What's new

Today, I did something for the first time in 15 years. [Skateboarding discussion]

STORMS

Co-founder
Founder
Premium Supporter
When I was younger I used to ride fairly tight trucks, to the point where I would generally swap out my stock bushings for the harder ones from shortys or bones. Now I ride my trucks a bit looser, generally almost as loose as they come right off the shelf (usually a quarter to a half turn tighter than stock on my independent trucks with stock bushings/washers at most). I know a ton of guys, particularly guys who are more into transition/park riding and less into flatground pop/flip tricks that ride their trucks crazy loose and love it that way. Truck tightness is really a personal preference thing as you can even see at the pro level where you have guys like Nyjah who ride fairly tight trucks and then guys like daewon who has his front truck so loose I am pretty sure it does not even have a top bushing (not joking).
Once I get my new board I'll try riding with tighter trucks, then break them in looser as I go.
 

Matix218

Get over here!
Once I get my new board I'll try riding with tighter trucks, then break them in looser as I go.
Be careful not to overtighten your trucks when they are new and the bushings are not broken in. It can cause cracking or the washers can cut into the bushing. Id do no more than 1 full turn of the kingpin nut to start, or even try riding them as they are from the factory first and only tighten if they feel unstable. Generally looser trucks are considered a better way to learn to control your board so I would not go straight to "tight" right off the bat.
 

STORMS

Co-founder
Founder
Premium Supporter
Be careful not to overtighten your trucks when they are new and the bushings are not broken in. It can cause cracking or the washers can cut into the bushing. Id do no more than 1 full turn of the kingpin nut to start, or even try riding them as they are from the factory first and only tighten if they feel unstable. Generally looser trucks are considered a better way to learn to control your board so I would not go straight to "tight" right off the bat.
Thank you... I'm having it professionally assembled so I may even not mess with it when I get it.

Thanks for that tip!
 

STORMS

Co-founder
Founder
Premium Supporter
That’s sick man, seeing this is getting me to start again and work on my fakies!
Awesome! Remind me... what is a fakie? I remember the name, just not what it is.

Today was my second day at this park. I took a few days off from work.... and it was nice out, so naturally my son and I went again! :)
 

STORMS

Co-founder
Founder
Premium Supporter
Fakie is riding backwards
Ah, gotcha. I practiced that in my earlier years.... it'll be a while till I'm there again.

My main interest is getting my ollie back and better than ever... and then transitioning that into my kickflip.

My dream move to land, especially riding... 360 kickflip. Though I heard someone call it a "Trio" or "Tri" flip today.
 

Matix218

Get over here!
Ah, gotcha. I practiced that in my earlier years.... it'll be a while till I'm there again.

My main interest is getting my ollie back and better than ever... and then transitioning that into my kickflip.

My dream move to land, especially riding... 360 kickflip. Though I heard someone call it a "Trio" or "Tri" flip today.
Usually people just call it a 360 flip or a "tre flip". Very fun trick. Get those ollies, kickflips and shove-its back, throw in some varial flip (180 flip) practice and in no time you will work your way up to 360 flips! (Well not "no time" but it is certainly an attainable trick lol)
 

STORMS

Co-founder
Founder
Premium Supporter
Usually people just call it a 360 flip or a "tre flip". Very fun trick. Get those ollies, kickflips and shove-its back, throw in some varial flip (180 flip) practice and in no time you will work your way up to 360 flips! (Well not "no time" but it is certainly an attainable trick lol)
Excellent advice... I miss doing pop-shoveits...
 

STORMS

Co-founder
Founder
Premium Supporter
@Matix218 question... say there's a move that you really wanna get down (kickflip) but you also just wanna ride the park and get used to dropping in and maybe even grinding...

Would you recommend maybe even a day of just riding and grinding and even some ollies to get used to the motion... then once that's feeling comfortable, incorporate kickflips? I just don;t wanna frustrate myself and go nuts over the kickflips. Granted, I finally know how to properly do a kickflip... just gotta get the muscle-memory going again..

Suggestions?
 

Matix218

Get over here!
@Matix218 question... say there's a move that you really wanna get down (kickflip) but you also just wanna ride the park and get used to dropping in and maybe even grinding...

Would you recommend maybe even a day of just riding and grinding and even some ollies to get used to the motion... then once that's feeling comfortable, incorporate kickflips? I just don;t wanna frustrate myself and go nuts over the kickflips. Granted, I finally know how to properly do a kickflip... just gotta get the muscle-memory going again..

Suggestions?
In my opinion the best thing to do is spend some of your park riding time riding the park and then dedicate a little bit of time to practicing flat ground tricks you are working on. If your ollies are not yet smooth and consistent that is 100% the flatground trick you want to work on most before dedicating a ton of time to tricks where your feet leave the board (kickflips, heelflips, etc.) My advice on ollie practice (I am assuming you know how to ollie on a basic level with regards to snap the tail, slide front foot, jump etc) is to work on getting ollies at a decent height (6-10 inches) very consistent and smooth, then start putting a small obstacle (a skateboard on its side or something) in the mix and get super consistent ollieing over that. Then work on ollieing onto small obsitcales in the park like a low box/manual pad. I would really only start focusing on flip tricks when you have your ollies suuuper comfortable and consistent. If you are already at that point with ollies by all means devote some of your park time to working on kickflips. IMO kickflips can be easier to learn standing still at first on a softer surface thst allows the board to stay more still (like a basement rug for example) just so you can work on the mechanics of the trick while not having to be rolling and riding
 

STORMS

Co-founder
Founder
Premium Supporter
In my opinion the best thing to do is spend some of your park riding time riding the park and then dedicate a little bit of time to practicing flat ground tricks you are working on. If your ollies are not yet smooth and consistent that is 100% the flatground trick you want to work on most before dedicating a ton of time to tricks where your feet leave the board (kickflips, heelflips, etc.) My advice on ollie practice (I am assuming you know how to ollie on a basic level with regards to snap the tail, slide front foot, jump etc) is to work on getting ollies at a decent height (6-10 inches) very consistent and smooth, then start putting a small obstacle (a skateboard on its side or something) in the mix and get super consistent ollieing over that. Then work on ollieing onto small obsitcales in the park like a low box/manual pad. I would really only start focusing on flip tricks when you have your ollies suuuper comfortable and consistent. If you are already at that point with ollies by all means devote some of your park time to working on kickflips. IMO kickflips can be easier to learn standing still at first on a softer surface thst allows the board to stay more still (like a basement rug for example) just so you can work on the mechanics of the trick while not having to be rolling and riding
I love that advice... and good idea. My ollies definitely still need work as I often lose my balance landing...

Thank you so much for that.. I'll focus on just riding and ollies for now.