Cruisers Have Long-Term Appeal In Skateboarding
Since the 1970s, skateboarding emerged from the shadows and has become one of the most popular extreme sports. Skateboards appealed to people because they are light and versatile, relatively easy to learn to use, and also the added benefit of being able to get around like a piece of self-propelled transport. Through the ‘80s and ‘90s the sport rose in popularity, and these days it’s firmly planted as a permanent fixture on the extreme sports scene. Yet, the popularity of skateboarding has waxed and waned over the years. As with all new or emerging trends, skateboarding has seen fluctuations in its popularity in a cyclic fashion. The mid-‘70s, mid-‘80s, and mid-‘90s all saw a boom period in skateboarding, followed by a sudden drop in sales. However, the appeal of skateboarding is very resilient, and the extreme sport keeps bouncing back, often with some variations and a new breed of followers, ensuring that it will remain ever-popular.
Enter the Cruisers
One of the reasons why skateboarding tends to go up and down in popularity is that it can be fairly difficult to learn. The traditional kind of skateboarding, which involves performing tricks and stunts, is a bit complicated to master, and whilst many people have an initial impulse to learn, after a couple of years of commitment they essentially give up trying, more often than not.T his is where cruisers enter the scene as a permanent, accessible genre of skateboarding. They don’t require having to learn all the latest tricks to have fun and present a sustainable form of skateboarding that won’t peak and trough in popularity. To differentiate between types of skateboards, they are generally categorised into three styles: ‘skateboard’, ‘longboard’, and ‘cruiser’. Skateboards are the traditional kind, geared towards performing tricks and stunts. They come in many variations but are all designed to do the same thing. Longboards are generally a minimum of 36 inches and really are built for speed over versatility. For this reason, downhill racing is popular using longboards. The final kind is a cruiser, which is smaller in length than a longboard, but bigger than a regular skateboard. They aren’t really designed for performing tricks and are easier to learn how to use than a regular skateboard. Cruiser skateboards also come in a lot of variations, such as different wheel or deck sizes, but they are still small and light enough to be able to carry around. These cruisers are firmly planted on the skateboard scene and are very popular with long-term users. Cruisers remain a growth category in the skateboard market. We have a wide range of skateboards, longboards and cruisers available at our London store. To get here, walk for ten minutes from Gloucester Road underground station. Exit the station and head north for about ten minutes, and you’ll find Slick Willies on the left. Our shop is open from 10am to 6:30pm on Mondays to Saturdays and 12pm to 5pm on Sundays. If you’re coming by car, you can approach Gloucester Road from the east or west on the Cromwell Road (A4) or High Street Kensington (A315). Feel free to give us a call on 020 7225 0004 during our store opening hours if you want to speak to us
