Fearless at the (Indy) 500 Record Jump

plan B skateboard

The Plan B Skateboarding team was founded in 1991 by Mike Ternasky, Jackson Kontzer, and Gabriel Torres.

In 1994, Mike Ternasky was killed in a car accident, leaving the ownership of the company in the hands of Danny Way and Colin McKay, and Michael Ternasky's wife who temporarily shelved the company and the team in 1998.

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Tony Hawk's son Riley has some skills

alva skateboards

Alva skateboards is a company started by Tony Alva, one of the Lords of Dogtown and pioneers of skateboarding. Alva's skateboard decks are made by a company that has been a pillar in the skateboarding industry since the 70s.

Tony Alva is one of the original Z-Boys and is considered to be one of the most influential skateboarders of all time.

He was born in Santa Monica, California and comes from a Mexican American family. The level of aggression with which Alva skated was in stark contrast to the traditional style of the era which was still based around tricks formulated in the 1960s. Alva and the other Z-Boys were among the first to bring skating empty pools into the mainstream. In these early days, it was noted that Alva was hitting the lip so hard that he was actually taking off, hence Alva is often credited for the first recorded aerials, a frontside air, although Alva himself claimed that George Orton was the first to perform aerials (Skateboarder magazine, July, 1978).

In 1977, at age nineteen, Alva shunned the major skate companies to form his own skateboard company, Alva Skates. Alva's company was the first company ever run and owned by a skateboarder as well as being one of the first to use layered maple plywood for the skate decks.

                                

Element Skateboards

  Element Skateboards (originally called Elephantworld Element Skateboards) is a skateboard manufacturer and surfwear retailer based in Irvine,California. It is a subsidiary of Australian clothing giants Billabong International.

The company was founded in 1992 by Johnny Schillereff as a collaboration called Underworld Element Skateboards. The struggling company was later absorbed by Schilleriff and the "Underworld" portion of the name dropped.

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birdhouse skateboards

Birdhouse Skateboards (originally Birdhouse Projects) is a skateboard company formed by ex-Powell Peralta pros Tony Hawk and Per Welinder in 1992.

Birdhouse is part of the Blitz Distribution family who also distribute Baker Skateboards, Flip Skateboards, Fury Trucks, Hook-Ups Skateboards and SK8MAFIA Skateboards.

Birdhouse makes decks and wheels, as well as clothing and accessories.

 After the skateboard boom of the late 1980s had died former Powell Peralta Pro Freestyle skateboarder Per Welinder wanted to stay involved with skateboarding by starting a company. Welinder had originally asked Powell Peralta pro skateboarder Lance Mountain to be his equal partner in the venture. Mountain declined as he only wanted to start a skateboard company if he had 100% ownership. Mountain later founded The Firm Skateboards (now defunct). Welinder later asked another Powell Peralta pro skateboarder Tony Hawk to be 50-50 partners in this new skateboard company. Hawk gladly accepted as he felt his time in skateboarding was nearly over due to the lack of interest in vert skating caused by the popularity of street skating. Welinder and Hawk decided to name their new skateboard company Birdhouse Projects, Birdhouse being a reference to Hawk's last name.

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Bearings

Each skateboard wheel is mounted on its axle via two bearings. With few exceptions, the bearings are the industrial standard "608" size, with a bore of 8 mm, an outer diameter of 22 mm, and a width of 7 mm. These are usually made of steel, though silicon nitride, a high-tech ceramic, is sometimes used. Many skateboard bearings are graded according to the ABEC scale. The scale starts with ABEC1 as the lowest, 3, 5, 7, 9. It is a common misconception that the higher ABECs are better for skateboarding, as the ABEC rating only measures tolerances, which do not necessarily apply to skateboards.



The ABEC rating does not determine how fast or how durable a bearing used for skateboarding will be. In particular, the ABEC rating says nothing about how well a bearing handles axial (side-to-side) loads, which are severe in most skateboard applications. Many companies do not show the ABEC rating, such as Bones Bearings, which makes bearings specifically for skateboarding, often marketed as "Skate Rated". Each bearing usually contains 7 steel or ceramic ball bearings, although other configurations are used as well.