At Maker Faire Bay Area this past May, MAKE videographer Nat Heckathorn and I tackled the hills of San Mateo on longboard skateboards. Well, Nat had a longboard. I had a wobbly little cruiser ill-suited to fast descents. On my second run I went down hard on my hip and up popped a grapefruit sized hematoma of swirling black and purple that lasted for weeks.
As I got ready for World Maker Faire New York, more than one colleague told me to stay away from skateboards lest I injure myself again. I complied, but then I met up with Andreas Ekberg.
Andreas is the owner of Happy Cloud Cruiser, He custom makes hardwood skateboard from reclaimed birch plywood, red oak, maple, and cherry and hand paints, block prints, and screen prints the boards with cheery, bright designs. Add super wide trucks and a fat soft wheels and you’ve got a happy cruiser.
When I met Andreas he surprised me with a maple board he made with Makie, MAKE’s robot mascot, on it. Although you can’t see it in the photo above, he also added a strap to make it easy to carry. Clever.
The deal is he’s going to send me another board with no graphics on it and MAKE’s staff gets to decorate it and send it back to him. Sounds like a deal.
Meanwhile, I’ll wait until the fair is over before I give the Makie board a try. Thanks Andreas!
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