Skull Boards

  • Boardmag
  • 24.11.2006

Skull BoardsBody-boarding for over ten years while living in the Alps, I naturally tried to ride the roads in the same position. In Chamonix, when the road up to the Mt Blanc tunnel was closed, a new playground was opened up to us. In spring, it was snowboarding in the morning and long boarding or skullboarding in the afternoon, sometimes even by night!
I developed several prototypes, each one getting more and more stable while straight-lining at high speed. The real challenge was to be able to place your arms alongside your body without experiencing the infamous "speed wobble".
Riding the open road pushed me to develop a powerful and safe breaking system. Currently breaking is carried out via a wide rubber pad installed under the deck of the board, directly below my center of gravity. Similarly to Body-boarding, when you want to slow down (to pull into a barrel for example!), the rider just needs to pull on the nose and camber his body in order for the pad come into contact with the road.

Since "the tunnel", thanks to this braking system many new spots are now possible and have been "opened" e.g. the Montets pass, the Cascade road from Passy to Chedde, the D173 at Annecy, Chamrousse, Les 7 Laux, La Forclaz, be it on the French or on the Swiss sides right down to Martigny!

In Spring 2003, I was invited to demo runs in the three main long board and street-luge events in Europe: Altbüron, Kaünertal and Chamrousse. I met many interesting people, who motivated by passion, reminded me of the madness of Faulkner's "Pylones", Mad Max and also the snowboard scene 15 years ago!

Claude Gesta
Patent

Vehicle destined for descending roads and paths in a stomach down position.
The invention is a belly skate board on which the rider holds onto the board with hands and knees.
It is made of a board (1) mounted on trucks (7) and (8) equipped with wheels (9), (10), (11) and (12).
The rider moves his body sideways to turn and pull the handles (2) while pushing on his elbows to make the pad (6) rub on the ground and therefore brake.
The objective and purpose of the invention is destined for fun and sport.
 
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Riding Technique

You just need to lie stomach down on the board and hold the handlebar fixed on the nose of the board. Place your ankles in the grooves in the back of the board. As the wheels start turning, swing your body right and left to make the board turn and to test the steering sensitivity. If you push on your arms and rise your weight, it will increase the sensitivity of the steering.
To brake, camber your body and pull on the nose. At high speed, anticipate the natural rocking forward of your body (deceleration) by moving a little backward before cambering. With a little bit of practice, you'll brake without holding the handles!
You can also brake by "sliding": move forward to reduce pressure on the rear wheels and forcefully steer sharply to the side to start sliding!

 


 
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Skull Boards
 
Videos click here.
 

All skullboards are handcrafted by it's inventor to the Client's specifications.
If you have interest to know more information about the SkullBoard Contact Claude. SkullBoard Website.


Luis Luis
Fibretec.ch