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How long did it take you to learn kickflips?

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Comments

  • SkaterRickSkaterRick
    My trouble is keeping the board under me. I had them pretty well down as a teenager, and I could occasionally land one when I first started back three years ago. Now, after some concerted effort, my landing percentage really hasn't changed. The majority of the time the friction of my foot on the grip just carries the board away from me, sometimes only barely and sometimes looking like I'm deliberately trying to get rid of it.
  • brigade_billbrigade_bill
    i just ollie and kickdown for mine
  • BackInActionBackInAction
    I still have problems with them stationary - but rolling is way easier to keep them under me.

    Since the Covid lockdown I have been practicing flatland almost every day. At the beginning I was landing about 1 in 10 kickflips. I made it my goal to land at least one a day and have stuck to it pretty well. We are a month in and this afternoon I landed 9 in a row - and 18 of 20. Not all were pretty - but that's for another day.
  • brigade_billbrigade_bill
    damn very nice
  • SkaterRickSkaterRick
    Nice, @BackInAction I found that I could land them more consistently stationary by using an expansion joint to keep my back wheel from rolling, but my reason for wanting to do them isn't so that i can do kickflips on a stationary board. It also doesn't help you do them while rolling (at least not in my case). When I was a teenager I could only do them rolling. I'm afraid if I made it my goal to do one a day I'd wind up racing the sun...
  • BackInActionBackInAction
    edited April 2020
    The key for me was really focusing on what was working and what wasn't. Experiment a with foot positioning. What happens if I put my foot here? - and try it 10 times. Then move the front foot in one direction- forward, backward, left, right - and see what happens. The foot has to kick off the edge of the nose - what happens if I try to drag my foot off here - or here? Back foot matters too - is it centered or to one side? Is it in the pocket or more towards the back of the tail? What works for me isn't what is going to work for you - but you must experiment, changing only one placement or kick point at a time.

    Then you have to want it. On day 3 or so I tried 20 to 30+ times to land one - and it was ugly - but it was a make. Every damn day.

    I'm also a gear hussy. I have 8 boards built up. It is easier for me on some than others. Yesterday while I was working on it I was experimenting a bunch. Covid boredom. What happens if I put truck X on deck Y type stuff.

    Trucks have different height and offset, and decks have different length tails with different steepness and fingers of flat. Some truck height/offset combos work better with different tail shapes.

    With some setups I was landing 1 or 2 of 10, and then I found some that I was landing 9 of 10. Interestingly, board width was from 8" to 8.5" and trucks were from 8" to 8.75". The most consistent setups were with the 8.38" and an 8.5" with the 8.75 trucks and 52-53mm wheels. I also found that a few trucks I have were not good on any of the decks.
  • McRadMcRad
    I've never landed a single one successfully. At 45 years old, not sure I care anymore. Maybe this summer. :-D
  • McRadMcRad
    @BackInAction good info my man
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