pavedwave longboarding

RiPPer · Joined: 13 Feb 2009 Posts: 53

I think everybody above gave you some great advice.

As far as getting your back leg more into the pumping action, I'm working on this too. One thing that seems to be helping is to act as if your rear foot and front foot are trying to twist the deck in different directions. This helps to torque the board and get your hips and core into the movement. I think this action results in the back end swinging out more. Kind of a weird concept and it feel strange at first.

My muscles are not used to this action, or the front foot wiggle either for that matter. So either way I start to tire before going to far. I think just putting in the miles and getting conditioned to the pumping movement is a big factor.

I'm also playing with more unweighting and weighting action by lifting and dropping at knees and hips. There is a lot of good ideas on the "how to pump" section of paved wave. The Gesmer article, the videos, quotes from silverfish and ncdsa are all good places to look for ideas to tweak your technique. I'm still learning and still experimenting with various ideas from those sources.

From what I've seen on other set ups here, you may want to try more front wedging and less rear. It seems that 20 degrees or more in front is not uncommon and reportedly makes pumping easier. 5 to 7 degrees of dewedge in the back seems common. You may have to re-evaluate your bushing choices after changing wedging. Since you have the khiro kit upgrading your rear bushings is a great idea. Around 90a to 93a seems popular for rear bushings, but you are light and might want to go softer. For front bushings Stoked is recommending W-W-W triple stack
for 100 pounds and O-W-O for 150 pounds. So those combos might be worth trying.

Ian the Groove Worshipper · Joined: 03 Dec 2008 Posts: 79 Location: Largo, FL

You could also try buying a GPS - I got a Garmin 101 for $60 shipped on Ebay - or doing some timed runs. I thought that I was pumping pretty fast until I got my GPS and found out I was averaging about 8mph. Getting clear objective feedback can really help you guide you toward technique improvements.

Over analyzing technique can be counterproductive when you are getting started. Pumping is all about flow, connection, feeling it not thinking it. Just focus on the flowing feel of a well-connected groove.

Moddos · Joined: 06 May 2009 Posts: 14 Location: Europe

Thanks again for the comments, I'm going to try the O-W-O again with a shortened white barrel.

Panda: You mentioned you cut the barrel yourself (in another thread); so did I, but mine's really not flat... I'm finding it hard to get it cut nicely given that I have no workshop access and my knives aren't perfect.

Is it OK to glue a somewhat uneven white barrel to the orange cone? The cut end has one side a bit higher than the other (in addition to being generally uneven), I'm not sure whether the weight of me+the board will make the imperfections insignificant or whether it'll make them very noticeable.

Or I can try to use a flat washer between orange cone and white barrel to make up for the uneven-ness...

About the GPS, since I was thinking of getting a device anyway, this is another good reason to do it, I guess Smile

LDPanda · Joined: 21 Nov 2008 Posts: 418 Location: Seattle, WA

I dont really cut my bushings anymore, i just let them deform. The khiro whites are called marshmallows for a reason, theyre gonna get pretty beat up. As for cutting bushings, i used an extremely sharp knife, probably sharper than anything you have in your kitchen. I usually touch up any cuts i make with some sandpaper (around 80grit) to clean it up a bit. Personally, I think youre better off not cutting your bushings and just gluing them together, using a little extra muscle to get the KP nut tightened down and then letting them break in a bit.

Moddos · Joined: 06 May 2009 Posts: 14 Location: Europe

Aw, OK. And I spent over an hour cutting and filing this barrel (badly)... ^_^

But is gluing white+orange together really enough to keep the yellow barrel from hanging over one side of the orange barrel?
It's been years since I last glued anything, so I may underestimate how well the bushings stick together under pressure =)

(I'm about to head out to buy glue for rubber stuff)

stridey · Joined: 11 Mar 2009 Posts: 48

I 'think' that Ritchy Carrasco melts his bushings on a hot plate to fuse them together.

He joins two conicals to get an hourglass shape.

RiPPer · Joined: 13 Feb 2009 Posts: 53

I have a skennett with the carasco bushing and I'd agree, mine looks like two orange cones melted together.

For gluing is there a prefered glue? Or a list of glues known to have worked.
I'd hate to accidently destroy a bushing with wrong glue.

LDPanda · Joined: 21 Nov 2008 Posts: 418 Location: Seattle, WA

The glue i use is called "Plastic Surgery" and from what i can tell its the same as any other super glue. I highly suggest wearing thin latex gloves or something when working with this type of glue as it has no problem at all sticking two of your fingers together. Quick historical note, many of the super glues we use today were developed as an alternative to stiches after surgery. It doesnt take much either and youll want to wipe of any excess quickly as it can build up and leave "hard spots" on your bushings. As a side note, i ive tried several different 'hourglass' setups for the bennet and they always get chewed to bits pretty quickly. I really suggest trying cone,barell over cone,cone but experimentation is always a good thing. I think sk8kings ships thier completes with the hourglass setup becuase they have lots of extra cones left over becuase nobody wants them. (not saying anything bad about sk8kings, richy and maria have always taken good care of me)

pavedwave · Joined: 22 Oct 2007 Posts: 1120 Location: seattle wa usa

Just remember with all the filing and BBQ'd bushings going on, to not inhale any of these fumes or dust. It melts your synapses together which might result in some interesting, new, spontaneous creativity and/or cool-looking hallucinations -- but 99% of the time, just renders ya kinda dumb. Wink

Btw, I typically don't do any bushing chopping or gluing. I just jam the cone+barrel underneath, crank it down and let nature do the rest. Might not be the best method, but works for me and my bushings really do last almost as long as forever but not quite infinity.

Moddos · Joined: 06 May 2009 Posts: 14 Location: Europe

Alright, after seeing too many experienced people (heavier than me, too) get along fine with orange cone, white barrel, hanger, orange cone, I'll glue together cone and barrel and hope for the best =)

My wheelbite test is to stand on the board and lean on one side until two wheels are in the air, then try to roll backwards/forwards. Does this sound right, or is it too harsh?

I've still got wheelbite even with orange/orange/orange like this, so I suspect I just need more riser or something... I'm using cup washers at bottom and top.

I noticed my cut down barrel only made the wheelbite even worse, since it brought the hanger closer to the board and the un-evenness made it too loose in one direction.