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How steep are kicks on Uma?
I'm on a Polar now and have liked the Sci-Fi/Pass~Port generic BBS shape. Want mellower kicks next and maybe try something different- is Baker my best option? Kinda meh on that brand.
Some that I have had that have been more on the mellow side (but not always) includes first and foremost DLX (Antihero, Krooked and Real) Birdhouse, DGK, Element, Passport, Black Label, Darkroom, Deathwish, Heroin, and probably half the list from the first page all up, so there are definitely a lot of options.
How can parking on a deck not break wood fibers? I think it's a terrible idea.
Are you sure about that info for anti-hero decks? I've only had a few antihero decks but they have all tended to be on the steeper side regarding both concave and kicks. One of them came to me gripped so I don't know what number in the stack it is but the kicks measure 22 or 23°. My most recent deck is a number IV anti-hero eagle 8.25 and the kicks are 21 or 22°. I compared it with several Krooked, Powell, and real decks as well as I and II antihero decks. The anti-hero decks had steeper kicks by far than all the rest in that shop on that day. Powell were all pretty consistent and on the shallow end.
The DGK deck I have has much shallower kicks. Reminds me of a Powell. They measure like 18 or 19°. Again I never saw if the DGK deck had a stack position mark on it Don't know if that brand does that.
Baker has a chart that shows they make both mellow and steep decks.
https://bakerskateboards.com/pages/board-construction
OG shape in 8.125 and up look like the shallower options available
Concave in general is an interesting one, especially if you are out there measuring boards with the app for the angle of the kicks, but standing on them is the best way to feel out the concave, which I have done for way too many years, but shall we say that from over a few hundred DLX decks (via a skate shop) I have noted significant differences to other BBS wood - and that was the question, not all woodshops but BBS in particular.
I know there are many other brands / woodshops that have more mellow concave too, just to make that clear.
Back to DLX and Antihero in particular (although all three deck brands use the same wood so have the same options in concave), I only really like to ride the IV boards, or even III when it feels ok, which are significantly more mellow than anything else, including the Baker boards (OG Mellow concave versions) I have, as well as the DGK, and all the other BBS boards that have passed through my hands, too many to count, if we were talking numbers, it would be thousands. Call me crazy, but almost all of which I have stood on to get a feel for the board too.
Also I don't know what it is but DLX 8.25 decks in general ALL seem to be steeper in concave than others, be it different presses or what, but every number I through to IV have been way steeper than say the 8.38 that I usually ride, which would give the same conclusion to what you found with the grey eagle deck.
Here is an interesting post showing the concave differences from a while back, in particular frames 3 and 4 showing the differences in board concave and angle of kicks, which is quite significant.
On the subject of driving over boards, yes it seems a bit obvious that something has to give structurally and I know some people who have flattened boards too much from doing this, but I have done at least twenty or more myself, all BBS, which has no overall detrimental effect on the deck apart from making it more mellow in the kicks, sometimes doing both ends, other times only doing the tail, but it works and I have never felt any of these boards break or have issues from the process.
This video below was just the first test on a new board that was too steep, which I was not worried if I broke it or anything, but I have since been parking overnight on most boards as they spring back too quickly from just simply driving over them. Note the deck before and after, for which I felt almost no difference in the feel of it when I set it back up and skated it, so needed to park on it for way longer.