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| Q&A: McKendry on Speed (1810 Posts)
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SF Bombers
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On 10/7/2004
Chris Chaput
wrote in from
United States
(66.116.nnn.nnn)
Contact Eli Smouse at Purple Skunk or Cavey at Sonoma Sports or Cliff Coleman in Berkley/Auburn or Patrick Rizzo and JM (phone # is currently in the Speedboarders Forum) or Comet Skateboarders. They are much more in touch with NorCal downhill scene than I am.
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Wheels
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On 10/7/2004
Budha
wrote in from
United States
(204.156.nnn.nnn)
Thanks! I have another question are there any clubs in or around the SF bay area that sponsor days/races on local hills?
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Budha Wheels
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On 10/7/2004
Chris Chaput
wrote in from
United States
(66.116.nnn.nnn)
Budha, Try a bigger wheel like the 76mm Gumball or the 83mm Flywheel. I've yet to see a meltdown on either of them. You can carve, cruise, bomb or win a race on either of these. A big guy like you might want to try the 78a durometer.
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Cornering Theory
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On 10/7/2004
Chris Chaput
wrote in from
United States
(66.116.nnn.nnn)
Lets's say that you are approaching a 90 degree right hander at 40mph. Assume also that you can start and finish a good line through it at 30mph without scrubbing your wheels. Ideally, you'd want to instantaneously deccelerate from 40mph to 30mph and carve the turn without sliding. The only problem is, no one can instantaneously deccelerate. This means that some type of braking is necessary. As long as you can stay in control, braking should be done as late as possible and as fast as possible. How can you barke? There are a handful of methods, none of them are safe.
1. Airbrake - stable but slow and high.
2. Carving - stable but slow and you can collide with others
3. Standing Slide - unstable and you can collide with others
4. Pendulum Slide - dangerous to others and overbraking often occurs
5. Foot Drag - unstable
6. Slide Carve - unstable and can scrub wheels
It's difficult to brake in a straight line or to hold your line. If you can master the Slide Carve, it can be very effective on technical courses. You don't have to spend any time standing up to prepare for the turn, you just dive right in nice and low. Ideally, you pitch your board into a sideways slide that both slows you down and initiates the turn. You'd want to have slowed to 30mph as you begin the turn so that you will stop sliding and start carving. When you see guys doing it perfectly, you can't really tell which part of the corner they're sliding and which part they're carving.
There are some turns that you want to foot-brake and then slide. Being able to slide a turn without braking is a nice trick to have in your bag. My advice is to get yourself a bag of tricks and have them at your disposal. Strategies can change in a heartbeat in the middle of a run. Be prepared.
Anthony, Toeside turns often are "scarier" at first and then become your favorite turn. Once you've learned to grab that outside rail and put the slideglove down, you'll find that you can keep your back end from sliding out more easily in toesides. Heelside feels safer and more natural in the beginning, but it's trickier to keep from sliding out. To practice both turns, get low on your board and go down a wide, steep, straight hill. Alternate heelside and toeside carves and just skim the slidegloves while grabbing the opposite rail. This way, you can parctice dozens of turns on a run instead of just the number of turns on your practice hill.
 
BTW, I modified my heelside grabs so that my arm goes around my back leg instead of in between, as Hardwicke and I did in 2001.
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Turns.
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On 10/7/2004 DOWNHILLjimmy.
wrote in from
United States
(198.81.nnn.nnn)
No two turns are the same, every turn can be taken many ways, only you know what is the fastest way through the turn on your deck.
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Wheels
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On 10/7/2004
budha
wrote in from
United States
(204.156.nnn.nnn)
This is the first time to this site for me. I am a downhill freak that's had a recent scare. First as my name suggests I am a big guy in the 270 range, but don't let that fool ya I love high speed downhill. My problem is that recently I melted the hub/bearings out of my Krypto route 70's, and I'm a little freaked. I wanted to know what wheels you all would recommend for a big brutha downhiller.
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foot braking vs drifting
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On 10/7/2004
martin
wrote in from
Switzerland
(83.77.nnn.nnn)
Every turn we make is different!
You can't say that drifting is faster than foot braking or foot braking is faster than drifting in general. It depends on the course...
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re: CC
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On 10/6/2004
Paipo Jim
wrote in from
United States
(67.164.nnn.nnn)
Klaatu Barada Nikto!!!
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foot braking vs drifting
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On 10/6/2004 herbn
wrote in from
United States
(205.188.nnn.nnn)
my 2 scents,drifting a turn perfectly is harder and may not be a option, though it probabely is the fastest. how do you know exactly how much to foot brake? to much ,and you're obviously slow,to little he he you in a very unenviable position,especially since it's best to foot brake at the last moment. "taste of hay",is a quote that comes to mind. A long drifting three point slider gloove turn is cool to look at, but do you think that even if it's perfectly executed , the extra heat in the wheels may slow you down in the next straight ,a hot sneaker doesn't slow you down.
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core shape
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On 10/6/2004 herbn
wrote in from
United States
(205.188.nnn.nnn)
i heard "somewhere" that if you had a core shaped like a gear or a star... ,to lock urithane in place, the alternating high and low spots(more support/less support) would create a pulsing effect that slows the wheel down. My idea is that a very raised center ridge makes the wheel use the urithane around that ridge as a source for traction. To me a series of small grooves running around the hub might be ideal.
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cornering
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On 10/6/2004
Anthony Flis
wrote in from
United States
(4.249.nnn.nnn)
Chris, I was wondering if it is better to footbreak to prep before a turn to grip through the turn as best you can OR to drift the turn with out shedding any speed before hand? Also if you could help with some pointers on toeside corning because I dont feel as if im getting as much as i can out of my toeside corners. I hope ill be racing you in the coming year or so especially if they get a DC race going.
Anthony Flis
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CC
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On 10/6/2004
martin
wrote in from
Switzerland
(81.62.nnn.nnn)
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Trucks and Hubs
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On 10/6/2004
Chris Chaput
wrote in from
United States
(66.116.nnn.nnn)
You'll want the trucks in the rear to be the same tightness or tighter. Rear steering is fine for forklifts and boats, but it is very unstable for skateboards.
Herbn, Here are some of the hubs that we use and one that's in the works (or should I say "werks"). The lock or grooves on the hub has to let urethane flow through easily or big bubbles can form. The locks can change the way that wheels handle and feel. If you have a lot of urethane, they add a bit of sideload stability and there's not much of a downside. Aside from the feel, the locks are a good insurance policy to have when bombing hills.
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QUESTION ON TRUCK AND SPEED
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On 10/6/2004 rj
wrote in from
United States
(63.173.nnn.nnn)
so is it better to be looser in the back or front? Whats the basis for the answer? Thanks.
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core profile
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On 10/6/2004 herbn
wrote in from
United States
(205.188.nnn.nnn)
i saw the crosscut/profile of the small core , i think that's better on some level than the bigger core. I've seen the big core with the high ridge,full of holes. I think that the big core supports the urithane less evenly than the small core. How about a bigger version of the small core? at least as an experiment,how about a multigroove core,deep narrow grooves that really hold urithane.
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Hex Head
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On 10/5/2004
Pat Chewning
wrote in from
United States
(24.21.nnn.nnn)
Chris asked "who knew"?
Hex: Short for hexadecimal. Hex (six) + decimal (ten) = 16 characters in the numbering scheme. (Base 16)
A convenient way of representing nybbles (4 bits) of data.
Two nybbles equal a byte (8 bits). That's why there are a pair of hex characters to show any value from 0 to 255
See also: octal (base 8, 3 bits), and binary (base 2, 1 bit) numbering schemes.
All computer nerds, and a few skakeboarders know this stuff.
-- Pat
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Squinten
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On 10/5/2004
Chris Chaput
wrote in from
United States
(66.116.nnn.nnn)
Dear Squinten TearRetinaTino, I loved Pulp Fiction and both Kill Bills. Keep a pair of sunglasses next to your monitor and you won't go blind. I use Von Zippers. Did you know that green is the fastest color to read? It's all about speed baby...
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Nice Green
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On 10/5/2004
Jogger
wrote in from
Australia
(202.63.nnn.nnn)
That green rocks
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Truck Info Thanks
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On 10/5/2004
North Carolina Longboarder
wrote in from
United States
(63.167.nnn.nnn)
Chris,
Thanks for the Truck advise. And as for slide gloves, I am a huge proponent of them. I bought my first pair from Bozi but started making them. I have outfitted my whole skate crew with them over the last few weeks (7 riders). Everyone decided they wanted a pair when they watched me superman down the road at about 40 and basically come up with a only a little scrape on my forearm (underneath the elbow pad of all places!)
Thanks for the info and congrats on your on Forum. I look forward to learning from everyone. At age 41 and getting back into the sport after about 20 years off from it I am excited that there is information available like NCDSA.
Roll on Brothers and Sisters.
SCHOOL'S OUT
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Your NEW forum .....
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On 10/5/2004
Rene CANNONBALL Carrasco
wrote in from
United States
(66.81.nnn.nnn)
Chris -
........BIG CONGRRRRATZ to you - for your new FORUM !
....I like that green too !
See ya @ Morro Bay -
.......................-Rene' CANNONBALL Carrasco !
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hard to read
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On 10/5/2004
squinting
wrote in from
United States
(4.29.nnn.nnn)
A green that is not bright and straining on the eyes would be appreciated.
How about just a slight tint of green?
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Hex Head
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On 10/4/2004
Chris Chaput
wrote in from
United States
(66.116.nnn.nnn)
Okay, so I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer. It just dawned on me that all of these hex number are really just three pairs of characters. The first two characters represent the Red in the RGB numbers and the last two represent Blue. The two in the middle are green. There are 16 characters, 0123456789ABCDEF. Each pair is then one of 256 unique numbers ranging from 0 to 255. Therefore #19FF00 is "19 FF 00" in hex which is "25 255 00" in RGB. Who knew?
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#19ff00
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On 10/4/2004
Chris Chaput
wrote in from
United States
(66.116.nnn.nnn)
Oh yes, that green is tasty! Thank you Adam. Thank you Chris. Thank you Herbn. Good night John Boy.
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Greeeen
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On 10/4/2004
Adam
wrote in from
United States
(66.121.nnn.nnn)
So, Chaput.. is #19ff00 green more to your liking than the current #74ff5b green?
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how about those beans...
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On 10/4/2004 ur13
wrote in from
United States
(24.45.nnn.nnn)
This is so you now Chris....
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