How do you lock into 50-50's on a round bar?

[MysticalTypeExperience]

I can 50-50 ledges all day, and I just made a flat bar which is already a big adjustment since I can slide off it either side. It got me wondering, how in the fuck do people lock into grinds on a round bar? Also, any tips for me on a U-channel sign post rail?

[in love w/ fs shuvs]

If ur talking about gnarly rails ur probably better off dm'ing a pro. Leo sits on em basically.

There's not really a difference on small flat bars imo, but i don't really sit on em. I just him em with speed a la Nick boserio. BTW I'm terrible so my advice might suck. This dude at my local would lock in and stay hella balanced for seconds at a time.

[Madam, I'm Adam]

Take my advice with a grain of salt, but some of the tips are to sit on it heel side, so leaning your weight on the heel, and to land on the rail at an angle, so heel side back truck and toe side front truck. I could be wrong though.

[B-Rad is the Raddest]

keep your knees bent the whole time

[goodatmeth]

It's actually way easier on a round bar than on a flat one. On a flat rail you only have one possible way to be locked, with your center of mass right above the rail. On a round rail, your trucks can be on there in any angle you want, you decide your balance point. Once you're on it, you are safe and can hold it forever. My main problem was commitment. What solved it for me was basically thinking of it the same as jumping on a ledge. Leaning back, pushing the board forward against the rail, putting all my weight on my heels (for fs 50-50s, backside you have to cross lock) and just trusting that I won't overshoot.

Think of it like this: If you do 50-50s on ledges, how often do you overshoot and fall back? If that still happens to you, you might wanna stay away from rails. But since you got it down on ledges, it's the exact same thing on a rail. You can aim, you got it man. Lean back and push your trucks against the rail at an angle

[Mbrimson88]

It often depends on how loose your trucks are or even how wide your trucks are too, but given you have trucks that are not quite so wide, either option would work.

Pretty much been said, but the two options:

One side - usually heel side, so ollie on frontside and keep all your weight over the top of your heels and sit with both trucks to your wheels with minimum weight on your toes, usually a frontside exit as well.


Cross locked - usually back heel and front toe side on the rail, but some do it the other way round if you are more balanced over your front, but it is a little more balanced to stay upright and on top of the rail, easy enough to get on frontside or backside, but lean a bit more on the side you want to exit on.


A couple of other options just to get more comfortable are feeble or smith grinds, which you can usually sit on more easily than a straight fifty, especially feeble grinds, but sometimes people prefer fifties to anything else.

Momentum is often key as well.  Going faster means it is easier to stay on the rail, but it is also down to balance and getting there comfortably too.

For a few things we used to do, just having a signpost / coping piece on the ground was the easiest way to get used to getting on a flat round rail, then very minimally put it up on something, so there is less chance of slipping off if it is more than a curb height.

[Dirty_Dan90]

for FS 50s you def want to lock your trucks in heelside when first learning it, almost like trying to land on the opposide side of the rail and bend your knees onces you feel the rail. For bs 50s its way easier to get into the cross lock with the front truck locked toe side and back truck heel side, almost like a bs feeble but the front truck pinched toe side.

[MysticalTypeExperience]

Momentum is often key as well.  Going faster means it is easier to stay on the rail, but it is also down to balance and getting there comfortably too.

Thanks all the feedback guys. Lack of speed is probably one of my main problems.

[dr.prestige]

I personally don't agree with the idea that they're the same as ledge 50-50s if you don't overshoot and slip out on ledges, a flatbar doesn't have a deck or a sharp angle to support the grind so it matters a lot more where your weight is placed on a flatbar than it does on a ledge. On ledge 50-50s, all you really have to worry about is making sure you're locked in nicely, and then you can put your weight just about anywhere as long as you stay locked in and continue grinding. On flatbar 50-50s, where you put your weight matters more than anything because you don't have a deck to rest your wheels on, the only contact points are on the flatbar you're grinding. With that said, once you've landed a couple flatbar 50-50s, the sense of where to put your weight should be as natural of an intuition as any other variable to a skate trick. They continue to be scary, but all you have to do is throw yourself onto one in order to remind yourself what they feel like and thus shake the fear.

I do agree that using feebles and smiths as warm-up tricks help because slipping out on those are a lot less likely so where you put your weight doesn't matter quite as much as 50-50s, and it's about the same amount of effort and approximately the same set-up as 50-50s so it's easy to transition from one to the other.