Head on over to Mike Vallely's Street Plant brand site and read Kyle Duvall's interesting account on 25 Years of the Barnyard. Here's an excerpt:
25 years ago, World Industries released the Mike Vallely Barnyard “double kick” deck. It was the first professionally endorsed symmetrically shaped deck, and the first to rattle street skaters out of resigned complacency with scaled-down vert shapes. Designed by Rodney Mullen, bankrolled by Steve Rocco and ridden in a legendary video edit by Mike Vallely, the Barnyard is the universally acknowledged forerunner of the modern, elliptical “popsicle stick” shape, and one of the most important deck designs in the history of skateboarding.
"In 1989 skateboarding was changing faster than even skaters knew it. Street skating was well into developing its own complicated vocabulary of tricks and styles and, in the parking lots of America, concepts from freestyle like shove-its, kickflips, and varial-flips were fully infiltrating the repertoire of the average skater. 180-no complies and step-off shove-its were mandatory. In the elite ranks, skaters were probing a whole new frontier of nollie variations and even basic switch skating. Despite all of this, the boards everyone was riding were still based on the curvy, square-tailed, noseless paradigm of the mid 80’s vert stick. Boards were shaped to move in one direction, and any extension to the deck that went beyond the edge of the front base plate was largely considered a waste of 7-ply maple.
"By 1989, it was obvious that skaters needed a board like the Mike Vallely Barnyard “double kick” model, but most were too afraid to admit it...
Read the rest over on Street Plant.
It was enlightening to read this post especially Duvall's take on the historical role of the innovative Barnyard deck. Of all the decks I skated during the late 80's, my beloved Barnyard was the one I kept. And I can certainly look back in hindsight to note that it was the deck that triggered a growth spurt in me as a street skater. The double tailed deck opened up new realms of possibilities for me as I pushed my own previous limitation. Now I'm thrilled to know that I have a piece of history that will allow me to recall my former days as a skateboarder with much fondness.
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