When We Was Rad: Skateboard History from UK Vintage Magazine » Issue 58 November 1987

Pacer Street Scoot Advert

timlb — Sun, 08 Jan 2006 09:00:27 +0000

The legendary Dave Currey was both the featured rider and the designer of the advert. He also did the graphics on the scooter itself. Dave was a colossal influence at this time, but largely unrecognised — the Pacer advert hints at the work he was to do later for Vision. He then went on to do some astonishing work online as one of the pioneers of all-out interactivity and VR. Few people have been so prolific or capable of working so fast. Few people have so many wild stories associated with them. He’s also one of the kindest people around.

For most of R.a.D’s life Santa Cruz had a lock on the back cover, but this issue has no adverts from their distributor, Shiner, at all — as far as I can make out. I can only guess at the reason. Shiner helped kick-start R.a.D and the skateboard revival by funding the original Skate Action pullout supplement in BMX Action Bike and they were the most solid advertisers in the magazine throughout its life.

Hills Skateboard Advert

timlb — Sat, 07 Jan 2006 09:00:07 +0000

Hills were a BMX shop in Muswell Hill, London, who took to skating in a serious way. Their ads were very professional, but the skater in this shot is uncredited. The ramp is Chingford. Can someone help out with a name, please?
Looking through this advert you can see all the usual suspects and it’s interesting to see that a copy of Transworld would have cost all of £2.50, while Thrasher was £1.75. If that seems like a bargain, bear in mind that R.a.D was only 85p in 1987. A set of Powell Grab Rails would have set you back £7.50, mind.

Where? Guide to Places to Skate

timlb — Fri, 06 Jan 2006 09:21:03 +0000

This is the one part of R.a.D magazine which is still flourishing, but under a different name. The “Where?” guide started its life as “Concrete Corner” in Alpine Action back at the end of the seventies, and moved on line as “Knowhere” in the nineties. At the time of writing this it is still going strong and still serving skaters: www.knowhere.co.uk/skindex.html.
Fragments of the original words from “Where?” can still be found in “Knowhere” decades later. I’ve just spotted “Mellow bowl type council thingy. Can be fun. If you treat it that way.” from Retford for example. One or two phrases about Rom are still there as well.

BMX How-to Double Fire Hydrant to G-Kruze

timlb — Thu, 05 Jan 2006 09:00:06 +0000

Lincoln Blacksley was the featured rider. He was also able to describe how to do it in slightly more detail than was usual, as well as suggesting how it could be built into a sequence of tricks.

The Wall Reader’s Classified Ads

timlb — Wed, 04 Jan 2006 09:00:12 +0000

The Wall had its roots in the “Sales and Swaps” page of BMX Action Bike, but was already part of the progression which gave birth to this web site. While “Sales and Swaps” had been dedicated to the standard fare of reader’s classified adverts, The Wall was an early attempt to encourage reader participation. The strange messages were far more important than the buying and selling of skateboards, and we cherry-picked ones to encourage this.
An example from this issue which is typical of the process reads:

Beef & Dan, I have returned. Me and Gaz think the zine tears. Keep it up, stay tuned… Dave & Gaz Rothwell. Perth, W Australia.

Messages like that would bounce between groups of friends, though not usually over such great distances, in these days before SMS and chat.

Few on the editorial team saw the point of this, and I suspect most readers would have turned the page too, but this crude attempt at allowing readers of the magazine to have their say without having to write something as long as a letter was a fundamental part of the spirit of R.a.D Mag.

They also allowed would-be skate and BMX entrepreneurs to have a go, witness:

PPLA Pork Sausage Movement. Do you have floppy gonads? Contain them in the new Damage shirt from PPLA. £8 inc p+p. Also Zine 9 and new stickers. Send for part pack: £1 + sae

PPLA was David Slade’s Purple (or was it Pink?) Pig Liberation Army. I think. Someone correct me, please!

Spalding BMX Advert

timlb — Tue, 03 Jan 2006 11:06:01 +0000

OJs, Slimeballs and Bullets for on £3.50! Skate T Shirts for £9.50 and complete Santa Cruz boards for around £60? I’m not sure what was going on there. Most of the advert was devoted to BMX, naturally enough, with complete bikes such as a Diamond Back Pro “Similar to Harry Leary” going for only £159, down from £289. January sales were starting early even in 1987. You could even pick up a pair of Vans for £35 and this was in the days before Vans were a high-street name.

Ninja Scootech Advert

timlb — Mon, 02 Jan 2006 13:51:48 +0000

The Ninja Scootech was the definitive British scooter from this period. My recollection was that they were really responsible for it all… Ninja Nicholls makes his appearance here alongside his fellow team riders of the time. There’s also a roll call of stockists which provides a snapshot of the BMX shops of the day:

Hills Cycles, Bikes & Bits, Alladins Cave, Nicholsons, Gridiron Sports, No Softies, Newcastle Cycle Centre, T C Lightweights, P G Hayes, Boatworld, Bike City, BMX Skates, WS Cobb and Sons, C & N Supplies, Cycleman, City Surf, Dooley Cycles, Compton Cycles, Davies Bros, G W Smith, J G Cycles, Jack Bamford, Just Bikes, Rob Lally Cycles, Connell Bros, Motor Components Uttoxeter, Scotby Cycles, Raleigh Cycle Centre, Whitos Cycle Centre, Rollermania, Truro Cycles, Youngs Cycles, Yately Sports Forum, Turner Cycles, Samways, Rowallens Cycles, W G Hoar, Spokes, Sports Gear (Weymouth), Ambertan Leisure, Whites, Leisure Wheels, Lets Pretend, and Heff’s Bike Shop.

Surrey Skateboards, R.I.P Skateboards and SPK Action Ramps Adverts

timlb — Sun, 01 Jan 2006 09:00:29 +0000

Surrey Skateboards were a hugely important part of skateboarding right through the dark ages and on through this period. Their low prices and independant approach caused frequent friction with other shops; they were unique.
In contrast, the modular trick ramp is a prime example of the kind of stuff which was churned out without much thought to the actual needs of actual users.

Readers Letters from Issue 58 of R.a.D Magazine

timlb — Sat, 31 Dec 2005 09:00:25 +0000

Letters from: The Joe Lush Does Our Head in Mob, A Confused Skater from Bradford, Ollie Spackman from Thornton Heath, Sean Goff writing from Bakersfield USA, Jimbo The Mosher from Doncaster, A Trickless Skateboarding Freak called Nat, Mark, Carl Anderson, Pup, Crav (Sec of Squashed Squid and Semolina Skate Squad), Matthew Butterworth from Ormskirk, Mark Hutton of SEA and Jock from Roehampton.
The letters page at this point lacked the genius touch of Nigel Thomas (BMX Action Bike era) or Gavin Hills (classic era) but was still a very important part of the magazine for us.

Skate How To: No-handed Bone-up by Shane O’Brien

timlb — Fri, 30 Dec 2005 13:19:53 +0000

“Approach the object at a moderate speed.” The classic skate how-to opening! Writing trick tips can be a real struggle. Shane O’Brien obliged at the Shell Centre.