CU'sRango

Hey guys so I grabbed a Gold Coast Rebirth with some Abec 11s on it and it's my favorite way to get around aside from my mountain bike. I want to get into to longboarding more and skating and I'm trying to learn to ollie and I'm having trouble getting the snap of the ollie and I'm also not getting able to slide on the board. Should I just chill and wait for the winter season or is there anything you guys can suggest?

NWBoarder

Well, IMO, if you're trying to ollie a longboard, you're doing it wrong. Now if you're trying to ollie a regualr board, that's a different story. So, since the title says longboarding help, let's start there. Sliding takes time and practice. It also takes a wheel that is a stiffer durometer (hardness).

Start small. While cruising around, shift your weight slightly forward, then kick out your back foot and try to bring the board into a horizontal postion under you. As you're doing this, you'll likely find yourself wanting to shift your weight back over the tail. This is normal, and for learning purposes, it won't hurt you. But, what you'll wanna do ultimately is get comfortable with keeping your weight actually fairly centered on the board. So basically, you start with it a little over the nose, then shift it to the center as the tail comes out. Then it's just a matter of getting it balanced.

Once you get good with small slides, you can pick up some gloves and learn to really lean it back and throw it out. Then you can bomb big hills and slide for days. I hope my basic description helps out, and I'm sure others will point out the things I may have missed. Now....onto ollies.

Take your regular skate, and stand on it in you riding position. Now, move your rear foot to the tail so that your front half of your foot is on the tail, and scoot your front foot back from the nose a few inches. Now, before you ever actaully ollie, just practice pushing down on the tail, then rolling and sliding you front foot up to the nose. Do this a lot. It will help you learn the motion needed to ollie. Then it's just a matter of applying the pressure with the back foot and sliding the front foot up while in air. Basically, just do a one footed jump while pulling the front foot up. It sounds complicated, but once you practice it, you'll learn that it's not so bad. Just practice.....a lot. Once you can ollie, it opens up the whole world of skateboarding for you.

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NWBoarder

Hey SW, you can technically slide just about anything, but the softer wheels are going to greatly increase the difficulty of it. As for flat spots, yeah they will happen eventually. The harder wheels take a while to form them though. If you slide your softies however, then yes, flat spots will most likely be visible after the first one. This is why (with longboards especially), it's important to pay attention to what kind of wheels you're getting. Big, fat, wide, soft wheels are going to work best for things like carving and slalom, where skinnier, stiffer wheels will prove more efficient for sliding. In general, the higher the number for the durometer, the better they will be for slides.

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sherpaskate

flatspots only happen when your wheel is perpendicular to the fall line and when it stops spinning. as long as youre not holding yourself perpendicular in a slide, your wheels will keep rotating, and there will be no flatspots.

also, every wheel will slide. its just a matter of how much pressure you take off of it.

IdahoFreshies

same here (i know my wheels are not the best for sliding) my current wheels are great and carve very well and tight at fast speeds, but i like sliding more, and they just grip too much and instead of slide the board just rides out sideways away from me.

OP:

You can't ollie a longboard. You can do tricks, but not like you can on a regular skate board.

Sliding is very important, and fun, and looks sweet. Once you learn the basics of sliding and stopping yourself very fast without foot breaking or bailing you can hit whatever you want and go any where. The best thing to do is to get slide gloves. They will give you a lot more freedom and room to play when sliding, especially learning. You can even make your own with some work gloves, a cutting board, industrial Velcro and glue.

For the basic coleman slide start by getting going on a slight hill (with slide gloves), at about a running speed. Place your back hand out behind you and grab the board in the middle of your chest with your other hand. When you are going to turn keep your hand back, turn into the turn (heel side) throw your shoulders around and kick out your back foot to slide out the back of the board. There you go, you have just slid and slowed down or stopped. Things to look out for: Having your hand our far enough so a lot of weight is off the board, turning your shoulders enough to quickly slide the board, kicking out your back leg enough to actually get the board around vs just turning sharply sideways, and making sure you are committed to the slide. If you are not fully committed to the slide you won't swing the board out enough and you will fall on your ass or the board will fly out from under you. As with most sports it will help a lot if you find someone to ride with.

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timmytard

You can't ollie a longboard. You can do tricks, but not like you can on a regular skate board.

Yes you can, maybe not an Evo or similar downhill specific board, because it has no tail.

But if it has a tail, you can ollie it. I personally can't, I couldn't on a regular skateboard.
But others can.

Trick Tip: Longboard Ollie - YouTube
Ollie longboard - YouTube

Now this isn't on a longboard, but this shit is mind-blowing to me.
You can't really tell what is going on @ regular speed, it isn't until it's slowed down that you can really appreciate what's happening

WTF flat ground tricks (1000 fps slow motion) - YouTube
WTF flat ground tricks: Robbyn Magby edition (1000 fps slow motion) - YouTube

TT

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CU'sRango

Thanks guys! The community on the forums here is the best! Never lets me down and always has sound advice

Casual

I can ollie on my never summer assault, about 12" or off 4 stair (has kicktail). nice for getting around town, even got a few kickflips on it but really I don't bother, thats what my skateboard is for.

Longboarding tips, just get good and comfortable on it and learn to speed check/stop. I think thats the key to making it fun. When I first started I was always feeling out of control, pretty much whatever hill I went down I was just holding on until the bottom... not cool!

I learned to get my hand down and slide out to a stop, which gave me the comfort of knowing I could stop if I had to. I then learned some stand up speed checks so I could control my speed. Once I had these it was a new game. The best way I found to learn to speed check was to make over exagerated carves and in the apex reaaly try to kick out the back wheels, even if you don't fully slide at first you will still scrub some speed. Work up to it. Watch some videos to see the different sliding tecniques and try them out.

I ride 72mm 80a (Abec 11 FreeRides). Really smooth, lots of grip but break free when I want them too.

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CU'sRango

ok now then i guess the next question is doing said speed checks. and every time i try to put weight on one side and slide, i just turn sharply instead. should I tighten my trucks?

NWBoarder

From the sounds of it, probably yes. But, how tight your trucks are also has a lot to do with personal preference as well as type of riding. So yeah, big hills that you wanna slide? Tighten 'em right up. I know I would.

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