Riding a plastic wave

I may be about to risk exposing my age here, but a story at the New York Times website this week on the rise of a small, plastic skateboard just hit me with a wave of nostalgia.

All of a sudden, I'm remembering when I'm 14 and riding my bright orange plastic “Bigfoot” skateboard to junior high school, or — even more fun — riding it down the long hills at the city cemetery. (Hey, the cemetery had well-paved roads and little traffic. And I wasn't creeped out, especially in those back areas that weren't in use yet.)

It wasn't a fancy board. It wasn't even the one I wanted, but it was the one I could afford. Bright orange and shaped like a foot. Google tells me it was made in 1975 by a company called Francisco Products. (Editor Don Loepp says the only thing that would make it more 70s would be if it had a smiley face sticker on it. Can't say I disagree.)

One apparently sold on eBay a few years ago, though I have no idea what happened to mine. Probably sold in some parental garage sale when I was in college.

The reason it comes to mind now is that decades after skateboarding went all-in on boards with wooden decks, an Australian skateboarder has brought back small, light plastic boards. Ben Mackay created Penny Skateboards in memory of the first one he had as a 5 year old, a small plastic board.

Penny Skateboards, and their generic knockoffs, are gaining popularity because they're small, light and easy to commute on, according to the NYTimes story. Although they're also apparently not seen as cool enough by hard core skaters. (Doing something that's not considered cool? Also junior high school age nostalgia.)

Mackay isn't specific about what materials he uses, but refers in the video embedded below about experimenting with fiberglass and carbon fiber, and elsewhere the company notes it refined its plastic materials for a long board version of its plastic skateboard.

I'm not saying I'm ready to buy a Penny board yet, but who knows. Maybe instead of shaking my (metaphoric) cane at the neighborhood kids and telling them to get off my lawn, I'll have to see if I can still ride. Very slowly. And very carefully.

BEN MACKAY - FOUNDER OF PENNY from Penny Skateboards on Vimeo.