Fingerboard (skateboard)

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Underside of a Tech Deck fingerboard including a Hook-Ups graphic.

A fingerboard or finger-skateboard is a miniature version of a skateboard complete with moving wheels, graphics and trucks. A fingerboard is 96 millimeters long or longer; some range up to 100mm long and can have a variety of widths. Skateboarding tricks may be performed using fingers instead of feet. Lance Mountain helped develop Fingerboarding as a hobby in the late 1970s and wrote an article on how to make fingerboards in TransWorld's SKATEboarding magazine in 1985.

Although fingerboarding was a novelty for years, they became a collectible toy as skateboard manufacturers realized the potential for product branding and profit starting in the 1990s. Tech Deck Fingerboards are now available as inexpensive novelty toys, while Berlinwood, Blackriver Ramps, Prete, Homewood, Frost, and Flatface have filled a niche as high-end collectibles, complete with accessories one would find in use with standard-size skateboards.

Fingerboards are also used by skateboarders as 3-D model visual aids to understand potential tricks and maneuvers; many users make videos to document their efforts.

History

Homemade toys in the 1970s and later became a novelty attached to key chains in skate shops.

In the 1985 documentary "Future Primitive" a homemade fingerboard was ridden in a sink; some consider this the earliest fingerboard footage available for public viewing. The homemade fingerboard was built from cardboard, coffee stirrers, and Hot Wheels axles.

Fingerboards have been a peripheral part of the skateboarding industry since the late 1980s and were originally marketed as keychains." Although barely "rideable," they were improved upon by the Tech Decks brand which mass produced a "rideable" miniature skateboard. The first entertainment licensed fingerboards were introduced by Bratz Toys, released through a Hong Kong-based toy company named Prime Time Toys, and designed by PANGEA , the company that helped develop "The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" toy line for Playmates Toys. The designs were harnessed from entertainment properties such as "Speed Racer," "Woody Woodpecker," "NASCAR," "Heavy Metal," and "Crash Bandicoot." The licensed boards drove the Tech Deck brand into licensing strong urban brands, rather than simply making up cool designs. Suddenly, brands were appearing on fingerboards, and the Tech Deck brand became a household name. In the late 1990s, as fingerboards became more prominent outside the skateboarding community, X-Concepts' Tech Decks licensed "actual pro graphics from major skateboard brands" riding "the 1999 fingerboard wave right into Wal-Mart and other major outlets." In 1999 there was a Tech Deck fashion of collecting one of each design similar to the Beanie Baby fad months prior. Thusly, Tech Deck, and its distributors at Spin Master Toys, suddenly found themselves large market to milk. Entertainment-based fingerboard brands couldn't compete against the urban juggernaut, and eventually disappeared. Other "major players in the skateboard industry" soon followed in hopes of reaping profits as young toy-playing children would choose to take up skateboarding. More modern fingerboards, like newer, advanced Tech Decks, Think's Super Mini Boards, the Deluxe Finger Banger Boards, and Fingerboard brand's Pro-Precision boards all featured "interchangeable wheels and trucks, a fairly accurate scale size, and pad-printed graphics reproduced from the most popular skateboard companies in the business." Blackriver Ramps' Fingerboardparks providing all manner of fingerboarding accessories including sophisticated and customizable components able to duplicate, in scale-model, the skateboarding experience thus developing the fingerboard into a collectible toy and the practice into a "form of mental skating".

Fingerboard Parts

The parts of a fingerboard are: Deck, Griptape, Trucks, Bushings, and Wheels

Decks there is a wide variety of decks out with material ranging from wood to plastic, to paper. Most commonly, however, decks are made from wood, as this gives it much more pop, and a much more authentic feel. Your average deck will have 2 kicks, while some old school models have only one kick. Usually, decks have lower kicks much like that of a Berlinwood or a Tech Deck, however, some decks have higher kicks, and if the kicks are very steep, they are refered to as wall kicks.

Griptape There are many different types of griptape. You can use regular griptape, from a skateboard, or you can buy smooth tape from brands such as Riptape, FBS, Toxic Tape or NoComply flex tape. This tape is much less harsh on your fingers allowing you to fingerboard for longer periods of time. Additionally, normal skateboard grip wears out over time, and faster on fingerboards than on skateboards as fingerboards have to endure much more moisture (e.g. sweat). However, many argue that traditionally griptape has the advantage of giving the board a more traditional look and feel.

Trucks Many companies make trucks for fingerboards, such as Tech Deck, Capsule, Radio, Chemistry, and Semi-trux. Several of the "collector" or "pro" brands, like Blackriver Ramps, claim that Tech Deck's trucks are not built to handle professional riding. Additionally, "collector" or "pro" brands of trucks are traditionally shaped using special instruments to make them lighter and look better.

Bushings Bushings are very important, as they keep your trucks straight so that you can get a stronger pop when performing tricks. Aside from Tech Deck bushings, there are FBs O-Ringz, Riptape tuning, Summit tuning, and Smack bushings. These "collector" or "pro" brand bushings are made from many different types of squishy material, usually rubberized plastic or rubber, which will keep your trucks straight.

Wheels Wheels are very important, of course, as they give you the ability to ride, but they can determine how smooth your ride is how what kind of flow your ride has. Well-known wheel producers are Tech Deck, Flatface, Nollie Wheels, No Comply Wheels, Winkler Wheels, Destruction, and Substance. The pro brands are traditionally made out of a variety of different materials, and have small ball-bearings inside of them to give you a smooth flow in your fingerboarding.

Modding The trucks and decks can easily be modified to reduce weight, improve smoothness or look better. You can find several modding tutorials at FingerBoardOnline.

Materials

Tech Deck, arguably the most popular fingerboards, are made out of hard plastic and borrow designs from many well-known skateboard manufacturers, such as Blind, Flip, and Element. They have real metal trucks, grip tape, and real graphics. The stock trucks on Tech Decks are made of die-cast metal and have two separate axles for the wheels to roll on. The wheels are made out of plastic. Some fingerboarders prefer the feel and performance of decks made out of wood. Wooden decks can be made from 3-7 plies of a given veneer; maple, walnut, and mahogany being the most popular. All of the hole-drilling and shaping is done entirely by hand. Because wooden decks are not mass-produced, they are highly priced. A wooden deck from a popular company usually costs $30 USD. Along with wooden decks, advanced fingerboarders also tend to prefer bearing wheels to Tech Deck wheels. Bearing wheels can be made from a plethora of different materials such as teflon, urethane, silicon, and fiberglass. The materials are usually put into a lathe which gives them the most perfect round shape possible. Once the wheels have been properly drilled, bearings are put into place to increase the smoothness of the wheels rolling on the axle. Tuning is another luxury that advanced fingerboarders enjoy. Rather than using the stock axles and kingpins that come on Tech Deck trucks, fingerboarders use tuning screws and custom kingpins to ensure that wheels and hangars are more properly secured. Tuning screws for the wheels cause the wheels to roll more smoothly.

Usage

To use a fingerboard one's middle finger goes on the "tail" (back end), and the index finger goes on the middle of the board or vice versa if it does not feel comfortable to ride in the fashion that was previously stated. Many people though, find it easier to start with 3 fingers. A variety of innovative tricks from classic, so-called "old-school", to more original and creative maneuvers can be envisioned and done on a small scale either for the enjoyment alone or as a precursor to one's skateboarding experiences where individual style and diversification of tricks is rewarded.

Fingerboards are used by a range of people from people utilizing them as toys to skateboarding and related sports professionals envisioning not only their own skating maneuvers but for others as well and can include the use for planning out competition courses as skating boarding develops into an international sport. Skateboarding is currently being considered as a sport for the 2012 Olympic Games in London. The 2008 Summer Olympics, due to be held 8 August-24 August, 2008 in Beijing, may present the sport as spectator event as China's second gold of the Asian Indoor Games (October 2007) was to Che Lin for skateboarding. Also, skateboarding youths have attracted "mesmerized" crowds in Shenzhen, a city described by professional skateboarders as "a skating paradise."

Communities

There are many different online communities where fingerboarders can go to share new information, chat, or even advertise for new companies.

Among the most famous are Finger Flip Inc. or FFI, Fingerboardtalk, Fingerboard Community, Fingerforum and Tech Deck Forums. These websites allow fingerboard enthusiasts to discuss and debate the hobby, as well as plan meets and events, which is very important in the relatively small, but growing, fingerboarding community.

Vendors

There are several different retailers of fingerboards and fingerboard accessories on the internet today. Here are a few of the more well-known ones:

Blackriver-Ramps
Flatface Fingerboard Shop
Fingerboardstore.de
Frost Fingerboards
Prete Fingerboards
Grindstone Rails
Homewood Fingerboards
Nollie Wheels
No Comply
Summit Fb
[http://www.reksdistribution.com/ Reks Distribution
http://www.redfirefingerboards.weebly.com/ Red Fire Fingerboards]

As for Tech Decks, they may be bought in several traditional retail locations in many countries, and online on traditional retailers such as Amazon and Toys R' Us.

Accessories

Similar to train enthusiasts building railway models, fingerboard hobbyists often construct and purchase reduced scale model figures that would be considered natural features to an urban skateboarder such as handrails, benches, and stairs they would be likely to encounter while riding. In addition users might build and buy items seen in a skatepark including half-pipes, quarter pipes, trick boxes, vert ramps, pyramids, banked ramps, full pipes, and any number of other trick-oriented objects. These objects can be used simply for enjoyment and also to assist the visualization of skateboarding tricks or the "flow" from one trick to the next (or to create "lines"). Fingerboarding events feature some of the latest elaborate models and accessories; many of the manufacturers features photos and videos on their websites.

Video sharing

Fingerboarding is a good match for videography as the action can be controlled and framing the activity offers opportunities for creativity. With the rise of the online video business from early 2006 through the present, fueled, in part, because the feature that allows e-mailing clips to friends, several thousand finger board and handboard videos can now be found on popular video-sharing sites such as YouTube. Thus even if the weather does not permit a skateboarder to practice outside they could try a potential trick with their scaled-down fingerboard and related items and share the video with whomever they wished.

Popularity

Fingerboarding is popular in Europe in countries such as England and Germany; there is growing popularity in Eastern Europe. Besides skateshops and the internet the world's first fingerboard store opened in Steyr, Austria. Fingerboarders have regular "contests, fairs, workshops and other events". Teri Werner, owner of Boards and More, a skateboarding shop, in San Pedro, California, commented on the fad stating she promotes fingerboarding and skateboarding by holding contests on the store's fingerboard ramp with one contest having "175 entrants in two categories, plus another hundred spectators."

The kids specifically come here to buy their fingerboards. We sell them for $1.99, but they come to us because they trust what we do. We're kid-friendly, and we keep it alive by having ramps available for them to play with. We sell fingerboards like crazy.

Fingerboard-product sales were estimated at $190-million for 1999.

There is also a growing scene in America greatly due to many US based companies sponsoring/hosting fingerboard events. People have flown in from across the US to be apart of these events, and that shows the dedication that many of the more serious fingerboarders are trying to help the scene. These events can be attended almost anywhere in the US, from the west coast all the way to the east coast; most notably Mike Schneider(owner of Flatface) hosts what is known as the "Rendezvous", which is held 1-2 times a year for the last 2 years.

Handboards

Handboards, similar to fingerboards, are a scaled-down version of a skateboard roughly half to a third of the size of a standard skateboard (11 inches) and utilizes a person's hands rather than just their fingers to control the board and perform tricks and maneuvers. Handboards can be harder to use than fingerboards.

Handboards are used exactly like skateboards only with the hands

References

^ Waters, Mark (2000-03-03). "The Fingerboard Controversy: Are toy-skateboard makers promoting skateboarding or just profiting?". Transworld Business. Retrieved 2007-12-25.
Hocking, Justin (2004). "Life and Limb: Skateboarders Write from the Deep End". Soft Skull Press. Retrieved 2007-12-25. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
^ "About Fingerboarding". Blackriver Ramps. 2007. Retrieved 2007-12-25.
"Fingerboard Tuning". Fingerboardstore.de. 2007. Retrieved 2008-12-25.
^ Mullen, Rodney (2004). "The Mutt: How to Skateboard and Not Kill Yourself". HarperCollins. Retrieved 2007-12-25. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
^ "YouTube videos of fingerboarding". YouTube. 25 December 2007. Retrieved 2007-12-25.
^ "YouTube videos of handboarding". YouTube. 25 December 2007. Retrieved 2007-12-25.
^ "YouTube videos of fingerskating". YouTube. 25 December 2007. Retrieved 2007-12-25.
London Could Host Skateboarding: Skateboarding could make its Olympic debut at the London 2012 Games. BBC Sports, 8 June 2007.
China claims women's finswimming title in Asian Indoor Games Xinhuanet, Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, 28 October, 2007.
Street Sports in Shenzhen Attract Expats Xinhuanet, Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, 12 September, 2007.
"Roll-up halfpipe for miniature toy skateboard". Mattel, Inc. 2000-08-03 Board Kennel =http://www.google.com/patents?hl=en&lr=&vid=USPAT6350174&id=v5AJAAAAEBAJ&oi=fnd&dq=fingerboard+skateboard. {{cite web}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Check date values in: |date= (help); External link in |date= (help); Missing or empty |url= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthor= ignored (|author= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |first name= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |last name= ignored (help); line feed character in |date= at position 11 (help) Patent number: 6350174; Filing date: Aug 3, 2000; Issue date: Feb 26, 2002.
"Amusement ramp and method for constructing same". Pillsbury Winthrop LLP. 19 July, 1999. Retrieved 2007-12-25. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthor= ignored (|author= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |first name= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |last name= ignored (help) Patent number: 6623367, Filing date: Jul 19, 1999; Issue date: Sep 23, 2003.
"Reciprocating plaything and method for playing". Thomas L. Adams. 10 December, 2004. Retrieved 2007-12-25. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthor= (help); Unknown parameter |first name= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |last name= ignored (help) Patent number: 7261613; Filing date: Dec 10, 2004; Issue date: Aug 28, 2007
Vienne, Véronique (2003). "Fresh Dialogue 3: New Voices in Graphic Design". Princeton Architectural Press. Retrieved 2007-12-25.
Perez, Juan Carlos (September 13, 2007). "US online video popularity keeps climbing". MacWorld. Retrieved 2007-09-15.
Zawadski, Alison (September 13, 2007). "A Work in Progress". Le Provocateur. Retrieved 2007-09-15.
"Fingerboard Events Forum". Fingerboard.de. 2007. Retrieved 2007-12-25. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |last name=, |first name=, and |coauthor= (help)

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