Help for New Slalomers! (please read)

[Nasty Nathan]

How thick is this spacer? could I build one myself out of an old hard bushing? if not where could I acquire one?

[Gary in VA]

I personally would not wedge it as much as in the picture... I find 10 degrees is enough...


Later, Tod

It is wedged 10 degrees now. That was when I started at 20, then 15, and ended up at 10 degrees as the sweet spot.

[Nasty Nathan]

It is wedged 10 degrees now. That was when I started at 20, then 15, and ended up at 10 degrees as the sweet spot.

Ok but what is that little spacer thing that was underneath the bushing? and if it's possible how thick is it?

[telecaster]

Nathan, about a 1/4".... just get some flat washers and stack them... I actually take the two gold washers
that come with the Bennett truck and put them "cup to cup" to make the spacer and then use a smaller
flat washer over the top bushing...works great!! Also...I treat all my bushings and pivot cups to a spritz of Armour All...
makes everything work all loosey goosey.... It's just a thing I does...

Yo Gary,
I robbed your pic...Nathan will thank you for keeping it up on the web...

[Nasty Nathan]

Thnks for the info I'll try that out this weekend and see how it works.

[hermese]

Looks like this hasn't been active for a while, but I'll throw my questions out there anyway and hope somebody's there to answer...

I've been longboarding for around three years -- nothing serious like dh/slalom/sliding, but I go out a lot to cruise and bomb some of the bigger hills in Boulder, and now slalom has peaked my interest. A lot of people have asked questions about specific truck setups for slalom, but I was looking for some more general info. What's the difference between the turning setup you're looking for in slalom compared to a standard longboard setup? (I mostly ride seismics, quick front & stable rear, with max-light [white] and extra-light [yellow] springs respectively) I'm looking forward to a big tax return this year, so what would be a good setup as far as trucks for slalom, maybe in the $100-$200 price range? I think I'd like to get into GS or maybe HS more than TS, I'll probably get a 30/31" deck with multiple wheelbases, so any suggestions on a specific deck would be appreciated as well (I've been eyeing the Insect and FlexDex slalom decks, any opinions on those?). What's the difference between riding a flexy or a stiff deck in slalom? Some companies seem to claim that a flexier deck returns more power in the pump, while other sources say a stiffer deck is better. Also, what is a normal wheel size and durometer for GS/HS, and what's the benefit of having different durometers in the front and back? Thanks for any help!

[Xgecko]

A newby thoughts for what it's worth, you could just go to SK8kings they are pretty good at setting up beginners completes...I however am more of a DIYer so I experimented a bit

the Fullbag Red Baron is a big HS/small GS board, I like Fullbags I'm bigger and I like a stiffer board. Trucks... I've seen more than one person running a Bennett 4.5 front Seismic 105stable rear but there are lots of truck options. Wheel size depends allot on where you are skating, if the hills are steep 66mm shallow 70mm, also 66mm for HS, 70mm for GS. Mixed Duro's are useful for speed vs traction...softer wheels in the back to hold on a turn, harder wheels in the front are for speed and surprisingly traction. As to what duros that depends on style and weight....I started with the ever popular lemon/lime Zigs but I was destroying limes on the rear at a rapid rate, so I switched to orange/lemons and have had much better wear and no noticeable loss of traction. I highly recommend either finding someone with cones or getting a set, I spent a year using walmart cones before buying SofaKing's 3dm/Seismics and will say that the difference is night and day, spend the money on real cones.

[Bluedivergary]

I second the suggestion for sk8kings. For your $200 you can get a complete that Richy will set up for your weight and for what you think you will want to do with it. You can use that to figure out where to go from there.

[WAX]

Contact Zak and Martin (T.V.A.R. or Marv)
they are in Boulder, and rip...they can let you try several different set-ups and explain to you while you are riding it why it works the way it does...then you can make your decision after you see what works best for you.

You are in COSS land now...welcome...you can skate with the best gang around. Plenty of different setups to check out. Between the COSS old school guys and the kids there is just about every setup possible to try...
Contact me when the snow melts and we can skate north of there. We have several beginners at UNC this year..and all will be working hard to race in April..

[hermese]

Awesome, thanks for all the replies! I checked out the sk8kings slalom setups and definitely like the idea (and they have great prices!), but I also like the idea of just going to all boards sports and getting something in my hands right away I have actually gotten in touch with Zak and Martin, but only through PM, once the snow melts I plan on talking to both of them about going skating, I feel like I have cabin fever having not really LB'ed in maybe a month--I've been going down to the tiny garage under my condo building to do kickturns between pillars and cars (it's about 250ft long by 40ft wide, with about a 15ft wide clear path w/o pillars and cars) but that's definitely not satisfying compared to an actual hill. Anyone in boulder know of any clean, dry hills right now?
Basically all of my questions have been answered, which is great, I'd still like to know though what the difference is between a flexy and a stiff deck. Does it give you more power return in a pump, or take some away? Will a flexy deck be more or less agile? Slower?
Thanks for the help

[celticzazen]

Hello, I am not new to slalom but I haven't really done it since the mid 1970's... We'd just step up some cones and got for it... Recently I have been setting up cones in front of my house or over by a local school and running them... This has cause some interest in some of the local sk8ers.... I let them try one of my boards... My question or questions... are for tight slalom what is the correct distance between cones.... same thing for hybrid or Giant... Also are there plans availabe on the internet for starting ramps? I have googled and googled but I guess I'm not putting in the right information.... What else...? My hope is to develop a team here and maybe travel to some regional events next year...

Ok! thats it for now! Tks ahead of time for any information...

John

BAD KARMA SK8 TEAM

[hermese]

for tight slalom what is the correct distance between cones.... same thing for hybrid or Giant...

I found this really informative: Silverfish Longboarding - The Longboard Skateboard Community - ISSA Publishes 2008 Rulebook

[hermese]

for tight slalom what is the correct distance between cones.... same thing for hybrid or Giant...

Check this out: Silverfish Longboarding - The Longboard Skateboard Community - ISSA Publishes 2008 Rulebook

[TwinTown Skater]

Celti-

You can check out Slalom! for a slalom only community as well. Many there are here and vice versa. Where'd ya skate in the day? I was in Boulder, but we didn't really turn cones, we just skated gravity.

[stevie]

......My question or questions... are for tight slalom what is the correct distance between cones.... same thing for hybrid or Giant... Also are there plans availabe on the internet for starting ramps?......

To answer your questions here:

Cone spacings I would typically use at a practice:

Tight: 5' to 7', with an average around 6'-0", may be set straight or with offsets
Tight wheelbases: 17" to 19.5"

Hybrid: 6' to 10'+, usually varying offsets btwn. 3" and 18".
Hybrid wheelbases: 19" to 21.5"

Giant: 7' to 30' depending on slope, varied to big offsets from 6" to 12'+.
Giant wheelbases: 21.5" to 24"

Cone spacings per the 2008 ISSA rules, which apply to ISSA sanctioned events:

Tight: 1.4m to 3m (4.6’ to 6.6’)
Hybrid: 1.5m to 4.5m (4.9’ to 14.8’)
Giant: 2m to 10m (6.6’ to 32.8’)
Super Giant: 3m to 20m (9.8’ to 65.6’)

Byrd Ramp Plans:
http://www.slalomskateboarder.com/St...tRampPlans.pdf

I'll be building a pair of the ramps below this summer, with details similar to the document above:


Good luck with your group. Sounds like you have a nice thing going.

[celticzazen]

Celti-

You can check out Slalom! for a slalom only community as well. Many there are here and vice versa. Where'd ya skate in the day? I was in Boulder, but we didn't really turn cones, we just skated gravity.

I lived in Vacaville California... about 45 miles east of San Francisco... Now I live in Arkansas... in the Ozarks.... .... and thanks to everyone for the information... I am printing the ISSA 2008 rules right now... I'm not much of a carpenter so I will have to get my son or some of his carpenter friends build it...

Tks

John

[celticzazen]

[revzack]

John,

PM me, I have Ricky Byrd's plans in my email. Not sure how to post them here. They seem to be the standard or basis for most start ramps at the races.

[guivans]

Hey guys...although this question is not totally related to slalom, i think you might be the right people dor the right answer..
Today, i decided to make a shlong of the shortboard i bought in 2nd hand the other day...i was going to make it a slide deck..
So i drielled the holes and was thinking about the changes i would fell...since its a shlong and the trucks are on the ending parts of the board, and with a lot of wedging, i was hopping for super turning capabilities...
But it happened the opposite...i just dont understand why...
Im running on some CORE 7.0 trucks, wich are regular trucks...dont know if it has something to do with it...
Cheers and thanks for help..

[Ogre]

Hey guys...although this question is not totally related to slalom, i think you might be the right people dor the right answer..
Today, i decided to make a shlong of the shortboard i bought in 2nd hand the other day...i was going to make it a slide deck..
So i drielled the holes and was thinking about the changes i would fell...since its a shlong and the trucks are on the ending parts of the board, and with a lot of wedging, i was hopping for super turning capabilities...
But it happened the opposite...i just dont understand why...
Im running on some CORE 7.0 trucks, wich are regular trucks...dont know if it has something to do with it...
Cheers and thanks for help..

You past the angle of turnability! You actually will have to "dewedge a bit to get back into their turning geometry!