this is a post for people who have yet to tried to grind. it is easy if you have a good place to do it. i went to a skatepark today for the first time and did a successful grind and dismount (from the rail, not uni) on my 3rd or 4th try. i later tried a grind on a sloped rail, opposed to the flat rail i did first, and got it on my second try.
on a slightly different note, in an earlier post discussing whether it is better to grind with the crank forward or back, i was chewed out for saying that back is better because if there is a rail that slopes down lower than the hub, you could pedal away from it, which you could not do if the crank was forward. i was told no such obstacle existed and i was foolish for even suggesting it.
Guess what? at this skatepark, there was a rail exactly like i described, it sloped down and then evened out about three inches lower than my hub. therefore, i could grind down the rail, and then pedal, not hop, away from the rail.
I knew what you ment, as I thought of the same thing (but you posted first! :p)
I am learning to grind, but my local skatepark shut down, but a new out door one is opening in the new year!
At the minute, I am learning to grind on the benches as the park, usually during the evening when it is dark so people dont see me! The benches are plastic, made out of recycled plastic bags!!
They are good for grinding on when they are wet , but sometimes the metal pedals just dig into the seat…
the flat was 5-6 feet long, at most i would grind three feet along it before coming to a stop. the slanted one was on flat ground and the tilted part was about 3 feet long, but since part of it was too high, i would about two feet down it until my wheel hit the ground. the rail was metal, maybe 4 inches wide. the flat was probably 15 inches off the ground. and the slanted went from probably 25 down to 10. i would jump on it at about 20. im sure that it was easier than the rail you did in charlottesville, but none the less, it only took me five minutes to get the whole grinding thing down. ill show you over thanksgiving…
sucka! were you going pretty fast to get the 3 feet? In C-ville I could only go about 1 foot max on the flat rail. I do have a 20" though. all the grinding smoothed out the scratches on my crank!
sucka! were you going pretty fast to get the 3 feet? In C-ville I could only go about 1 foot max on the flat rail. I do have a 20" though. all the grinding smoothed out the scratches on my crank!
But currently trying to change
the direction of jumping to the pedal forward side to prepare to do a pedal grap and grinding…
I have noticed that high jumper and good grinder usually hop
and grap to the pedal forward side. Let me hear your opinion.
There has been alot of discussion about pedal grabbing and grinding foot forward vs foot back. Most people who are good grinders say that balancing foot forward is easier. They also naturally hop that way (either on there own or learned by example). If you always practice one way of course its easier. I am in the minority (i think) I grind foot back. I feel at no disadvantage doing so. Balancing foot back is easier for me (as I do it all the time). It has not been much of a stumbling block for me as I can grind a 20 foot sloped ledge at a local skate park. I can also grind rails without much diffuculty. I believe that it is a matter of preference and practice.
pedal grinding, as opposed to crank grinding, allows you to use your heel on the rail/ledge, whether accidently or purposefully to help prevent falling backwards
as much as i respect dan, i think you can get just as far on your crank. its more a matter of preference and which you adapt to better. i myself and a crank kind of guy. if you use the crank, the back of your crank can help you balance as well as your heel. all preference though
It all depends on the slant. If what you’re grinding on is a big decline then it doesn’t matter, but for flat or slightly angled ledges/rails i’d have to say the pedal is better.
edit: This is from personal experience of grinding on both crank and pedal and also watching Dan grind both ways.
As i mentioned above, I have been learning on benches.
I was in my local ‘Surf Skate Snow’ shop, and was looking at these!
I had seen them before, but came home and found some on the net.
I was thinking they would be good, but the highest you can have the rail at is 26.7cm. My bearing housing on my trials is 25cm off the ground, so it would only leave 1.7cm under the tyre!
I think I will be making my own (when i learn to weld - next year hopefully), or buying a different one.
I’d say just make one of your own. If you have access to welding machines, there’s probably a person who can help you to weld your own rail. It will probably be a lot cheaper (not necessarily) if you buy some scrap iron. Or just learn to weld. It’s not that hard. And it’s fun.
jo you can get rails from argos and maybe littlewoods or index one of the 3 look in the kids sections of there mag’s they are about £30 they are the same as the one some one put a link. so shop around in those websites also people who do grinding try skate wax on the wall you will go much faster/further or even normal candle wax melted in to a block i use it for diabolo grinding or you can even you soap bars but you need loads of it i know southstar skate wax is good and mr zogos sex is very good from when i use to skate but i would not use it on skate park rails as that makes them tooooo slippery for skateboarders and they will get mad at you.
Hey Joe, a minor warning on that: My friend who skates had a rail like that. It was too low and also the protruding base pieces made it really hard to get on and off of a grind. I’d make one yourself that was unicycle specific.
i grind crank back and dont worry zach, i did take your advice. i would make sure that the pedal hit first and then i would put the crank down while i was grinding for extra balance. my weight was on the pedal though. it was great but upon returning to my campus, i realized that there is nothing to grind on
