BA left a used Fists board with massive Indy stickers (that totally made it look like a pro’s board) on the parking lot outside the arena where the Grand Prix was in 98, everybody just stared at that board wondering what to do so I picked it up as I imagined he had left it there for kids like me (he confirmed doing that in a recent interview). That thing was the Holy Grail to me, I never even considered skating it, just wanted to keep it forever. Left it at my mum’s, asked for it years later and she said she had chucked it away as she thought it was - literally - rubbish. I understand how it looked like that to her especially as I hadn’t touched it but I did die a little inside.
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They were £9.99 each for unpainted or £10.99 each for painted Ventures when I first bought some.
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That’s how I remember them too.
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I haven’t bought a complete in years but in my head it’s still just under 100 quid
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We’re all old as fuck 
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Decks seem to have only gone uo a fiver in about 40 years mind.
Did anyone actually go to the shop in person?
Because they also sold guns, it was a 18+ shop. I remember having to nag my Mom to come with me to be able to get inside!
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Those DAI adverts man - wasn’t it originally called ‘Direct Army Imports’?
EDIT: Just looked on their website - still mental that they ran half page ads in UK mags for decades.
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multiple times. My dad loved going there - he just wandered off and spent the time looking at guns
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I bought a Christmas complete in France for bearings and hardware free was still north of 200euro
Obviously those prices above would get some kind of discount if you went hunting for a shop that does some kind of deal online for a complete, or in-store.
When I moved to Australia in 2006, I bought a full christmas complete after leaving my board on a train and paid around $300 for complete without swiss or other fussiness, so not exactly equivalent.
I’m going to guesstimate that adding swiss to that complete and other premiums would have made that a touch closer to $400. Based on that, I’m going to say there’s been around a 25-30% increase in the price of a complete in the last 18 years
Hollow bolts? Didn’t know they were a thing
Think it’s only Ace doing them.
One of the great things about skateboarding then and now is that it’s be the same level/quality a pro would use.
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Swiss at £45 are sale rail price too, I think retail is £60? I paid £45 for my sets of Swiss ten years back which I’m still using. Been skating the same set of F4’s for around 2 years, they won’t die. For the amount of fun I’ve had with them, that’s amazing VFM.
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I distinctly remember going into my local skate shop Christmas 2001 to get my first set up and the guy pricing it up and was like, ‘that’ll be £205 - we can knock off £5’. My dad was just like, not a chance.
Ended up getting one from Rollersnakes £100 cheaper. Always support your local and all that
I remember me and my group of friends getting their first proper £150 completes 2001/2002 ish.
£60 board - exclusively world/blind/flip/zero
£40 trucks - tensors/grind king/destructo
£35 wheels - pig/spitfire
£15 bearings. - shop abec 7’s still waiting for abec 13’s to be released……
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Pretty sure it was 1988 when I spent £128 of birthday and Christmas and paper round money on a Santa Cruz Corey O’Brien, Gullwings, Slimeballs and NMB bearings. Felt like all the money in the world at the time.
