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Skate or die !

  
 
Jack Denfeld
19:31 / 24.04.06

So, I'm thinking about getting a skateboard. I think a skateboard would work better than a bike in my area, and combined with the bus will work wonders for my travelling. My little brother and sister are great skaters, and can do all kinds of neat jumps and stuff, but I'm a newbie. Last one I had was like this skinny yellow made by nerf deal back when I was 5.

So any suggestions on a starter board? How much am I looking at cost wise? Also, a lot of people have skateboards in my area it seems, and I've noticed that a few of them sound really fucking rough travelling down the roads, while others sound a lot smoother. Am I looking for a particualr kind of wheel for this smoother sound?

Any advice and/or links would be great.
 
 
ibis the being
19:38 / 24.04.06
Yay, skateboarding! Unfortunately all my skateboarding knowledge is dated by almost 15 years now. I can tell you that you WILL need to learn how to ollie to be able to get around on a board, unless you want to keep jumping off your board and carrying it every time you reach a curb. I would also say, go for bigger wheels for added stability and smoothness (but not too big or you lose dexterity), and tight trucks, again for stability (but loosen them for more flexibility once you're comfortable on the board). A good starter ran $100 when I skated, but again that was in, like, 1992, so who knows now.

I guess I'm not very helpful but I just wanted to add my hurrahs. I sucked badly at it but I loved skateboarding!
 
 
Jack Denfeld
19:42 / 24.04.06
I can tell you that you WILL need to learn how to ollie to be able to get around on a board, unless you want to keep jumping off your board and carrying it every time you reach a curb.
Yeah, I heard this was the basic trick where everything else comes from. Trying to figure it out in my head, I thought that you kinda shifted your weight and jumped and the board would come with you, but upon further investigation I've heard that you actually need to have the back of your board hit the ground to help you pop up?
 
 
Jack Denfeld
19:43 / 24.04.06
unless you want to keep jumping off your board and carrying it every time you reach a curb.
I have noticed groups of kids who seem to be walking for blocks just carrying their boards, and I don't wanna be in their gang.
 
 
Spaniel
19:50 / 24.04.06
I don't know a whole lot about skateboarding - I managed to miss the craze that gripped most of my friends - but aren't longboards the best for getting around?
 
 
ibis the being
19:51 / 24.04.06
Yeah, probably someone can explain this better than me but the gist of it is you stomp on the tail with your back foot and with your front foot you bring the nose down a little. It's not easy, particularly to get the timing right. In the beginning it's common for either the board to just slap-slap tail and nose on the pavement like a see-saw, or the board shooting out in front of you, hopefully not into traffic.

In the early 90s, it seemed to me that skateboarding got so obsessed with labels and having the "right" gear that the fun of the sport got totally lost. Like if you had an uncool brand of trucks (!) you were obviously a poser and had no right to skate. Hopefully it's not like that anymore. But I did always enjoy looking through deck designs - I was partial to alien workshop and ed templeton's (toy machine) decks just for the artwork. Here's one of each, respectively.



  
 
Suedey! SHOT FOR MEAT!
19:55 / 24.04.06
Yes! Jack! Denfield the skater king!

Anyway, you can probably get a pretty standard set up for around, ooooh, £80 say? Somewhere round that, probably cheaper if you look around. That'll basically give you everything you need. It's not like you need fancy graphics on yr board, or that yr gonna know what sort of trucks/wheels you prefer. So start of simple, see how it goes.

Most skate shops should offer something like that, I think. Plain decks with yr average truck/wheel combo.

Basically, if you want to use it for getting round easier, you probably want some larger/softer wheels. Yr based in England, right? Cos we're not known for our large stretches of smooth tarmacs, and there's cracks in the pavement, most of the paving is pretty rough and scraggly (although also the cracks can be a lot of fun, as you can skate down a street at speed, and bump the nose off the cracks in the paving stones and do tiny [and not so tiny] nollies). If you have bigger wheels too, it'll be easier to just bump yr board up curbs rather than having to ollie at all.

People often have smaller wheels because they're better for technical tricks and the like. I never had big soft wheels at all, you can learn to get round pretty easily - although there's simply some surfaces you couldn't really skate on if you went this route. But I've tried doing kickflips on board with giant wheels, and well, it's just too much effort! And to be honest, it's quite nice to struggle against the ground a little bit when yr getting around. You can really feel the ground beneath you, y'know? But big soft wheels and large decks tend to absorb all the feeling from you, which can be good for a different thing, but I liked the feeling of having to know the terrain - as it were - to get around well.

I'm just off out, but I always enjoy getting nostalgic talking about this so I shall return! I skated for quite a few years, but it's been at least 4 or maybe 5 since I did it regularly. I went out for a skate with a friend the other day, and ended up clutching my back like an old man. It is also possibly the worst exercise for the human body (it's all jolts and shocks in completely the wrong areas)... but it is exercise.
 
 
Elijah, Freelance Rabbi
19:56 / 24.04.06
Around the campus where I work the larger "banana boards" are insanely popular this semester. You don't need tricks to get around here though, the Americans with Disabilities act means there are ramps in every curb where a person could likely want to walk. This is good, because trying to olly on a bigger board would be a pain.
 
 
Suedey! SHOT FOR MEAT!
20:01 / 24.04.06
Ed Templeton is totally an amazing artist, and totally one of the people who has inspired me! God, I'd be such a different person if I'd never skated. It actually scares me.

To ollie, you basically need to pop the tail and keep control. If you just hit the tail of a board - not even when yr standing on it, say - just to see... you hit the tail and it'll come off the ground, right? The sound it makes is the pop. It'll become really obvious when you get it right then, the cleaner the sound, the more likely it is it's gonna work.

When yr on it, you need to pop the tail while staying above it. So you pop and jump from yr back foot, while scraping yr foot up the board (you will destroy many shoes) to guide the board up, and eventually to level it out hopefully.

It's not easy, and it can take some learning... but everyone manages to in the end, it seems. I'd also reccomend learning pop shove its... not just because they are the only trick I can still do comfortably, but because they're pretty easy too. I'll explain them later!

I almost want to go skating again...
 
 
---
20:02 / 24.04.06
I thought that you kinda shifted your weight and jumped and the board would come with you, but upon further investigation I've heard that you actually need to have the back of your board hit the ground to help you pop up?

I learned a bit when I was hanging around with someone who was pretty good at it, and ended up being able to do a kickflip and an ollie. (kickflip from standing still though, I couldn't do it whilst moving.)

One way to ollie :

When moving, start putting your wieght onto your back foot and hop, or jump, using your back foot. At the same time you're doing this, raise your front foot and allow the front of the board to rise with it, then :

Just as the board has risen and you've finished your hop/jump from the back foot, start lifting the back foot up and the energy will be transferred to your front foot which is now guiding the board through the air and lifting the back of the board up as your back foot rises. All you have to do from this point is lift your rear foot as high as your front one and get them both level. The front foot is now lifting the rear of the board just by resting on it, upto your rear foot. You then relax both feet and the board should be with you, (if you've done it right.) and you then have to land the board. The way I did it was to make sure that my wieght was balanced out over both feet and that I was gently hitting the ground. I think that as you get more experienced, you can hit harder or whatever.

It's not as hard as it sounds, but it took more words than I thought it would to explain.
 
 
Jack Denfeld
20:05 / 24.04.06
Great replies everyone! We'll get you people to come out of skate retirement yet and form the Barbelith Skate Club.
 
 
Spaniel
20:06 / 24.04.06
That way lies danger.
A few years ago I watched a bunch of pissed mates - ex-skaters to a man (and some of them quite talented back in the day) - borrow some skateboards and proceed to "negotiate" our local half pipe.
It was messy.
 
 
Keith, like a scientist
20:09 / 24.04.06
You can get your board to make music now, too.
 
 
---
20:10 / 24.04.06
...beaten to it.

So you pop and jump from yr back foot, while scraping yr foot up the board (you will destroy many shoes)

Hahah! Yeah I remember wearing down the trainers I had at the time. This is one thing that I failed to add aswell : your front foot goes from wherever it is and gently moves to the front edge on a side. So you're resting the outer edge of your front foot on the board, then as you get the front foot back from the edge at the height of your jump, it gently (remember the gently.) helps to position the board ready for landing.

Good luck!
 
 
assayudin
21:05 / 24.04.06
Longboards. Great for cruising. Not so much for tricks though.
 
 
Tuna Ghost: Pratt knot hero
21:25 / 24.04.06
I'd also reccomend learning pop shove its... not just because they are the only trick I can still do comfortably,...

Same here.

...but because they're pretty easy too

Yeah, and they look sweet. Always was one of my favorites (not just because I was never that great a skater and couldn't reliably land anything much more complicated).
 
 
P. Horus Rhacoid
00:18 / 25.04.06
I've been thinking about getting a board for transportation purposes for awhile and you may have inspired me to actually do it this summer. I don't ever have particularly far to go so a bike (with the necessary locking etc) isn't always the most convenient mode of transport. Let us know what you end up getting, Jack, it might inform my decision.

One thing you might try (though I know nothing about brands etc)- one of my friends was able to buy all the necessary parts separately on eBay and assemble the thing himself. It ended up being pretty cheap and the board itself worked well.
 
 
Suedey! SHOT FOR MEAT!
17:21 / 25.04.06
Pssst, let me show you a secret...



Young Suedey! Just to remind me to come back to this thread...
 
 
Jack Denfeld
17:24 / 25.04.06
Holy crap, is that like a world record ollie?
 
 
Jack Denfeld
17:27 / 25.04.06
Ok, looks like I'm getting one this weekend if not sooner (even though they're gonna laugh at me at the counter cuz I don't know what I'm doing). Was thinking I'd try practicing at night in a big parking lot and try to get the ollie down.

Question. How should I first start doing the ollie? Just standing still on the board, or while it's moving?
 
 
m
17:30 / 25.04.06
One thing that you will definitely need if you're going to start skating (and especially if you are over 25): Access to affordable health care!
 
 
Suedey! SHOT FOR MEAT!
17:37 / 25.04.06
That's a pop shove it! Ah, good times... good times.

I'd say start trying to work out the movement of an ollie standing still - that's how I did it. It's quite different when yr moving (especially getting used to doing it quite fast) but it will definitely help to have that knowledge of actually getting the board off the ground before zooming about trying it.

I'd say learning to push and carve round smoothly should be yr top priority to begin. It all helps! Just roll around, and well, the key thing - enjoy it! I do quite miss those days, sometimes. Hanging out on the street just isn't what it used to be in my day.

Oh lordy.
 
 
Jack Denfeld
17:42 / 25.04.06

Ah man, I'm getting anxious. I can see the stuff you guys were talking about in this pic, how his feet move and stuff. I can't wait!
 
 
Suedey! SHOT FOR MEAT!
12:49 / 26.04.06
Ok, the pop shove it!

It might be an idea to start with a simple shove it, no pop. Basically you want the board to spin 180 degrees while you jump over it. You can just try the motion out and jump away from the actual board to see how to do it. Ideally you position your foot on the side edge of the tail, to just spin it. Give it a little kick, watch it spin. Try it out a few times. Yr just kicking the board round, basically.

The pop shove it is a different sort of beast. For a really good one, I'd reccomend popping the board from the nose (nose is generally bigger - more pop) and seeing as it spins round it means yr all set to carry on a regular run. So, position your back foot on the nose. Right on the tip, in the middle. I tend to have my front foot (I'm regular, left foot forward) pointed straight ahead and a bit to the left side of my board. It's just easier to get it off the board out of the way. Basically, you pop and jump. You need to pop to spin the board, so it's like a kicking motion. (If yr regular) Your back foot goes to your left, kicking behind you, your left foot right off the board and hover over it to catch it while it spins. It's not much of a kick or anything - more like a flick. The momentum will carry it round. Ideally your front foot will be over the board as it spins, almost like a guide. Also, it's good to have your back foot come round and catch it part way through the spin and catch it, and stomp it down. I've seen people do pretty flat pop shove its, this way is just cooler really. It's just a style thing - having the trick/board coming up in to your feet, rather than looking like the trick happens then you come down on top of it. Plus - when you learn a trick - then is the time to learn how to do it BETTER.


360 flips and shove it flips* both actually work on pretty similar principles to the pop shove it - just with more kick, and your front foot really only has to flick the board as it raises to give it the flip it needs with that momentum.

*When I was skating these got derided for yeeears as an ugly trick! I noticed they had totally come back just before I stopped skating. As with most tricks, it's how you do 'em...

People I reccomend you seek out and watch skate parts by - for inspiration = Geoff Rowley, Tom Penny, Ed Templeton, Ethan Fowler, Brad Staba, Jim Greco, Andrew Reynolds, Eric Koston, Mike Carrol, hell, even Jason Lee... oooh, there's lots. I don't even know who the new cool kids and amazing child wonders are. But you can't really go wrong with any of them.
 
 
Suedey! SHOT FOR MEAT!
13:02 / 26.04.06
Here's an example for you.

Don't land it like that guy, though! Sheesh. I could have done it better than that.

Well, once.
 
 
Char Aina
17:23 / 26.04.06
shovit down curbs, ollie up themto practise.
you'll be throwin' down hammers in no time!

the smoothness is, as has been said, mostly in the wheels.
get nice big wheels, around 50-60, and you'll be schmoove crusing in no time.
big wheels are also faster.


i also like a deck with spacers, also called risers, under my trucks.
they absorb some shock and some of the clackity noise, giving the board a feel i prefer.
be aware they do add some height, something some folks hate.

i found a way of telling which way round the board is handy as well.
most of my boards have had a slightly different nose and tail, and as you get better you do notice the difference.
 
 
Char Aina
23:56 / 29.04.06
earlier advice
 
 
Suedey! SHOT FOR MEAT!
00:40 / 30.04.06
50 isn't big for wheels! At all!
 
 
Char Aina
00:55 / 30.04.06
it's big enough to roll smooth without going all crazy old school kryptonic barrel style, though.
its the sixty end of teh fifty-sixty i prefer.

did you ever see the tiny wheel frekas on your spots?
i remember there was a boom, but they still creep about.
 
 
Suedey! SHOT FOR MEAT!
01:02 / 30.04.06
Whoa, I don't know if it's big enough to roll around where I live comfortably... or smooth! Well, the fifty end. That's where I (used to) reside.

Do you live in England? Just because I have skated in both England and America and there is such a difference, surface wise.
 
 
Char Aina
06:30 / 30.04.06
scotland.
glasgow is at the same time one of the best and one of the worst cities to skate.
i reckon part of the reason john rattray is such a good hell-for-leather skater is the scottish terrain; it forces you to become a terrain master.

dude, i can see cracks in a pavement from about three hundred yards.
 
 
Suedey! SHOT FOR MEAT!
09:54 / 30.04.06
A-ha! Well then, I know what that's like...

John Rattray! He's totally ace. Does he still skate for Zero? I remember his excellent parts in the Blueprint vids.
 
 
P. Horus Rhacoid
01:05 / 03.05.06
Searching around ebay I've found this and several similar items from the same seller. It's also easy enough to buy a deck seperately, and everything else (trucks etc) in a package, though that's the more expensive option. So apparently alien workshop decks are solid (inasmuch as they've been named in this thread) plus their art is sweet, but what about the trucks/wheels/etc included? I know absolutely fuckall about those and I've seen a couple complaints in the feedback about the wheels etc, not that I expect a n00b like myself would know the difference. Does a package of this sort seem worth getting or would it be smart to be a little more discriminant about wheels and stuff? $65 seems pretty reasonable for a skateboard and the seller's feedback is like 99% positive so I'm not worried about getting hosed, but again, I know fuckall about skateboards beyond what I've read in this thread. Anybody have thoughts and/or recommendations?
 
  
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