height: 6'5"
shoe size: 13
Current setup(s):
polar P8 shape (8.8"x31.875", 14.4"WB), 151 hollow lights, 52 now 49 F4 radial slim
antihero cardiel (9.18"x32.55, 14.38"WB), venture 6.1, 55mm mini hot juice
i ride 1/8 risers depending on how the deck feels without em
Favorite tall(er) pro: ishod? i think hes 6'2" or 3"?
my feet basically destined my switch to big boards. heres the lame and embarrassing part. i was the kid who watched x games and fuel tv like it was my dirty secret cause the local by my childhood house wasnt built until three years ago, and the kids my age rode bikes. pretty terrible environment to pick up skating and stick with it in hindsight, but anything "gnarly" was all my sorry ass preteenage heart wanted to do. got a 7.75 kryptonics for my 12th bday and something about it turned me off it, but i didnt know what exactly. before you ask, no, my mother didn't love me, i was an abused child. i learned how to ride+the basics, but me wearing size 11 or 12 at the time combined with the narrow walmart complete just wasnt working. when i snapped it, the shitty experience with the shitty board didnt make me want to replace it, deadass fuck walmart for that one. not too long after that, student athlete responsibilities came up and strictly controlled me and my time. i met my first friend who skated in high school and he let me ride his board when he wasnt practicing. it really bummed me out cause skating again was like seeing the only ex you still had something for, but i had to tell myself i was fully invested in my teams and to stay healthy. what really bums me out is that i waited to skate for basically no good reason. focused on sports, got good enough to get some colleges looking at me, went to one of those colleges, realized im not truly in love with the sport, ended up played for fun, found out what i want in life wont be achieved thru school, built up my resume, dropped out after 2.5 years to chase my dreams, got into my dream industry as a professional, unlawfully kicked out of my house without warning, living out of suitcases, 40k in debt due to broken promises, the angering truth about my family surfacing, the highs have been euphoric, and the lows try to break me. luckily i got back on board with my first "real"(no pun intended) setup right before shit got serious. skateboarding is really therapeutic and has kept me alive and out of prison in these less than ideal times. meet some good friends and people were more than willing to give me knowledge when they could. really wasted my time not getting back earlier to say the least. i will be posting a lil something about the all setups i owned cause compared to yall who got decades of experience, i only started skating the other day.
gear reccomendation: 8.38x31.9 14.38 wb ishod twin tail
i really loved this board but for more of the fact it was my first. i thought things would be awkward getting used to skating again, but it was almost like picking up where i left off. i feel like once you do any of the boardsports, the transition to another is way easier than people who ride for the first time. picked up this board because i wanted to be ishod so bad. we are both tall, black, lanky, and i watched his footage on repeat. i thought with a combination of that and me riding the exact same board he rides would magically make me better. still laugh at it to this day. terrible mindset for me in hindsight cause this setup felt so wrong i desperately searched to find something right.
it didnt take me long to remember that this was the hardest "sport" i "played" but it was obvious the setup wasnt for me. when it was time to practice ollies again, my feet hung over the rails like i was on a 2x4. my feet made it look like i was on a toy and my mind cant get over that mental block. cant take my skating serious on a toy, goes all the way back to my kryptonics days. the twin tail was really fucking weird. good for having two tails to razor down and not having to turn the board around, but the board looked shorter, and that was coming from me who hadnt skated in what felt like ages. also with the amount of reverts and powerslides i was doing for no good reason plus the fact that i sucked, the siamese shape didnt mean shit. round it out with heavy ass 144s that i overpaid for ($55 for standards, didnt know any better) and 54 mm spit classic formulas, i couldnt pop it for shit. monster truck setup. granted i didnt have the technique, but if you gave it to me now id flat out dislike it. wb was the only positive since i ride in that range today. learned how to hold manuals really well at this time. ended up losing this setup while high with the same high school friend who skated in central park. ill say it. weed positively does nothing good for my skating, except that one time. hope whoever found it on those big ass rocks liked it better than i did. very niche deck, super specific dims, nothing standard about this deck at all. i would have liked it better with thunders and smaller wheels but i didnt have the amount of shit i have now to work with. my next setup was the complete oppositie of this one. id recommend if you havent tried a TT and know the rest of your setup well.
reflection:
hope you dont mind if i just talk my shit a bit in these things, i try to hold on to my setups/decks until i cant no more and each one is like a different moment in my life. also, im really stoked to see the amount of obelisks that regularly post on slap, like our own little sub community cause it actually is lonely up here (6+). even though i cant physically see yall, i feel like we see eye to eye. i only have one close friend whos tall enough to talk about tall people problems with and as far as i know there isnt a thread like this anywhere else, so i hope its aight to use my reflection alternatively as well. like a bootleg support group
would like to think my fellow giants can really feel this but height really is a blessing and a curse. people look at you, towering over them and wonder how you could ever have any issues, let alone emotional ones. this something most guys deal with in general, but my tall brethren know its always: cool, calm, collected, stone faced every time. its expected. the few moments of public weakness ive displayed have always seem to confuse people. either people actually care about me breaking down or are just huddling around to see wilt chamberlain cry, very hard to tell. everyone comes to me all the time with their problems and as listening person with a respected opinion, i take on their issues. whenever i just have a terrible day, week, month and just have to reset what has built up inside, people just look at me like a crazy mess. i just dont get the right to feel and receive the same response, which is kinda shit. who can relate? who else has a tall people problem to add?
i know im not the say on what happens in this thread but id be pretty stoked if we could just talk about tall people shit here. slap is the only forum i feel my anonymity is worth more than a single sentence
Topic: Tall Pals (6'+): gear recommendations and reflections (Read 17829 times)