Gear madness support thread

[scab]

Good question. With me it's almost always when a specific trick doesn't work as well as I'd like it to. That sometimes happens because I'm a dumbass and try to do things with boards that I set up to do something else entirely, e. g. spend a whole session obsessing over my flatground kickflips... On my cruiser, a 9.25 egg with 160 Lurpivs and 58mm radials. Yeah, no shit, kickflips don't work that well on a setup that's basically as tall as a curb. Who could've guessed that!? But it also happens when I just have a shitty session for reasons completely unrelated to gear. Of course I know that my kickflips sometimes suck because I'm out of practice, hurt, beat up from life in general, you name it. But I can't change those things, or at least not as easily as I can change my gear. So the madness begins: Maybe a mellower deck could make kickflips easier because I don't have to put as much effort into them. Or maybe I should set up a I stamp to give my foot lots of concave to catch onto for the flick...

[BeachChicken]

More of meta-madness question...what situations trigger your madness?

Example: Recently I've mostly been skating only my 8.75. Yesterday I was skating a 4' mini ramp (where the 8.75 usually really shines). I am trying f/s 50-50s to tailslide. Turning to tail started to feel kind of sluggish, slow motion, and awkward. Had a few near nasty bails. I start thinking, "My (usual) 8.25 deck would snap right into that"...and suddenly my 8.75 is now feeling like a gigantic boat. Enter the Madness.   

For me it was something really fucking stupid. Normally fakie flips are my go-to flip trick warming up. On Ventures I will almost never miss one and they're nice and crispy. Randomly one day on Indys they just suuuucked. I got in my head a ton and didn't stop to think about what I might slightly change with them to get them the same. Another day I wasn't paying attention and kept slipping from crooks into noseslides. I never miss a crook on Venture or Thunder. Well, for whatever reason I got in my own head and didn't stop to realize that I was just positioning my front foot a bit different than usual due to some knee pain I've been having. Last sesh I had zero problems with anything else, but in the meantime madness had gotten to me.

[Obijuan91]

14 inch wheelbase boards give me madness. Why does everyone say they’re so easy to skate,  they feel good for a day then everything feels off.

[munchbox]

14 inch wheelbase boards give me madness. Why does everyone say they’re so easy to skate,  they feel good for a day then everything feels off.

imo, good for learning flip tricks at low speeds
and then switching to a more comfortable wheelbase
that being said, i wouldnt ever run that full time
if at all at this stage

i dont have time to learn tricks on 2 different setups
and 14” wb feels super sketchy at a decent speed

what wheelbase you like has all to do with comfort
if you dont like 14.0, that is fine
someone out there will

[Sedition]

Follow-up from my post above...

Was back at that same park/ramp today. Brought my 8.25. It felt like a tiny little child's toy. And of course it did/would. I've been skating the 8.75 for the past two weeks. The first couple of b/s 50-50s I did on a ledge during warm-ups were nothing short of terrifying (because board felt so small). Hell, even kickflips felt precarious because there was so "little" board to land on. The real irony here? The trick that started the whole thing...f/s 50-50 grind to f/s tailslide on the 4' mini ramp? I really didn't even want to take the 8.25 on that ramp, at all, because the 8.25 suddenly felt like a freestyle board on a mega ramp.



 

[Ok]

so. you all gave great examples. specific to you, real world instances, where something wasn’t working out.


not me man.
i work a bunch and stress out. watch some old gino clips, want to set up a 7 7/8 deck on 5.2 lo’s and some 51 fillmores, maybe some af1s.
don’t.
work some, continue to stress. day dream about this one day in the sun on a perfect b16 where i felt very confident.
don’t.
repeat this a lot. lots of external influences, local rippers, old memories, internet clips….eventually i’ll go skate, suck, and want to go buy something else. last night i was looking at ebay listing for stage 10 indy’s. cooked. fried.
another madness inducing scenario is something @Sedition has mentioned several times and my version of it goes like this: i might land more flip tricks on a smaller setup, but the ones i land on a bigger setup FEEL ‘better’. so i get some kickflips i like the feel of, but then i cant do a shitty treflip, and then i’m back to scheming.

[Sedition]

..another madness inducing scenario is something @Sedition has mentioned several times and my version of it goes like this: i might land more flip tricks on a smaller setup, but the ones i land on a bigger setup FEEL ‘better’. so i get some kickflips i like the feel of, but then i cant do a shitty treflip, and then i’m back to scheming.

I've been leaning into this concept hard recently, and is the main reason I've been riding the 8.75 a lot. I mean, Jesus, f/s slash grinds or f/s 5-0s with 159s on a ramp??? Does anything in skateboard really feel better than that? With 144s that shit just feels goofy and, well, wrong. Likewise with any basic curb/ledge tricks. A solid f/s Smith grind on ledge with the 8.75/159s just feels...like stretching out in Queen size bed as opposed to being cramped up in a Twin all night. It's just a glorious feeling. Yeah, my nollie flips are just not the same on the 8.75, but damn, those f/s 5-0s are just...sensual. Anyway, all of this is to say that I've been putting more priority on how things feel recently, than on my "pull rate" (on some tricks) or simply maximizing the number of tricks I can do...and all of that has been lending itself to the 8.75/159s...a lot...and its actually been really enjoyable, and fun, too. 

[Ok]

Expand Quote

..another madness inducing scenario is something @Sedition has mentioned several times and my version of it goes like this: i might land more flip tricks on a smaller setup, but the ones i land on a bigger setup FEEL ‘better’. so i get some kickflips i like the feel of, but then i cant do a shitty treflip, and then i’m back to scheming.

[close]

I've been leaning into this concept hard recently, and is the main reason I've been riding the 8.75 a lot. I mean, Jesus, f/s slash grinds or f/s 5-0s with 159s on a ramp??? Does anything in skateboard really feel better than that? With 144s that shit just feels goofy and, well, wrong. Likewise with any basic curb/ledge tricks. A solid f/s Smith grind on ledge with the 8.75/159s just feels...like stretching out in Queen size bed as opposed to being cramped up in a Twin all night. It's just a glorious feeling. Yeah, my nollie flips are just not the same on the 8.75, but damn, those f/s 5-0s are just...sensual. Anyway, all of this is to say that I've been putting more priority on how things feel recently, than on my "pull rate" (on some tricks) or simply maximizing the number of tricks I can do...and all of that has been lending itself to the 8.75/159s...a lot...and its actually been really enjoyable, and fun, too.

yes, yes.
some of this is maturation, in a good way.
this doesn’t apply to any of us, in a 1:1 way, but our versions of it maybe: some of the best skating of the last 15-20 years, from pros/sponced, happened when folks stopped trying to be like koston, and be able to do all of the tricks, and instead just skated to their own personal strengths. being able to do your best version of your hits, that is probably more enjoyable than being able to do lesser versions of more.

i tried to do the thing where i bought lighter versions of the wider parts, and that didn’t totally solve it. nollie flips are the classic example, those start to suck for me at 8.5 trucks, let alone 8.75.

sometimes wider trucks on a narrower board helps me get the confidence without all of the weight.

[Obijuan91]

Expand Quote

14 inch wheelbase boards give me madness. Why does everyone say they’re so easy to skate,  they feel good for a day then everything feels off.

[close]

imo, good for learning flip tricks at low speeds
and then switching to a more comfortable wheelbase
that being said, i wouldnt ever run that full time
if at all at this stage

i dont have time to learn tricks on 2 different setups
and 14” wb feels super sketchy at a decent speed

what wheelbase you like has all to do with comfort
if you dont like 14.0, that is fine
someone out there will

That is facts hard to feel comfortable on it, hard to want to hang it up since the homie gave it me and I just set it up, first world problems

[BeachChicken]

Follow-up from my post above...

Was back at that same park/ramp today. Brought my 8.25. It felt like a tiny little child's toy. And of course it did/would. I've been skating the 8.75 for the past two weeks. The first couple of b/s 50-50s I did on a ledge during warm-ups were nothing short of terrifying (because board felt so small). Hell, even kickflips felt precarious because there was so "little" board to land on. The real irony here? The trick that started the whole thing...f/s 50-50 grind to f/s tailslide on the 4' mini ramp? I really didn't even want to take the 8.25 on that ramp, at all, because the 8.25 suddenly felt like a freestyle board on a mega ramp.
 

I grew up skating a 4 foot mini on 7.5-7.75 so this is interesting to me. I find most modern boards annoyingly clunky on small transition like this mostly due to length/wb

[Sedition]

Expand Quote

Follow-up from my post above...

Was back at that same park/ramp today. Brought my 8.25. It felt like a tiny little child's toy. And of course it did/would. I've been skating the 8.75 for the past two weeks. The first couple of b/s 50-50s I did on a ledge during warm-ups were nothing short of terrifying (because board felt so small). Hell, even kickflips felt precarious because there was so "little" board to land on. The real irony here? The trick that started the whole thing...f/s 50-50 grind to f/s tailslide on the 4' mini ramp? I really didn't even want to take the 8.25 on that ramp, at all, because the 8.25 suddenly felt like a freestyle board on a mega ramp.
 

[close]

I grew up skating a 4 foot mini on 7.5-7.75 so this is interesting to me. I find most modern boards annoyingly clunky on small transition like this mostly due to length/wb

I did, too. Then I realized 7.75 set-ups are absurd.

[hiljentaa]

I finally dialed in 'my setup', but now I grab my big dumb slappy board every time I go skating.

Now I have like 25 tabs open with different 8.5 top views trying to decide which shape to buy.

[BeachChicken]

Skated Ventures for 10mo until last June. Persisted through lots of ups and downs with em, but had 3w of just not fun battles with things and went back to my trusty Indy standards. Tried Thunder for a few weeks and while I skate those the best, I have too many constant problems with them to really want to. Back to Indys, but keep trying out Ventures here and there. Mostly because I like the brand way more and there is something nice about how stable they are when they're looser. Its to the point where I perform mostly the same on both, with a slight edge towards Indys. It has become super distracting to where I have a great sesh on my normal and then after just slowly gaslight myself towards trying something else.

[camel filters]

I disassembled my set up last night, built a new config out of spare parts, then disassembled that and went back to my orginal set up without even going outside to try it. Haven't been able to skate lately and shit like this happens when that's the case.

[Ok]

Skated Ventures for 10mo until last June. Persisted through lots of ups and downs with em, but had 3w of just not fun battles with things and went back to my trusty Indy standards. Tried Thunder for a few weeks and while I skate those the best, I have too many constant problems with them to really want to. Back to Indys, but keep trying out Ventures here and there. Mostly because I like the brand way more and there is something nice about how stable they are when they're looser. Its to the point where I perform mostly the same on both, with a slight edge towards Indys. It has become super distracting to where I have a great sesh on my normal and then after just slowly gaslight myself towards trying something else.

i mean, yeah. this sounds familiar.
i have gotten into a ‘worser’ place: i don’t even know the size of the trucks i am best with. allow me to regale you with some pain:

skated forever on lower trucks, either 5.0/5.2 lo’s, thunder lows, that kinda thing. sizing up to 8” trucks, the added height of the stage 8-10s worked ok for me, something about going wider, helped offset the height. or something.
i’ve blubbered about this much, but the further sizing up from 8” trucks to 8.5” trucks in 2009/10 …somewhere back then, that fucked me up. i was already a mess, and prone to trying whatever, but that really turned me around, and i haven’t been right since. now 8” trucks feel too small, 8.5” trucks feel to beeeeg, you get it.
i didn’t spend much time on indy 149s. in retrospect, i think i got the koston hollows, right when they came out, and i didn’t like them. on paper, indy forged are right in the height zone for me. 55 seems too tall. i’ve had good days on 159s, cast, but like almost all indy setups, first day great, second day i’m upset. i think @Xen told me that once and i for certain agree with that.
i haven’t gotten on with 148s/144s/5.6s. none of them are terrible, all make sense, probably pretty good. i just haven’t had a ‘really super fun’ day on any of those. maybe they are too reasonable?

i’ve read before that you should chase the equipment if your best days in the board. that shit is so long ago for me, and i remember it more than most things about my loved ones. i’m just not going to go back to skating 7.5s and thunder 145 lows (shout out to benson running that  now), and then the single best day i’ve ever had was with the royal IV (the ones everyone hated) that were like 50.5 mm high, a 7.9 deck, and 50 mm wheels.
blah blah blih
yawn

i don’t know why i don’t like forged indy’s.
i don’t know why i don’t skate thunder 148 lights.
i skate ventures because i used to always do so, and i like skating equipment that reminds me of my favorite skaters, if in name brand only, think trilogy.
maybe i should buy some 144 cast indy’s.



if brimmer, chavo, or any of the og’s that have their memories some how still intact know of the heights of;

stage 8s
stage 9s
stage 10s

i’d appreciate it.

[Mbrimson88]

if brimmer, chavo, or any of the og’s that have their memories some how still intact know of the heights of;

stage 8s
stage 9s
stage 10s

i’d appreciate it.

I have some of all of the above mentioned.


All earlier stages were said to be and are around 55 mm tall, even though some people said or felt like they weren't quite that tall.

Stage 9 and 10 were brought down to 53.5 mm tall, then the Stage 10 forged baseplates made the truck 52 mm tall.

Stage 10.5 159 were the first back up to 55 mm tall, which were used as Stage 11 truck molds in the 159s.

[Ok]

Expand Quote

if brimmer, chavo, or any of the og’s that have their memories some how still intact know of the heights of;

stage 8s
stage 9s
stage 10s

i’d appreciate it.

[close]

I have some of all of the above mentioned.


All earlier stages were said to be and are around 55 mm tall, even though some people said or felt like they weren't quite that tall.

Stage 9 and 10 were brought down to 53.5 mm tall, then the Stage 10 forged baseplates made the truck 52 mm tall.

Stage 10.5 159 were the first back up to 55 mm tall, which were used as Stage 11 truck molds in the 159s.

159 cast trucks are rad, they are just big/heavy. feeling is great, but the utility with such a big truck is hard for me to wrap my head around. or, more clearly: big truck makes me tired.

thanks for the answers, as always

[MMongrel]

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if brimmer, chavo, or any of the og’s that have their memories some how still intact know of the heights of;

stage 8s
stage 9s
stage 10s

i’d appreciate it.

[close]

I have some of all of the above mentioned.


All earlier stages were said to be and are around 55 mm tall, even though some people said or felt like they weren't quite that tall.

Stage 9 and 10 were brought down to 53.5 mm tall, then the Stage 10 forged baseplates made the truck 52 mm tall.

Stage 10.5 159 were the first back up to 55 mm tall, which were used as Stage 11 truck molds in the 159s.

[close]

159 cast trucks are rad, they are just big/heavy. feeling is great, but the utility with such a big truck is hard for me to wrap my head around. or, more clearly: big truck makes me tired.

thanks for the answers, as always

Longer times on big cast trucks can lead to big impressive leg muscles. It can also lead to knee andankle pain but that's something others can't see.

[Ok]

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

if brimmer, chavo, or any of the og’s that have their memories some how still intact know of the heights of;

stage 8s
stage 9s
stage 10s

i’d appreciate it.

[close]

I have some of all of the above mentioned.


All earlier stages were said to be and are around 55 mm tall, even though some people said or felt like they weren't quite that tall.

Stage 9 and 10 were brought down to 53.5 mm tall, then the Stage 10 forged baseplates made the truck 52 mm tall.

Stage 10.5 159 were the first back up to 55 mm tall, which were used as Stage 11 truck molds in the 159s.

[close]

159 cast trucks are rad, they are just big/heavy. feeling is great, but the utility with such a big truck is hard for me to wrap my head around. or, more clearly: big truck makes me tired.

thanks for the answers, as always

[close]

Longer times on big cast trucks can lead to big impressive leg muscles. It can also lead to knee andankle pain but that's something others can't see.

yeah
for me it’s the little in between ligaments and such that hurt with larger/heavier stuff

[Sedition]

for me it’s the little in between ligaments and such that hurt with larger/heavier stuff

Dude. This is basically where the madness started for me. In 2019 I badly broke my leg/fibula* just above the ankle. Significant ligament damage in my ankle, too. Bones heal up quick. That soft tissue stuff? THAT is what will kill you. They put in some hardware. Later had to take some out. Had two surgeries. Had to learn to walk again, and wasn't cleared to skate again for a year. My ankle will never be the same, and it does not bend or flex like it use to (and never will again). I'll never skate as good as I did before the injury, but I can still skate in a meaningful way, so that's basically all good.

Anyway, the Madness. Post-injury, I was like, "Ok. I now stand, push, walk, move, and skate differently than I did before. My ankle is now weaker, and now functions/moves in different ways. So, maybe that means I should also make some equipment tweaks? The set-up I had before may not be what is best for me after. Let's try out some different stuff, and see how it goes." Enter the Madness. And it all comes back to the ligaments in my ankle...so, yes, totally hear/get you on that one.   


*Broke it while skating a 6' mini ramp, doing a set-up trick I've done 1,000s of times--nollie rock to fakie.

[alph]

I'm about to build a new setup after not skating for couple of years and i got in to this wheelbase madness.
I like a mid/low truck and I want something else than Thunders. I thought Slappy lows would be perfect for me as I like DLX boards with those longer wheelbases. Indy mid hollow is probably pretty much similiar. Then there is those April decks 8.25 with 14 wb which could work pretty good with forged Ventures which I like aesthetically the most. I just cant decide.

[moonordie]

I'm about to build a new setup after not skating for couple of years and i got in to this wheelbase madness.
I like a mid/low truck and I want something else than Thunders. I thought Slappy lows would be perfect for me as I like DLX boards with those longer wheelbases. Indy mid hollow is probably pretty much similiar. Then there is those April decks 8.25 with 14 wb which could work pretty good with forged Ventures which I like aesthetically the most. I just cant decide.

In that case try the Venture V8, you can adjust wheelbase with those babies.

[scab]

wheelbase madness? and you dont skate?

focus

What about support thread do you not understand?

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I'm about to build a new setup after not skating for couple of years and i got in to this wheelbase madness.
I like a mid/low truck and I want something else than Thunders. I thought Slappy lows would be perfect for me as I like DLX boards with those longer wheelbases. Indy mid hollow is probably pretty much similiar. Then there is those April decks 8.25 with 14 wb which could work pretty good with forged Ventures which I like aesthetically the most. I just cant decide.

[close]

In that case try the Venture V8, you can adjust wheelbase with those babies.

That's a good call. @alph since it sounds like you want to try something new but don't exactly know which direction you want to go with, I'd also suggest the V8s because they give you the most options. You can set them up with the traditional Venture wheelbase, you can bring both trucks in and get into Ace territory, or bring just one truck in to have a nice middle ground. That's what I've been doing lately on a 14.5 wheelbase deck and I couldn't be happier with it.

[munchbox]

@scab my fault, wasnt looking close enough

buy venture!

[scab]

@scab my fault, wasnt looking close enough

buy venture!

No worries. Buy Venture indeed! Or any other truck, really. They're all pretty sweet in their own ways.

[alph]

That's a good call. @alph since it sounds like you want to try something new but don't exactly know which direction you want to go with, I'd also suggest the V8s because they give you the most options. You can set them up with the traditional Venture wheelbase, you can bring both trucks in and get into Ace territory, or bring just one truck in to have a nice middle ground. That's what I've been doing lately on a 14.5 wheelbase deck and I couldn't be happier with it.

Yeah thanks, I've been looking at those as well and as i'm also getting old and fat I thought buying forged hollow ones and drilling new holes on the baseplates as there is enough room. I rode Venture lows back in 2010 or something before switching to Thunders. I like the longer baseplate on Ventures compared to Thunder.

[Ok]

Expand Quote

for me it’s the little in between ligaments and such that hurt with larger/heavier stuff

[close]

Dude. This is basically where the madness started for me. In 2019 I badly broke my leg/fibula* just above the ankle. Significant ligament damage in my ankle, too. Bones heal up quick. That soft tissue stuff? THAT is what will kill you. They put in some hardware. Later had to take some out. Had two surgeries. Had to learn to walk again, and wasn't cleared to skate again for a year. My ankle will never be the same, and it does not bend or flex like it use to (and never will again). I'll never skate as good as I did before the injury, but I can still skate in a meaningful way, so that's basically all good.

Anyway, the Madness. Post-injury, I was like, "Ok. I now stand, push, walk, move, and skate differently than I did before. My ankle is now weaker, and now functions/moves in different ways. So, maybe that means I should also make some equipment tweaks? The set-up I had before may not be what is best for me after. Let's try out some different stuff, and see how it goes." Enter the Madness. And it all comes back to the ligaments in my ankle...so, yes, totally hear/get you on that one.   


*Broke it while skating a 6' mini ramp, doing a set-up trick I've done 1,000s of times--nollie rock to fakie.

mine was a front lip on a curb+ height skatepark ledge. just stood on the outside of my leading foot.
within 10 minutes black lines started appearing up my leg, the lines ran parallel to the ground, perpendicular to the shin. never got it checked out. stopped skating for a few years. my best ever day and this, were less than a month apart.
aaaanyways, to have that during a setup trick that’d do my head in. a large part of me skating has had to do with mental health, and it was nice to ‘shut my brain off’ and skate, sometimes i’d be present, sometimes not so much.
all of this very much relates to gear madness, as for me i was skating an older banged out deck, and then when i started skating again i was so diminished i started riding large shaped boards and just screwing around.

[Sedition]

I'm about to build a new setup after not skating for couple of years and i got in to this wheelbase madness.
I like a mid/low truck and I want something else than Thunders. I thought Slappy lows would be perfect for me as I like DLX boards with those longer wheelbases. Indy mid hollow is probably pretty much similiar. Then there is those April decks 8.25 with 14 wb which could work pretty good with forged Ventures which I like aesthetically the most. I just cant decide.

Wait. Just to be clear. Do you currently have a skateboard, and are you currently skating?

[Sedition]

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

for me it’s the little in between ligaments and such that hurt with larger/heavier stuff

[close]

Dude. This is basically where the madness started for me. In 2019 I badly broke my leg/fibula* just above the ankle. Significant ligament damage in my ankle, too. Bones heal up quick. That soft tissue stuff? THAT is what will kill you. They put in some hardware. Later had to take some out. Had two surgeries. Had to learn to walk again, and wasn't cleared to skate again for a year. My ankle will never be the same, and it does not bend or flex like it use to (and never will again). I'll never skate as good as I did before the injury, but I can still skate in a meaningful way, so that's basically all good.

Anyway, the Madness. Post-injury, I was like, "Ok. I now stand, push, walk, move, and skate differently than I did before. My ankle is now weaker, and now functions/moves in different ways. So, maybe that means I should also make some equipment tweaks? The set-up I had before may not be what is best for me after. Let's try out some different stuff, and see how it goes." Enter the Madness. And it all comes back to the ligaments in my ankle...so, yes, totally hear/get you on that one.   


*Broke it while skating a 6' mini ramp, doing a set-up trick I've done 1,000s of times--nollie rock to fakie.

[close]

mine was a front lip on a curb+ height skatepark ledge. just stood on the outside of my leading foot.
within 10 minutes black lines started appearing up my leg, the lines ran parallel to the ground, perpendicular to the shin. never got it checked out. stopped skating for a few years. my best ever day and this, were less than a month apart.
aaaanyways, to have that during a setup trick that’d do my head in. a large part of me skating has had to do with mental health, and it was nice to ‘shut my brain off’ and skate, sometimes i’d be present, sometimes not so much.
all of this very much relates to gear madness, as for me i was skating an older banged out deck, and then when i started skating again i was so diminished i started riding large shaped boards and just screwing around.

Grim. And yeah, 6 years later, I sometimes get short-term, crippling fear, with anything on transition going to fakie because of reinjury fear…that comes out of NOWHERE.

Gear tweaks can trigger it, too. I tried conicals for a bit about two years ago, and that little bit of extra “lock” they have over Classic, totally spooked me on pivots to fakie, and I couldn’t do them again for like a month.

[alph]

Wait. Just to be clear. Do you currently have a skateboard, and are you currently skating?

No, other than some worn out Thunders laying around and I'm not skating at the moment.