The truck gods smiled down on the small truck company called Venture and threw them a bone. Eric Swenson and Fausto Vitello, the man behind Independent, had been working on an inexpensive truck that would be plain and simple (no anodized colors) but have the design qualities of a higher-priced truck. At the same time, skating was evolving at mutant speed, freestyle and vertical skating smashed together, and out of the big bang came street skating. While the established brands offered your standard-sized freestyle truck and vert truck, street skaters hungered for boards and trucks that met their needs. Venture released its first truck right when this all went down and became known for producing the first “street” truck. The simpler truck with a rougher appearance
perfectly mirrored street-skating’s attitude. “Right from the get-go, we geared toward the street team,” says Keith Cochrane, an original team rider who became co-owner and team manager a few months after Venture started. He also heads up domestic and international sales and continues to oversee development. “To keep the truck function so it can turn and keep it low was a difficult challenge.” Said Cochrane, but they did it, and in 1992 Venture released the Featherlight, the first low-profile truck specifically aimed at the street-skating market.
Venture charged out of the gate harder than any other truck company had before.”It did better than anybody expected,” Cochrane continues. “When it first started it was meant to be a low-end truck, a cheap truck, something affordable for kids.” Venture started so underground that the company didn’t even advertise. “It was a side project,” says Cochrane. “At first it had no thrust behind it, no advertising, just an economical truck.” But even a lack of marketing couldn’t stop the kids from noticing. Venture scored a major coup when Mark Gonzales decided to ride for them. It’s a big deal when arguably the most popular street skater in the world is riding for a price point truck company. If Venture’s street reputation wasn’t locked in yet, Gonz’s first Venture ad, when the company did finally start advertising, cemented it. – Transworld Skateboarding –
Fast forward 30 years and Venture Trucks is still a staple in skate shops world wide! Venture has been through waves of changes and team riders, but they have always held true to the street scene and will forever be iconic in the skate world. Here’s to another 30 years guys!!
