What's an Alterskate?

An alternative way to skate

If you were lucky enough to own an Alterskate in the 1990s you'll instantly recognize the smooth swivel board motion that allows you to propel yourself uphill and carve on the way down. Alterskates were popular in San Diego in the early 90s, but were never made widely available. The 25 year old board has been redesigned and significantly improved. Thanks to support form the Alterskate community, manufacturing restarted in 2019 with funds from a successful Kickstarter campaign.

What's an Alterskate?

Alterskating is an alternative board sport that uses trucks attached to rotating disks instead of traditional fixed skateboard trucks. The board is propelled by a smooth snake-like swivel motion. Your feet mount on disks that rotate with the trucks and wheels. Since you can propel yourself forward by the alternating swivel motion on the disks, there's no need to bring your feet off the board to push -- they stay planted on the disks for steering and control. The skyhooks extend over your toes, allowing you to jump and pull the board into the air.

Alterskates cruise smoothly on flat surfaces, but also ride great at skateparks, on hills, or anywhere else with decent pavement. It's a versatile board that you can ride uphill to your friend's house, jump off ramps, grind rails, then carve the hill home. Check out the video for inspiration.

Customization - Make your Alterskate your own

Board customization has always been part of the Alterskate culture. The board comes looking good and ready to ride right out of the box, but feel free paint your board a different color, add custom artwork, change the wheels, or experiment with other modifications. If you goof and need to replace something, we'll get you riding again with spare parts from the Alterskate garage.

Customized Alterskate boards
Customized Alterskate boards