Apr

27

2008

(2) Comments

A Skateboard With 14 Wheels

07:55PM by Jim Frost

I started skateboarding years and years ago and have watched the boards get bigger and bigger but, overall, the technology was pretty much the same.  Then I saw a Flowboard in a sporting goods store.

The Flowboard is unique to say the least: It has 14 wheels, 7 at each end.  The trucks are completely rigid.  Instead of pivoting against a spring or cushion as most skateboards do, the Flowboard puts a set of wheels along an rigid steel arc that is perhaps 60 degrees from perpendicular to the board.  This makes the each wheel have a slightly greater angle than the next as you move out from the center.  Instead of pushing against a spring to turn, then, you roll from one set of wheels to another.  The greater the tilt of the board, the greater the angle between the wheels and the sharper it turns.