Skateboarding is cool and all, but it’s sure not easy to learn. To improve your chances of succeeding at learning new tricks quickly, let us hook you up with a little tutorial. This week, the BACKSIDE CROOKED GRIND!
Read carefully and always keep in mind that after the technique, the number one secret to skateboarding is practice!
As we already mentioned, you can do two types of maneuvers on rails or ledges: Grinds (slide on one or both trucks) and slides (slide on any part of the wooden surface of your board). Today, we stay in the tricks category requiring obstacles to be done. Only this time, we venture to the grinds realm! YES!
Many will say that 50-50 is the most basic trick for ledges and it's not totally wrong, but we think it's easier to learn to crook before 50-50. With only one truck to put on the ledge, you need less need to pop to get on it and grind. The truth is, the easiest trick to learn on a ledges is the nose slide, and the crooked grind looks a lot like it.
To add the crooked grind to your personal bag of tricks, keep reading!
Understanding the difference between the crooked grind and the nose grind
First of all, you must know that crooked grinds and nose grinds are two tricks that are similar, but are extremely different. The nose grind belongs more to the family of the 50-50s, because your body and board must be completely above the ledge and parallel to it. The nosegrind is harder to perform because you have to balance on your front truck without touching the nose while you grind and, in addition, you must know how to keep your body in a specific and harder position in order to stay straight on the ledge.
Crooked grinds belong more to the family of the nose slides. The biggest difference with the nosegrind is this one : your body will have to be partly above the ledge, but some of your weight will also be distributed on it's side like a nose slide. Instead of being completely parallel to the ledge, your front truck will be angled. finally, no need to balance on a crooked grind. Once you've figured out how to "lock" on your front truck, just grind, pop out and you're good to go.
Watch the following videos to get a better idea of what needs to be done in order to do a good crooked grind.
Nose grind
Crooked Grind
The approach and pop
Roll up to the ledge so that it's behind you, approach it with an almost parallel angle (a small angle can be good for locking in a good crooked grind). Place your foot in the ollie position, with your front foot slightly more in the center than usual. Once the ledge is behind you, bend your knees to give yourself a swing and pop! As you propel yourself up in the air, look at where you're going to land and aim the ledge. Transfer your weight to the front of your board and drop your front truck onto the ledge.
The «Lock» and the grind
The lock is the secret to mastering Crooked Grinds. Once you have a good lock, it will be easy to grind long crooks without problems. The following videos might be helpful if you want to see an example of a good crooked grind lock. Basically, once you popped, put your front truck on the ledge and centered all your weight on your front truck, you have to make sure that it's in the right position. Here's the secret: your truck must be placed on the ledge at an angle where the rear wheel is on top of the ledge, the front wheel is on the side of the ledge and your body and shoulders looking forward.
Once properly locked in with your truck in the right position and your weight on your front foot, stabilize on your grind surface and let yourself grind until the end of the ledge.
The pop out and the roll away
The pop out is probably the hardest part of the crooked grind, but it is absolutely necessary. As you have to keep your weight on your front foot all the way through the grind, you need to give yourself a little swing to get out of the ledge. Otherwise, there is a strong risk of nose-diving instead of landing your trick. The secret to pop out: give a little kick forward with your front foot, but do not go too hard. Always look at the ledge to see where the end is, and as you get closer to it, kick the nose so that your board gets back to a parallel to the ground position before landing.
Once your 4 wheels hit the ground, absorb the impact by bending your knees and boom, that's it! Roll away and try again until you land your crooks every try.
HERE YOU GO! Now you know what to do to master the crooked grinds, one of the most aesthetic and simple tricks to do on a ledge! Once you have practiced enough and understood how to land this maneuver every time on a flat ledge, we encourage you to take your new trick on a rail, on any obstacle that goes down stairs or even to add a flip trick "in" or "out" for more difficulty points and above all, a healthy dose of adrenaline!