 |
| Powell Peralta General Issue, on the left. Thanks to the original poster for this image. |
As you can tell from some of my previous posts, skate-wise I have been thinking about the ancient history of the late 1970s a lot lately. I am working on a prototype for a Small School deck that is intended to give an all-around ride similar to the old FibreFlex Teamrider and Powell-Peralta General Issue boards. In fact, the shape is essentially the same as the General Issue, pictured here on the left (next to the smaller Street Issue), but with a slightly longer nose.
These boards came out just about the time in 1978/79 when a lot of the skateparks were closing. Stacy Peralta, being the visionary that he was (and is) could probably see even at that point that street skating was the future. I’ve seen some pics of Stacy entering flatground freestyle contests on the General Issue, as well as skating banks and street riding.
The wheels on these boards are one of the variations of the Bones Mini-Cubic. Man, these wheels really rolled well.
I believe the original General Issue had a slight rocker, which my board will not have. The new board will have a modern concave and upturned nose.
The board on the right, the Street Issue, came out a year or two earlier. Obviously it is quite a bit smaller — seems like about 28″ x 7.23″. They did a reissue of this model a few years ago. Well, today I was at a local skatepark and had a chance to try out the board below — the “cruiser” shape from a local skateshop, with ACE trucks and some 59mm 78a Penny cruiser wheels. The guy had the trucks really loose, but I have to say it didn’t feel too bad! This is about the size of the first good boards I had as a kid, only better. What really surprised me was how good the board felt for doing Space Walks. Really good. I think sometimes modern boards go a little to far trying to be light for high ollies. For some moves and skate styles, a little heft feels good and is desireable. So I can’t wait for my General Issue clone. I’m putting some Rat Bones on it, so it will have the same “heft” that I like for wheelie tricks and fast, smooth rolling.
So, finally, here are the trucks and wheels that await my General Issue clone — man — I can’t wait to try it out.
