Starting Longboarding with A Cheap Ass Sale
I’ve always been a sucker for bargains. Eating at cheap restos or purchasing the latest bargain meals. Getting my clothes and gear from store bargains and sales. It’s worked out fine for me and I guess it isn’t a surprise to have the origin of my longboarding love affair from a closing store sale.
Two years ago, while web-browsing for new skateboarding safety gear, I came across a sale of cheap boarding equipment. The cheap longboard sale was advertised through the internet but I discovered that the gear itself were right here in a store in Venice Beach. Cheap bastard as I am, I decided that since longboarding is kinda like skateboarding it wouldn’t hurt to check out the store and maybe get myself some cheap knee and elbow pads as well. There is a lot of stuff where you can save some money on if you knew or took some time to look.
The store was called Pipe ‘n’ Twist and I walked in on a barely operational sports store. Stuff were dusty, gears were stored wherever – they should have called it Pipe ‘n’ Twister for all the clutter in it. Now, I was still a skateboarder at this point and have been looking for some knee and elbow pads – not a cheap longboard. However, there was something that caught my eye that day inside that store – it was this bitchin’ display rack of Sector 9 longboards. I think I saw some Oracle Sector 9s and a Ball Banner on that display. I really thought it was some of the coolest boards I’ve seen, and I’ve seen a lot. Since the store was selling off some cheap longboards, I asked the clerk if the Sector 9s were discounted. Sadly, the display longboards were not on bargain – they weren’t even on sale!
Seeing that I was disappointed with the boards not being on sale,the clerk offered to bring out some boards that were on sale (stored in the stockroom). After a while, Red (the clerk) brought out eight brand new longboards. There were a couple of City Crushers and Bamboo Big Rock by Sector 9 and some Landyatchz boards – The Evo, Big Momma and a Battle Axe. The boards were dusty and forgotten, but it was obvious that these boards were still rocking and in need of some grinding. Since the store was really intent of selling off the cheap longboards, I decided that buying one of each was an investment in my future as longboarder.
That day I went home with 5 brand new longboards. I even forgot to buy some safety gear because of my excitement! Of the 5 boards, I sold two of it to my buddies. Those cheap longboards were a good way to start of our longboarding career. I kept two of the boards and have tweaked and redeisgned them to my taste. The last one I sold online for twice its worth (ka-ching!).
Today I’m still addicted to longboarding and have acquired four other boards. I also have converted a lot of skateboarders to longboarding because I’ve sold them cheap longboards I also acquired through the net. I’ve always been a sucker for bargains and I can always say that because of this, I’ve discovered longboarding.