Supercruiser - the skateboard scooter..

[sk8norcal]

was looking in 85 thrasher and saw this...
i remember seeing this scooter in a different mag back then..


PhysicalFitness

Physical Fitness Products - SUPERCRUISER INC.
From about 1980 till his death, Mort worked for his company, Supercruiser, Inc. in which he built, mass produced, marketed and sold his line of physical fitness products. These were his inventions, some patented, some not. Mort always placed great emphasis on physical fitness. He loved skateboarding, but wanted a safer skateboard. He invented one with handles, hand-brakes, foldable and compact, this was the Supercruiser, the Streetcruiser, the Minicruiser. Later came the Motocruiser (motorized version), the Windcruiser (Sail on land), the Icecruiser, the Snowcruiser, the Dirtboard etc. Other inventions were his special Rollerskates and the Rollerhands which give an upper body workout while rollerskating. He was also working on a full body work-out machine, much like a rower/bicycle.

other 'skateboard with a stick'
is the Honda kick n go
and later the k2 evo4

[rosewood thief]

where do you find all these things?

thats actually pretty cool

[Gomer]

Excellent find. If you took the one in the link and removed the handle bar, it is an MBS frame board with channel trucks.



As interesting as this is it is, more interesting that Mort Heilig has a web site. Every patent application that has anything to do with mountainboards references the patent of Heilig.

I was trying to figure out that front truck. It is some kind of pivot pin deal. The patent application shows a channel truck.

Interesting also that this is a pivot front truck and a fixed back wheel like BS' carver. Here is another three-wheeled, channel truck front / fixed back board.

http://www.google.com/patents?id=yiw...zoom=4&rview=1

Norcal - my holy grail of mountainboard history is an article in Thrasher (I think) about an off-road board that shows a guy on a ATB frame board with a cahnnel truck launching off a dirt ledge. It was from the mid eighties I think.

I saw it once when someone posted it in a discussion about who invented the mountainboard.

Take a look at the patent application for the Supercruiser and you'll see where MBS got their design for the mounainboard.

http://www.google.com/patents?id=Tl4...zoom=4&rview=1

[sk8norcal]

As interesting as this is it is, more interesting that Mort Heilig has a web site. Every patent application that has anything to do with mountainboards references the patent of Heilig.

that's interesting..
i first saw this guy on his supercruiser in a full page article in Sports Illustrated!! featuring him as this wacky inventor..
guessing @late 80's...

and he also have this moutainboard too...
http://www.mortonheilig.com/resume2.html (scroll down)

Interesting also that this is a pivot front truck and a fixed back wheel like BS' carver. Here is another three-wheeled, channel truck front / fixed back board.

Foldable skateboard - Google Patent Search

forgot about that one,
the stowboard


the red honda kickngo is the same dealio..

Norcal - my holy grail of mountainboard history is an article in Thrasher (I think) about an off-road board that shows a guy on a ATB frame board with a cahnnel truck launching off a dirt ledge. It was from the mid eighties I think.

i think i just saw that...
Thrasher Skateboard Magazine - 1985: The Complete Fifth Year

[Gomer]

and he also have this moutainboard too...
resume2 (scroll down)

Yes, this one -
Skateboard - Google Patent Search


That influenced this one -
All-terrain board - Google Patent Search

[sk8norcal]

[QUOTE=Gomer;1297607841]Yes, this one -
Skateboard - Google Patent Search

i saw a different one...
his rear foot is resting higher than the front...
its wacked...

ALL TERRAIN SKATEBOARD - A skateboard with four 8-inch pneumatic tires and an up-and-down foot deck.

[Gomer]

[quote=sk8norcal;1297608393]

ALL TERRAIN SKATEBOARD - A skateboard with four 8-inch pneumatic tires and an up-and-down foot deck.

I wondered if the up and down foot deck referred to the deck being high and low or it was a deck that moved up and down.

If it moved up and down then it was probably a chain driven self-propelled type. Using the same type mechanism as in his scooter, it could have had a portion of the deck hinged to drive the chain.

It's funny how there have been a set number of the types of skateboard innovations over the years. They seem to break down into designs for controling the board and powering the board.

If you do a simple patent search on "skateboard", one of the first ones is for a brake and one several applications afterward is for a deck mounted sail. I used to think the Be Unlimited board was the most radical design to have happened in a long time until I saw the Heilig prior art.

[sk8norcal]

[quote=Gomer;1297608611]

I used to think the Be Unlimited board was the most radical design to have happened in a long time until I saw the Heilig prior art.

yes, both allow kickturn,
would like to see video of someone riding the beunlimited..
Heilig deck might be the first drop deck I have seen..

the weird/cool part about BeUnlimited is mounting trucks on top of the board.. I don't understand the two linkages on the side...

[sk8norcal]

wow..

YouTube - Be Unlimited Woods

YouTube - Be Unlimited board by Beyond boards

YouTube - beunlimited

YouTube - Knobs Unlimited

[Gomer]

wow..

Indeed.

the weird/cool part about BeUnlimited is mounting trucks on top of the board.. I don't understand the two linkages on the side...

Heilig did alot to lower the CoG in an attempt to make safer boards. I don't understand the linkages either. I think it might be some way to distribute the force of impacts and reinforce the steering.

The steering is stiff but then it really doesn't need to turn much at all. So much of the steering is controled with sliding off-road and hopping and unweighting the nose on-road and off.

I think the BU board could be better designed for park and off-road. I've been working on it slowly.

Mountainboarders like the BU board but nobody rides them in competitions and they have not made any progress in the market.

[Gomer]

Heilig deck might be the first drop deck I have seen.

Here is another one. This is the first patent for a true drop deck I have found. Although, in the current venacular, it would be called a shlong.

http://www.google.com/patents?id=Ld9...rview=1&pg=PA2

This is why you see the Solheim name refernced in most ATB patent applications.

[Gomer]

the weird/cool part about BeUnlimited is mounting trucks on top of the board.. I don't understand the two linkages on the side...

Here is BUs patent application. The function of the lingages should be descibed in the specifications but I haven't read through it yet.

All-terrain board - Google Patent Search