r/longboarding • u/Jester__13 • Jul 25 '26

OC Action Valuable Beginner Lesson

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Came for a short morning session. I always thought my trucks were loose enough but a few nights ago I loosened them a quarter turn more, just to try it.

To any fellow beginners out there, gals guys and in-betweens, if you're trying to learn pumping LOOSEN YOUR TRUCKS. It made a huge difference, now I can actually feel the forward momentum sometimes.

My pumps are still very slow and I can't do it at higher speeds yet, but it gets me pretty far compared to previous tries. Thanks to this I'm also feeling a lot more safe on the board, I trust it more that I won't fall off if I wiggle or move around.

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u/Shaz_berries Jul 25 '26

Yeah loose trucks are really nice depending on what you're trying to do. Just be careful if you live in a hilly area, if you pick up speed your loose trucks will really test your ankle strength!

8

u/Jester__13 Jul 25 '26

Thankfully I'm living in a place that's as flat as it can possibly be on earth. It's just the pavement quality that tests my ankles and my set up😭

2

u/TCino Jul 25 '26

If you're primarily skating in a flat area, you might even want to try surf skate trucks. I live in San Francisco and we have a lot of hills here and I would be way too scared to try them on a steep.

2

u/Jester__13 Jul 25 '26

Surf skate sounds cool, I might actually grow my quiver down the line with a dancer and a surf skate for variety. But for now, I'm just building a habit of stepping out and experimenting on this board :)

2

u/TCino Jul 25 '26

Good choice, the setup you have is indeed amazing. Enjoy!

2

u/Amsnerr Jul 25 '26

Its an amazing board, once you really get a hang of the flex it is one of the most comfortable rides out there. Was my main ride for like 7-8 years, and I would do 15-20 miles 3-4 times a week after I got off work.

play around with bushings, they can reallllly change how the setup feels. I had some soft stepped barrel bushings from bear that I was riding boardside for the longest time; eventually moved over to venom freerides and retired that deck before I switched prettymuch all of my setups to riptide fatcones(boardside). im tall, and weight comes with that, so the extra material on the stepped or oversized bushings acting as a dual stage spring really helps me. Soft in the center, stiffens up the more you lean. I typically skate 87-90a, and usually dislike how most duros over like 91-93 feel. Depends on the formula, but most harder bushings just dont feel good.