pavedwave longboarding

timbo666 · Joined: 30 Aug 2009 Posts: 21 Location: Coventry - England

A slight worry before i get an LDP setup, how do you go down hills?

When i have my front trucks on my Dervish too loose, going down hills at any pace is scary and speed wobbles easily.

Any experiences and of course advice appreciated!

Thanks,

Tim

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

A few things work for me:

- always keep an edge, just like in snowboarding

- keep the trucks loose BUT responsive - meaning they should be tight enough to bounce directly back to center

- be able to footbrake in your sleep.

jose · Joined: 14 May 2009 Posts: 7

On your dervish you should train carving and making the back wheels slide a little so you will be able to run down the steepest hills.

I've only experienced wobbles twice because I was riding on particular conditions I brake before reaching speeds I'm not comfortable.

jat. · Posted: Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:00 am Post subject:

I carve deep and speed check a lot if it gets too serious.
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Gawd

egret · Joined: 18 Jun 2008 Posts: 84

I'm curious how wide are carves when you guys downhill? In relation to a street, one lane, two? Trails I have been on where inclines are are about one lane wide and carving does not do the trick for me and I have to foot break a lot.

JeffVyain · Joined: 20 Aug 2009 Posts: 59 Location: Indianapolis, IN

Footbrake in your sleep is right. That said, I've never gotten a speed wobble on my LDP. I'm riding on a Seismic in the rear...maybe that has something to do with that, but this Bennett only turns when I tell it to, and the rear is so stable it feels like a speed wobble just couldn't happen at any reasonable speed.

Does anyone speed check on their LDP? I haven't even tried it...the thought scares me.

Odiwan · Posted: Fri Oct 16, 2009 3:44 am Post subject:

I am curious about speed checking as well.

I have been down some moderate hills on my setup (Mermaid/Bennett5.0/Seismic105) and have no problem carving, up to a certain point. After about 25mph my carving becomes VERY minimal but as long as I am carving a little (as JP says keeping an edge) the I don't get speed wobs.

But I was out with my bro last weekend and he skates a lot of big DH and sliding stuff, and it gave me the taste for sliding, cept, I cant really slide yet.

So, does anyone speed check/ slide on their LDP setups? Any tips? Sorry if I seem like I am hijacking the thread, but I think every good downhiller knows how to slide, and I wonder if it is possible to do so on an LDP.

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

What I found is for sliding, the wheels really made a difference. I was a lot more able to push bottle-green Bennetts and Abec Gumballs into short slides, than I can do on my Avilas. I don't feel comfortable with the way the 3dm's hook back up, they seemed to "skitter" more... but probably the better you get the less difference this makes. Still, I'm planning to spend my sliding practice on a lime or lemon Gumball setup, or some harder yellow Bennetts, with the same durometer all around.

On a topmount LDP, the two adjustments I'm making to make it a better slider are -- slidey-er wheels, and loosening the rear truck just a bit, to make the front a rear a little closer in the way they respond (that probably means going down one spring level on a Seismic...) Eric and his buds have been doing a lot of slides lately, you might have seen the Cambiar vids. The slightly lowered deck helps for busting free, but the rest is all practice and weight distribution. My slides are pretty short and nothing close to "controlled speed checks" yet... maybe Eric and crew can toss some tips in.

Odiwan · Posted: Fri Oct 16, 2009 2:31 pm Post subject:

After I wrote this last night I jumped onto youtube and found this clip

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-u4Ojr0lA_E&feature=player_embedded
which Eric had already posted on the G-Bomb thread in the boards forum, here on Pavedwave (I haven't been on here in a few weeks). I think that it answers both questions: can you go DH and can you slide on a LDP setup.

I have been practicing sliding (badly) on a shlong board, on which I have some 81A Alligators that I radiused a couple of days ago, which I noticed an instant improvement on. Yeah, I wouldn't even try to slide on my Avilas...that is not what they are for.

I have been thinking about getting a dedicated DH and sliding board, but have misgivings about anything that can't be pumped as well. I think that the G-Bomb could be the answer. Of course if you are confident enough you can do anything on anything, but definitely some setups/ configurations work better than others.

edp_swakakin · Joined: 19 Apr 2008 Posts: 189