Herb S ? [are you lurking ?] …do you still have one from the '70s ?
Anyone else here have one / ridden one ?
I noticed they are being re-released !
I remember photos of Lonnie Toft’s “outrageous” [carpeted eight wheeler] board back in the 1970’s issues of Skateboarder magazine , Warren Bolster’s masterpiece of articles and photography!
ben
…I ask , because I want to make one … and I’d like to hear people’s experience of how they go [ the board’s heaviness aside]
Hi, Chip! Not really related to this thread, but, as I was looking into my archives to try and find 8 wheelers, I came across this shot (from 1978, I think). I was working for the company that imported the infamous “Free Former” skateboards in France. For a month or so, we had world-class champions Ty PAGE and Mark BOWDEN come to Paris for a series of demos all around. Here’s Ty, complete with Free Former uniform and the guy with a mustache (bored looking), well, is myself…
I was “here yesterday” [WHY do you keep telling me that , Billy ?!]
Ah yes , the 70s …of course…affros , tight shorts , village people, and porn star moustaches …sad , SAD days , indeed !
Ty page was the “nose wheelie and handstand king” [SORRY to have to break it to you , Hicksy !!] .
I loved Ty’s part in dogtown / z-boys , when the crew were skating that flatland freestyle square area , and he [? and the logan brothers?] looks when jay adams was blitzing them …superbe , monsieur …magnifique, en fait !!
ben
and porn star moustaches …sad , SAD days , indeed !
It’s even worse, now: I still have the mustache, but also a goatie to go with! Just like PT in the '70s…
but hopefully without the skin tight pink boardshorts …THAT, my friend , would be SCARY at our age ! [I hope P.T. has given them up by now…
you reckon that guy on the left could pull his pants up a bit ???they look like there slipping down …
regards
BERT
Dang! I always wanted some high-heeled skating boots like the guys on the ends.
That’s a great photo, balsa. I’m just a little younger - although my first skate was the same shape as those in your photo, it had R2D2 & C3P0 on it 
You can still see them, barely…
Do any of you have any clue as to what Ty PAGE is up to right now? He told me he used to surf a lot when he wasn’t skateboarding. And I remember seeing his name in one of the mags some years ago where he was quoted to have ridden a good-sized swell with some other friends (was it at Redondo? I can’t remember well…)
That guy on the left will be known from this point on as POUCHMAN…
Geez, did we really look that bad in the seventies.
Chip I thought Stacy Peralta was the handstand king, used to tape 2 of his fingers together on each hand and do a 4 finger handstand.
SNAP!!!
I still have the scars on my knuckles from learning how to do handstands…
I haven’t ridden an 8 wheeler in that formation but 10 of us rode a board 14’ long with 6 sets of trucks attached, didn’t steer too well though. None of us died.
Someone in my neighborhood has one of these. I live in a place with a 23 block downhill to the ocean. On one street, it is never so steep you get out of control, never so flat you need to touch your feet. Cruising all the way down - about 6 minutes continuously. Anyway, looks pretty tough to ride, very smooth and hard leaning in the turns. Seven wheels on each truck, roll from one wheel to the next, turn angle depends on lean, very hard to balance flat, gotta go rail to rail.
“… turn angle depends on lean, very hard to balance flat, gotta go rail to rail…”
…sounds not dissimilar , actually, to my first attempt riding a mate’s 5’11 x 17 3/4 x 2 1/8 " thruster , a few months back . Wobbly as anything …
Yeah my mates and I built and rode one of those when we were kids in the 70’s. Got bored with it after a couple of weeks - kind of like riding a shopping trolley but a bit more manuvourable.
should be fun riding one now, [as a 44yo “grom”] , in a skatepark’s bowl , I reckon .
to be continued …
ben
Ben-
I built and rode several different combinations of width, length, trucks, wheels, etc. Fun if you don’t mind all the extra weight and bulk. Very interesting when used as
a kneeboard. I didn’t like the loss of subtle control, especially in transition between turns: tracking in a straight line when all 8 wheels contact the pavement.
Also… a serious pain if they come back and hit you after bailing in a bowl or halfpipe.
thanks Dale …that’s what I wanted to know, in a bowl !
I reckon with the extra weight and maybe delayed reaction time especially backhand off the lip , it may approximate the feeling I get surfing my fish .
cheers for the feedback , I also contacted Herb to hear if he’d ridden one.
ben
Good god you guys… I almost wet myself laughing at this stuff. And, ofcourse Dale has to put an end to the frivolity and address the quesiton at hand.
I rode one of those when I was a youngster @ 16 years old. I thought, in my herbal stuppor, “hey man I’m a surfer, so this’ll be just like droppin in,” and when the 8 wheels tracked like a crappy old twin fin, going left when I was trying to go straight… Well, when I got to the bottom of the nice rough 10’ asphalt bank, and tried do a “bottom turn” my mommentum and body going one way, and the “outrageous 8” going another… I came into quick, hard, bloody contact with the ground (not quite as soft as bailing out at the local beach break) and don’t think I ever stepped on the 8 again! Ha! Sad, but true, story.
Well enough lurking, I have really been ejoying the info on this site and this seems like a good thread to jump in on.
I’ve been riding an 8 wheeler for the last few years (skating since 74). I happen to have one of Ed Isaac’s custom decks with ACS 500’s (he was the one of the only guys making them for a while), but recently BulldogSkates reissued a short run of 12" boards (after pumping Wes for a while). These were snapped up quickly by collectors, and since then I have seen a few around.
They are definitely not for everyone but if you are up for the challenge (or should I say lumps) they can be a hoot. I’m mostly riding it in backyard pools and love the way it handles deathboxes & coping. It’s all about being sure you nail your line when enter/exit a turn because, as Dale mentioned, there’s no such thing as a subtle correction. All turns are initiated by scooting your feet to the side you want to turn towards (same as a longboard, ya can’t just pick a stance and hold it). They feel like riding 2 old 70’s boards stuck together. Kickturns are really straight forward but what separates the men from the boys is carving them smoothly in the bowls (footwork, footwork, footwork). 8 wheels will also bump up the excitement when droppin into the big half pipes at Encinitas & Clairmont Y.
I would recommend riding one before making one (to be sure it’s what you want). The process can be somewhat involved (especially aligning the trucks). But if your still keen drop me a note and I can hook you up with some more info.
For more info check out these sites:
http://www.bulldogskates.com/boards_8.htm
here’s a shot my brother took a while back at the vista square.
cheers
GREAT stuff , Elvis ! [ I’m glad to see you lost all that weight and came back to life …skating ! … You’re looking much better than when we last saw you …great photo !! …I like the blowfly swallowing mouth expression !!]
I’m just about to go out to “moonrocketland” ['Hicksy’s] , but I’d love to talk more with you about this , maybe in a ‘p.m.’ eh ? [so I don’t bore people here with my questions …]
thanks again for the info !!
We don’t have any here I can try [west australia] , so …looks like I’ll be the crash test dummy ! [hopefully , more ‘test’ than ‘crash’ , though !]
ben
[…yep, I think I’ll DEFINATELY need some tips for aligning the trucks ! …cheers mate !]
Hey blakestah
those boards are actually pretty easy to ride i tried one out and it took like2 minutes to get the hang of it
Ben, I hit up my buddy Ed for some construction details and he pointed out that he had already posted them on the 7wheels out site here
http://www.7wheelsout.com/html/clinic/isaacs/isaacs.html
Keep in mind that if you are planning on frankesteining an old pig, odds are it will only be 12" wide so you will want the narrowest trucks you can find (minimize the amount the wheels will extend out). My personal choice is some old ACS’s or Bennetts but finding 4 of them can be an issue.
I believe tracker reissued some old tracker midtracks that will work, but I would swap out the bushing for something softer.
http://www.climaxmfg.com/trucks/
have fun eh.
PS. regarding Ty Page - concrete wave did an article on him a while back, he was living in one of the LA beach communities surfing and raising a family.