Suddenly, after years of waning interest, I became obsessed with fingerboards — they seemed like something I could actually get a handle on, in the face of more insurmountable burdens. These tiny, immensely popular trucks are made by a company called Blackriver, based out of a small town in the German state of Bavaria. In pictures online , they glisten in colors of black, chrome, and gold. Many fingerboarders seem mystified by these coveted pieces of hardware.
Screenshot via Blackriver Trucks. Usually they feature original artwork applied to the board using heat-transfer techniques that allow for signs of skateboarding-style wear and tear. Other premiere brands like Joycult and Oak Wheels offer up urethane wheels with tiny bearings in them, while Blackriver , Dynamic Fingerboards , and Yellowood sell high-precision trucks that allow you to swerve and turn. Photo by the author. Sitting at my computer, my pulse quickened at the thought of putting in an order for a proper, custom fingerboard setup.
After unwrapping all the packaging, I sat at the Formica table in my kitchen and went about assembling my nifty new board.
I peeled the paper from the adhesive backing of a strip of foam grip tape, and applied it carefully to the beautifully-made Kalye deck. Using a tiny yellow skate tool, I fastened the BRTs to the deck with eight, gold-colored screws that came with the trucks. Sitting at the kitchen table, I clicked and clacked around, wheels squeaking, trucks pivoting, trying to get my fingers into just the right position so that I could land a kickflip. I stuck out my tongue in concentration, and tried not to think about how weird this whole situation would look to an outsider — a year-old man, cooped up alone in his apartment, learning a trick on a miniature skateboard.
This became a daily ritual. After months of practice, I can now land pop shuvits, hardflips, kickflips, and flips. I have rails and benches to do grinds, and a hulking Blackriver funbox that lets me hit big gaps and bust out tricky transition maneuvers. Nowadays, as I trawl Instagram for posts about new fingerboard product drops, I get a jolt of excitement but also a queasy, guilty feeling over the way I buy in so readily to this underground world of creativity and commerce.
Many of the hottest fingerboard makers tout the pristine quality and limited availability of their decks, ramps and griptape. Other veteran fingerboarders can relate. Ehrenberger, 45, got his first Tech Deck back in , at a skate shop in Salt Lake City during a snowboarding trip to Utah. He likens the practice to playing a guitar, giving him an outlet for boundless expression.
He wrote back to me almost immediately, and we scheduled a finger-skate sesh at his house for the next day. His path into this unlikely hobby was a lot like mine, germinating years ago and then blossoming in adulthood as a latent obsession.
Two hours passed by in a blink as we skated the granite countertops. Chase busted a varial flip to a grind, shredding across a Blackriver ledge made of real brick.
I clacked my board off the edge of a five-stair rail and landed a perfect flip. At one point I felt that familiar, queasy pang of guilt again. But it was alright. Everything was chill. As we kept skating, my internal struggle mellowed.
Steven also receives a royalty, according to his father. Malibu-based Jakks Pacific Inc. A drop in the popularity of skateboarding could be disastrous for the brand. But Asher challenges that notion. Despite their many years in the toy industry, Asher and Davidson knew little about the skateboard business before they started Tech Deck in early Premium skateboards are sold through specialty skate shops and sporting goods stores, outside mainstream toy channels. Asher had spent most of his career as a sales rep for a number of companies, including Toy Biz, Playmates and now-defunct Marshon.
As a youngster, he appeared in commercials for Wham-O, where his father was a sales rep. Steven and local skate shop owners helped them identify popular brands. And nudged by his father, Steven prepared a two-page memo making a case for the toy.
Asher and Davidson also listened to their licensors. They changed the location of the wheels and the shape of the skateboard at the suggestion of skate company bosses. The hardware and wheels are removable, as with actual skateboards. Children use their fingers to simulate ollies, grinds and other skateboarding tricks.
Drawing on their experience as marketers, Asher and Davidson labored over the look of the Tech Deck package, an important promotional tool for a company with a small advertising budget.
They reviewed 19 variations of the block-letter logo and debated which shades of blue to use as background. They are about to ship their fifth generation of Tech Deck skateboards. Davidson said he and his partner want to avoid product shortages; in the spring of , they shipped too much product. The company is profitable, Davidson said. As Tech Deck expands, competition intensifies.
Jakks Pacific dominates miniature bikes with its Road Champs line. And next year, Mattel Inc. Moreover, professional skateboarders are teaming up with other toy companies to produce lines of miniature toys. However, some licensors, such as World Industries, pass to skaters a portion of the royalty they receive on sales of miniature signature boards.
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