22
TRANSITION INQUISITION
ASK
THE
DOCTOR
I've experimented with building mini
quarter-pipes before and have discovered
that if you cut the radius the same height
as the ramp it usually has a tight transition.
Much too tight. I was wondering, what is the
ideal radius for a six-foot tall half? Keep in
mind I'm only a beginning vert skater.
Radius Dilemma
Somewhere in Oklahoma
The ideal radius is eight or nine feet,
with about one foot of vert. More vertical
would require more transition. Less vert,
less tranny. Six foot ramps are inherently
tight. Therefore, making a smaller ramp
means you have to adapt to a smaller,
With Rick Blackhart
Град
tighter transition. Or forgo vert altoge-
ther. Just build it with normal eight-foot
radius, then you're left with kind of a
steep bank lip. If you want vert, build a
10-foot high ramp-that's the real thing.
OLLIE ASK
Who made up the ollie?
Jim Volakakis
Evergreen Park, Illinois
Ollie: The most talked about trick of the
eighties ("How high can you ollie?"").
Ollies and ollie variations are as much
milestones in skating as the aerial itself.
Basically, an ollie is an aerial with no
hands-from a little street ollie, to your
mega-ollie air performed in the vertical
sense. Florida pro, Alan Gelfand was the
original established inventor of the ollie.
Variations are too numerous to mention
and new ones are being invented even as
I speak, er, write.
WILSONIAN SCHOLAR
Recently a friend of mine fell and pro-
ceeded to tell me he "Wilsoned heavily"
Who is Mr. Wilson? Was he some skatepark
owner or what?
T.J. Richter
Rego Park, NY
Yeah, skatepark owner, that's a good
one. C'mon, dude, were you born yester-
day or what? Mr. Wilson is the guy who
slipped on Dennis' skateboard. You
know, Dennis the Menace and his
neighbor Mr. Wilson. A Wilson is where
your board gets spit out in front while you
go back. It's usually on one foot and
often results in a severe hipper-kind of
like stepping on a banana peel.
STEEL TRAP
I have to re-ply my mini-ramp and I was
wondering if I could do it with sheet metal.
Would it go faster, slower, be slippery, what?
It rains a lot here and it's pretty cold.
Chris & Patrick
Geneva, Switzerland
I have a feeling you're talking about the
thin, flimsy, Vaa" galvanized sheet metal.
If you are, I advise you not to use it on
your ramp. It's too flimsy and takes too
many nails to hold it in place. It will dent
and get bent out of shape real quick,
creating jagged kinks and bumps. Now,
if you're talking " steel plate, by all
means, do it. Steel is the surface; it's per-
manent, strong, smooth, fast and, oh
yeah...expensive.
LITTLE SQUIRT
I'm eleven and I have a friend who's
seven. My other friends think I'm a poseur
because I skate with a little kid. I want to
tell my friends to piss off because the seven-
year-old can skate better than they can, but
I still want to be their friend, too. What
should I do?
Bummed
Langley, BC
It sounds like the kid can piss in the
tall weeds with the big dogs. I suggest
you bring your friend along on a session.
with your big buddies and let them see
for themselves that he can hold his own.
Don't be an April Fool. Order an Ask
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