For the last 11 years I've been jumping between skating an old 9.37" Frankie Hill deck from 1991, and skating a 8.25" popsicle. I've had some 8.5"ers as well, but it always seems to make me just jump back on a wider, old school shape. Popsicles start to look/feel weird to me when they get to around 8.5". DLX has one shape that's an 8.38"x32.3" or something, and that's pretty much the best shape for a wider popsicle, in my opinion. I don't do much flip tricks except for regular kick flips and tre flips. But for some reason I can get tre flips easier on the old school shape. I guess it's easier to scoop the slightly squarer tail, and there's more room for my front foot to actually land on the board. I agree with whoever said front boards feel good on wider boards, though. That, and one-foots and the no-comply revert variations and 180s. You don't really have to concentrate on what your feet are doing, you just move them and the board follows.