A closer look
Skateboard wheels used to be made out of actual clay or steel, turning a simple ride down the sidewalk into an extreme, bone-shattering sport. Throughout the nineteen-sixties, early surfers who wanted to ride the concrete waves attached these unforgiving rollers to wooden planks, resulting in a transportation method that provided absolutely zero traction and maximum spinal trauma. Hitting a microscopic pebble with clay wheels meant instantly stopping the board and launching your face directly into the asphalt at high velocity. It wasn't until nineteen-seventy-two that Frank Nasworthy introduced polyurethane wheels, fundamentally changing the sport by actually allowing riders to grip the pavement and not violently perish at every street corner. Without this miraculous chemical upgrade, modern skateboarding wouldn't even exist, and rebellious teenagers would just be awkwardly sliding around suburban driveways on metal discs sounding like a derailed freight train full of rusty scrap metal
