First introduced in 1959, the Roller Derby skateboard

Skateboard

A skateboard is typically a specially designed plywood board combined with a polyurethane coating used for making smoother slides and stronger durability, used primarily for the activity of skateboarding. The first skateboards to reach public notice came out of the surfing craze of the early 1960s,...

 was the first mass-produced skateboard. It was basically a one-tip wooden plank with modified roller skates

Roller skates

Roller skates are devices worn on the feet to enable the wearer to roll along on wheels. A first basic type of roller skate consists of a boot with four wheels with ball bearings, arranged in the same configuration as the wheels of a typical car.-History:...

 attached to it. Completely lacking features which nowadays are common for skateboards, the Roller Derby had no concave or even kicktail

Kicktail

Kicktails are the upwards bent tips of a skateboard deck, today considered vital to a skateboard. The front kicktail is usually called the nose while the back kicktail is referred to as the tail. Kicktails are nowadays key to maneuvering the board, especially in street skating.-History:As the name...

s, not to mention grip tape

Grip tape

Grip tape is an adhesive backed friction-surfaced material usually attached to the deck of a skateboard or longboard to give the rider more friction to control the board. It is sometimes used decoratively, since it can come in many different styles and colors. The most common type of grip tape is a...

, and like all early skateboards, it featured steel

Steel

Steel is an alloy that consists mostly of iron and has a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight, depending on the grade. Carbon is the most common alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used, such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten...

wheels which offered little to no grip on most riding surfaces.