SoulArc Skateboard
I decided to skip the usual car prototype for today and explore some other vehicles. Don’t know if you can call this a vehicle, but at least it has a unique design. Here’s the SoulArc skateboard that is supposed to reinvent the way we ride such things.
The designers say that they really wanted to make this skateboard feel like a surfboard carried by waves. In order to achieve this, they placed a huge leaf-spring between its long deck and the wheels. According to Gizmodo, when you dig your heel in the board, the spring relaxes into corners, giving you more of a surfing-through-waves feeling. Check out the short presentation clip made by the designers:
| New type of skateboard |
We can see in the clip that the skateboard is more flexible and allows you to ride it in rougher than usual places. SoulArc was designed by college students Mitch Mulder and Salvatore Vilardi, and the guys have managed to obtain a commercial patent so we can actually buy this thing. The skateboard was already demoed at the Action Sports Retail show in San Diego, and the official release is expected in a couple of weeks but the two students didn’t mention any price point.
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11 Responses to “SoulArc Skateboard”
By McLovin' on Aug 28, 2008 | Reply
i want that shit. it’s pretty sweet
By carlos on Aug 29, 2008 | Reply
Surfers have a saying..”Only a surfer knows the feeling”…Ah, guys..You’re from Michigan. What could you possibly know about the “feel” of surfing?
By Not Carlos on Aug 29, 2008 | Reply
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Same reason someone from Florida might know what it feels like to Ski – it’s called “leaving the state you live in” . . . = /
By gfhf on Aug 29, 2008 | Reply
that thing would get terrible speed wobble with how high you ride
By elle on Aug 29, 2008 | Reply
“Ah, guys..You’re from Michigan. What could you possibly know about the “feel†of surfing?”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YunBW7ELDzo
By wax wane on Aug 29, 2008 | Reply
Carlos, I learned to surf in Michigan on Lake Michigan. I pursued surfing in San Diego where I amazed the locals. The south shore of the Upper Peninsula in August is World class…
By ELT on Aug 29, 2008 | Reply
The eternal struggle; if you didn’t grow up in SoCal or Hawaii, you can’t understand surfing. I got news for you, boys; if it wasn’t for some of MY contemporaries (Alva/Peralta/Gelfand/Elguera, et. al.), surfing would not have progressed at all since 1976. WE were the ones that introduced aerials, and everything changed after that. (We were all surfers, too, by the way, but skating was the cutting edge; we were doing flips and hand-plants when the hot move in surfing was an off-the-lip.) BTW, GFHF, if the trucks were tightened down, this thing would have no more wobbles than any other longboard, and maybe less. At the very least, it would offer the rider a better chance to contain the wobbles, since the deck is a little more isolated from the trucks.
By Adam on Aug 30, 2008 | Reply
Can you even still do Tricks???
By KAHUNA KEV on Sep 2, 2008 | Reply
“platform is like a surfboard”??? NOT!!!!! I agree with carlos, only a surfer would know the feeling of carving, and these good ol boys wouldn’t know that. This will probably retail over 200. or more cost has gone up on wood. Only the big indies will continue to survive. This would not do well in mass unless its sold for 45.00 at walmart. By the way there are like 2 other skate boards that are simular to this and have not seen anyone using them!
Stick to real decks and real surfboards, you dont want to cheat yourself in getting the real true feeling of the ride!!
Kahuna Kev, So Cal since 1970
By Will on Sep 8, 2008 | Reply
This looks like it would have done great in 1982 when people cared about carving on a skateboard…