| Archive for pavedwave longboarding distance longboarding, flatland pumping, cross-country adventuring, boardwalk cruising, and all things skateboarding and good times |
| scooterdad |
Newbie QuestionsHi,I am very grateful to have discovered this site, and thanks to all who have posted about their boards and set-ups as it helped me find my first longboard. I am brand new to skateboarding having been a runner for many years who hurt my knee last year. An ultra-running friend sent me an article about Barefoot Ted after I had knee surgery, and next thing I knew I had placed an order for a Pulse 40. I should also mention that I am hooked on FiveFingers now despite my wife's objections and have managed to run a bit in them this winter after a knee surgery last fall. My Pulse(a beautiful board- thank you Scott!) arrived about a week ago, and I've been hooked ever since. I had tried skateboarding a little on other kids' boards when I was younger (I'm 36 years old now) but never could get the hang of it. This feels much more stable and natural to me, and I think I have at least a plodding pumping form at the moment. If these questions are too basic or covered elsewhere I apologize, but here goes. 1. My board squeaks a lot, presumably in the bushings. I am riding it "stock" from Scott at Subsonic, and it looks like he has replaced the bushings with some Khiro bushings front and back, in a mix of softer colors up front with one on the bottom that looks like it was cut in half. Can I minimize this squeaking somehow? I hear it inside my warm house as well as outside in the 20 degree cold. I am not sure whether a lubricant will help or could degrade the bushings. Maybe they just are meant to squeak? 2. My oldest son(six going on seven) loves my board and wants his own. Can kids learn to pump at that age? He currently has a mini street skateboard that he can do a little bit on but he rolls so much nicer on the pulse. It just looks a little hard for him to turn. He sure is high off the ground, but he pushes a lot better than I do already  Any suggestions for a board for him at this age?
3. So far, I feel like I have some sort of pump that I can maintain on very flat patches that tends to fall apart on some very modest inclines. I can only get up to about 7 miles an hour. So far this pace has worked out ok as I have been riding alongside running friends at around 4:30 in the morning and the company is very welcome. I assume there are so many variables to speed that it may be hard to answer, but is it a reasonable goal that I can work up about a ten mile per hour pace over time? How steep is the learning curve with this? 4. Due to the pressures of work and desire to spend plenty of time with my young family I generally exercise quite early in the morning, usually around 4:30 and have been incorporating the longboard into my routine (riding to the gym a mile each way) when I can. This forces me to ride in the dark. I am used to this from running, and I wear a reflective vest, but I am wondering if anyone has good light suggestions perhaps for a front headlight/LED or any other suggestions. Thanks, and sorry so long winded. Landy |
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| LDPanda |
!: Oftentimes, squeaking that you think is coming from the bushings is, in fact, coming from the pivot cup. this is the small black cup where the hangar meets the baseplate. I suggest using a small amount of regular bar hand soap (ivory seems to work well for me) to lubricate the pivot cup. Just cut off a small chunk and place it in the cup and jam it in with the hangar. If it is your bushings, you could try soft venoms instead of Khiros, but almost everyone here uses khiros on bennets.
2: I wasnt skating at a young age nor do i have children of my own, but my amateur opinion is that, yes, kids can learn to pump. Furthermore, if i were to pick a board to give my lil bro or something, i would try to find a slalom deck with some flex, maybe an insect sidewinder or something. Also, a cheaper option would be a 'schlongboard,' a standard skateboard with longboard trucks on it. 3: When i was learning to pump, a good exercise for me was to push or pump up to my maximum speed and then lock my knees and do ALL the work with my upper body. Its probably not very safe, and i dont know how you would feel about doing this with your knee surgery, but it helped me learn to use my upper body to pump; after which I was able to re-incorporate my lower body into the pump and my speed increased a ton. 4: Ive got no advice for you here, im bad and skate at night holding a flashlight in my lead hand 
Hope some of this is helpful, good luck. |
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| scooterdad |
Thanks for all the help and suggestions. I hope the soap works. The squeaking doesn't really fit with smooth, surfy feeling I have otherwise enjoyed.
I will try using my legs less at speed and see if I can feel my core working more. Does it matter how I set up the trucks on the slalom (ie wedging) to help my son learn to pump or would it be more versatile without going overboard with the pumping set-up for him? Thanks again, Landy |
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| scooterdad |
Bar soap- brilliant! Seemed to help right away though I won't get to test on the road for a little while. Do you need to reapply often? | ||
| LDPanda |
My personal experience was that i had to reapply the soap after most sessions for the first few weeks, but after that it seemed to build up a 'base layer' and i add more soap every month or so now. Its a good idea to hit the back truck too, even if its not squeaking as it will reduce wear on the pivot cup and turn smoother. Another tip for building speed is to concentrate a little more on your back leg. When i was starting, i tended to focus mostly on what my lead leg was doing, and it was hard to conceptualize what 'pumping from the rear' really meant. Its tricky to pick up on and you can really only learn from experience, but pumping really involves both legs, the core, and the upper body all working together. Once you can learn to incorporate your whole body, you can start breaking it back down into different pumping 'styles' so you can switch things up and not wear out your muscles. Hope this makes sense, happy pumping! |
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| pavedwave |
Soap does work nice, you might also try a silicone lubricant, white teflon grease, or graphite -- just nothing petroleum based. I've never used soap for extended length of time like Panda -- that "base layer" thing sounds logical!
As for the youngins, we hold some short slalom sessions sometimes at the "big" event in Hood River Oregon, where the little ones can go through about 20 cones set up nice and easy, just challenging enough to make them turn, and with a gentle slope. Slalom cones are a good way for them to get the concept and movement down, and they won't be focused so much on raw mechanics, just the task of getting through the cones. Real slalom cones are the safest bet, but they're expensive. One of the better alternates are water bottles full of water, or cans of pop, they tend to ping out of the way. Other substitutes like empty aluminum cans or "cheerleader" cones, are not highly recommended since they can crumple or crunch under wheels and toss ya. For their setup, if you've already got them on a nicely wedged front truck, just check to see if their bushings are soft and loose, and really turny. I think one of the best "out of the box" pumping setups for kids is the AXE I, their smallest "tight slalom" board, with a front Tracker mid-track and rear Tracker RTS. If you tell Richy it's for a kid, he can set it up really loose. Later you can stick some harder bushings on it and it'll be your tight pump board / commuter as well! As for pumping, it does take a while to get the speed up consistently, just keep at it, sounds like you've got a good commute for it. And trust me you'll be a bit faster than the runners, soon enough
I also ride into work in pitch darkness in winter, and use either this PETZL light that wraps around the helmet and takes 3 AAA batteries 
or this other Coast LED one that takes little watch batteries 
The smaller one isn't quite as bright as a headlight, but it has a little blue light in back for bikers to see you from behind (if they don't see the flaming neon jacket first!!) |
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| scooterdad |
Thanks James and LDPanda!
Good tips- all around. I haven't braved the cold yet on the board today (it was 10 when I woke up this morning), but I am looking forward to see if the squeak has been squashed by the soap. I think I have one of those PETZL lights around somewhere from years ago, so I may give that ago. Alternatively, I wasn't sure how it would work mounting a light on the front top of the deck. Don't worry I won't put neon lights on the bottom or anything like that. The STP ride looks like quite an interesting ride but no way I could swing this year with my technique or lack thereof. I am curious though if others have participated in Century ride events (for cyclists) or whether there was any interest in creating a point to point event for LDP only 
I am interested in this event (local to me), and I heard inline skaters have done this one before. Hopefully they would allow me. http://www.seagullcentury.org/ |
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| Firedawg |
They do make riser pads with LED lights built into them. I'm not sure how this would throw off your set up however, I think safety would be paramount (then again I am a firefighter, all I think is safety).
Maybe mount it on the grip tape side to limit wear and tear on LED unit. Of course LED technology has come a ways, may be just as easy to go to radio shack and do it yourself? http://www.xboardilluminators.com/index.htm http://thelongboardstore.com/sunriser-lights-c-320.html With the way people drive around my neighborhood, I could be covered with LED lights and they would probably still hit me. |
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| scooterdad |
That's the truth isn't it! Thanks for the LED suggestion. I don't suppose another 1/4 inch will throw off set-up too much or perhaps I can tweak the risers around. |
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| angelo_pb |
I run a single red LED pad in back. The ones at longboard store are cheaper and thinner than the Khiro. I am using the Khiro though. Works really well. But the helmet light sounds great for seeing and being seen.
edit: 31.01.2009 we put the front light on today, more so for extra clearance then ligh. But hey, i what the hell? why not? Seems high but the less chance of wheel bite. Pumping makes a little light show on wheels. 
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