The ability to carve into turns is something that is valued by surfers, snowboarders and skateboarders alike. While water and snow are relatively easy to carve into, however, concrete and asphalt are most definitely not, putting skateboards at a bit of a disadvantage. Attempts have been made at better-carving skateboards, including the pivoting-truck-equipped BMW StreetCarver, the many-wheeled Freebord, the caster-wheeled T-Board, and the twisting Ripstick and Skatecycle. Now, San Francisco-based ARIS Sport has addressed the issue with a novel solution - a line of skateboards with conical wheels.
ARIS' Blade Runner boards come in three styles, with decks modeled after a snowboard, and long and short surfboards. They all feature the company's trademark carving wheels, which have the diameter of regular wheels where they join the trucks, but become narrower as they go out to either side. That smaller outside diameter is intended to allow the board to tip more deeply into turns.
Although the boards aren't available yet, ARIS' Toly Genov informs us that they are in production, and the company is already accepting reservations on its website. They are priced at under US$200, with first deliveries scheduled to begin in March.
Update June 2013: The ARIS Sport website appears to be down.
