philistine Posted April 9, 2005 Report Share Posted April 9, 2005 I remember several weeks ago you order an Insect Dragon fly. Have you received it yet? If so, do you love it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobble Posted April 9, 2005 Report Share Posted April 9, 2005 i ordered a dragonfly just this week. looking forward to riding it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SWriverstone Posted April 9, 2005 Report Share Posted April 9, 2005 Hey Philistine... It just shipped! Steve Hopper's been great about giving me regular email updates...apparently there was a delay, not on his end, but with ABEC 11...I guess demand was exceeding supply! Just got an email from Steve saying it shipped yesterday. So I should have it Monday or Tuesday. I'll definitely post my first impressions! (Though I've got nothing to compare it to!) Meanwhile, I was checking out the Loaded Vanguard and a Gravity "Ed" Economy at a local shop...pretty sweet! Though I'm sure the Dragonfly will be awesome, I'm already sure I'll have to get a second, l-o-o-o-n-g board (like in the 46" range). Those are just way cool! :) Scott Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joecarve Posted April 10, 2005 Report Share Posted April 10, 2005 I've got a Dragonfly from last year - very nicely made deck. However, it's a bit too stiff for my weight and/or riding style (I'm 165lb, making easy big turns on asphalt). I can't quite fully decamber it just standing on it - it definitely wants to be ridden aggressively. To order it again, I'd opt for the lighter flex. I'm selling mine if anyone's interested (green model)...I've got maybe 5 or 6 hours on it, so it's basically new. joe... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philistine Posted April 10, 2005 Author Report Share Posted April 10, 2005 How much would you be willing to sell it for? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
d b Posted April 10, 2005 Report Share Posted April 10, 2005 I’m just curious, Did you get Randal 2 or seismic trucks? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joecarve Posted April 10, 2005 Report Share Posted April 10, 2005 Originally posted by philistine How much would you be willing to sell it for? $75 plus shipping...that's deck only, btw. Not trying to hijack this thread, so I started a proper one in classifieds. But you get first crack at it since you asked first... :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SWriverstone Posted April 11, 2005 Report Share Posted April 11, 2005 Finally got my Dragonfly today! Beautifully-made board. I immediately put on the pads and headed over to a local state park where there are some nice, gently-sloping (read: almost flat!) parking lots to try it out. Remember I'm totally new to skateboarding---never ridden one in my whole life. Having said that, I felt a lot of similarities between carving gentle turns on the Dragonfly and carving on snow, primarily the leans, the foot position (I stood almost exactly like I do on my carving board, around F55/R50), and the quad burn! Conversely, my experience carving on snow (and playing with my Vew-Do board) seemed to help on the skateboard---after 15-20 minutes, I was pretty comfortable slaloming down the parking lot at slow-to-moderate speeds. (There's no way I'm taking that thing down any steeper hills---not for a while!) The biggest difference I felt was in the level of "ankle action," that is, how easily the board tilts from side to side...that was definitely different. I'm assuming I can tighten the trucks for a bit less play, right? (Again---I know nothing about this!) I definitely feel like spending the summer on this board has got to help when I hit the snow again in the fall. I even got brave and tried squatting down on the board (but with no hand dragging!) I'll definitely be spending some time on the Dragonfly in the coming weeks! Scott PS - I have the Seismic trucks and ABEC 11 Gumballs, 78a Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joecarve Posted April 11, 2005 Report Share Posted April 11, 2005 The spring tension can be tightened by the allen-head screws...see seismic site. If that's not enough, you can buy stiffer springs. If you skate with any regularity in the offseason, you'll be better on snow the beginning of the next season than you were at the end of the last. Same deal every year. I found skating particularly useful in teaching myself cross-under turns. Before you get out of control, learn to footbrake. Also, wearing a helmet is a pretty good idea with any sort of speed other than just cruising around. joe... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skatha Posted April 14, 2005 Report Share Posted April 14, 2005 I also opted for a longboard to cross-train this summer. Not a fancy deck like you boys-a Sector 9 Flexy-deck. I have no problem decambering it (I'm 135 lbs, too). I also have a helmet, wrist guards and elbow and knee pads:D I have a co-worker who told me his kids-now in their 20's-would head to parking garages to carve. Good things with doing that-gentle slope with interspersed flats, little to no traffic, and control of incoming traffic. I also just got on a skateboard-you should see my neighbors when THEY see me! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob-CanCarve Posted April 14, 2005 Report Share Posted April 14, 2005 Guys: You now have opened a new door - skating is an incredible way to spend the summer months. I would recommend that you take a look at www.ncdsa.com - the skateboard equilivent of BomberOnline There you can learn about the different apects of skating (slalom, downhill, freecarve, freestyle, etc). A lot of the guys here also race slalom in the summer - absolute blast - great foot/eye coordination. I got into downhill last summer - speeds in the 45 -55 mph - probably the best adrenaline high. Last weekend I went out garage racing here in Toronto - incredibly fun. My recommendation - try it all. By the way - I am 41, so I am not a kid. All the best, Rob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SWriverstone Posted April 14, 2005 Report Share Posted April 14, 2005 Hey Rob (and others)... I can tell already that going faster downhill on a skateboard would be a blast...but it also scares the daylights out of me! There are some perfect not-too-steep roads where I've been riding...but right now (as a total rookie) even those get me going WAY faster than I'm comfortable. I've read Cliff Coleman's sliding techniques site, and he recommends learning to slide not as a style thing, but as a safer way to go downhill. I'm planning to make myself some sliding gloves and give it a shot---though not sure how well I'll slide with 78a's...Coleman says use hard wheels to learn how to slide 'cause they slide easier. It's VERY different from carving because on a snowboard, I could always skid/sideslip to a stop no matter how steep it is. (That's a big "fear reducer!") I've checked out the NCDSA site...but all the forums are a pile of stuff to wade through...guess I should be looking at the downhill/carving forums? Scott Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philistine Posted April 14, 2005 Author Report Share Posted April 14, 2005 Have you tried footbraking? For some reason, when I started skatboarding, that felt most natural to me. When you start to reach speeds that feel uncomfortable, or you need to stop, carefully pick up your back foot and touch it to the ground, gently at first. After you feel stable enough begin applying pressure. Basically you are dragging your foot on the ground. Be aware that if you are going too fast this could be dangerous because it compromizes your balance. And there's always the tuck'n roll Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philistine Posted April 14, 2005 Author Report Share Posted April 14, 2005 SWriverstone, this article helped me when I first started skating. http://www.silverfishlongboarding.com/article.php?story=20030106141444786 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SWriverstone Posted April 14, 2005 Report Share Posted April 14, 2005 I've tried footbraking a couple times, but it feels pretty sketchy to me! Regardless of the fact there are folks out there who can footbrake and/or slide (standing or sitting) at high speeds, one thing is obvious to me: skateboarding technology has a ways to go! I say this because all the popular methods for slowing down are really (when you look at them from an objective bias) pretty desperate moves! :) I think I'm gonna seriously look into one of the braking technologies out there---that Silverfish Longboarding 101 page (see link above) had links to a couple braking devices that look pretty good. I couldn't care less how geeky I look holding a brake in my hand! Scott PS - Man, if I had brakes on my skateboard, that would instantly make riding down hills a lot more fun! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tpalka Posted April 14, 2005 Report Share Posted April 14, 2005 Not sure if breaks would help -- unless you crouched down and held onto the board with all your might :) Here's a link to a cool skate sliding video -- Sadao from Japan, testing the Loaded Pintail: http://homepage.mac.com/sadas9/wired/loaded-pintail.html Lots of hand-dragging, but looks a very effective way to stop. I like it how he can slide and then still recover and skate more. tom. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SWriverstone Posted April 14, 2005 Report Share Posted April 14, 2005 Thanks for the link Tom---yes, that guy's totally doing the Cliff Coleman-style sliding moves. and yes, it does involve a lot of hand-dragging...but that beats (IMO) tearing up sneakers foot-dragging (and is a lot more stable). I've tried crouching down like this guy does in the 4th and 5th cuts, with your rear foot turned on its side (instep)...but I'm just not flexible enough to do it! (My foot kills me.) So I was happy to see this guy just get low while remaining on the balls of both feet! Scott PS - If you missed them, check out the other vids on that site: http://homepage.mac.com/sadas9/wired/sanjoseskaters.html -and- http://homepage.mac.com/sadas9/wired/ashigara-ride.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skatha Posted April 14, 2005 Report Share Posted April 14, 2005 So far, in Flat-town(Houston) stopping, at least for me, is just jumping off the board:D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Gendzwill Posted April 14, 2005 Report Share Posted April 14, 2005 Coleman slides aren't very practical at low-medium speeds or where you don't have a lot of room (like on a sidewalk). Practice the foot-drag, it's the most practical thing. PS that video of Sadao is pretty boring, the really talented sliders are way faster and recover from slides into speeds that many of us wouldn't be comfortable at to start with. If you check out ncdsa you might be able to find some race video, there's one pro downhiller (French guy iirc) who is able to enter corners way hotter than the other pros simply because he takes the whole corner in a controlled slide (at 40 mph+), like a sprint car. Also worth checking out is the old Powell-Peralta video from the 80s with Stacey Peralta and others doing a bunch of really cool slide work at speed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SWriverstone Posted April 14, 2005 Report Share Posted April 14, 2005 Originally posted by Neil Gendzwill Coleman slides aren't very practical at low-medium speeds or where you don't have a lot of room (like on a sidewalk). Practice the foot-drag, it's the most practical thing. PS that video of Sadao is pretty boring, the really talented sliders are way faster and recover from slides into speeds that many of us wouldn't be comfortable at to start with. That may be true Neil...but I'm not interested in blistering, world-class technique...I'm interested in what I can do! :) And what that Japanese guy was doing looks perfectly fine to me! And yes, I'll keep practicing footbraking...but like I said---world-class dudes included---they're all "desperate techniques" for stopping! Otherwise (for example) why have brakes on mountain bikes when you can drag your feet or just skid out? :D Scott Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Gendzwill Posted April 14, 2005 Report Share Posted April 14, 2005 I think brakes for skateboards are a technical problem that hasn't been solved properly yet. For most boards, they're simply unnecessary and would add unneeded weight. For longboards, they would improve safety but there's a real issue with the rider not being attached to the board. Anything that's going to slow the board down significantly (like, to stop for a suddenly appearing car) is likely to launch the rider. To avoid that you'd need a fairly sophisticated mechanism that provides a real nice progressive control and doesn't allow a whole lot of sudden braking force - either that or skaters would have to learn how to compensate for the board stopping rather rapidly under their feet (we don't do so well now, as anyone who's caught a pebble can attest). Anyways, as most skaters a) don't ride longboards/downhill and b) have a fairly devil-may-care attitude, I don't think the market has justified a whole ton of development work on braking systems. PS at the speeds Sadao is going, you could still footbrake easily or even run it out if you had to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FTA2R Posted April 15, 2005 Report Share Posted April 15, 2005 Scott, I've never longboarded (that should change in a few weeks hopefully), but if you're going to get a brake, would it be feasible to consider an inline skate brake? can you attach 1 or 2 to the board? or, better yet, insert some kind of rod (maybe up to a foot long) into a brake, have one on each hand, and simply bend down and apply the brakes when you want to stop. this way you would be applying pressure evenly on both sides. maybe not the most practical thing in terms of balancing on teh board but oh well. or, perhaps you could rig up a system where you use duct tape or something real strong and tie the rods with brakes to your forarm, that way you dont' have to hold anything with your hands but you can still apply these "inline hand brakes" at will.... try using a drumstick with a brake at the tip. maybe a ligther jazz stick! --- Barry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joecarve Posted April 15, 2005 Report Share Posted April 15, 2005 Footbraking is actually pretty effective...I think there are guys doing it at surprisingly high speed. I'm not a fast skater, but I basically don't ride any faster than I can comfortably footbrake...like a lot of other things, start slow and work your way up. Good tips on ncdsa, obviously. Coleman-style sliding is something I'm thinking of playing around with, though in every video I've seen of it, it seems to be the opposite of good carving skills - looking downhill across the board, breaking at the waist, etc. But it is cool. :D joe... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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