Backside Tailslide - help with (arguably) the best looking slide trick

[guyledouche]

I finally learned this trick in my 40s, though I've been trying them off and on since my 20s. I'm still not consistent with them but I can land them now every once in a while. The main thing that helped me was not trying to see in front of me as I'm sliding but just fully committing to locking in to the trick blind, if that makes sense. Before I would usually end up in a suski, or missing the ledge when I tried to see where I'm going or looking at the ledge as I'm sliding. Locking in without looking forward might not work for everyone but that's how I do them. Now I usually get the tail squarely on most of the time even when I don't land them.

Where do you look if you’re not looking at the ledge? I’ve heard to watch your back foot, which I tried and it helped me at least make contact with the ledge but I slipped off immediately.

I too am in my 40s and have been trying to figure this trick out for a couple of years now. It feels unlearnable.

[ChuckRamone]

Expand Quote

I finally learned this trick in my 40s, though I've been trying them off and on since my 20s. I'm still not consistent with them but I can land them now every once in a while. The main thing that helped me was not trying to see in front of me as I'm sliding but just fully committing to locking in to the trick blind, if that makes sense. Before I would usually end up in a suski, or missing the ledge when I tried to see where I'm going or looking at the ledge as I'm sliding. Locking in without looking forward might not work for everyone but that's how I do them. Now I usually get the tail squarely on most of the time even when I don't land them.

[close]

Where do you look if you’re not looking at the ledge? I’ve heard to watch your back foot, which I tried and it helped me at least make contact with the ledge but I slipped off immediately.

I too am in my 40s and have been trying to figure this trick out for a couple of years now. It feels unlearnable.

I eye the corner of the ledge as I approach, and after I've ollied and rotated, I look down at my back foot. One thing that helps a lot is learning how to back tail stall on curbs and rotate off, approaching at a bit of an angle, if you don't already have those down.

[goodatmeth]

I recently did a lot of illegal bs 5050s to bs tails in order to get the slide a lot better.
Worked fine and I hope nobody ever saw me

[switchfrontshuv]

why is it so hard to commit to bs 5-0s? usually for me it was bs 5-0, trust my back foot enough, then try bs tails. Does anyone have any tips to commiting to just stomping the tail for a slide??

[goodatmeth]

Just wanna say the extra step of learning bs suski first was a major breakthrough for me. Now if i fuck up the suski, I'm doing a nice bs tail and vice versa

[davy]

i love doing this trick! here are some of the things I think of when doing this trick.

When learning, I focused on ollieing into a back 5050/5-0, but then try to turn it into a back tail as close as I could replicate it until it worked out. Helps get the tail on there, as I would try to jump right into it and wouldn't even get onto the ledge. If you keep getting into lip, pop a little further away. Do not hesitate on this trick, it can slip out if you're not careful. Full commit and you got that!

When sliding, I found that if you "look over your shoulder" you will go back to reg. I put that in quotes because I don't believe I actually look over my shoulder, I feel like my shoulders are positioned frontside in a way that will help me turn out to regular. However, if you just look straight down, you will go to fakie. Bend yo knees when sliding, that could help with holding it.

Dismount comes naturally, most of the time when I do this trick going to reg, my wheels stick to the ledge and I fall out that way.

Good luck future back tailers!

[modern life is war]

This seems like the best place to ask

When doing a backside tailslide in transition, do you think it is a legit back tail if instead of popping the board onto your tail, you quickly kinda pivot onto it? Or is that a lame way to do it

[davy]

This seems like the best place to ask

When doing a backside tailslide in transition, do you think it is a legit back tail if instead of popping the board onto your tail, you quickly kinda pivot onto it? Or is that a lame way to do it

I've always just pivoted into them. Pop or not it doesn't take away from the trick

[Steely Daniel]

This seems like the best place to ask

When doing a backside tailslide in transition, do you think it is a legit back tail if instead of popping the board onto your tail, you quickly kinda pivot onto it? Or is that a lame way to do it

I think they look kinda gross like that but if you can get them to slide still then more power to ya. I'd rather do them like that and slide them than only be able to do the scoopy-pop thing into a stall. The trick scares me thinking ima stick and fall on my head backwards.

[switchfakie]

my hack for anybody wondering for any tail slide that has a tendency to stick is to pre-wax your tail (do the entire tail, not just the area near the baseplate) + the baseplate area

also, in your mind, always envision all the weight is on your back foot - your body will actuate this thought and itll force the slide to happen, no matter how sticky the ledge is

[Bill Salt]

we all know tail slide problems is a balls issue...

[rawbertson.]

i am just learning this trick nollie slappy version to start. that is how i will dial the slide in. once i get my slide down really good i am gonna practice ollieing in at basically zero speed so i have the position absolutely dialed when i land. then put it all together. i have done back tails before but i cant do them like 4-5 feet like i want to like fs tails. that is my goal.

[Madam, I'm Adam]

I finally relearned them, posted one in the Post You Skating thread.

Here's a recap of what helped and didn't help (for me):

What didn't help:

- I relearned them on a curb, didn't have to try them on a higher curb/ledge

- I didn't have to get my back 50s down, or learn back 5-0s either. That's just me

- I didn't have to adjust the angle I approached them at too much


What did help:

- Warming up with fast b/s 180s on flat

- Warming up with b/s slappies

- I kept my arms out and worked on keeping them in the standard position for back tails

- Consciously remembered to go totally blind before I ollie onto the curb, turning my head

- The key (for me): I took Ben Degros' advice and approached a barely waxed curb slowly, and practiced ollieing into a back tail stall first. This really helped. I was able to figure out the angle, going blind, and I took my time in getting comfortable ollieing and stalling first. Highly recommend taking this baby step

- After doing stalls for a few days, I waxed up the curb and slowly started to approach it a bit faster. Took my time, got comfortable with sliding backwards a centimetre at a time

- EDIT - one more thing, like @silhouette was saying in another thread, I had to want it 100%. And I did - I eventually fully accepted the fact that I could possibly slam and prepared myself mentally. And @layzieyez sharing insight into the art of Bushido helped me situate myself in the right mindset to focus on success and not dwell on failure


Hope this helped a bit for anyone learning them.

[rusty knees]

make sure the ledge is waxed a bit more than normal

curve into it at about a 10 degree angle (this helps keep you in a longer slide)

if you hit your wheel on the way in, it doesnt count

want to come out forward? keep looking over your right shoulder when sliding

fakie? look at your back foot

45 and still busting these out regularly

[kook1234]

This is a topic Ive pondered starting "Name a trick and the one thing you focus on when attempting it".  For me, there is always 1 thing the trick boils down to, and if I focus on it, I have a good success rate.  It's not a "trick tip" which tend to focus on foot position, angles, and steps to follow.  Trick tips, much like wheel shape or wheelbase, dont matter a lot for me - its all about this one thing, and learning new tricks is about discovering this thing, whatever it is.

For back tails, which Ive long struggled with, I think Ive boiled it down to the following:

think about a back 50 but rotate hips at the last second.

I look forward to testing this out in future sessions.

For reference, the one thing I focus on with back 50s is:

keep your back parallel to the ledge before popping

[goodatmeth]

I can bs tail ledges now, but is there some special secret to doing them on quick bank to ledges? There's not really a way to get parallel with the ledge on the one I'm skating

[rocklobster]

I go through phases with BS Tailslides, some days they just click and others it's a 30 try battle for a tiny scratcher of a slide.

Check out Tom Asta's series if you haven't already, goes into some nuance onto weight distribution and angle of approach.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o60dwXu_i40

He starts talking about tailslides around 14 min. For a long time I tried going really parallel to the ledge and I would either slip out or my tail would hit the ledge on the way up.  Tried the slight angle plus slight swerve in helpful in getting the lock, didn't get a long slide but I felt a lot more control to come out regular instead of just flopping out fakie.

His 2nd part of the series on FS Crook is interesting too, going to try and re-learn those again this week.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6VM-u6HbME