Freebord News

From today’s Wanganui, NZ Chronicle:

Skateboarder claims rough handling by police

11.12.2008
by Lin Ferguson

A young Wanganui skateboarder plans to complain to the Independent Police Conduct Authority after what he described as “rough, over-the-top treatment” at the hands of Wanganui police officers.

Daniel Blackman, an avid freeboarder (a snowboarder on wheels), was arrested and charged on November 14 with resisting arrest, disorderly behaviour and threatening behaviour after boarding down Portal St.

However, he was given diversion by Judge Michael Radford in the Wanganui District Court on Monday.

Mr Blackman, an assistant dairy farm manager in Palmerston North, is now writing a complaint to the police conduct authority because his treatment by police that night was too harsh and way out of line, he told the Wanganui Chronicle.

Around 8.15pm that Friday night, he’d sat at the top of the Portal St hill with his mate, who was going to drive as back-up behind him in his car, he said.

“We sat there until there was no traffic and we could see the road was clear all the way down.”

They set off with Mr Blackman travelling on his board about 35kph in front of the car, which had its hazard lights flashing. Halfway down, a police car coming up the hill saw them, swung around and drove down, pulling in alongside Mr Blackman on his board.

“He yelled at me to stop and kept yelling because I kept going. He wasn’t giving me any room to swivel and stop, which is what you have to do on a board.”

When he was finally able to roll into a stop at the bottom of the hill, the officer demanded to be given the board.

“I held it to my chest with both arms and told him no way was I giving him my board, because I wasn’t doing anything illegal. Boarding is legal on the roads.”

Mr Blackman admits that he enraged the officer by not handing over his board, but he wasn’t prepared for what happened next.

“He said he was going to set his dog on me, and I told him he better not try . . .”

It became a total stand-off, but he wasn’t giving in and the exchange did get “fairly heated”, he said.

“Well, then he lunged at me, got me in a choker hold and pushed me on the ground. I heard him ringing for back-up.”

By then, three patrol cars had arrived and more officers were helping to restrain him, he said.

“. . . you know, they even asked me if I was on drugs. I mean, as if when you’re riding a board at 35 kph downhill . . . no chance, ever.”

Then another three patrol cars rolled up, he said.

“There were officers everywhere. Then they pepper-sprayed me. I won’t repeat what the officer, the one with the dog, said. I made sure I shut my eyes and my mouth, but it still really burnt.”

Wanganui District Council bylaws prohibit skateboards being ridden in Victoria Ave (the CBD) only, he said.

With his complaint he was enclosing photos of his helmet covered with dents from struggling while he was held down, and pictures of the bruises across his arms and chest where he was holding on to his board.

Mr Blackman defended himself in court because he had wanted the judge to hear what he personally had to say.

“The judge was really great. He asked me what had happened, and I was able to explain it all, and he listened to me.”

Area Commander Duncan McLeod said there was nothing he could say or do until the authority had made its decision.

“It’s out of my hands. It is entirely the authority’s investigation and decision.”

Dan, let us know how it goes…

With a plethora of sweet products from around the globe, its no doubt Cool Hunting had to include Freebord in its 2008 Gift Guide.

G3 Freebord Skateboard

Designed to closely simulate the behavior of a snowboard, the G3 Freebord is built with six wheels. Central wheels turn freely in any direction, allowing the Freebord to slide laterally.

Available from Freebord for $230.

Congrats Adam and Freebord Poland for securing this feature in a major Polish newspaper, Gazeta Wyborcza. Read below for the translation…

Snowboard that doesn’t need any snow
by Agnieszka Drabikowska

They love snowboarding and they were looking for something which could substitute it in the summertime. They’ve found it.

Widoma Mountain, 392.3 meters above the sea level, Swietokrzyskie Province. Good asphalt, almost no traffic, numbers of houses end on 20. From the distance they look like they’re sliding on the snow. Because the Freebord board, though it resembles a skateboard, has nothing in common with it. Four wheels placed on long trucks replace snowboard edges. Owing to them they can carve. In addition to these there are two wheels in the middle which rotate by 360 degrees.

“They work as a base in snowboard. Therefore we can control the speed, go down in unlimited directions and stop exactly in the same way as on snowboard. Perceives and feeling of freedom are the same. Even one day some elder lady accosted me and astonished she said: - You look like you would ride on the snow, but there is summer indeed! - Andrzej Gadkowski from Kielce explains with passion.

His friend from Los Angeles told him about this new sport. - “One day I was grumbling to him about Polish short winters, there is no snow and no place to ride. He responded that he had seen there on TV some guys riding on the streets as on the snow. I brought the board from the USA and it just began.” - he says fastening the board.

Robert: “Freebord gives me so much freedom. It doesn’t depend on weather conditions, you needn’t to pay for any lifts and you can ride practically everywhere.”

Tomek Kuzmierz is a manager of information technology in a big bank in Cracow. On June 4th he came to Widoma together with his wife in order to take the first steps in Freebord. They were looking for a sport which would give them as much joy as their beloved snowboard. They tried surfing, but they agreed that it won’t substitute snowboarding.

In Widoma, Tomek has caught the bug: “This board won’t get outside of my car boot so far. Now I can go somewhere with out my wife, but never without my Freebord.”

Tomasz Urbanski, the President of Polish Snowboard Association, has heard about riding on Freebord. “Snowboarding emerged just from skateboard, and Freebord is like a successive stage of the snowboard’s evolution. If this sport makes snowboard fans happy we should only be glad of that, by all means we support such initiatives. I haven’t tried Freebord myself, but if I have a chance I will do it for sure” he declares.

The Gear Junkie Stephen Regenold recently reviewed Freebord’s G3 setup for Outside Magazine’s online blog. Check out the excerpt below or read the whole story here. Thanks Stephen!

Another new longboard, the Freebord with G3 Trucks, acts almost nothing like a skateboard when underfoot. Indeed, with six wheels and two foot-ensconcing binding wings, the Freebord, which costs $229, can produce a wild ride down terrain so steep that you’d normally need a brake.

Made to mimic a snowboard, Freebord (www.freebord.com) riders buzz straight downhill on two polyurethane wheels mounted on a spinning mechanism that sits in the middle of the trucks. Leaning into a turn, the center wheels rotate and the rider carves on his inside or outside wheels, which act like edges on a snowboard.

It’s hard to explain. And it’s even harder to master. I watched several Freeboard videos online, with the riders carving effortlessly on steep streets and skidding to stops with precision heretofore unknown on a skateboard.

But on the hills around my house, I flailed and crashed into the grass. It took several laps until the feel for the board came through, and even then I was uneasy with my technique.

A steep learning curve is common in sports like surfing and snowboarding. So why not Freebording, too? Though it looks like a longboard, this is really a new discipline in the sport.

Freebord cites more than 50,000 boards sold since its founding in 1998. There are videos to show proof of this board’s potential. If you try it, wear a helmet and pads. And be prepared for a few bumps before you get it down.

But once mastered, you’ll be able to essentially snowboard on land. Step in. Point the deck downhill. And ride off carving, the concrete or asphalt skimming past below, gravity pulling faster as the wind picks up and begins to beat on your face.

French magazine ‘Sport‘ wrote two pages about Freebord in this week’s issue. Sport is a very widely spread magazine, and the article is all about the ride and the ride locations :

Enjoying the 21 turns of the Alpe d’Huez, or going down the Mont Ventoux at high speed is no longer the speciality of the Tour de France runers. It’s also the hobby of Freeborders. Imported in France for three years, they are now more than 2 000 riders. Invented in 1996 by Steen Strand, Freebord is a six wheel board with bindings that rides like a snowboard. (…) The big mountain spots are not their only playground. The snowboarders of the streets also conquier the cities. “Riding in the cities is very different, but very fun aswell : we have to manage with cars and angry drivers” says Arnaud Blin. Monaco, Paris, Lyon… french Freeboarders have the choice between tons of urban spots.

(click photo to enlarge)

The guys at the skate/scene ‘zine SLUG (Salt Lake Underground) got their hands on a Freebord last month to review. After a few runs they were loving the ride…read more here. Thanks Adam!

Freebord
Haze 83
www.freebord.com
Much respect goes out to the newest type of ride out in the streets. The Freebord is exactly that. This skateboard-type device is exactly like a snowboard, but runs on cement instead. It has two customizable caster wheels that pivot side to side, as well as gigantic trucks on the outside of those that are used like the edges of a snowboard during a sweetly made slash through pow (technical gnar gnar term, meaning soft snow or powder). What a coincidence that Freebord is based out of San Francisco where there are hills everywhere, but no snow. So forget your $700 lift pass and move to San Francisco to get your swerve on. - Adam Dorobiala

Jake McFarlin and John Eaton decided there weren’t enough Freeborders in Iowa. So they took it upon themselves to start their own Freebording club on the Iowa State University campus. Now they’re spreading the word and recruiting new members with the help of a little PR. Great job guys…keep it up!

Read the article: Free to Bord By Ryne Dittmer - ISU Daily

One of Czech’s biggest online action sports mags reviewed Freebord this week and lived to tell the tale. Highlights from the (roughly) translated article below. Nice Job Honza!

Freeride.cz - Freebord Review

Since I got the opportunity to test Freebord, I have really wondered how this device works. Certainly it is not a toy which you can learn in five minutes, but if you have the skate and snowboard ride down you can combine these two types of movements together, and you won’t have many problems in the journey to Freebording.

Probably the first positive aspect when I compared it with longboarding for example, is the absolute control of speed while driving downhill.  If you get some uncertainty, it’s not be a problem for you slam any steep hill, and stop just like a snowboard. One of the greatest assets is the binding that holds your feet, so you can do various ollies, 180 or 360 - everything is on your creativity. If you have more certainty you can  combine these tricks in a downhill run. Just like snowboarding.

Certainly there are negatives, for me it was certainly two. Freebord can not be compared to skateboarding as a standard means of transport, plus six wheels is more resistance than four, so after you push a little bit you roll to a stop much faster. That is unfortunately closer to snowboarding. Also, If you do not have the option of a trip by car or other means, it is also necessary to walk back up the hills. However, most of us know well from Freeride trips, you can get to the mountain for free but you still have to pay for a lift ticket.

Freebording is interesting entertainment, which supplies a ride that is very close to snowboarding. For not so high a price (when compared to other setups) you can recall the pleasant movement of smýkaných curves, 360s, a sense of interconnection, and the body movements. Try and see.

If your old setup is trashed and you’ve been mowing lawns all summer saving up for that G3 Elite, consider an easier option: get one for free.

Head over to Huck Magazine’s website and enter to win a complete Freebord setup. All you gotta do is give ‘em your email and answer a simple question. Good luck!

Another sweet article from a Czech magazine…thanks Michal!

p.s. anyone else get an early 90s vibe from these pics…have we (finally) moved on from 80s!?!