While skateboards have their own merits, fixed trucks and hard pavement don't exactly mimic the free-flowing, natural experience that surfers and snowboarders enjoy. Skateboard designers have tried to fix this shortcoming with all kinds of tricks. SurfSkate uses rotating trucks to attempt to fix skating's shortcomings.
For years - decades, probably - skateboard designers have worked to make a more flowy, natural board similar to a surfboard or snowboard. If you can think of a solution, it's probably been tried. There's been boards with more than a dozen wheels, boards with conical shaped wheels, and more established designs like caster boards and longboards. Not all that surprisingly, we have another competitor in the field: SurfSkate.
SurfSkate looks a lot like a mini-surfboard or powder snowboard, with its pointed tip and split tail. It pairs a wide, fixed back truck with a smaller front truck that rotates 360 degrees. Based on the video we've seen of it, the SurfSkate definitely seems to deliver a looser, more playful ride than the average skateboard. It also turns with more agility.
The company that builds it says that it allows you to pump and carve similar to wave riding. Whether or not the ride is really "surfing on land" or "snowboarding on pavement" is surely a matter of rider opinion, but it looks worth a test spin if that's the type of ride you're in the market for.
SurfSkate makes two models: the original Premiere and The Stunner, a shorter board designed for park riding. The Premiere costs US$259 and The Stunner $239. Check out more at SurfSkate.com.
You can't fully comprehend a piece of gear like this without seeing it in action, so here's some straight riding footage.
