It’s a frequent and reasonable question asked in the freestyle world. The short answer to this question is ‘yes’; the real question is ‘should you?’
Having skated freestyle on a popsicle board for most of my life I can attest to the benefits and hindrances of a popsicle-shaped board.
For me the benefits are the opportunity to create a unique style, invent new tricks (Kangaroo Flip) and skate a more unorthodox setup to many freestylers around the world.
I have had to make small modifications in which I downsize my trucks and buy offset wheels so that in rail stand I still have the stability to make rail flips, coco wheelies and primo slides possible.
The hindrances are in plain sight. Popsicles weren’t made with the thought of freestyle tricks in mind, limiting the variety of tricks being made possible (or at the very least making some tricks ten times more difficult than need be). Without the right skid plates you’ll also find razor tail being a big issue. In my peak I was running through a board a month; compare that to most freestyle setups protected with skids—most last several months.
For skaters transitioning from street and dabbling in freestyle, adding offset wheels to their street setup might be beneficial though. It’s a smoother transition before going all out with a freestyle complete as it does take a bit to adjust to the smaller, shaped platform. With meet-ups like MelbourneFreestyleSkaters and scenes popping up in Sydney, Adelaide and Perth, going to a session with locals is the best way to dip your toes in the water and try your hand on a freestyle setup.
Another downside to skating freestyle on a popsicle board is that established street companies see skaters trying a freestyle trick or two on their popsicle boards and then don’t feel the need to make or stock freestyle boards/setups. Where possible, it’s worth supporting freestyle companies that would be open to expanding their market.
It goes without saying yet I’ll say it anyway—there are so many freestyle companies creating shapes tailored for freestyle tricks. But for most skaters hailing from Australia the issue is more about accessibility.
We are quite literally on the other side of the world from all of the freestyle companies. For the past fifty years there has never been that accessibility Down Under, forcing those who are interested to either pay extraordinary prices for shipping or frankensteining a street board to tailor to their freestyle needs.
Boards made for freestyle skateboarders by freestyle skateboarders
Here’s our current list of freestyle skateboard companies, established and freshly formed:
With freestyle’s recent growth in the modern era and having riders who lived through the nineties/Y2K starting their own companies, I think it’s important to support brands that are producing quality freestyle products and that are freestyle-skater-owned. These are the skaters who have lived through freestyle’s death and rebirth, stuck it out through those dark times and are now are giving back by putting out more product than ever before.
In saying that, having the means to purchase a freestyle setup from overseas is tricky for most. Aikenheads skateboards in Perth frequently stock Waltz and, as far as I’m aware, are currently the only skate shop stocking freestyle gear in Aus. Maple Road Skateboards (also located in Perth) are currently working on a prototype of their own in-house freestyle deck so hopefully the wait isn’t too much longer for us Aussies to have our own freestyle gear to represent down here.