Tips for beginners??

[Unciano]

Recently set up a longboard and been on a few tentative pushes down the road but finding some issues!

First off, I wanted surfy and swooping turns which I reckon I have dialed but the front truck really wobbles once the speed picks up. Is there any way I can lose the wobble whilst still being able to carve / turn nonchalantly? Bushings are stock purple barrels on 190mm sabres, nice and loose with no washer on the baseplate, flat washer on the top.

Also my cult classics grip so well that I had trouble pushing into any slides. I managed to do some Coleman slides in the wet easy enough but in dry conditions they really stuck to the road. Stand up slides seem impossible! Do I need to just man up and go faster?

I set mine up with a little tail to use as I need it to have some agility but negotiating the bumps and curbs is a bit harder than expected...

Any tips appreciated cheers

[Bleary]

The Classics just need breaking in - a few hard shutdown slides should do it, but they are surprisingly grippy for a narrowish wheel when new. Not sure about the wobble though. More weight on the front may help but it could be the setup; just checked my sabres - purple barrels with cupped boardside and flat roadside. Maybe add a washer to the boardside?

[GoR64]

I used to have the same model board so I know it pretty well, and have been through the same issues. I don't remember the bushing setup I ended up with off the top of my head but I believe it was around the 90a mark with venoms, just slightly harder than yours. Keep a cupped washer boardside, and whatever you feel like roadside. Yes you will need to go much faster than you thought to get your hands down slides going and you may need to go for harsher griptape, if I recall it had a pretty flat concave.

Bleary's spot on about the front truck wobble - your speed wobbles will generally come from the back, so you might be trying to turn like a regular skateboard from the back. That won't work for long, so learn how to tuck and footbrake at a decent speed, that will get your weight up front no bother.

I found toeside (backside) shutdowns easiest to learn but YMMV. The speed you need to be going is just a touch faster than you'd be comfortable with on a skateboard, but after two or three attempts you'll have the motion down no bother - the most important thing is getting that pre-carve sorted so you're at a good angle to attack the slide.

Post up a video of your progress if you get a chance and I'll be happy to do a quick clinic if there's owt needs addressing

Oh and yeah, full pads, helmet and gloves if you haven't done that yet.

[Unciano]

Sound advice gents

[Andrew_Culture]

Shoving some Venoms in my crappy z-flex cruiser made a hell of a difference to the wobbles.

[Unciano]

Took a cruise around the hood and took on a few small hills earlier. I think I have my turn dialed nicely now, cupped washer and flat washer on the back and a flipped cup washer on the front with nothing boardside.

The thing is scary fast, glad I went for the crappy old bearings instead of the ceramics.

[Andrew_Culture]

The bearing cases on my Z-flex went rusty pretty much immediately even thought I've never ridden in the damp. It's still plenty fast for me!

[Brad Brains]

Speed wobbles are actually created by you, it's you over correcting. Like others have mentioned, keep your weight forward. Once you're comfortable start learning how to slide to trim your speed.

[daxmatt]

When you get the wobbles put more weight on the front truck and you should ride it out mo problem, as said cults do need breaking in and then They are a really good slide wheel, speed speed speed is what you need for slides

[Unciano]

Started to break the wheels in today, managing to get my hands down and push the back wheels out toeside but struggle to recover back to forward motion again.

I've now swapped the front and back wheels around and planning to try again tomorrow.

[GoR64]

Straighten your back leg at the *current* extent of your slide to give the back end an extra push outwards, that will help with the pendulum motion you're after - it will need to be past 90 degrees (perpendicular to the road/your direction) you should find it gives you the control to either hold the slide indefinitely (to a stop) or will give you an extra spring to get you back to centre.

Hopefully that makes sense, I've had a long day.

[Beigebomber]

Also, remember that to slide a longboard, you need to get your weight OFF and AWAY from the deck and wheels. Sliding a street/park setup is different, because you just bounce up, set the board sideways, then drop your weight back onto it. FOr longboard sliding it's: pre-carve in opposite direction to slide, hand onto the ground to take weight off the board, turn in direction of slide, heels (or toes, depending on direction of slide) onto the rail, push tail out to past 90 degrees, push nose out, hold, then reverse steps to hook the slide back up.

To do standers, it's a bit more abrupt, with a lot more bounce coming from your knees and an exaggerated pre-carve and snappy carve. Again, it's really a case of trying to get your weight off your board. Like you're hanging from skyhooks.

Using a slide as an emergency stop is different though. You want lots of weight on the board once you've got it sideways for those. Dig it right in.

Always look in the direction you want to slide, not where your nose is going. Deck will usually follow angle of shoulders.

Have fun. A four-wheel drift around a hairpin is one of life's finest feelings.

[Beigebomber]

Straighten your back leg at the *current* extent of your slide to give the back end an extra push outwards, that will help with the pendulum motion you're after - it will need to be past 90 degrees (perpendicular to the road/your direction) you should find it gives you the control to either hold the slide indefinitely (to a stop) or will give you an extra spring to get you back to centre.

It also helps avoid flatspots. Holding a slide at 90 degrees leads to square wheels.

[warwick]

Conversation with a pro, last weekend:
"You skate like a lot of regular skaters. And by 'regular,' I mean non-pro, non-sponsored."
"How do you mean?"
"You have two feet. Your board has four wheels. But you're doing all your steering with your back foot, and all your control is focused on your back wheels."
Which is sort of true. My right calf is actually thicker than my left one, because of the extra work it does.
"Your front foot is just sitting there. The ball of your foot is on the middle of your board. You need to move it across, so that you can feel the front edge of the board with your toes, and think about starting to control your front wheels as much as your back ones. That will make the single biggest difference to your skating."
So I'm giving it a go. It feels wrong, after 40 years of skating with my front foot further back. But I think it might work.


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