Sports

Swing Blade skateboard carves and climbs without foot push-off

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The Swing Blade's unique ride is powered by the rotating front trucks
Swing Blade creator Dennis Wells is seeking Kickstarter funding to pursue the design
Swing Blade prototype
The rider can climb hills with both feet on the board
The polished Swing Blade design
The Swing Blade's unique ride is powered by the rotating front trucks
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Despite skateboarding's growth in popularity over the past few decades, there is always scope to tinker around with the equipment in an effort to make it better. The latest such design is the Swing Blade, a skateboard that uses rotating front trucks to create quick, tight turns and forward momentum.

The Swing Blade is a combination of the traditional skateboard and more active-body designs like the snakeboard or caster board. In fact, the seed for the board was planted in designer Dennis Wells' head when he was watching two children skate in front of his house, one on a traditional skateboard and one on a Razor Ripstik caster board. Wells combined the general styles, equipping a single-piece deck with a new truck system designed for a snake-like zig-zagging motion.

Underneath its fish-shaped deck, the Swing Blade has a traditional truck on its rear but a unique front set-up with two tall, thin wheels mounted to individual rotating trucks. The rotation of the front wheels powers sharp, quick carves that can be strung together into forward momentum, allowing the rider to roll over flats and muscle up hills without ever touching his soles to the ground. The trucks are adjustable for standard, longboard and "extreme" riding.

The rider can climb hills with both feet on the board

The video below shows a rider carving vigorously just to get up the small hill pictured above, suggesting that he may have been better off just pushing off with his foot … or getting off, throwing the board under his arm and walking. The footage later in the video does make Swing Boarding look like a fun way of building up speed and carving sharply on flat, smooth terrain, though.

We've seen enough alternative, free-flowing skateboard designs in the past – the Lean Board, Stair-Rover and Waveskate are a few of the most recent – to be a little skeptical of Dennis Wells' claim that Swing Blade will become a household name. Still, the design looks straightforward and fun enough to gain its own following, appealing to people that want the motion of a snakeboard on a more solid deck.

Wells is working to raise US$7,000 in production funding on Kickstarter. He's offering the skateboard in a $300 package with a T-shirt, coffee mug and a few other throw-ins. If things go according to plan, the boards will start shipping in September 2015.

Source: Kickstarter

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6 comments
P17
Interesting concept, but I doubt it'll catch on for dyed-in-the-wool borders. However, market it as a fitness product requiring limited boarding skills and there's great potential. SwingBoard replicates tic-tac or for the more advanced moonwalk, without unweighting the front. This is probably why the forward propulsion is improved. Only problem is the stability when going fast. I can see serious speed wobble issues.
jeffrey
The makers of the video made a mistake by filming the uphill climb from behind and with a telephoto lens: Thus the foreshortened image makes it look like he is going almost nowhere. If it was viewed from the side, the rider's forward motion would have been much more pronounced, which is the main selling point of this invention. The inventor should re-do the ad if he really wants to sell this thing.
byd
With both these guys. Idea is great, but no offense you should attempt to take a video with someone that doesn't flail his arms like an inflatable tubeman unless, you decided to sell as a fitness/skate/surf cross trainer. Either way, I would never buy that after watching a rider go down a mini bunny skate slope says to me your not confident in your product. I actually love the idea and would love it more if you made sizes adjustable where a back truck with a front base on a longerboard made it more surfable and stable downhill. Then also, keep up with the front truck base for snowboarders. Good luck
Eddie Negrón
So he replaced the front wheels with the two wheels from a Ripstick...So now I will finally be able to stand on a Ripstick without falling off.
Dennis Wells
Hi everyone I am Dennis Wells the inventor of Swing Blade skateboards. I want all of you to know I appreciate all of your constructive comments! When I invented Swing Blade it was created as better way for Kids and adults stay fit and Healthy. To reply to the Master), Thanks Master!! Swing Blade is very stable powering up and coming down hills due to the synchronizing belt I designed for the front casters. I discovered that Swing Blade could climb hills by accident it was never planned. To reply to Jeffrey), Thanks Jeffrey ! I wanted to have a professional do the video but due to the huge cost of creating a new company I wasn't able to do so. We were on a very small budget! To reply to Byd, the rider on Swing Blade is a 50 year old man climbing the hill. The ending result was that a 50 year old man can also climb the hill and that was all we were trying to show. To reply to Eddie, The actual idea came from a regular skateboard and a Ripstik but the casters did not come from a Ripstik!.
Swing Blade skateboards is a super carving pumping machine that powers up and down steep hills and inclines. Swing Blade gives you the freedom to stay on without ever pushing off to operate. Imagine 3 skateboard characteristics into one! Longboard, Regular and Extreme! Swing Blade was designed to adjust the rear trucks to do just that. Be the coolest and Healthiest kids in town while your parents do the same. Swing Blade skateboards promotes Healthy Kids and Healthier You!! We appreciate all your comments! Please feel free to ask any questions and I will be glad to get back to you. Thanks, Dennis Wells/ Swing Blade skateboards
BG59
Why not just buy a couple of Ripstick wheels and put them on the front of your longboard along with some mechanism to tie them together?