Got pads?

March 2, 2007 2:19 PM

Are you a snowboarder without snow, a surfer without surf or a skate rat sick of concrete? Grab a Scarpar (as soon as they're available) and hit the...trails. Or, if you prefer a nonmotorized offroad shredding experience, try a mountainboard. Just try really hard not to fall.
posted by gottabefunky (21 comments total)

Mountainboarding looks like a very cool sport in its infancy. You don't really get a sense for how bad some of those falls probably are until the dude falls in front of the camera in the second video and you can actually hear his body hit the ground.

Much worse than hitting powder, I'd imagine.

The scarpar looks sweet as hell.
posted by Baby_Balrog at 2:33 PM on March 2, 2007

In none of the Scarpar video segments do I see them performing what I would call a "turn". I wonder how quickly you can turn it -- it looks pretty rigid and heavy.

Choose binding release settings with care....
posted by gurple at 2:34 PM on March 2, 2007

(though probably no worse than hitting concrete.)
posted by Baby_Balrog at 2:34 PM on March 2, 2007

I'd rather hit water, thanks.*

*and the occassional sandbar/reef.
posted by dontoine at 2:36 PM on March 2, 2007

I gotta say, this is about as welcome on a trail through the woods as jet skis are on my river..

I hope to god the whole project falls apart before it hits the market..

now...get the hell off my lawn!
posted by HuronBob at 2:36 PM on March 2, 2007

I'm with you HuronBob. Jesus, whatever happened to just enjoying nature in peace?

Now get off my lawn.
posted by ZenMasterThis at 2:46 PM on March 2, 2007

ZenMasterThis: "Jesus, whatever happened to just enjoying nature in peace?"

Nothin'. People still do it. But people have realized that there's no particular reason that playing on a mountainside in winter should be kosher, but doing so in summer not.

I mean, it's not exactly like skiing is that new. It's over 100 years old. And people have been climbing trees for fun (as opposed to simply contemplating them in zen silence) for much, much longer.
posted by Bugbread at 2:52 PM on March 2, 2007

The Scarpar looks horribly under-powered, not particlularly maneuverable and they indicate that it will be expensive...

Pass...
posted by speug at 2:54 PM on March 2, 2007

On postview: I just realized I made a comment about "zen silence" in response to someone whose handle is "ZenMasterThis". Totally subconscious, I can assure you.
posted by Bugbread at 2:57 PM on March 2, 2007

Meh. Yet another whacked out gas-motorized "revolutionary" useless-as-transportation boardsport-like device from Oz. I believe that's the third new motorized "board" I've seen in the past 5 years. What, are they actually trying to bring on the Thunderdome and fuel wars down there?

Frankly, that thing looks like it sucks ass anyway. Steers like a cow. I'd much rather crash on concrete skateparks... in pads. It's like sliding on silk as long as you wear good pads and know how to fall. Speaking from first hand experience it's even kinder and easier to do this than many of the bails in surfing and snowboarding.
posted by loquacious at 3:05 PM on March 2, 2007

I like the (horribly named) pumpabike better.
posted by anthill at 3:16 PM on March 2, 2007

This is all well and good, but we were promised hoverboards.
posted by redteam at 3:45 PM on March 2, 2007

The problem with hoverboards, as has been well documented, is that they do not work on water.
posted by quin at 4:14 PM on March 2, 2007

I'm with redteam. We were promised hoverboards, flying cars, holographic entertainment and computers, androids, an end to human disease and world hunger, Moon and Mars colonies, and personal space ships. Instead, we get this ungodly cross between a skateboard and a tank - a skank.

Who's working on the good stuff, I ask you?

I am starting to get kinda old. I've been quite patient, but I'm worried that if you do not develop these things soon, I'll be too old to enjoy them. Get busy. And please hurry.
posted by zylocomotion at 4:21 PM on March 2, 2007 [2 favorites]

All-terrain Segway
posted by DU at 4:31 PM on March 2, 2007

While I haven't a hope of ever being able to stay on one, I like the Dirtsurfer. It has the right number of wheels.
posted by scruss at 4:46 PM on March 2, 2007

You know, I saw my first "wild" Segway the other day and wondered why they weren't just walking.

The skank thingie looks curious. And kind of stupid. I'm sure for the money they'll want, I could get several purpose built toys that would be more fun in each terrain.
posted by fenriq at 11:10 PM on March 2, 2007

Eeeeeh, no.

Skateboarding didn't make a hell of a lot of sense to me until I went off for a week of snowboarding and returned to find myself mesmerized by the skaters on campus. That'll be my summer backup, not this.

Though wow, that Dirtsurfer looks great.
posted by dreamsign at 11:37 PM on March 2, 2007

The Scarpar looks horribly under-powered, not particlularly maneuverable and they indicate that it will be expensive...

Probably. I'm a little intriguied by the engineering side of this. It would be nice to see a breakdown of design details like total mass, torque, top speed, throttle control, braking, max range/time, etc. I'm particularly interested in how you make an offroad belt-driven drivetrain that does not suffer from jamming due to dirt and debris, causing the rider to have to stop and clean out muck every 50 feet.

The problem with hoverboards, as has been well documented, is that they do not work on water.

Paging hdwow...
posted by Rhomboid at 5:11 AM on March 3, 2007

Coolest strap-this-on-your-feet gadget I've actually seen in the wild is Kangoo boots. Dude was leaping down the foreshore at St Kilda with a stride of about ten feet.

Their website is horrid, and the videos have the wrong media type so they won't play embedded, but if you download this or this and rename it as something.mov you can play it with mplayer or Quicktime.
posted by flabdablet at 6:20 AM on March 3, 2007

Wonder if this is better or worse than a wheelman?
posted by Orb2069 at 5:14 PM on March 4, 2007