How do YOU grind?

[Phil_on_uni]

question 2...


How do you, personally grind?

what are your feelings about grinding? how hard is it? how much do you like grinding? Is it a significant part of your riding?

[OUK]

I really hate grinds! But I won't to love them but it just such so hard xD
The reason why I hate them is that I once bailed on a 3 set handrail :P And I was actually both close to smash my teeth into the pedal and break my neck.. Therefor I hate grinds, but I'm training them.. And hopefully one day I will do handrails again

[hydrophidian]

I currently do them pedal back on the right but, I'm learning them on the left also. Since I hop with my left pedal in front and right pedal back, I'll be doing the left side ones pedal in front.

I personally like them a lot. Plus, it freaks the kids at the skatepark out if they haven't seen it before.

[unirox13]

I'm really going to start drilling grinding hard. After watching the demo vids on RelentlessbyFate and seeing some of the awesome looking grind combos that Shaun and Kelly are doing it really makes me want to get better at them.

I grind on my right side, and my back foot. When I first learned to grind a couple people told me I should switch sides because front foot was easier. I stuck with using my back foot and I have yet to have a problem. I've hit a 5 stair handrail before, and lot's of random small hubba's and stuff. I want to start learning to flip into and out of grinds on flat. I thought I might have been screwed for learning to do this at first because I was grinding on my back foot. However I noticed that Kelly Hickman grinds on his back foot and flips into and out of grind pretty effortlessly, so hopefully I'll be able to as well.

good thread!

[Phil_on_uni]

So I see we have six people that say they can grind both sides. Someone should make us a short clip of them grinding both sides.

I have always done grinds on left side. foot back. But after nationals I asked myself who people dont grind on both sides. So i went to the skate park and tried some right side grinds. I almost landed it first go. and Honestly i didnt find it much more difficult

[hydrophidian]

Once I get my new uni, I plan on working on them on both sides. I've done them on my old street uni and on one of my friend's White Russian. I was a skateboarder for a very long time(15+ years) so, sliding/grinding off of both feet isn't a new thing for me.

I'm nowhere near a "pro" rider but, I have a pointer for rear-footed grinding. I found that it helped me if I slightly pointed the front of the uni away from the edge that I'm grinding. Since I grind right/rear footed, that means that I turn the unicycle counter-clockwise slightly when I hit the edge. This keeps mostly just the pedal on the edge(not the bottom of the crank or bearing cap) and makes it "slide" faster since it's just my plastic pedal rubbing on the slick metal edge(Grind box. I don't do handrails yet). Like I said, "slightly" point it outward, away from the edge. I'm talking 5 degrees or so. Not even 11 o'clock(think about the hands of a clock, if you don't get that reference).

I might be wrong in doing this but, it helped me get further with my grinds and to not get hung up on the edge as much. I would imaging that this method would be harder with pedal forward grinds because you'd have a much smaller area of the pedal touching the ledge and thus, less stability.

[Phil_on_uni]

Spent most of my day working on grinds. I am starting to think its a good thing to be a dominant backfoot grinder. it makes my off side foot forward, seem easier. To be honest I dont feel much of a difference in the grinding. it seems to be mostly about committing to jumping to my off side.

[SpaceFmK]

I generally grind on my right side right foot forward... but I naturally jump left so it feels awkward sometimes or I have to jump higher so ill grind on my left... i think its nice to be able to go both ways because you don't have to worry about where a rail or ledge is.

I also personally am not too good at them, I do flat mostly so I'm not practicing much. Also there is nothing around me to practice on, so when I do get a chance ill try it a bit, just incase.. and it looks cool.

[kamikaze]

I cannot grind, but if I did it would be foot forward.

I haven't managed to pedal grab, yet. But I managed to drop off the pedal grab position (either left or right side) if it's foot forward.

[Phil_on_uni]

Originally Posted by SpaceFmK

i think its nice to be able to go both ways

he he he

[SpaceFmK]

Originally Posted by Phil_on_uni

he he he

Haha, I had a chuckle on that one myself.

[zipper]

ya the left side front footer are winning

[Phil_on_uni]

now that we have a decent poll.

I encourage people to go out and try grinding on their bad side. I seems we have a lot of left and right grinders, but not many people that can do both.

Post your results or make a short clip of you grinding you off side. or both sides.

Try boxes and rails. tell us how different it feels to you