2002 7:00 pm
by Adam Trahan
Somewhere around the late 70's I got a Turner Summer Ski White Fullnose. Bennett Pro's with I think OJ's. I forget. I used it for years without it seeing one cone. Many many high speed downhill runs I took on it. One of my favorite skateboards of all time. Ed Economy now has it along with my other original needlenose, magnesium mid tracks and HH RR wheels. I think they will make Ed E happier than they will make me in hanging in my quiver. BoBo has a great Blackbird and another board from back in the day too.

I like the new equipment, can't help it, always been that way for me. I look forward to the future but I will never forget the past.

Posted: Sun Dec 01, 2002 11:55 pm
by John Gilmour
Adam! You gave Magnesium Mids to Ed Economy- I need those for Europe! I swear I'll give them back to Ed after I'm done with them.

Posted: Thu Dec 19, 2002 1:17 am
by Bruce Brewington
Following the clay wheel era, during college in the mid-70s I had purchased a yellow 29" Bahne with Bennet Trucks and Road Rider 2s from my fraternity brother, Byron Kosick, Brent's older brother. The Boulder Colorado group, which included Gary Hornby (Boardman), Brent, Ron Ernish, Michael Haynack along with others, would ride down Columbine Avenue, a steep street that ran parallel to Baseline Drive, the road that ran up to Flagstaff Mountain. It was here we honed our street riding skills, in bare feet no less 'cause we were all surfers and didn't know you could ride a skateboard with shoes at the time.

It was in mid-1977 at one the first of the Another Roadside Attraction Skateboard events at Mom's Hill outside of Denver where I got my first turner. Brent, Ron and Gary had already gotten their first turners through Craig Hoffman's bike/ski shop in Boulder and this ARA Denver event was the first time that some of the Californians had ventured to Colorado. It was at this race that I had convinced Bobby Piercy to sell one board out of his quiver of unmounted, still in the cellophane bag turners. If I can recall he had 5 or 6 which were all distributed to people by the end of the day. I'm pretty sure that Randy Smith got one oout of that batch along with Michael or Jim Whalen. It was a softer flex yellow/red two-toned narrow full nose that I had mounted with tracker trucks and the new red 60mm raised letter Kryptonic wheels. I used this board for many years and was my primary board, but while I lived at the Wallboard house I was able to score a second turner, the first of my cutaway's, a black/red airbrushed model mounted w/ gold split axle gullwings. After this, I never stepped on another type of board again and was a turner fan for life.

My old red/yellow full nose is currently hanging in Ed Economy's garage that he had acquired in a trade with me...what was now an unridable turner after 20+ years, for a NOS 1978 unfinished Sims-model cutaway. It was this board that I had sprayed the aqua blue colour which remains one of my favorite boards to date because of its forward-placement camber. As many may know, it was difficult in finding a "good" riding turner since there was so much variation in flex and camber, and back "in the day" the stores maybe had only one in stock. Yeah, you could have ordered one direct for $80 customized for your weight, but I never did. Until my trade with Ed in November 2000, I had only three turners, the red/yellow fullnose, the black cutaway (which was given away to service a debt ages ago) and a sims racing red cutaway and these boards had serviced me for 20+ years on a casual, but regular skating basis until the resurgance of slalom toward the end of 2000. So that's my story.

Posted: Thu Dec 19, 2002 2:09 am
by Terry Kirby
Bruce that was beautiful man, I read the first paragraph and I knew the what followed was gonna be great so I got a beer, came back and took it all in. Nice. Fleas Navidog. TK

Posted: Fri Dec 27, 2002 7:31 pm
by William Tway
This is my first attempt at riding slalom. It was at the Concrete Wave in Pensacola, FL in 1977. I was riding a Stacy Peralta "WarpTail" with Bennett Hijackers and OJ 55's.

<img src=http://www.users.cloud9.net/~wbtway/tway77.jpg>

<img src=http://www.users.cloud9.net/~wbtway/skate77b.jpg>

<img src=http://www.users.cloud9.net/~wbtway/skate77c.jpg>




<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: William Tway on 2002-12-27 22:09 ]</font>

Posted: Fri Dec 27, 2002 11:15 pm
by Terry Kirby
Check that style, some things never change. TK

Posted: Sat Dec 28, 2002 2:41 am
by Guest
hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah. I LOVE the glasses tway! and your feet, damn....

Posted: Sat Dec 28, 2002 3:27 am
by Terry Kirby
Are those indoor soccer shoes?

Posted: Sat Dec 28, 2002 5:27 am
by Henry Julier
TK I think the might be Adidas Gazelles or Sambas. I used to wear them when I was 9 or 10.

Posted: Sat Dec 28, 2002 9:09 pm
by William Tway
Here's another pic you guys can make fun of... me practicing for the One Footed Red Bull Bank Slaom Race.

<img src=http://www.users.cloud9.net/~wbtway/skate77a.jpg>

Posted: Sat Dec 28, 2002 10:54 pm
by Gary Hornby
Just saw Bruces's post and brought back alot of memories!!! I remember skating around The Hill in Boulder. Many prior and after skate sessions went down in that frat house with Bruce, Byron and INSANE ZANE on his Bahne!!!!

Columbine was always great. A real ass kicker. I remember getting my Turner Birdnose for my 17th birthday and going direcly to the top of Columbine after setting up the "bird". It was a hairy ride as it had to be ridden differently than my other boards (I had a HUGE quiver, hence the Boardman nickname).
I did eventually master the Turner and did well in the ARA races and all the other contests that were thrown.
Bruce mentioned a large core crew of CO. skaters at that time. They were THE CREW of the 70's in ColoRADo. The EH house was always firing with madness and intensified when the park (with slalom course!) was built.
I wish I had my 1st Turner ( and slalom board) still, along with my first 32" G&S Peralta and My first EH Wall board that I scored coping on in a pool (yep, the Healthbowl). I never bought a board before those, always homemade, and always multipurpose.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Gary Hornby on 2002-12-28 17:09 ]</font>

Posted: Sun Dec 29, 2002 12:57 am
by Terry Kirby
Gary, I had an "Imperial Falcon" slalom deck made in Vail I think. It had an oak sping and glass body. What can you tell me about the company and the board? Thanks, TK

Posted: Sun Dec 29, 2002 8:40 pm
by Bruce Brewington
TK..if I remember, the Imperial Falcon was one of a two board series (29", 36" ???) made by Armen Moore out of Vail. They had excessive camber and a lot of flex and the skate crew of the high mountain passes (Loveland, Vail, Independence) ripped on these boards with GS lines. I don't think that there were that many made. B'man may have a better idea. Ransome/Evans would probably remember also, they took a number of runs on these same mountain passes in ColoRADo !!!

Posted: Sun Dec 29, 2002 11:32 pm
by Simon Levene
Anybody remember Fusion boards?

Excellent sticks, I always thought.

Posted: Mon Dec 30, 2002 12:28 am
by Andy Bittner
Fusion slalom decks were produced by ex-Turner employees who'd gone off on their own and started producing Turner-type decks with nice airbrushed paint jobs. I had the opportunity to discuss this sitation with Bobby Turner, and Fusion was an episode that caused him significant personal hurt.

Posted: Mon Dec 30, 2002 1:22 am
by Simon Levene
Still excellent decks though!

Posted: Mon Dec 30, 2002 2:34 am
by Wesley Tucker
Simon,

Did you ever ride a Fusion? The story I always heard is they were gushy, soft and broke easily. Of course, the flipside is that I heard this from fanatical Turner disciples.

Bobby told me on the phone in 1981 that Fusion imitated his design but cut corners, specifically in the density of the foam and some of the time-related issues of laying up the resin and glass. Again, that was from Bobby and I'm sure he wasn't thrilled about seeing guys he trained run full page ads in SKATEBOARDER selling a competitor with techniques he had taught.

But then again, who didn't spend a good hour or two staring and that girl's butt? Mama Mia and people wondered why I wanted to go to California?

Posted: Mon Dec 30, 2002 3:06 am
by Andy Bittner
I'll have to take your word for it, Simon. I definitely remember Fusion back in the day and was interested in trying them, but couldn't afford one anymore than I could afford a Turner. I only found out the rest of the story last year.

Posted: Thu Jan 02, 2003 6:19 am
by Gary Hornby
Imperial Falcon! I remember those and I remember ARLEN Moore as well. He was a partner of another Colo - RAD-o Skate maker named Alan Albrecht who had a co. named Triton AND started ( please correct me ) Naked or Nude Snowboards. Arlen and Alan were the first guys that wanted me to skateboard for them after a the first "Hill Days" contest in '76. Those guys were ahead of their time.........

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Gary Hornby on 2003-05-26 22:04 ]</font>

Posted: Thu Jan 02, 2003 6:23 am
by Gary Hornby
Imperial Falcon! I remember those and I remember ALREN Moore as well. He was a partner of another Colo - RAD-o Skate maker named Alan Albrecht who had a co. named Triton AND started ( please correct me ) Naked or Nude Snowboards. Arlen and Alan were the first guys that wanted me to skateboard for them after a the first "Hill Days" contest in '76. Those guys were ahead of their time.........

Posted: Tue Jan 07, 2003 5:39 pm
by Paul Keleher
Who had the Scan of that "fusion" ad

i seem to recall a 'vette in the pic as well

Posted: Wed Jan 22, 2003 1:57 am
by John Gilmour
It is on the back cover of one of the slalom! MAgs that I sent to Adam Trahan.

Posted: Wed Jan 22, 2003 3:24 am
by Wesley Tucker
For all the children out there who may have missed it the first time, this is the "infamous" California Glass and Skate ad from October 1978. (The Blackhart interview was in this issue as was some extensive coverage from the ARA Vail event.)

Image

First, it wasn't a 'vette, it was a Porsche. Also, would you buy a board from an outfit that misspelled "Slalom?" (See first line of copy from the middle of the ad.) Also, I don't think there's any doubt that whoever made these boards just took Bobby's designs and traced their own templates.

Also, this is the outfit Bobby told me was founded by his former employees. It doesn't say anywhere, though, "Fusion." These are called CGS Boards. Was there another ripoff somewhere? Or did this same compay start calling their boards "Fusion" at a later date? A bit of a quandary.

P.S. Please excuse the quality of this ad. My 8-year old Agfa scanner is slowly dying a horrible death. It still does a really decent job with line art and gray scale, but color is really stretch.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Wesley Tucker on 2003-01-21 21:38 ]</font>

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Wesley Tucker on 2003-01-24 19:22 ]</font>

Posted: Wed Jan 22, 2003 4:37 pm
by Bruce Brewington
If I can recall (my grey matter is also getting soft), I saw one Fusion ad in Skateboarder with a guy named Tad riding a board. They were basically a turner-like full nose shape with either a pin tail or a swallow tail. But I never saw a fusion board in real life, just that one ad. The ad showed a couple of boards that had a kinda cool airbrush job along the rails. I'll see if I can dig up the ad from one of my back issues for those who are interested.

Posted: Wed Jan 22, 2003 11:29 pm
by Adam Trahan
Not the Slalom! mags that have ALL the autographs from the European racers that sold on E-Bay to some guy named Ed E for 700$

Not the Slalom! mags that have been around the world in so many different hands spreading the good word that I got from some guy named "Vlad"

Not those... nooooooooo

Hmm, now where did I put those little half sheets???

:lol:
On 2003-01-21 19:57, John Gilmour wrote:
It is on the back cover of one of the slalom! MAgs that I sent to Adam Trahan.

Posted: Thu Jan 23, 2003 4:20 pm
by Gary Hornby
The guy named TAD in the Fusion ad's was Tad Stout. He was the reason Piercy, Ryan etc. came out to Colorado to race. Tad raced at La Costa with them and told them about the racing going on in ColRADo. The rest is history.......

Posted: Fri Jan 24, 2003 9:07 pm
by George Gould
I always dug that add. I never saw a Fusion either and as I said in the past i wondered what happened to all of the models, 911, boards and female? If they were kept in good condition they would still be of significant value LOL. I only saw one real Turner hanging on the wall at Solid Surf (Ft.Lauderdale). There were a lot more of the G&S/Santa Cruz models going around. Hester wheels in 81 and a bunch of others filled a locked dumpster at Port Everglades where one of the clear capsules met it's demise around 81 or so. I saw some slalom stuff in Flagstaff Az in the early 90's owned by some snowboarders, it was still cheap to own but hard to come by.

Posted: Fri Jan 24, 2003 10:27 pm
by Wesley Tucker
Well, a little more digging and guess what? Here's the FUSION SKATEBOARD ad. Even more noteworthy is the ad RAN IN THE SAME ISSUE as the California Skate and Glass ad. (Fusion is on Page 124, CGS on Page 142.)

Image


Again, though, in looking at the two different boards, I really have to conclude CGS is much more of a Summer Ski rip off than the Fusion. Is anyone absolutely positive Fusion is the ex-Turner employee outfit and not CGS? I know that in the fall of 1978, right after I got my first Turner, I started talking to Bobby and we discussed the CGS boards. He was pretty straightforward in expressing his disgust in the quality of these boards. Bobby was the first person I heard talk about how the hand-made portions of the boards were shortchanged by the new company.

Of course, now that I hear stories about how CGS (or maybe Fusion?) was formed by former employees. It would make perfect sense knowing these people decided Bobby was too demanding, too quality oriented and was just unwilling to cut any corners. So these guys went out on their own and decided they show "the old man" a thing or two about cutting costs and increasing production.

So, here we are 25 years later and Turner Summer Skis are almost priceless collectibles and CGS board are . . . where?

There's still, though, this thing about Fusion and CGS. Which was the company founded by former employees? The evidence I have says it's more than likely CGS. But I have no concrete evidence to support that, just some 25 year old hearsay memories.

Posted: Fri Jan 24, 2003 11:38 pm
by Andy Bittner
Sometime in the year before he passed away, Bobby and I talked about Fusion, and it was Fusion that he said was formed of former employees. I'd forgotten CGS completely, but am now clear that I was thinking more of them than I was of Fusion, when I was having this conversation with BT. Nonetheless, no matter what my personal confusion is, Bob clearly said that it was Fusion that was former Turner employees. We'll never know now, unless Peggy or Vince have some recollection, but I'd bet that the same is true for the CGS people.

Posted: Sat Jan 25, 2003 1:29 am
by Wesley Tucker
Well, Tommy Ryan is in Vegas. He might have an idea as he was heavily involved in the Turner operations in '78.

Anyone wanna e-mail TR with a trivia question?

The other thing about this whole episode is the notion that Bobby had enough "employees" to go out and go in competition against him. I always invisioned Turner Summer Ski in those days as Bobby in the shop crafting boards and maybe Peggy or a part-timer answering the phone and opening the mail. It really boggles me to know that in the '70s Bobby had the kind of sales volume to support more than one family.

Posted: Sun Jan 26, 2003 12:30 am
by Wesley Tucker
Well,

Here's the scoop from an unimpeachable source: we're all correct!

Seems Fusion was started by ex-Turner employee Jeff Alexander. Alexander worked for Turner as an airbrusher who painted boards part time. Somewhere along the line he decided he too could work with glass and foam and went out on his own.

The crew at Summer Ski, to say the least, was not happy!

California Glass and Foam was also founded by an ex-Turner Summer Ski worker named Billy Severino. Although nothing specific is mentioned as to his particular craft and skill, I think the fact that his product lasted less than a few months speak volumes!

So there you have it: FUSION and CGS are all illegitimate offshoots of Bobby Turner's good works. It's good to know there's no real dispute as it sounds as though everybody's stories are CORRECT!

I use the word "illegitimate" to denote the fact that certain persons more or less watched Bobby over his shoulder and then walked out the door with his ideas. I don't care if there's patents, legal papers or just a handshake involved, that's not kosher.

Ah, I love a happy ending!

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Wesley Tucker on 2003-01-25 18:46 ]</font>

Posted: Sat Apr 12, 2003 8:59 pm
by Wesley Tucker
One of my favorite pics from my trip to Morro Bay is this one I got of me with The Hut:

Image

John is still going strong and made it into the Round of Eight in the Giant Slalom and the round of 16 in the slalom at the Worlds. I still think it is totally cool that John took my Ick for a spin (he said it had good response, but too "soft" for him.)

Zybermann, are you in the USA? Let us know. There's probably some grass roots action somewhere close by.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Wesley Tucker on 2003-04-12 15:01 ]</font>

Posted: Mon Apr 14, 2003 11:10 pm
by Eddie dela Cruz
I'm the skater formerly known as Zybermann. In response to Wesley I just moved from Anaheim to Tucson AZ. Unfortunately I just became aware of the resurgence in slalom recently after I moved out of SoCal. I plan on riding more but I want to save my vintage Hutson. I was thinking of going with a FibreFlex Response matched with Tracker RTS or RTX and 68mm Turner Avalons durometer ??. Any suggestions?

Posted: Tue Apr 15, 2003 12:39 am
by Henry Julier
Eddie-

Get some avalons 85a front/80a rear, also, don't hesitate to try out the cambria's, they might be better suited to the response deck.

Hook yourself up with some OUST bearings too... the fastest guys are riding them (I ride them too, but I am not fast. Oh well!)

Henry

Posted: Tue Apr 15, 2003 6:46 am
by Eddie dela Cruz
Thanks for the 411. I'll look 'em both over before I choose.

Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2003 8:45 pm
by Eddie dela Cruz
I think I'll get a set of each.

Posted: Tue May 27, 2003 3:55 am
by Gary Hornby
Here's a little Moore board action

Image

This image courtesy of the skateboard pimp

Posted: Tue May 27, 2003 4:07 am
by Terry Kirby
Gary, did you buy that one from me? I had one just like that and sold it a while back.TK
I think it had acs 500's on it and panther wheels.

Posted: Wed May 28, 2003 3:11 am
by Gary Hornby
No, I don't own it. It belongs to the pimp. I think it used to be yours...........

Posted: Wed May 28, 2003 3:20 am
by Terry Kirby
who be the pimp?

Posted: Thu May 29, 2003 5:57 am
by Gary Hornby
I dunno......another faceless collector. he does have a cool site.


http://www.skateboardpimp.com

Posted: Thu May 29, 2003 6:52 pm
by Henry Julier
Hot Damn!

Image Image

No one knows who this guy is? That's one of Steve's fat tail ICKs from back in the day. Look at all those baldy pipeline stickers... hard to find now I think.