I remember the first time I seen Soap Shoes.  I was at the local Rollerblading arena called Skate City where all the kids love to hang out.  My friend Nick Krohn had a pair of the "Clean" Style navy blue Soap Shoes.  I was fascinated!  I got to try them for the first time at the age of 15.  The local shopping malls were charging 120 dollars a pair which was a lot of money in 1999.  My friend Tyler Dahl and I made our own pair out of some old "Simple" Skateboard shoes.  We got some plastic from the industrial park, cut out the center of the bottoms and screwed and glued the grind plates in.  Eventually I got some pairs of authentic Soaps along with some injuries.  The following series will go into detail about Aggressive Inline Skating on Halfpipe, Street and Skateparks, Skateboarding, Freestyle Walking with Soap Shoes and Heelys, Solomon and Rollerblading Grind Shoes, Parkour, Snowboarding and Footbag (hacky sack.)  I hope you enjoy as much as I do.

<h3>Here is the Extremely Rare T-Bone model with a sole grind plate down the middle as well.</h3>

http://i.imgsafe.org/45f9cd7e6f.jpg

<h3>This pair I got for my sweetheart @Arisa but I hope to find them in my size one day.  I check Ebay daily.</h3>

http://i.imgsafe.org/45fa70540d.jpg

A pair of "Clean" style Soap Shoes.  I am one of the only people in the world with new pairs of Soap Shoes left!  I have been getting 120-140 dollars on Ebay depending on the size.  Sometimes I give people a deal if it is a gift for a loved one or if they are an "Old School Skater."

http://i.imgsafe.org/44f5ff3c8a.jpg

http://i.imgsafe.org/44f6b9a199.jpg

http://i.imgsafe.org/44fb82e20c.jpg

http://i.imgsafe.org/44fb74839f.jpg

<h3>A Warning Sticker on the Grind Plates</h3>

http://i.imgsafe.org/44fba0d3c9.jpg

<h3>This is me at the age of 16 grinding down what we called "Hundred Step"</h3>

http://i.imgsafe.org/44b1a4b585.jpg

<h3>Ryan Jaunzemis, old school Freestyle Walker sponsored by Soap Shoes.  Caution, Filthy Language</h3>

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_w7pfWBY-Y

<h3>A brief History</h3>

Soap Shoes was founded in 1997 by Artemis Innovations after the peak of the Rollerblading craze.  They fell in 2002 due to legal implications.  People died wearing Soap Shoes.  Slipping on stairs or failed grinds.  I could have cracked my skull open once but walked away with a mere concussion.  They made them for little children which was probably a bad idea because most parents aren't responsible enough to make their children wear helmets when performing this extreme sport.  Heely's bought them out in 2003 and then discontinued adding the grind plates to their wheel shoes a few years later.

<h3> Some of the original box and shoe designs. One of the original slogans was "Play with Yourself."  =|</h3>

http://i.imgsafe.org/45cdca0dc7.jpg

Here is one of the most awesome pairs of shoe on the planet.  'Heely's Grind This' contains both wheels and grind plates!  You can hang onto the back of speeding cars or slide down rails with these sweet shoes.  These actually inspired me to make my own Shoe company someday (Skidaddlez) with advanced features such as you might expect on a pair of 007's spy gadget shoes.  I currently own about 20 pairs of Soap Shoes.  Many of them I acquired at a clearance sale for Skatehut UK.  I realized they were the only Ebay sellers and that I could corner the market so I cashed out some Bitcoins and bought 43 pairs for 13 dollars each on average with shipping.  I gave at least 12 pairs away to friends and family as gifts and sold a few.  The rest I keep for my extensive vintage fashion collection and to hand down to future generations.

http://i.imgsafe.org/45a3848029.jpg

So it feels funny to walk with wheels on the back of your shoes, and that you sound like a tap dancer when you are walking through the aisles of Walmart.  But the benefit is you don't have to walk!  You could roll at 20MPH from one end of the store to the other in 1 minute at full speed.  Or I step out of the front doors and can coast down 100 yards of the parking lot without taking a step.  These shoes will make your life complete.  Just be careful if you are hanging onto the back of cars! (Skitching)

https://rulluisutaja.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/skitching_greg.jpg

There is nobody else who can or will provide this content to preserve the history of this extreme sport.  I believe preserving history is like storing gold for future generations.  I choose to preserve it Exclusively on Steemit.  This post marks the beginning of Steemit's #Hard tag for Hardcore 4KHQ posts. Thank you for following me, friends.   I will be continuing this series very soon.  God bless you.

http://i.imgsafe.org/45b769ec9e.jpg