hamboard

Von Bone Street Paddle

Everyone has seen the simple sticks with wheels attached to the bottom that people use to “paddle” or push their skateboards down the street. The Von Bone Street Paddle is that but on steroids. “This isn’t your mother’s broomstick,” said Hurricane Von Bone (inventor/creator/mastermind) as he handed me a street paddle.

“I was riding my bike one day and I saw a guy trying to push himself with a bamboo pole and he just didn’t look happy. I did that with a broomstick when I was 12, and it just didn’t really work out for me. I was riding my bike down by the beach, and all of a sudden this light bulb came on and then I created the Von Bone street paddle,” said Hurricane.

The street paddle is exactly what the name implies. It’s basically a stand up paddle board for the streets. As I paddled down the street following Hurricane, I even noticed he was standing on the board the same way you would with a stand up paddle board. His feet side by side,  in the middle of the board, pointing straight ahead, switching side to side with the paddle.

“That’s probably part of it, you know. The standup paddle boarding thing is so big right now, and you wouldn’t believe how many people are afraid of the water. I mean, they’re scared to fall on a skateboard too but they’re even more afraid of the water,” said Hurricane.

As I paddled down the street, I noticed it was a great upper body workout as well. I have tried the other sticks people use for pushing before and this is not really comparable to them. The Von Bone Street Paddle uses torque powered by the rider to spring him or herself forward.

“With the way it’s designed, no matter how you grab it when your switching hands and hitting the ground with it you’re at the right angle. The grabbing handle’s round and the traction ball’s round so no matter how you hold it you got the right angle” said Hurricane.

The street paddles come with two different pounds of torque, the 60 lb version and the 80 lb which are suitable for the majority of riders. There is version however a lighter resistance model and a heavier resistance model being designed to better accommodate riders of all abilities and strength.

For the short time I was at the booth I saw lots of people excited about the product and many people wanted to try it. Their booth was packed the whole time I was there.

“We’re getting people who have never even skated before that are looking at this going, ‘you know, I think I could do that.’ I’m getting moms and grandmothers trying it. They may not take up the sport but they’re thrilled with it, and you wouldn’t get them to walk into your average skate shop and try a board out. Something about our product makes it appealing to the general population, not just the skate kids.”

The Von Bone Street Paddle is an awesome invention that creates a way for people anywhere at anytime to go outside their house and start paddling away. The stick is light enough to easily carry around and it just further shows the relationship between skateboarding and surfing. They go hand and hand and this brings the concept of stand up paddle boarding to the land. It’s only natural that this thing was built and designed in Huntington Beach, aka Surf City USA, in the beautiful state of California. – Leecifer

www.vonbone.com

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