1 post tagged “grind rails”
Unless you’re lucky enough to live in a large city with a well-maintained public skate park, the quest for the perfect skating landscape you need may well take you all over town. You may find yourself skating away from security guards at universities and malls alike. As fun as zipping away from the man might be, at some point you’ll be wanting your own backyard set-up, so that you can take your slams in private and forget about your pride.
The primary elements to building your home skate park are launch ramps, wedge ramps, quarter pipes and grind rails. You can also add more architecture with decks and flyboxes. There’s really no limit to the mixing and matching you can do to create a skate heaven at home. With these components, you are on your way to designing your personal skateboarding kingdom.
As always with the equipment you plan on entrusting your safety to, never settle for cheap plastic goods. Modern skateboard ramps are generally made of steel and coated with synthetic anti-skid materials. Avoid cheap plastic toys from department stores.
A launch ramp is shaped like an arc, to give maximum lift. This kind of ramp is optimal for achieving atmospheric heights, whereas a wedge-style skate ramp has a flat, angled surface and will jet you forward at a high rate of speed.
A ramp deck is a box that can be added to a skateboard ramp on any or all of its four sides. This versatile component can be used to enhance your ramp system. Combining a deck with a single ramp will add distance to your launch pad. Put a ramp on both sides, and you have a three-piece flybox.
Unlike launch and wedge ramps, quarter-pipe and half-pipe ramps usually include a ledge or grind rail and are meant for flips, turnarounds, grinds and pivots. As you may have learned while sleeping in math class, two quarters equal one half. Well you’ll be happy to find that this applies to skateboarding ramps as well. Just slide two quarter pipe ramps together at the base to simulate the rolling loop that you’d find at the bottom of a drained pool.
You can further customize your set-up by adding a grinding rail or a flat skate bench, for advanced flip tricks, ollies, slides and grinds. Beginners will probably want to stick to the square grinding rails (as opposed to the rounded variety), which are easier to grab your wheels on, while the advanced skater will likely prefer to whip through on a round bar.
Of course, many skaters will opt against the custom architecture, preferring to stake out an obstacle course among the iron works of city parks, stairs and garages. But for those who like to take their dives in the comfort of home, piecing together the perfect practice place can be a fun project. It might also make you the envy of the poor newbies stuck nursing their wounds in front of the jungle gym and swing set.
