extreme snakeboarding

[Gomer]

Whew! Okay let's settle down.

Paved, it is good work you are doing and you deserve respect for the athletic ability have achieved in the sport you are practicing. I couldn't imagine doing the mileage you do.

Call it what you will.

I don't think you are against anything you just understand the parameters your sport and want it clearly reflected in the name and intitials. You make that decison and the other people will adopt it or not.

Time will take care of what things are called.

Although I could add several initials to HCs list, I'll just add to one he posted for those who occasionaly skitch going cross country. I call it SkitPuPu.

[sk8norcal]

speaking of naming a sport...

did MBS come up with the term 'mountainboarding'? copyrighted?

is it only for boards with 4 wheels and 2 trucks?

if BGS shows up with his 3 wheeler at a bordercross event, would he be allowed in?

[ATG-ATB]

I've seen old pics of Akoni on three wheels in races. I think ATBA races allow 3 wheels in the rules but never seen/heard of it in the Uk.

"Board Design:Please note that these rules apply to the British Championships Events. Should there be sufficient support and entrants for a type of board that falls outside of these guidelines, a a specific race class may be provided for them.

* Brake systems are not allowed to be used in boardercross racing.
* Wheels and tyres must not exceed 13inch Diameter.
* The board must be steered by using feet and body weight alone.
* The board must not have any dangerous spikes or areas that could cause damage to the rider or other riders in a crash.
* Tire spikes and motors are not allowed. Any device outside of human energy and gravitational pull are forbidden."

Nothing anti 3 wheels, or +/- trucks!

[sk8norcal]

so official name of the sport is All Terrain Boarding?
not Mountainboarding?

[ATG-ATB]

so official name of the sport is All Terrain Boarding?
not Mountainboarding?

Don't know if there is any "official" name. As far as I'm aware (correct me if I'm wrong) the ATBA in the Uk is the oldest and best established body for the sport so maybe it is. I've never heard mountainboarders ever discuss it though, I guess classification isn't important when you're mostly getting covered in mud away form the public eye!

[sk8norcal]

Mountainboarding - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

the wiki page has some good info...

they mentioned Heilig as the originial guy...

[Gomer]

so official name of the sport is All Terrain Boarding?
not Mountainboarding?

This was the subject of some debate about eight years ago. It was decided that it should be called All-Terrain boarding. Although most later decided it was too hard to say and stuck with mountainboarding.

Personaly, I like the term mountainboarding. It is not completely accurate because most people don't ride on mountains. But then how many people who own mountain bikes ride on mountains.

MBS did not trademark the word mountainboard. They couldn't, I think, because trademarks laws can't apply to things that are broad in there description. I couldn't trademark the word "chair" but I could trade mark SmartChair (it's sustainable and made with green technology!).

That's why MBS is Mountainboard "Sports". The title of the MBS patent application doesn't use the word "mountainboarding". It is called "All-terrain sports board"

Except for those riding in the mud where no one can see them, the term ATB has about died. Unfortunately, the term Dirtboard has about overtaken both of the other terms thanks to the made for TV Disney movie "Johnny Kapahala - Back on Board". That was the movie that was supposed to put mountainboarding on the map - it didn't.

GI supplied boards to the movie and used the "Godfather of Dirtboarding", Akoni Kama, who rides for GI. It was also shot in New Zealand and there is some guy there that is a GI rider. That's why you see all the riders hopping the front of their boards in that movie. GI boards don't turn well.

I'm sure there are more people riding in the dirt than there are those who ride mountains but it sounds more limiting than mountainboard. "I wanted to buy a dirtboard but the only place I have to ride is that big grassy hill over there."

Another goofy name is "Landboard". Used mostly in kiting to distinguish it from "Kite Boarding" on water. If land kiteboarding becomes really big and starts to encroach on the water kiteboarding market are they going to have to change the name of their sport to "waterboarding". Would it be considered torture to waterboard then?

There is no riders organization that would govern competitions in the US. The only competition rules that ever existed were composed by the early manufacturers, Earthboard and MBS, and applied to individual competitions. Some riders tried to start an organization but the effort just ended up being exploited by the top riders. After that, no one saw the use in being a member of an obscure organization in an obsure sport whose membership was supposed to be dedicated to promoting the top riders.

I attribute the failure of the riders to organize as the second of the three reasons the sport has floundered in the US. No place to ride (No Terrain Boarding) and the skate punk marketing theme as the other two.

That Wiki page was done mostly by the UK guys.

I don't think the mountainboard riders would mind if BgS rode his three wheeled carver. There are so few riders and no organized curcuit of competitions (and yet there are some riders who call themselves "professionals"?). They would welcome anyone riding just about anything. Brakes are allowed.

Some guy tried to ride Dirtsufers at comps but they are no good for either boardercross (can't carve) or big air (can't jump). Outbacks raced with four wheeled boards (and the even more obsure NPB boards) but not for long because they are slow and fall over.

Akoni quit riding for Outback after that.

One year they had a hard wheel division. Not the years afterwards because it just stupid watching people try to ride a soft surface on small hard wheels.

Akoni quit riding hard wheels after that. I think I heard Akoni is racing those dirt course cars now.

[sk8norcal]

good info...
good thing MBS can't patent 'mountainboarding'

I attribute the failure of the riders to organize as the second of the three reasons the sport has floundered in the US

yes, part of the blame is on manufacturers looking out for their own interest, and not supporting an official body...

street luge went through a bunch of different names too...
before some x games tv people renamed it for them...
the power of the media...

in the early 90's, everyone called inlines, Rollerblading...
(even though there were other brands and there was no official term for the sport)

like the snakeboard vs streetboard I mentioned,
its too weird when the name of the sport is patented...
(in this case, got changed)

example...
Freebording...
when the patent runs out and I make a competing brand (PavementSliders)..
Would the sport still be called Freebording??

[pavedwave]

Whew! Okay let's settle down.

Whew! Okay let's settle down then write 2,000-word essays about landboarding.

It's your internet, you go Daddy-Yo

[Gomer]

Whew! Okay let's settle down then write 2,000-word essays about landboarding.

Wow, was that 2,000 words? I'm fast!

By settling down I didn't mean to stop sharing information. I meant to stop getting your panties in such a wad. I was polite to you and you responded like a dick.

Trying to bully people into stopping a discussion by accusing them of internet bad manners (trolling, I was not) or identifying them as someone they are not (stop calling me Daddy-yo) is not what is needed here.

It's not my internet.

[pavedwave]

I meant to stop getting your panties in such a wad.

Why even wear underwear.

[Gomer]

yes, part of the blame is on manufacturers looking out for their own interest, and not supporting an official body...

I heard that was true in the beginning with Earthboard but later the manufacturer (MBS) had to carry the ball to keep the sport from dying. MBS caought crap for being the event organizer in the early years when they were the only ones running comps.

MBS would support a rider organization. It was the top riders that were trying to exploit the organization the one time something almost happened.

The three reasons the sport doesn't take off are interdependant. Nothing will happen if they don't all happen.

MBS created a park on their property and there is a park in the southeast at Beech Mountain this year sponsored by GI. With another regular competition being held in Kansas maybe a competition curcuit can get started again.

Inline skates were called Rollerblades in the beginning because they were the inventors and the only (at first) and later best known compnay. It was a Keenex/Xerox thing. Most people call the sport rollerblading now. I think it is stupid (there are no blades that roll) and I call it inline skating or just roller skating.

If you ride Freebords without wearing underwear would it be called Freebord Freeballing?

[Paul from cambridge]

nice, he mentioned 'endurance skateboarding', that's another cool name...
does he have any footage, i like to check out his pushing technique..

I actually use upwards of 3 different pushing techniques, for different things.
and I skate down hills too!

[BlackRider]

Crazy awesome. Never seen one of those in real life.

[snakeboarder]

I've been snakeboarding for 13 years now. I call it snakeboarding or pivotboarding. Sk8norcal has it mostly right. When the owners of Dimension bought the patent and the company, Snakeboard, they decided to rename the sport "streetboarding." But the problem is, streetboarding is any board sport done on the street. snakeboards, skateboards, longboards, waveboards etc are all different types of streetboards. Anyway, the wider wooden boards you see today, are indeed the evolution of the older boards(with the narrower plastic center crossbar).

The riders in the videos are not riding for their 30 seconds of fame. I personally know almost all of them and I can tell you, they ride for the love of the sport. We have no big corperate sponsors. I agree they should wear helmets and pads, I sure do.

Snakeboarding is not easier or harder than other sports. it's just different. You can't just get on, push and go. You have to first learn have to make the board move. Once you've learned that, and want to learn tricks, then you put bindings on. And as you see in the videos, we can't bail.

I'm mostly a skatepark rider, but this year, I put some big fat wheels on one of my boards and have added some cruising into the mix. I've cruised for miles along the lakefront here in Chicago. I also skate an average of 3 hours a day at skateparks. So it just comes down to what you enjoy. =o)

[sk8norcal]

cool, a 'real' snakeboarder!

I also learned snakeboarding about 13 years ago...
back then they were a cool novelty item amongst the footbag community.
I won one at a footbag contest.
One guy was real fast on it, he could pump that board like crazy on the flats, he used 'footblocks' to keep his foot from moving.

That Dimension guy was from San Jose, I remember seeing him at the local Vans Skatepark around 2002.

I finally found a downhill snakeboard video.
check it..

wackyboards: Snakeboard, Streetboard