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Mar 26, 2008 9:55 am US/Eastern
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3 On Your Side: New Skateboards
PHILADELPHIA (CBS 3) ―
The newest skateboards are really making waves with young skaters. They promise a faster ride and cooler tricks than the old-fashioned kind. 3 On Your Side's Jim Donovan takes us for a spin to find out.
Some new skateboards have skaters going head-over-heels. "Two manufacturers have introduced two newly designed skateboards that are very different than the original," said Todd Kent with the Good Housekeeping Research Institute. The Institute tested them with eight kids ranging from 10 to 13, and they all had different skateboard experience.
The $100 Wave made a big splash with testers. "This new skateboard is shaped like an hourglass and has two caster wheels and the kids have to balance on it and shimmy their feet back and forth to get it to propel forward," Kent said. He added, "They really liked the movement, but some of the beginners weren't able to pick it up that easy."
"It had really good turning and you could go really fast, but you couldn't go down ramps or do tricks with it," said one tester.
But testers didn't flip for the new Flowboard. From the top, the Flowboard looks like a traditional skateboard, but the bottom has seven arched wheels on each side. "We really thought the kids were going to like this, but when we were testing it, it turned out that they were slower and they had a harder time controlling it and steering it," Kent added.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission estimates about 26,000 people a year are sent to emergency rooms with skateboard injuries. Of those, about 60% of them are under the age of 15. So be sure your child always wears safety gear.
RELATED LINKS:Flowboard
http://www.flowlab.com/~flowlabc/osC2/index.php?cPath=29The Wave
http://www.streetsurfing.com
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