How do you feel about slalom boards in DH races?

[tomahawk]

a lot of misconceptions in this thread.

1) no one bombs a slalom board to be "cool". they do it because they think theyll be faster on a given course on it. while joking may go on, no one would actually rub it in anyones face

2) shorter wheelbases are indeed becoming more common, see the killswitch and patrick switzer's dh board. i think in terms of "All around" bombing theres a limit to how small you can go (fitting on the board in your tuck, drifting etc). although im more tempted to say screw slalom boards, the wave of the future is gonna be racing popsicles!! (see: rizzo, jm, ethan lau) cuz those are short as #### and u can slide the #### out of them!



3) i dont think (i could be proven wrong) youll ever see a slalom board bombing any course that requires drifting, or even any significant amount of slowing down.

4) just cuz people like using them at maryhill, doesnt mean it's the end of the world. chill people, no need to make a non-issue an issue.

[sniffleless]

I actually made a thread about this a couple months back and got some great responses, if you search "DH on Slalom Boards" or something like that it should show up in the speedboarding section.

I personally love smaller wheelbases, and for anything that you for sure don't have to drift I can see it being killer.

That was a good post. Worth checking out for the purpose of this debate.
DH on Slalom Boards

I ask this because I have been to a few slalom races this year that also had a dh race as part of the event.
The dh guys will wait patiently all day for the slalom to get over so they can race. Which is cool and the slalom guys do appreciate how patient you guys are.
But....I have heard a few dh guys complain about guys racing the dh courses on their slalom boards. Now many of those complaints are coming from guys that are getting beat by the guys on their slalom boards. So I wanted to ask how people felt about the use of slalom boards in dh races.

The way I see it, it is just another arrow in your quiver. Some courses the slalom style set ups work better. Other courses you need the bigger board. When you are in actual races you sometimes need to go with what gives you an edge. You do it with wheels and bushings and trucks so why not boards. Although this does remind me of the six-wheeler debates.

Another thing that has increased the presence of slalom boards at these dh races that were part of the slalom events is baggage limitations. Some of these slalom guys are running their slalom boards in the dh races because they didn't have room in their luggage to bring their dh boards so they skate what they have.

I think that the dh scene could also learn a lot about gear set ups from the slalom guys. The slalom guys have a lot of knowledge about wheels and trucks and wedging that can be applied to dh and could really push the performance of racers and their boards to new levels. When you get down to it racing is racing.

All I know is I wish I had raced my slalom set up instead of my dh board at the last race.

[Texas Longboards]

If you look at some of the bigger GS boards (say Fullbag, as Switzer used one at Mary), they're not that different in wheelbase to a DH board. Trucks are another thing though. Really narrow hangars, with a near-zero angle on the back. No idea how that would feel, but obviously some people like it.

Some of the high dollar slalom trucks allow for interchanging axle lengths and slalom riders with go to a longer axle for the dh segment.

[PolyFunk]

Lets get our pitchforks and torches!

[Petary791]

Skating slalom has made me a better downhiller. It's all just skateboarding. If you can bomb on a park board with 99A wheels do it.

[jeremyheuser]

Skating slalom has made me a better downhiller. It's all just skateboarding. If you can bomb on a park board with 99A wheels do it.

slalom definitely strengthened my calves
stronger calves from slalom and stronger quads from doing distance skates pushing both ways helped me feel MUCH more comfortable riding switch

[urbanasultvehicleuav]

"this will be my set up for marryhill this coming saturday"

this dude chopped his dh40 and put some radicals on it for MARYHILL seems like thier the most favorable there

[green]

I prefer stupid small wheelbases, but that come from the people I rode with, and the road I learned on. I know for dam sure that trying to effectively pendy and predrift a board with a 24 inch wheelbase is HARD. Control is very low in that department. Being able to ride such a small board is no joke either. People cant talk crap on skill. And I have to agree with Kevin, if you can man handle a course on a slalom board, its not a hard course.

And if DH guys are complaining about slalom guys beating them, something must be wrong. Either they need to pick out a new sport, or get better because to really be better on a slalom board you have to be VERY skilled.

I dont see any board regulations becoming a problem, or any need for splitting of classes. If you can handle it than you can handle it. The sixer thing was a MAJOR issue for slalom, because it really could give you a comparative advantage of you knew how to ride the board, like Chaput did. In DH, the sixer isnt a huge advantage because its a give take, and most of the time, people have no idea how to setup a six wheeler the right way at all. No offense to chaput either but i dicked around on his most recent DH sixer and it didnt feel right at all. Moving on, sixers when set up the correct way give you more grip, but you get less steering/turning, and gain a butload of momentum. A slalom board is very much like a six wheeler for DH, you cant run it on courses with major drifting or sliding, unless it gives you enough grip to overcome that.

Slalom guys are very knowledgeable about wheels, trucks, etc.. But IMO, the main reason slalom style tuning hasnt been adopted to racing is as simple as fun. Noone wants to ride like Mischo. Its robotic and not fun at all. Again with Krimes, there are the fun havers, and then there are the non-fun havers (Mischo, Siegrist, etc). Such a robotic style of skating is almost frowned upon. Hate me all you want but its the truth.

[tomahawk]

I prefer stupid small wheelbases, but that come from the people I rode with, and the road I learned on. I know for dam sure that trying to effectively pendy and predrift a board with a 24 inch wheelbase is HARD. Control is very low in that department. Being able to ride such a small board is no joke either. People cant talk crap on skill. And I have to agree with Kevin, if you can man handle a course on a slalom board, its not a hard course.

And if DH guys are complaining about slalom guys beating them, something must be wrong. Either they need to pick out a new sport, or get better because to really be better on a slalom board you have to be VERY skilled.

I dont see any board regulations becoming a problem, or any need for splitting of classes. If you can handle it than you can handle it. The sixer thing was a MAJOR issue for slalom, because it really could give you a comparative advantage of you knew how to ride the board, like Chaput did. In DH, the sixer isnt a huge advantage because its a give take, and most of the time, people have no idea how to setup a six wheeler the right way at all. No offense to chaput either but i dicked around on his most recent DH sixer and it didnt feel right at all. Moving on, sixers when set up the correct way give you more grip, but you get less steering/turning, and gain a butload of momentum. A slalom board is very much like a six wheeler for DH, you cant run it on courses with major drifting or sliding, unless it gives you enough grip to overcome that.

Slalom guys are very knowledgeable about wheels, trucks, etc.. But IMO, the main reason slalom style tuning hasnt been adopted to racing is as simple as fun. Noone wants to ride like Mischo. Its robotic and not fun at all. Again with Krimes, there are the fun havers, and then there are the non-fun havers (Mischo, Siegrist, etc). Such a robotic style of skating is almost frowned upon. Hate me all you want but its the truth.

not picking a bone with you in particular max, just the general concept of "robots" and "fun havers" and all that jazz (and more of a general aside to this entire thread actually)

dh guys are a bunch of nerds, maybe not as much as slalom guys, but we are still all geeks about our gear. look at the chief "fun haver" kevin's aera truck thread. he went out and made a truck specifically for him, with all kinds of geeky features. the real reason why we dont tune as much as slalom guys is simple. DH has a much margin for error than a pure traction sport such as slalom, so as such, such nitpicky fine tunes such as +-2 degrees on the trucks wont make a noticable difference.

next, robots. oh no! someone is foot braking!! he must not be having fun! wtf kind of bs is that. sure the style isnt as "steezy" as predrifting and throwing your arms around for no particular reason, but to say those guys arent having fun is the biggest load of bs i've ever heard. Up until last year, almost everyone footbroke at races and had a "robotic" style. All of a sudden in the span of a year all the people that are still doing it magically stopped having fun!? yeah, bs. I love watching martin skate because of the precision and accuracy of his movements, footbrakes and turns. nothing is wasted, and almost everything is perfectly coordinated/timed. just cuz it's the latest silverfish trend to be all "steezy" and try to not put a hand down, and predrift doesnt mean the people who say "#### that" arent having fun, just different stroked for different folks.

[green]

Footbraking isnt robotic at all. Thats totally untrue. Ive actually seen Mischo throw predrifts many times. And to flip that seen James and Louis footbrake turns. But when the man NEVER skates without his leathers, and EVERY run is a race run, doing the same exact thing every single time, thats robotic. He never takes a chill run, wears his leathers when we are t-shirt and shorts, always full throttle, every time. Wont skate in the pack, wont dice it up, just goes for it every time.

Its not the fad, its just guys that never try to throw some style in there, never decide, hey, i think ill go slow and take this turn with my hands way up in the air, even though its not as fast. Ill just skate this road to skate it and have a good time, not to go full bore every single time as if it were the last run ever. And thats fine for Mischo, every time he skates its like a race condition, that just makes it that much more comfy for him when it counts.

Ever since you called me out about being a pansy at GMR, I seriously made a vow that I would get better, and shut you down. You literally gave me the push I needed to get out of the rut I was in. No offense taken at all. If there wasnt an arguement, noone would understand anything.

I guess its something that I cant convey over the internet, and you might not see my perspective as I, and others do. But just because you ride a skateboard, doesnt make you a skater.

[BoardDuDE630]

just because you ride a skateboard, doesnt make you a skater.

Then what does? Since you seem to have all the answers and whatnot.

[Bobrules]

Footbraking isnt robotic at all. Thats totally untrue. Ive actually seen Mischo throw predrifts many times. And to flip that seen James and Louis footbrake turns. But when the man NEVER skates without his leathers, and EVERY run is a race run, doing the same exact thing every single time, thats robotic. He never takes a chill run, wears his leathers when we are t-shirt and shorts, always full throttle, every time. Wont skate in the pack, wont dice it up, just goes for it every time.

Its not the fad, its just guys that never try to throw some style in there, never decide, hey, i think ill go slow and take this turn with my hands way up in the air, even though its not as fast. Ill just skate this road to skate it and have a good time, not to go full bore every single time as if it were the last run ever. And thats fine for Mischo, every time he skates its like a race condition, that just makes it that much more comfy for him when it counts.

Ever since you called me out about being a pansy at GMR, I seriously made a vow that I would get better, and shut you down. You literally gave me the push I needed to get out of the rut I was in. No offense taken at all. If there wasnt an arguement, noone would understand anything.

I guess its something that I cant convey over the internet, and you might not see my perspective as I, and others do. But just because you ride a skateboard, doesnt make you a skater.

Who are you to judge others riding style...

[tomahawk]

Footbraking isnt robotic at all. Thats totally untrue. Ive actually seen Mischo throw predrifts many times. And to flip that seen James and Louis footbrake turns. But when the man NEVER skates without his leathers, and EVERY run is a race run, doing the same exact thing every single time, thats robotic. He never takes a chill run, wears his leathers when we are t-shirt and shorts, always full throttle, every time. Wont skate in the pack, wont dice it up, just goes for it every time.

Its not the fad, its just guys that never try to throw some style in there, never decide, hey, i think ill go slow and take this turn with my hands way up in the air, even though its not as fast. Ill just skate this road to skate it and have a good time, not to go full bore every single time as if it were the last run ever. And thats fine for Mischo, every time he skates its like a race condition, that just makes it that much more comfy for him when it counts.

Ever since you called me out about being a pansy at GMR, I seriously made a vow that I would get better, and shut you down. You literally gave me the push I needed to get out of the rut I was in. No offense taken at all. If there wasnt an arguement, noone would understand anything.

I guess its something that I cant convey over the internet, and you might not see my perspective as I, and others do. But just because you ride a skateboard, doesnt make you a skater.

i guess i see what you mean, i still disagree, but i see where you're coming from a bit better. 9btw, i agree 100% with what u said about slalom boards)

you gonna be around during xmas...i wanna rally down gmr with you.

[green]

Ill be here, but im sure you will still beat me down. I still have trouble tucking the whole thing. And since I havnt been able to skate as much as I would like, and its been 4 months since ive ridden gmr, my legs will be extra noodly. But I am down to try haha. Its always different when its a race and someone is in front of you.

[tomahawk]

Ill be here, but im sure you will still beat me down. I still have trouble tucking the whole thing. And since I havnt been able to skate as much as I would like, and its been 4 months since ive ridden gmr, my legs will be extra noodly. But I am down to try haha. Its always different when its a race and someone is in front of you.

meh, #### racing. i've stopped caring about going super duper fast on open roads, i just find the risk of charging too hard and finding youself on the wrong side of a car too great. love to just jam down tho.

[green]

I am way down for that.

[Reece Man]

"this will be my set up for marryhill this coming saturday"

this dude chopped his dh40 and put some radicals on it for MARYHILL seems like thier the most favorable there

I have no preference to Maryhill, it's just the only hill around here that's dry... When I get back to Arizona I plan to take it on MANY more hills.

[stephen.mhsrider]

I have no preference to Maryhill, it's just the only hill around here that's dry... When I get back to Arizona I plan to take it on MANY more hills.

that looks like it would hurt to be hit by

[Reece Man]

that looks like it would hurt to be hit by

It doesn't just look like it would...

[loadeddancah]

that looks like it would hurt to be hit by

they should call the cut up roggerbros thing the penetrator