So, I am currently experiencing something entirely new. I am calling it "Ancillary Madness." I have/know what my "perfect" set-up (DLX 8.25/14.38, Indy 144 Forged, Spit 53mm Classics). However, right now I am toying around with some Thunders, and 52mm Conicals. I am under no illusions, pretenses, or aspirations to improve my set-up. To that end, I know I am riding a "sub-standard" set-up with Thunders/52 Connies, and with some undetermined amount of time, I know I'll be back to my usual. So, why I am doing it then? Just for some simple variety and curiosity. Maybe this what "matured madness" looks like--it's not an obsessing over minutiae (1 or 2 inside washers?), but more of "I know what I like...but I am going to try this, anyway, just for...fun?"
I setup a girl griffin shaped board last year, despite it being way outside of my preferences (8.5, 14.5 wb, 32, all at least .5 inch longer/wider than what I like to ride). Had 149 thunders and 52 conical fulls, neither of which I’d choose, regularly.
Here’s the fucking thing…after a few days of being weirded out, I started landing way more 360 flips, switch flips, and kickflips. This is pretty much all of my skating, slow flatground bs. And maybe like 6 tricks, no ledges near me. Aaaaaaanyway, to the poor soul that has read this far: that setup was the shit. I could skate that thing from now on and be fairly sorted. Shit just worked. Huge fan. That particular crail shape has a short tail, which makes the setup feel like a bigger small board (gentle slap reader will note that this assertion is, stupid). The pop points felt very familiar.
I made the decision to skate smaller boards, and mainly ventures, just because, and that has worked well.
The deviation from my normal setup showed me the importance of tail length, and more so, that one can adjust with time. I spent more time on that setup than others, for a variety of reasons (I was working significantly less, and I kind of disgusted myself with buying lots of shit and was just going to sit there and make it work).