Lots of stuff about places to skate in this section. It was an obsession of a time when skateboard facilities were still very rare and just before the era when they would seem redundant. Now they’re everywhere, but necessary again when skateboarding is being forced off the streets. It all comes in waves…

LEICESTER

You can’t win. Leicester used to have a killer street spot at the Crown Courts until the council demolished them to stop the skating. At the time there was some talk of providing an alternative skate spot. Nothing much happened, but the council did agree that local skate shop, Rollersnakes could build a mini-ramp on a roller-skating area in the playground in Weston park. The result is a good-looking mini, with an interesting elbow quarter pipe off the side — and a chain across the flat bottom…
It’s insurance again. According to Rollersnakes, the council now want the shop to provide their own public liability insurance, and most insurance companies don’t want to know. The normal way round this is for the ramp to be covered by the same insurance which includes all the swings, roundabouts and the like which most councils have. And indeed, there’s a rad swing and big old slide in the same area as the ramp at the Leicester. Insisting that everything should be taken care of by private enterprise may fit with the spirit of the times, but in this case it seems particularly churlish. Maybe the council would like the shop to pay part of the parkie’s wages too?

BEARING MANUS IN SPONSORSHIP MOVES

Back in the seventies some of the bearing manufacturers got very excited about skateboarding, but after the collapse of that boom they seemed to adopt a take-it-or-leave-it approach. At last they seem to be opening their eyes again — after all the American market has been swallowing an awful lot of the things for a many years now.
This observation is prompted by the appearance of an NMB leaflet about bearings aimed at the skate market. Shiner were hoping we’d print the whole thing here — but there’s a bit too much information in it for that. You could try writing to Shiner at Lawrence Hill in Bristol and asking them to send you a copy — but you’d better include and sae if you do that.
NMB are also taking a direct interest by sponsoring downhill world champ, Simon Gunning. There is nobody in this country more dedicated to squeezing the last bit of speed out his board, so this could be a very interesting partnership. No doubt Gunning’s rivals will soon be demanding to know what manner of pricy exotica he has concealed within his wheels. Who knows? Maybe NMB’s engineers might be able to suggest alternative bearings for those not totally committed to speed whatever the cost.
Talking of downhill racers, Roger Hickey has arranged sponsorship for Peter & Noel Maher and maybe Martin Sweeney, following their success at the Turin championships.
And returning to the subject of bearings, SKF are sponsoring a huge Swedish international for next August, so it looks like next summer is going to be even more hectic than this one was.

RAMP FEVER GRIPS

Glasgow they’ve got it real bad: they’re still adding to the biggest indoor ramp park in Britain. Latest project to reach completion is a large midi, 16′ wide with 8′ transitions to vert, and 14′ of flat. It has 3~.009 coping like the big ramp. The new ramp is out in the church hall where work has also started on a wooden bowl with 8′ transitions running down from ramp platform at one point. The rest of it will be cut off at 5′ with escalators at either side of the high section.
That will give the Interplanetary Skatepark a complete range of ramps from 4′ high right up to the big vert job. They’re still planning to build a concrete pool too, only that will now be moved outside to the car park.
In Hull a new midi-ramp has just opened. It’s 16′ wide with 12′ of flat, 8.5 transitions and 7′ high. Really solid with a steel surface and floodlights on the way. The ramp is owned and run by the Hessle Skateboard Club and is open from 10 in the morning until 9.30 at night. Membership is £10 a year and that money goes towards maintenance. It’s a skater run, cool spot: to keep it that way visitors are by arrangement only. It’s a pound a day to skate and pads must be worn. Ring Chris Cooper on – – after 6pm for details.
Down south Boston Manor’s: 9′ transition ramp is nearing completion. It’ll be 24′ wide with 1′ vert and 12′ flat. I’d check with Buddies before planning a trip though — it’s been ‘nearly ready’ for weeks.
The Colchester/Stanway indoor mini should sprout into full on Kevin Harris style ramp park this winter with luck. Another ever changing private ramp, Morecambe has now been cut down to mini size.
But a lot of the action now is publicly funded as the councils finally move into action. We even heard a story that Aberdeen were planning to spend £50,000 on ramps. They have a series of minis in mind. But how many???!!! Hope they learn from the Brentford example.
At Dorchester there’s a new all metal ramp: 20′ wide, 12 of it 6′ high, the rest 8′. The transitions are 8′, there’s 12′ of flat, and an escalator on one side. Finance was courtesy of a developer who donated funds to Dorchester Council for youth projects. The ramp was built by the bloke who did the Southsea ramps (?) with input from Mark Noble of Invert mag. It’s on the Maiden Castle road — the last right turn out of Dorchester as you head for Weymouth.
And still more… There’s another new mini-ramp at Leamington Spa. Sean Goff’s demoing at the official opening on October 29th. That sounds pukka. Not so sure about this: at Bridgwater there’s a ramp claiming a foot of vert on 5′ transitions! Eeek. 12′ flat. Go to the Quantock Gateway Inn just off Quantock Road, go to the orchard at the back of the pub and ask for Jamie Mason or Butch (Adrian). Street scene in Bridgwater’s good too and there’s also a pool the council let you skate in. We’d like to know more about that soon, please. Talking of pools being used for skating, what’s the deal with the one in Gravesend these days, and how about Grantham in Lincolnshire? That last is supposed to have a mini ramp with added vert in it. Keep the information flowing, please.

BALLS-UP IN BRENTFORD

How did it happen? Hounslow Council have clearly just a spent a fortune on a mini-ramp complex at Carville Hall Park next to the M4 in Brentford, within gobbing distance of the site of Rolling Thunder. If you’re interested in ramp carpentry this must rate as one of the masterpieces of the age: the quality of the construction is stunning. For example the surface looks as if it has been laminated under pressure (rather like a deck): it’s so solid that you’d think it would stand up on its own with no support. But then check the supports: the transition templates are curving sections of laminated wood again — specially made, like a piece of Scandinavian style furniture. The ramp’s a work of art: even the areas underneath the platforms are finished in slatted wood — it looks like a sauna, not a ramp.
So why are we so disappointed? Because the design in no way matches the innovative construction. The three ramps run out from a big central square platform. But each one is set in the middle of one side of the square, with a huge gap before you get to the corner. There is absolutely no hope of using the corner in any way. The ramps might as well be in three different parks.
But even if you consider them as three identical ramps which all happen to be in the same place, the design is sadly off. They have a tight transition which nearly goes all the way to vert and they’re only eight feet wide. Talk about whippy.
What when wrong? We tried to find out, but you should try getting through to Hounslow Council on the phone. Anyway it’s too late now. Let the Brentford ramps be a lesson: with the type of money councils have available you could build the most amazing ramps, using techniques way beyond traditional skater ramp-builders. But you must be careful. The Brentford thing looks as if somebody took the trouble to do a lot of research — enough to find out about mini-ramp complexes and hellbows — but not enough to fully understand the significance of some of the the alterations they made. If your council are planning something, talk to them, and make sure they fully understand what you need — with the best will in the world they can make mistakes.
The risk is that they’ll spend a lot of money on something that nobody wants to skate. Brentford isn’t that bad: it’ll soon develop a hefty local scene. Our reaction is one of frustration at the wasted potential: so much care and money has gone into building something which could have been so much better. Meanwhile we’ll try to find out who built it: if they increased the size of the transitions they’d be on to a winner with their top quality construction.