Freebord

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Freebord model X-80, bottom side

Freebords are a recent evolution of the skateboard. They are designed to closely simulate the behavior of a snowboard on downhill rides. To this purpose, they have (when compared to a skateboard) two additional castor wheels, located along the longitudinal middle axis, and protruding slightly more than the edge wheels. These wheels are able to turn freely in all directions, which allows the Freebord to glide as long as no other wheel touches the ground. By exerting some pressure on the edge wheels, the freeborder is able to control the board.

All freebords are currently being manufactured by a single company, Freebord manufacturing Inc. The inventor of the freebord, Steen Strand, had originally planned for the board to have a total of 8 wheels, with two central middle axes. This design, however, resulted in the rider's fluidity and freestyle flow to be obstructed by both the heavy weight of the freebord and the imbalance in numerous wheels. After many revisions, the current freebords feature black powder coated trucks and Xponent series decks ranging from 75 cm to 87 cm in length.

Skyhook bindings are commonly used to provide more control over the board and allow to exert more pressure on its edges.

Older Alpha series decks featured kicktails and were of a longer length (100cm and 112cm). These have now almost completely been replaced by the xponent series which are much lighter and more manoverable.

Just like on a snowboard, the rider is able to perform both carve and slide turns.

[edit] References

Barron, Kelley. "Wheeler-Dealer". Forbes. 05.01.00 Online copy
Gromer, John. "Chairman Of The Bord: Introducing Freebord, the world's first snowboard for the street." Popular Mechanics. April 3, 2002 Online copy
Della Cava, Marco. "Snowboard's new terrain: Asphalt Pivoting 'oddity' gains momentum". USA Today, March 10, 2004: pg. D10. Online copy
Cribb, Robert. "Of jabberwocky and snowboard joy in June". Toronto Star. June 13, 2005: pg. D.05 Article excerpt
Ehringer, Gavin. "Innovative skateboards offer summer snow-free surrogate". Rocky Mountain News.March 23, 2005. Article excerpt
Regenold, Stephen. "Gear Junkie: 'Snowboard' on pavement with ease". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. August 5, 2004. Online copy
Copeland, Michael V. "The New Instant Companies". Business 2.0. June 1, 2005. Online copy
Piacentini, Louie. "Endless winter' for snowboarders; Pair introduces Freebord to Canada". North York Mirror. April 3, 2005 Online excerpt
University newspaper coverage: University of Toronto, Yale, University of Western Ontario