Click to read a brand new article in EARTHTIMES about BambooSK8.

http://www.earthtimes.org/green-blogs/eco-friendly-fashion/bamboo-skateboards-bamboosk8-02-Nov-11/

Oceanside, California (PR Buzz) October 7th, 2011: BambooSK8, a leading developer of eco-friendly bamboo skateboard decks, will be an impressionable exhibitor at the Sacred Craft surfboard expo at the Del Mar fairgrounds October 8-9^th.  The revolutionary companies bamboo longboards and skateboards are proof that progress is being made in the skate industry towards more eco-conscious business practices.  “The time is now to start making incremental changes in our industry and lead a new generation of responsible consumers,” say’s Geoff Koboldt, President of BambooSK8.

BambooSK8 will maintain an exciting booth in the “skate zone”, a section that will feature ramps, a longboarding slalom course, and tarp surfing. Along with surfboard shapers, designers, and manufacturers they will be spreading the word about how the surf and skate communities are becoming more eco-conscious and changing the paradigm. They will also be showcasing a range of longboards from the 31.5” locker cruizers to the 42” double-kick, as well as the new “Ride for Earth” skateboard deck, which plants a tree in Europe for every deck sold.  Forward-thinking products such as their wheels, made from 20% corn; which helps to displace the petroleum in traditional urethane wheel production, will also be seen on their completes.

Why skateboards at a surf expo?  Mark Olson, Operations Manager, at BambooSK8 explains, “Surf brands, such as Lost, are expanding into the skateboard market which is why one of the most impactful surf events, Sacred Craft Expo, has expanded this year into having a skate zone.  With us being a local and growing manufacturer of skateboards with a longboard division it is important to support our industry as it grows and progresses.” BambooSK8, like the surfboard manufacturers that will be present, is focused on being at the forefront of innovation and eco-friendly practices.

The Sacred Craft surfboard expo will feature over 150 booths, making it the largest consumer surfboard expo ever produced.  Another highlight will be during the Sustainable Craft Showcase, an area that is dedicated to the manufacture of surfboards using more environmentally friendly materials. Surfboard designer and futurist Carl Ekstrom will be honored at the event during the “Tribute to the Masters Shape-off” where six shapers chosen by Ekstrom compete to shape the best surfboard based on an original Ekstrom design. The event, which includes a lot of music, food, surfboard shaping and giveaways starts on Saturday at 10am and ends at 6pm while on Sunday it starts at 10am but only goes until 4pm. Follow BambooSK8 on twitter @bamboosk8 or Facebook @bamboosk8 for exciting opportunities to win special prizes at this monumental event – www.sacredcraftexpo.com

I will tell you my son has been skating for 5 years and we have been using element and girl boards cause they seemed to last the longest. Then we tried your boards. The bamboo boards out last these major brands and are half the price. All his friends have your boards now also. No problems with the regular boards very strong, they skate at kona skate park and are very aggresive, awsome boards. I don’t know what its gonna take to get your boards known like element or girl or dgk, but I belive you hjave a superior product for half the price, your company should take off. We will keep buying them! Thanks, Jason.

We have new bamboo decks in stock – check them out in the shop! We bring you the highest quality, best price decks in the market. Check out our fans page testimonials – www.bamboosk8.com/fans

Message recieved: March.08.2011 at 7:51:55::

Contact’s Name: Tyler K 

Location: Hampton

What size deck? 7.75

What style of skater are you (street, vert, pool, freestyle)? Street and Vert

How much do you weigh? 125 lbs

How was the POP in comparison to other decks? it was pretty nice

Did the POP help you get higher air for your tricks? yeah especially tre flips and lazer flips

How was the razer tail? it wont bad i had it for about 4 weeks before it even started to look a little bad

Did you experience any pressure cracks? none at all

How long did the deck last? i got it 4 months ago and am still using it

How was the performance overall? it was way better than my other decks id say its best one i have

 Would you give a thumbs up to these decks? If not, Why?  i would definitely give a thumbs up

 Will you be purchasing another BambooSK8 deck? yeah im planning to in about a week

 Where did you hear about BambooSK8? i saw a ad in a skate shop

Hey Geoff,

I got my son’s deck in the mail today.  I want to tell you that your vision is suburb.  Shit, I’m 35 and I’m even thinking about buying a deck from you and starting to skate again after 21 years, because I appreciate your mission so much (plus it’s hard to watch all these little 8-14 year olds in front of my house all the time having so much fun on their boards…oh the good ol’ days).  Anyway, I hope you singlehandedly change the entire industry and everyone moves to bamboo.  I also hope in your venture, your company ends up squarely on top, because you pioneered the path.  Put it this way, you have a client for life and I hope your business prospers so much that you no longer have time to sign your own letters and you’ll be so busy these emails will have to go to customerservice@bamboosk8.com (not that I don’t appreciate the personal touch!).  Thank you for what you do, keep manifesting your beliefs and prosperity will be yours.  Kudos!

Sincerely,

Jeremy

http://business.transworld.net/33170/features/catching-up-with-bamboo-sk8s-ron-stebenne/

Click to read an interview with Ron Stebenne of Oceanside, California BambooSK8 talking about the ecological benefits of bamboo as a superior choice for building skateboards.  Thank you transworld.

BambooSK8 contributed some charitable goods that went directly to the LAYN organization kids at the shelters and some stuff for the celebrity gift bags (if all went as planned) - check out www.layn.org for more on helping out kids who have been abandoned by their families and need hope.  We also gave 2 bamboo skate decks to Slash for his kids!! 

What a spectacular night of rock star celebrities coming all together to help out this wonderful cause.  Imagine if you can, Slash on guitar with Dave Navarro from Janes Addiction, Travis Barker of Blink 182 on drums, Duff from GnR/Velvet Revolver on bass, Ozzy Osbourne singing, Billy Idol singing, Chester from Linkin Park singing, Andrew from Wolfmother singing, Tom Morello on guitar, Perry Farrel of Janes Addiction singing, Steven Adler from Guns and Roses fame on drums, and many more…  a mixture of covers from Led Zepplin to Black Sabbath to Janes Addiction. Wow!  The event was hosted by George Lopez, who was incredibly funny.  I wish I could tell you all the hilarious dirty jokes he said, but this wouldn’t be the forum for that.  Another funny moment was when Slash’s wife and one of the kids was on stage asking people to text to LAYN to donate $10 and not too many people were dialing, so the kid grabs the mic and say’s, “start texting mother fr’s.”  The crowd just erupted in laughter and finally pulled out their phones.  The event was hosted at Avalon in Hollywood on Vine Street – across from Capitol Records building.  It started out with each of the celebrities doing the red carpet horse and poney show for all the TV cameras and other press before going in and rocking out.   I was fortunate to meet up again with some of my guitar heroes – Dave Navarro of Janes Addiction (who is never that friendly to strangers with his “I’m too cool for the world attitude”) and Tom Morello of Rage against the Machine (who is always super cool).  The silent auction involved a variety of items up for auction including a really great one in my opinion – Anthony Keidis donated his 4x gold Canadian (4 million copies) certification and autographed it.  It was a huge framed item that I believe only went for $600.  Other items included autographed guitars, bamboo stuff, vacations, etc.  Tickets for this event ranged from $85-500 for the VIP experience, with around 800+ tickets sold.  Thank you Fez for making it happen!!

So where do I begin when it comes to the music?  I’m a huge music fan…

I will start off by saying this – OZZY Osbourne takes it to mach 10 within 3 seconds of getting on the stage and the crowd just couldn’t keep up.  His pitch was still relatively well but its his passion that just wreaks havoc on the crowd considering his age and mental state (?) – he comes alive like a little kid with eyes that just possess you.  It was awesome!!   Billy Idol was rocking hard as the crowd chanted “Rebel Yell” – always great to see him; I hope he never lets that punk attitude die.  Watching the chemistry of Perry Farrell and Dave Navarro as they did “mountain song” and “jane says” was memorable, as it always is to see them connect again.  Andrew from Wolfmother – what a voice; enough said!  They covered Wolfmothers hit “woman”…which is so Led Zepplin but still so cool.  Chester from Lincoln Park – hits some high notes but not that impressed overall – granted, he just flew in from France, so I got to give him cred.  Tom Morello on guitar – who else can scratch a guitar with metal and make you hum along to it?  Always great to see Tom, who is incredibly upbeat and even watching him from the side of the stage – he was so into watching Billy Idol and Ozzy…feeling every bit of the emotions put out.  I can remember seeing Rage Against the Machine in 1992 with House of Pain in Detroit – I knew it wouldn’t be long before they took over the world.  I then attended about 7 more shows over the years until they split, then came back, then split, then came back.  Travis Barker – this dude is sick… he played 90% of the night with 110% – seriously, he’s one of the best drummers out there and always a super cool guy with no ego.  I had just saw Travis a few weeks back at the Tony Hawk charity event in Beverly Hills.  Duff from GnR fame… always keeping the groove locked down.  Even GnR’s Steven Adler came out to hit the skins as they covered “Paradise city”.

The night ended around 11:30 to all of the celeb’s being bombarded by paparazii outside of the venue… thankfully no one got hurt.

Great job Slash, LAYN, Fez, and others involved!!!!  May this money donated multiply in blessings for children in need.

Flea receives the SIMA Humanitarian of the Year Award from Tony Hawk and Izzy Paskowitz during Liquid Nation Ball 6, La Jolla California, September 11, 2009

I have been a fan of the Red Hot Chili Peppers for over 20 years… I’ve seen the Chili’s at least 10 times in my life and have met Anthony and Flea on different occasions in LA.  I can’t even describe what it’s like to be in their energy field other than an amazing sense of gratitude for the music they make and the love they spread through the world.  If you would have told me 20 years ago this band would sell millions of records – I would have said ”no way” despite being a huge fan.  If you grew up in the 80′s, then you would know how important this band was to skateboarding and how much they loved skateboarding. 

Anyhow, Flea says, “What i do is what you are suppose to do…be kind, love people, treat them fair, etc.”  We can all learn something from this humble individual we call Flea.  Nobody weird like me…

While we are at ASR, we ran into my old pal Preston who use to skate for me over at Grind King a while back… anyhow, my boy has a new show out that we want to help promote because we will be featured on it in the fall.

“PUSH” TV Promo Featuring: Preston Pollard (ASR Highlight Reel) from John Darko on Vimeo.

www.reachmagazinetv.com

www.pushtvshow.com

PUSH, hosted by Preston Pollard and co-host Stephany Rose, is an inspirational and entertaining new show with a truly cutting edge of culture, music, ministry, and extreme sports, including skateboarding, BMX, and motocross.

This Christian based show will showcase some of the biggest names in the professional skateboarding industry, such as Jeremy Rogers and Greg Lutzka, as well as feature the hottest artists that make up the popular Contemporary and Rock Community.

PUSH will revolutionize the extreme sports scene. Through “a day in the life” with the most popular pro figures, PUSH will give youth the opportunity to spend time with their role models, providing them the direction and inspiration needed to pursue dreams and use extreme sports as a healthy outlet. Giving back to the community, the PUSH crew will be giving presentations at middle schools and high schools, and be providing selected students with the tools needed to break into the skate or BMX scene, such as boards, bikes, helmets and overall inspiration.

The show will demonstrate how dedicated and passionate the featured skaters and bikers are about their sport and their art, and they will extend their stories, inspirations and steps for success to youth through a school involvement program. PUSH will provide viewers with the positive messaging that we all have a God given potential for greatness, and no matter the limit always PUSH for success.

Premiering Winter 2009, PUSH will air weekly to an audience of 10 million people worldwide on TBN/JCTV. Additionally, the show will air on DirecTV and Dish Network throughout Southern California.

I recently visited a local Venice school to speak to the students about life, business and bamboo…  The presentation was well received by the skaters and I will likely be returning to do some hands-on learning lessons about business. 

The goal will be to teach the students the entire process of starting a skateboard company from ordering product, handling logistics, quality control, how to market it, how to understand sales, understanding profit margins and income statements, balance sheets, etc. 

Who knows – one of these sharp studens might be leading the next hot skate brand…you just never know.

If you are interested in having BambooSK8 come speak at your school – by all means – let us know, we would be happy to contribute.

thanks,

Geoff Koboldt 

 Venice Ramp on Lincoln Blvd.

We want to thank Dr. Twede and the Michigan State University packaging department (PKG 485 class) for their assistance with designing a skateboard package with an environmental and cost-effective focus.  11 students spent this past semester working on the project; Geoff Koboldt (MSU graduate) first spoke to the class about sustainability and skateboarding in January and then Ron Stebenne came in for the final presentation at the end of April.  The 11 students got their special own bamboo skate deck with a “S” for Spartans and Michigan State University logo screened on.

Last month, BambooSK8 visited Shanghai, China to visit the worlds largest skatepark; over 150,000 sq. feet.  This park was insane to say the least… although we only saw maybe 6 skaters total; all of which were from other countries.  For the $3 to enter, it was well worth it… especially on a bamboo skate deck.

http://www.smpskatepark.com/mediaWorldsBiggest.htm

  Are you sure you have to go poo poo?

Thanks to George and his staff at Modern Skate and Surf in Michigan for putting out a great ad.  Growing up in Michigan, I was always a fan of Modern Skate and Surf who had a few shops around the state with great service and great prices.

http://www.modernskate.com/modernskate/