Various tidbits collected from around the internet and curated right here. Direct quotes from NCDSA.com are italicized, my notes are in bold, and the plain print are attributions to the sources of the quotes:
Per Chris Chaput on NCDSA:
It appears that TA has a tendency to pick wheel duros that work better on the round wall than the flatlands. As a matter of fact, he really likes the VertZ (96a). He put them onto some boards that he brought onto the set of Lords Of Dogtown and Fox Studios. So if you see the green wheels in the TA/Stacy interview that appears on the new special edition Dogtown & Z-Boys DVD, or you saw the Best Damn Sports Show with TA and Stacy, you know where they came from.
There were a bunch of 3dm wheels made to look like Road Riders and/or Powerflexes. You can see them in some pool scenes, HB and LB. What I still don’t get, is why the book, the trailer, and even the movie featured this shot of Adam Alfaro on a concave double-kicked deck with little white radiused wheels. Adam rips, but this was the biggest lapse in “authenticity” that I could see. maybe they just wanted to see if we were paying attention…
96a Vertz and the translucent red 3dm (Seismic) wheels were made as movie props for Lords Of Dogtown
From Jack Smith:
I coordinated the production of the original run of “prop wheels”, which were supposed to be poured in a low to mid 80’s durometer. However, at the last minute TA told the props department that wheels should be in the mid 90’s. Thus creating the slipping and sliding that Chris writes about.
3DM Cambrias were also poured in translucent colors for use in the film. My friend Adrian Pina and I spent many hours in my garage lathing the name off the wheels. Actually, I watched, while Adrian did the work.
Dan at 3DM just poured a bunch more of these in translucent red.
Mark, I’ve seen the film numerous times, the “wow” wheels you speak of, clearly have loose ball races.
A number of different wheels were used in the movie. It’s difficult to say for sure from the pictures and movie clips, but I believe that the wheels in the Zephyr shop that are being held up do have loose ball races in them. Other “reissue” types of wheels were used, some of which had loose balls and some of which had precision bearings. Whenever precision bearings were used on a board in a closeup, we’d have the shields removed from the bearings and the cages orientated to resemble loose ball bearings.
The prop wheels were pretty hard and slippery, making it really difficult to perform some of the tricks on the ramps at Del Mar and Huntington Beach. I had choreographed routines for the freestyle competitions, and I wanted us to be able to carve and spin without sliding out. I made the first Retro wheels by cutting down some 60mm NO SkoolZ in 81a and dying them yellow, which had them turning out a brownish amber color. I showed Alva how we were able to stick the turns on the slippery freestyle area, and he asked to try my board. After a couple of laps he came back and asked me if I had any more for Victor and Adam, the actor and double who play Tony. “I just happen to have a couple extra sets in my bag”. The next day, I was distributing wheels for the Stacy’s, the Jay’s, and the props department. They’d use the hard wheels for some of the slides, and my wheels for everything else. They even spray painted mine to look like clay wheels for the early scenes including the one behind the bus.
Trust me on this point, NO ONE MISSES LOOSE BALL BEARINGS. Or stripping out baseplates, or solid oak cracking down the bolt holes… II coordinated the production of the original run of “prop wheels”, which were supposed to be poured in a low to mid 80’s durometer. However, at the last minute TA told the props department that wheels should be in the mid 90’s. Thus creating the slipping and sliding that Chris writes about.
3DM Cambrias were also poured in translucent colors for use in the film. My friend Adrian Pina and I spent many hours in my garage lathing the name off the wheels. Actually, I watched, while Adrian did the work.
Dan at 3DM just poured a bunch more of these in translucent red.
Mark, I’ve seen the film numerous times, the “wow” wheels you speak of, clearly have loose ball races.
More from Chaput:
A number of different wheels were used in the movie. It’s difficult to say for sure from the pictures and movie clips, but I believe that the wheels in the Zephyr shop that are being held up do have loose ball races in them. Other “reissue” types of wheels were used, some of which had loose balls and some of which had precision bearings. Whenever precision bearings were used on a board in a closeup, we’d have the shields removed from the bearings and the cages orientated to resemble loose ball bearings.
Somewhere on NCDSA, there’s a post about how NoSkoolz were a modern reproduction of the Bel-Air Lip Bombs, which were Chaput’s pro model wheel from the 1970’s. Above, we learn that those were used in 81a urethane for Lords Of Dogtown. I was unable to find the direct quote, but I found some pictures:
Darn close, eh?
On the wheel that became Retro Bertz:
They are going to be ready in one week, barring any disasters at the factory. The molds are done. The artwork is done. We’ll commit to the color and pour enough for everyone.
These work really well with older and/or narrower trucks like a MidTrack, Indy 101 or Invader. That setup is really fun on a single kick deck with little to no concave. They make for really “zippy” little cruisers. You can do old-school tricks and slalom on them too. I’ll report back when I have them in my hot little hands.
Also part of that conversation was a little blurb about how Tony Alva himself commissioned the old amber 95a Cadillac wheels that were reissued up until about 2009. And, for those who haven’t seen LoDT a thousand times like I have, the wheels that Mitch Hedberg presents to the shop in the “urethane…it comes from oil…and it grips,” are Abec11 Bertz. The Cadillacs are seen in a few of the scenes where Alva is getting pictures taken for a magazine.
And the post that started it all:
From the webmaster..
The Lords of Dogtown movie will be released to widespread distribution on 03-Jun-2005, and I believe it will have a significant impact on old school skateboarding, possibly (and finally) upsetting the undue dominance that street and vert skating have enjoyed of late.
This forum will serve as a space to discuss the movie and its impact.
www.sonypictures.com/movies/lordsofdogtown/
Lords Of Dogtown debuted in 2005, in the swirling flotsam of a bunch of stoked old guys getting together and forming all these skate sites and forums that we all grew to love (Mile High Skates was opened as a source for old guys to buy pool boards and LoDT reissue gear), which of course set into motion the events that led to LONGBOARDING as we knew it in 2014.
Board Life 