Well, that topic is a lie, I've had a sidewinder! But that was 15 years ago and it didn't really go anywhere(literally).

Now, I'll start off by saying I'm not really interested in this as a hobby(yet). My current main reason is the bus leaving me standing in the middle of nowhere quite often. As I'm starting to bear much more of a grudge against pretty much anyone that's supposed to get me from point a to b (except people that own cars) I decided to look for alternatives. My current commute consists of 10 minutes walking to the bus, 5-10 minutes in the bus to get to the subway station, then take the subway for 20 minutes to The Hague and then 15 minutes by tram followed by a 5 minute walk. The subway and trams leave every 10 minutes or so, the bus leaves every 30 minutes. On the way back the fun starts: "Oh, your tramdriver wasn't fast enough?! TOO BAD, I'M GONE!"; "WAITING THAT EXTRA MINUTE FOR THE SUBWAY THAT I CAN SEE? HELL NO, I'M LEAVING AND WAITING SOMEWHERE ELSE!". And as stupid as it sounds, this happens and cases similar to this have happened to me for 10 years.

Now, since I'm planning on getting transport that can go between 15-30km/h -> ~10-20mph I want to get something I can use in both areas. Since subway doesn't allow bicycles between 8 am and 7 pm that's out of the question. There's these folding bikes that are allowed but they seem to much of a hassle. So I considered skateboarding and through that I remembered snakeboarding. Basically for what I need it, a snakeboard would have a much nicer learning curve than a skateboard.

There's some stuff that concerns me though(and here's the very important bit):
I know americans have these huge slabs of concrete for sidewalks. Anyone that's been in the Netherlands knows we don't. In some cases the tiles are just tiny. With the sidewinder I've had issues even starting up on it(as I was totally not good at it back then and I had no clue about how to get better). I want to know, how well are the current day boards dealing with that? Will I faceplant myself at random over these small tiles; even after training?

Speaking of faceplants... in the Hague I have to cross tram tracks at least once, is there a significant chance I will trip over them?

Also, since I'm currently not interested in tricks and what not, is there a place where I can get a board configured for speed?

And last but not least, where can I buy a board? Are there any shops in europe? I tried flipside USA but they don't seem to respond.

Hi,

Check out DropInn Shop, they're a leading European supplier of streetboards, and they're based in Barcelona, Spain.

They'll either be able to supply you with a board, or refer you to your nearest retailer.

Here's their facebook page:

ca-es.facebook.com/people/Drop-Inn-Shop/1361506574

Thank you for that facebook page. But I was more looking for a visually low profile sttreetboard. The Cartel 56 seemed to have fit the bill but I can't seem to find it anywhere in europe. Anyone has any ideas?

I when buying my board checked ebay everyday (Search streetboards, Snakeboard, Pivotboard) and the occasional cartel would pop up now and again.

Highland streetboards seem to be out of business, but they can be found on Ebay, I think they're selling off their inventory there.

Are you sure Drop Inn Shop don't have any Highland boards?

Well, I found a german boardshop (www.streetboard-shop.com/) which actually did respond to my emails and enabled me to buy the board. One of the persons affiliated with that shop is also affiliated with this site but apparently never pays attention to it.

Anyway, I just came back from trying it out. While being able to accelerate a bit, my board gets instantly stopped by pretty much anything on the road. I'm currently waiting for bloody traffic to calm down as it almost looks like commute traffic right now, but I'd like to know what I should do against lumps in the road. Where should I put my weight in general not to be bothered by these kind of things?