Month: March 2016

Tips to Overcome the Fear of an Ollie while Moving

Tricks

Understanding the Fear

As for every fear, in order to overcome it you must find out what is actually scaring you. Obviously what scares us most when skateboarding is falling on the ground, and the pain that comes with it. But what makes you believe that you are going to fall ? Sometime we are not exactly scared about falling but scared about falling going fast because our brain is convinced that the faster you go the more painful the crash.

failed ollie falling skateboard
At this moment I though I was going to die.

It may be true in some case, if you step of your board at full speed you are probably going to fall harder that if you were static. Most of the time the scariest gap for a beginner is going from to performing a trick stationary to performing it rolling. That is perfectly understandable because as you are moving, physics are changing. Your balance will be challenged and the trucks are not going to respond the same way.

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How to replace Carver CX Kingpin with a Flipped Button Head Kingpin

DIY

Replacing Carver CX Kingpin

carver cx kingpin sticking out
Here you can see how the kingpin length can be a problem

As I explained in my Carver CX Review, something I didn’t like was the kingpin sticking out and hitting coping or curbs. I had a great email exchange with Neil Carver (who designed the truck) about it. He told me “Flipping the kingpin is a very good solution” but he also warned me that “It’s dangerous and you could break the base if something goes wrong. How’s that for fair warning? “.

Nonetheless I decided not only to flip my kingpin but also to change it for a DIY metric hex button head one. It is made of metric Class 10.9 steel which is a bit stronger that Grade 8 steel. It is also a little bigger in diameter so the base will need to be redrilled and going back to imperial kingpin will be difficult or even impossible.

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OJ Wheels 75mm 78a Thunder Juice Review

Reviews

Big, soft and fast !

OJ Thunder Juice 75mm 78a
Neon green is the new black.

When I began LDP (Long Distance Pumping) I only had wheels that were too hard or too small to go fast and smoothly. As I was searching for new wheels I stumbled upon a sale on Amazon, a set of OJ Wheels Thunder Juice 75mm 78A for about 18€, the full price was 65€. As I had read on PavedWave that I would need big and soft wheels, I though it was the right choice. So I bought it.

The Thunder Juice are really huge compared to classic street wheels, both in diameter and in width, but also a way lot heavier. They are the fastest wheels I never tried. Pushing will be just a little harder as they have a huge momentum but you will go fast and far. When you swap small wheels for these beasts it’s like your board never really wants to stop.

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Carver CX Trucks Review

Reviews

The first encounter with the Carver CX set

The first time I tried Carver Trucks was one day at the skatepark when a guy came

complete carver C7 board
A complete board with a C7 set – Picture from carverskateboards.com

with a ‘Da Monsta’ board equipped with C7

trucks. I tried his board and had a lot of fun with it, I could make really sharp turns and it felt so smooth and surfy ! But when the guy told me he bough his complete board for about 320€ I though I would never be able to ride one.

Back home I made some research and browsed forums such as silverfishlongboarding.com trying to find a cheaper alternative way to surf the concrete like an everlasting wave. I heard about the Vector Bennett truck (which I will review it soon) and about the Carver CX which is a little cheaper than the C7 but also was considered as more adapted for ‘pool’ ridding.

Finally I found a shop which sold the CX set for around 100€ and decided I would buy it as it looked like it was really some great trucks.

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The Physics of a Skateboard Trick: Why my Ollies are Garbage ?

Tricks

Ollie video analysis

Today I spend a good time trying to achieve my main objective: pop a decent ollie, preferably while ridding. I shot some videos with my camera so that I could analyse them at home.

I used Tracker to track and model the trajectory of my front and read wheels and my front and back feet, here are the results :

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