Remember when those Razor scooters from Sharper Image were all the rage? I do. They got thousands of people to shell out $100 for a two wheeled metal scooter. Nowadays, you can pick one up for $20. With one of their newest products, the RipStik Caster Board, it’s pretty clear that Sharper Image is trying to reproduce the success of those Razor scooters. To do this, they’re combining surfing and snowboarding onto a board with only two wheels.

I’m going to explain what this thing does with a nice little equation:
(surfing + snowboarding) + wheels (I’m not quite sure what it equals though, maybe fun?).

It can also make 360-degree turns quickly and smoothly. I can do that on my bike, scooter, rollerblades, skateboard. . . but I guess they consider it a major selling point. The only really interesting feature of this board is how you move — by subtly moving back and forth to propel it, supposedly up hills even. This can be done because of the flexible rear panels, which are controlled by a spring-oriented bar located on the top of the wheels. Just wondering, does anybody actually understand what that means, or are they just trying to make it sound fancier than it really is in order to convince people to shell out $100 for it? I’m no expert, but that seems a bit high pricewise for something that seems to be exactly like a skateboard or scooter, only with that minor movement difference. Oh, wait, it’s not expensive at all, it comes with a instructional DVD; that explains it all!

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