First fall, lessons learned

8 weeks ago I took my board off the road for repairs in my battery as it felt sluggish and wasn’t charging fully. Fast forward to today, I just returned from Amsterdam and there was a box with my fixed pack in it waiting for me. So I fitted it in my enclosure and took it out. I live in the Cotswolds (UK) so not many people know what an esk8 is and the locals were fascinated with it. I popped to the shops to get some chicken for dinner and on the way back a young boy offered to race me (he was on a bike), me being my competitive self I took him up on the challenge, this was my mistake as I’ve never gone full throttle on my board before as I’m still getting to grips with boarding (I think you can see where this is going) of course we get neck and neck so I decide to push my board to the max and end up getting bad wobbles and coming off. My helmet pretty much saved my life but ended up getting road rash on both elbows and on my left hip. Also my left little finger dislocated and the bone pierced the skin. Not a pretty sight to be honest, blood all over the road and such. The boy was very helpful and called for help. People in cars didn’t seem to give a shit though, just drove around me bleeding on the floor. Anyway I ended up in a&e, stayed the night, got 0 sleep and waiting to go into surgery. I’ve learned a few things here. Firstly, I really need to change my bushings for my preferences Second, don’t fall to peer pressure Third, crashing is expensive and resulted in me now needing to buy a new watch, helmet and clothing as they all got totalled Fourth, buy bloody elbow pads, I’ve been told before to get them but until you learn the hard way you never really think it will happen to you.

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Man that sucks! :frowning_face: Hope you’ll be good again soon. Thanks for sharing the experience. Hopefully someone will learn from your accident (including myself)

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I can recommend these (i got soft ones after my first fall after my second faster fall i got these to go with my TSG DHP knees)

Split angles help eliminates wobbles.

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I recently had a similar fall testing out my new board at top speed, luckily I didn’t dislocate anything but I did get some pretty bad cuts and road rash. I ended up getting some knee pads and gloves, I still need elbow pads though.

Heal fast mate

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Thanks guys, defo gunna snap up some of those tsg pads, might even treat myself to a tsg pass. I’m also going to look into those split angles to reduce the wobbles :slight_smile:

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definitly helps. depending on deck ect, you won’t notice until you hit the 30km/h and higher. For me atleast it was that way.

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To be honest I don’t know a lot about bushings, i left on the stock caliber ones and just don’t like the ride I’m getting but I’ll read up and see what people recommend

Hey mate that really must of hurt. Sod that for a game of soldiers. I’ve had plenty of falls on skateboards over the years and it never ends well. I’ve had a few so far on my esk8 but only one that caused damage though and that was down to going too fast on a park path and meeting a stick. Luckily the path was surrounded by very swampy grass and all I did was get covered in mud and seriously embarrassed by the people enjoying a nice sunday afternoon bbq. Love to say I went into a nice tuck and roll but the reality was face first and an over extended shoulder. It is the risk we run though and without the danger it wouldn’t be anywhere near as much fun. My actual point though is although correctly set up equipment is important even more so is rider ability.
When I first started with esk8 I hadn’t been on a longboard for 10 years and speed wobbles were a serious issue. Very tight trucks helped but cut down the carving aspect and as my body started to remember how to ride the looser my trucks became until now with relaxation and technique they are a thing of the past at up to 50kmh. Weight distribution across your board and a loose relaxed stance is absolutely crucial to avoiding the demon wobbles. I still can go into a sphincter tightening experience if there is an outside element such as ruts and potholes etc but know your terrain and stay loose and the shit can be avoided. Even so good safety equipment is a must and when I’m going for a speed blast I wear my kevlar reinforced bike gear because no matter your ability the next stack is inevitable. Speed is directly relative to ability and the more we ride the better we get. Hope you’re healing my friend and keep on keeping on!

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Thanks man. Today I’ve been shopping around and bought me myself some knee pads, elbow pads and wrist supports. Don’t want this to happen again. I’m going to do a lot more practise before I get up to speed gain about stance and weight distribution as I never skated before I made by board, I’ve practised some falling but of course when it comes to the real thing you don’t have time to think about it (still not my natural reaction to tuck). For my ability I know that my trucks are too lose but never thought of that at the time and I’m changing the angle of my back truck and tightening everything up to increase the stability. I just need a new helmet and to regain my confidence then I’ll start experimenting with my techniques to make sure I stay stable from now. I also really need some good gloves. I was wearing biker gloves when my accident happened but they ripped open between my thumb and first finger and provided no support to my fingers (they did save my knuckles though).

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Mate I’ve been a boardrider all my life, every kind of board you can think of, surf,wake,snow,wind and skate and I still had to re-learn the basic techniques to powered boards. I find if the board starts to wobble put some weight on your front foot and soak it up through your knees. Works for me but its really about relaxing and feeling comfortable. There are some top flight down-hillers on the forum that can help you a lot more than I can. this will help with angles and stuff

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After needing stitches on my elbow I decided to suit up as well. I went with a motorcycle flannel with built in shoulder, elbow and back pads. Stay safe!!

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Sorry to hear you got hurt but like me my 1st fall was bad all the gear I had on helped just my left ankle and right thigh got hurt after 6 eeeks of rehab I’m back gonna try to post a pic of my gear I learn not to ride top speed in dark 2nd fall was no more riding in rain

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Wish you a fast recovery dude. I still need to test myself but maybe you should try converting your board to FWD, and really get better bushings.

From a lot of reading I end up with the following feedback from riders (analog and motorised boards) :

  • Wobble comes first from rear truck. Putting more weight on front truck mitigates it (you lessen the load on the rear) so you can manage it better.
  • RWD puts lot of stress on the back truck. Dewedging / split angles helps a lot with it, but ultimately you’re the one to feel and handle it.
  • Proper bushings and pivot cups bring a world of difference to your ride. But you need a duro and shape tailored toward yourself.

I end up with the FWD idea from downhill and the fact that front truck is a lot more stable /less prone to wobble first. Keeping the rear light will help to keep more control on your board.

Just a hint : @MoeStooge monster nkp 3-link is also a FWD.

Anyway my main point is : wish you to heal fast!

Thank man, I’ve currently got on order some harder bushings and a new Base plate for the rear (and some pads!), so I am going for 50 in the front and 39 in the back (44 base plate dewedged), hopefully should help, if that still feels too unstable for me I’ll try fwd, I have heard that it helps I just prefer the aesthetic of rear :wink: I’m also going to try and improve my stance as currently I’m quite stiff and my weight is distributed quite evenly, I want to get into the habit of keeping my knees bent more with my weight over the front truck I’ll post updates on how it feels :slight_smile:

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Just got everything installed, alongside some new 97mm wheels, when my controller is fixed I’m hitting the road again :wink:

So today I went out for the first time since the accident and man I can’t stop shaking, my head is telling me to bin it and never go on it again but my heart loves it so much. The wheels have made a massive difference for me straight away, roads which I went down before no longer shake my board apart. But the new rear truck, dewedged, with some harder bushings has made my ride so much smoother. The cornering isn’t great obviously but it’s so much more stable at the higher speeds I’ve really started to think about the way I’m skating, making sure my feet are in the right place and my weight is over my front foot and it makes it all more stable and more fun. I didn’t go very fast today because I want to kind of relearn my board and how to ride it. Tomorrow I’ll try up the speed a bit and try out the new pads and lid :sunglasses:

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