Author Topic: Have bigger boards slowed the progression of skateboarding?  (Read 3876 times)

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Tylerr11

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Have bigger boards slowed the progression of skateboarding?
« on: January 26, 2023, 10:42:54 AM »
Many people consider the 90’s to be the golden era in skateboarding. So many timeless video parts were dropped and skating rapidly progressed to new levels. Its been over 20 years and many of these parts still hold up today even compared to the abilities of modern day skaters. This makes me wonder what caused this boom in the 90’s. I’ve noticed everyone back then rode 7.75 boards or smaller which I’m sure made technical manoeuvres much easier. But nowadays everyone is riding 8.25+ I wonder if this has slowed the natural progression of skating to a certain degree and steered us away from the technical tricks of the 90’s

GrayCellGreen

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Re: Have bigger boards slowed the progression of skateboarding?
« Reply #1 on: January 26, 2023, 11:09:52 AM »
Frankie Villani skates a 9" board. Look at the type of shit he is doing. Watch any new skate video for that matter. The progression is not slowing down at all, it's quite the opposite homie.

Tear Up a Trick

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Re: Have bigger boards slowed the progression of skateboarding?
« Reply #2 on: January 26, 2023, 11:13:54 AM »
Watch what happened when Rodney Mullen had to instantly switch from smaller to bigger, and then you tell us!

(around 3:40, but may as well watch the whole part)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYMZeduilU4

Mean salto

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Re: Have bigger boards slowed the progression of skateboarding?
« Reply #3 on: January 26, 2023, 11:18:18 AM »
Progression as far as what?
You'd be surprised how many people were riding 8.25+ even if their pro models were 7.75s. even most the modern tech guys ride an 8 or bigger

SatanicPanic

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Re: Have bigger boards slowed the progression of skateboarding?
« Reply #4 on: January 26, 2023, 11:20:07 AM »
I think the most progressive era was 91-92 when people were riding nine inch football shapes. If anything the mid-late 90s was a regression in terms of tricks but progressive in terms of style but you don’t need small boards for that.

formula420

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Re: Have bigger boards slowed the progression of skateboarding?
« Reply #5 on: January 26, 2023, 11:20:47 AM »
No it increased the progression. To me, double inward pressure flips or whatever wack shit they did with their big pants/small wheels is the worst era of skating.  Bigger boards are more stable and allow people to go faster.

GAY

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Re: Have bigger boards slowed the progression of skateboarding?
« Reply #6 on: January 26, 2023, 11:49:04 AM »
Back in my day we skated on actual popsicle sticks and progress was exploding geometrically.

TwisT

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Re: Have bigger boards slowed the progression of skateboarding?
« Reply #7 on: January 26, 2023, 11:59:46 AM »
I don't know how you can look at the progression of skating from the 90s until today, and propose this question.

work_lurker

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Re: Have bigger boards slowed the progression of skateboarding?
« Reply #8 on: January 26, 2023, 12:11:30 PM »
Many people consider the 90’s to be the golden era in skateboarding. So many timeless video parts were dropped and skating rapidly progressed to new levels. Its been over 20 years and many of these parts still hold up today even compared to the abilities of modern day skaters. This makes me wonder what caused this boom in the 90’s. I’ve noticed everyone back then rode 7.75 boards or smaller which I’m sure made technical manoeuvres much easier. But nowadays everyone is riding 8.25+ I wonder if this has slowed the natural progression of skating to a certain degree and steered us away from the technical tricks of the 90’s

How much further should it progress? We need a regression. People front feebling quintuple kink rails, switch laser back lipping handrails, doing triple flips off 12 stairs. Lets just skate size 10's and push mongo uphill in the rain.
Hopefully not a kook, but if so, fuck it.

No Wave Comply

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Re: Have bigger boards slowed the progression of skateboarding?
« Reply #9 on: January 26, 2023, 12:15:02 PM »
Many people consider the 90’s to be the golden era in skateboarding. So many timeless video parts were dropped and skating rapidly progressed to new levels. Its been over 20 years and many of these parts still hold up today even compared to the abilities of modern day skaters. This makes me wonder what caused this boom in the 90’s. I’ve noticed everyone back then rode 7.75 boards or smaller which I’m sure made technical manoeuvres much easier. But nowadays everyone is riding 8.25+ I wonder if this has slowed the natural progression of skating to a certain degree and steered us away from the technical tricks of the 90’s
That's your first mistake right there, you noticed wrong. The era of the most rapid progression was 1989-94 (same as Golden Age Hip-Hop) and board sizes smack dab in the middle of this period (1991-1992) were around 9" +/- wide and many were slicks (so super heavy and soggy). All the shit in Questionable, Tim &  Henry's Pack of Lies, Love Child, etc. was filmed and released during this period on relatively wide boards that went from being square tail/pointy-rounded nose to symmetrical-egg/football shapes. The wheels were another major factor; they went down to like 35mm (insanity, when you think about it) and somehow managed to not hinder progression, just speed and style.

Eventually, the evolution to the popsicle shape happened in 1993 and while smaller, boards were still 8-8.5 (like today) until the second half of '93, when they quickly went all the way down to 7.5" in some cases and stayed that way in 1994. They basically became banana boards. But wheels gradually became bigger; this was accelerated by the Philly/Love Park/Eastern Exposure scene, with those dudes riding 55mm+ wheels that looked HUGE at the time. This was near the beginning of the progression of style over tech. Boards stayed pretty much the same (7.75"-8.25") until the 2010s, as the evolution of style, gnar, and tech merged.

Now with the wider boards, people are doing the most insane shit, so I'd say NO, it hasn't affected progression in the least. I think board shape and wheel size is all about a particular skater's idiosyncrasies and comfort level. Amazing shit can be done on practically any shape, within reason.
« Last Edit: January 27, 2023, 12:34:08 AM by No Wave Comply »
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ok boomer

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Re: Have bigger boards slowed the progression of skateboarding?
« Reply #10 on: January 26, 2023, 12:19:10 PM »
hope they invent a kickflip soon

IpathCats

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Re: Have bigger boards slowed the progression of skateboarding?
« Reply #11 on: January 26, 2023, 12:22:42 PM »
For sure, since progression is directly correlated to the amount of flips/spins your board does this is an UNDENIABLE fact.

You should start a business selling 7" wide boards, im sure it would do really well and push skateboarding into new territories.

JamesFardy

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Re: Have bigger boards slowed the progression of skateboarding?
« Reply #12 on: January 26, 2023, 12:28:44 PM »
What did you expect it to be?

goodatmeth

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Re: Have bigger boards slowed the progression of skateboarding?
« Reply #13 on: January 26, 2023, 12:31:17 PM »
For sure, since progression is directly correlated to the amount of flips/spins your board does this is an UNDENIABLE fact.

Even if it's that, I think Jamie Griffin skates an 8.25

Frank and Fred

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Re: Have bigger boards slowed the progression of skateboarding?
« Reply #14 on: January 26, 2023, 12:35:08 PM »
Tiny wheels and skinny decks were great to learn all the technical shit but it now looks way better, done on bigger boards with more speed and power.

Crusty Grundle

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Re: Have bigger boards slowed the progression of skateboarding?
« Reply #15 on: January 26, 2023, 12:57:02 PM »
Some guy walked into the local skate shop with a polarizer... convex, <5" wide, no tail, and no nose. Some other guy was standing there and asked if he could try it out. He got on the board and proceeded to do kickflips and was trying tres but didn't pull any, I'm sure he could if he kept at it. Goes to show you... you can skate anything regardless of size, just a matter of skill.

I like big football decks for nostalgic reasons... I'll probably get a 7.75 at some point in the future for the nostalgia as well. I think the biggest factor regarding the tech-type tricks is the wheelbase.

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Re: Have bigger boards slowed the progression of skateboarding?
« Reply #16 on: January 26, 2023, 01:02:24 PM »
Expand Quote
Many people consider the 90’s to be the golden era in skateboarding. So many timeless video parts were dropped and skating rapidly progressed to new levels. Its been over 20 years and many of these parts still hold up today even compared to the abilities of modern day skaters. This makes me wonder what caused this boom in the 90’s. I’ve noticed everyone back then rode 7.75 boards or smaller which I’m sure made technical manoeuvres much easier. But nowadays everyone is riding 8.25+ I wonder if this has slowed the natural progression of skating to a certain degree and steered us away from the technical tricks of the 90’s
[close]
That's your first mistake right there, you noticed wrong. The era of the most rapid progression was 1989-94 (same as Golden Age Hip-Hop) and board sizes smack dab in the middle of this period (1991-1992) were around 9" +/- wide and many were slicks (so super heavy and soggy). All the shit in Questionable, Tim &  Henry's Pack of Lies, Love Child, etc. was filmed and released during this period on relatively wide boards that went from being square tail/pointy-rounded nose to symmetrical-egg/football shapes. The wheels were another major factor; they went down to like 35mm (insanity, when you think about it) and somehow managed to not hinder progression, just speed and style.

Eventually, the evolution to the popsicle shape happened in 1993 and while smaller, boards were still 8-8.5 (like today) until the second half of '93, when they quickly went all the way down to 7.5" in some cases and stayed that way in 1994. They basically became banana boards. But wheels gradually became bigger; this was accelerated by the Philly/Love Park/Eastern Exposure scene, with those dudes riding 55mm+ wheels that looked HUGE at the time. This was near the beginning of the progression of style over tech. Boards stayed pretty much the same (7.75"-8.25") until the 2010s, as the evolution of style and tech merged.

Now with the wider boards, people are doing the most insane shit, so I'd say NO, it hasn't affected progression in the least. I think board shape and wheel size is all about a particular skater's idiosyncrasies and comfort level. Amazing shit can be done on practically any shape, within reason.

^ This. Exactly this. And I would add that nothing "new" has really been done since then. Post-1994, everything has just been linking tricks together/combos, doing things bigger/longer/faster, or adding another 180 to it (e.g. vert skating).
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alexander glownig

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Re: Have bigger boards slowed the progression of skateboarding?
« Reply #17 on: January 26, 2023, 01:06:21 PM »
you fools! it's not the bigger boards, it's the bigger wheels that have regular progression. they've allowed access to more spots, rougher but the ledge dance and tech flip wasn't due to thin boards but tiny wheels.
40-48mm will provide the results you want but every crack or pebble will be a deterrent.

versacekid420

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Re: Have bigger boards slowed the progression of skateboarding?
« Reply #18 on: January 26, 2023, 01:25:20 PM »
No it’s only made scrawny ass skateboarders get buff

greenbeans

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Re: Have bigger boards slowed the progression of skateboarding?
« Reply #19 on: January 26, 2023, 01:46:59 PM »
Maybe people need to stop blaming their own setup time to time

doublesteveburger

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Re: Have bigger boards slowed the progression of skateboarding?
« Reply #20 on: January 26, 2023, 02:04:50 PM »
went from freebasing to wheelbasing and never looked back

McBrandt

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Re: Have bigger boards slowed the progression of skateboarding?
« Reply #21 on: January 26, 2023, 02:11:25 PM »
Remember that one year, sometime around '97 or so when boards went from 7.5-7.75 back up to 8.25-8.5? It was a glorious brief time, and then they went back down to below 8 super quick. I try not to think about the 90s much, it was hard to find an 8" board let alone anything bigger. I think the only options really were powell mini-logos and beer city.

who da thunk it

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Re: Have bigger boards slowed the progression of skateboarding?
« Reply #22 on: January 26, 2023, 02:43:36 PM »
I often wonder how many women are skating 8.5s and struggling to flip them with their tiny feet. I see it sometimes and want to say something, but I don't want to mansplain or condescend or whatever.

BackToTheDIY

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Re: Have bigger boards slowed the progression of skateboarding?
« Reply #23 on: January 26, 2023, 02:43:55 PM »
The hell

EagleassMF

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Re: Have bigger boards slowed the progression of skateboarding?
« Reply #24 on: January 26, 2023, 03:56:51 PM »
Many people consider the 90’s to be the golden era in skateboarding. So many timeless video parts were dropped and skating rapidly progressed to new levels. Its been over 20 years and many of these parts still hold up today even compared to the abilities of modern day skaters. This makes me wonder what caused this boom in the 90’s. I’ve noticed everyone back then rode 7.75 boards or smaller which I’m sure made technical manoeuvres much easier. But nowadays everyone is riding 8.25+ I wonder if this has slowed the natural progression of skating to a certain degree and steered us away from the technical tricks of the 90’s

There’s not a timeless 90s part that would even get you on flow for the lowliest of brands these days.

skippersoldballs

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Re: Have bigger boards slowed the progression of skateboarding?
« Reply #25 on: January 26, 2023, 04:34:15 PM »
Expand Quote
Many people consider the 90’s to be the golden era in skateboarding. So many timeless video parts were dropped and skating rapidly progressed to new levels. Its been over 20 years and many of these parts still hold up today even compared to the abilities of modern day skaters. This makes me wonder what caused this boom in the 90’s. I’ve noticed everyone back then rode 7.75 boards or smaller which I’m sure made technical manoeuvres much easier. But nowadays everyone is riding 8.25+ I wonder if this has slowed the natural progression of skating to a certain degree and steered us away from the technical tricks of the 90’s
[close]

There’s not a timeless 90s part that would even get you on flow for the lowliest of brands these days.
that is a noble take sir

cky enthusiast

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Re: Have bigger boards slowed the progression of skateboarding?
« Reply #26 on: January 26, 2023, 04:42:32 PM »
wtf is progression anyway

smellsdead

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Re: Have bigger boards slowed the progression of skateboarding?
« Reply #27 on: January 26, 2023, 04:57:05 PM »
wtf is progression anyway
arguably one of the worst video magazines

Democratic Republic Of Mongo

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Re: Have bigger boards slowed the progression of skateboarding?
« Reply #28 on: January 26, 2023, 06:22:28 PM »
I think it’s made skating progress in a more well rounded way. It seems like we’re no longer simply aiming for max technical proficiency and/or handrail gnar, but you can if that’s your wheelhouse. The bigger boards have unlocked other, surfier potential while adding some gnar*.

*As controversial as crosslocked 50-50s are on here, they do allow people to grind longer, more wild rails and you wouldn’t really see too many of them on 7.75 or 8” trucks.

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Re: Have bigger boards slowed the progression of skateboarding?
« Reply #29 on: January 26, 2023, 06:30:57 PM »
Not sure how many more ways a skateboard can flip though