Ask
the
Doctor
With
Rick Blackhart
ムー
rare aves
A vintage Mike Szechigliga creeks edge in the Doc's spot. Photo: C.R. Stecyk
WOBBLE TROUBLE
I crave speed. Even though I live in
flatland Kansas there are decent, skateable
slopes. My problem is I also love loose
trucks but when I go fast I get speed
wobbles which causes severe beefs at high
velocity. What can I do? Do I need a change
in bushings (harder or softer) or should I just
forget it and tighten my trucks? Or is it
possibly my own lack of control or balance?
Please help me find a good balance
between speed and turning.
Sean Tolle
Wichita, KS
Dude, high speed and loose trucks do
not go hand in hand. High speed, loose
trucks and fleshburgers do, though. Ac-
tually it's pretty simple. First of all, the
basic idea is to put as much weight over
the front truck as possible. This will
decrease the chance of wobbles.
Secondly, go ahead and try harder
bushings with your usual truck adjust
ment. If that's still too squirrelly, you'll
have to tighten those suckers up. Just
keep adjusting until you find the right
combination.
THE HOLE SHOE THANG
Hey. We are three fifteen-year-old girls,
we live in a little town in Switzerland and
we skate very hard. (Please forgive us if we
make some mistakes; it's hard to speak
English.) All our pairs of skate shoes got a
big hole at the same place (the shoe we ollie
with). Well, I have a pair of Vision shoes with
ollie pads, but they're really expensive and
when they're bust, they're bust. Have you
a trick to make your own protections? Or
maybe it isn't normal to brush against the
grip with the left foot when you do an ollie.
I don't know.
Jeanne, Catherice, Jeti
Porrentruy, Switzerland
All right, three skate babes from
Swissland. How's the cheese over there?
At least you have great knives to cut it
with. Enough geographic humor. Shoes
with holes? This has been a common
skate dilemma since the first native wore
out his moccasin while riding the
historical woven grass skate mat. Ever
heard of Shoe-Goo? It might not be
available there. Anyway, this and perhaps
some leather or a sheet of rubber is the
cure-all remedy for holey shoes. One
drawback, it looks like hell if not done
properly, whatever that is. The best thing
to do is apply it to the extensive wear por
tion of the shoe before a hole develops,
thus avoiding any wear at all. If you're
past the preventative stage and into the
repair stage, do it thusly: Put a piece of
duct tape on the inside of the hole, apply
a decent amount of goo on the outside
of the hole, then put a piece of leather
or rubber over the hole and then more
goo over that. Repeat as often as
necessary. Anyway, enough holey shoe
advice. I'm stoked to hear about girls who
skate. Keep skating.
ANTI-MUTIE
Doctor, I am not really a skateboarder.
recently tried to hang around with these
skater dicks. I found that they have to be the
I
most stupid form of the human race. I
wanted to just ride a skateboard but these
assholes look like some kinds of aliens. So
tell me Doctor, why do these "skate-
boarders" (mutants) dress and act the way
they do? Why can't they act normal like
other people?
Students Against Skaters
Troy, OH
First you have to ask yourself, what is
normal? Cool is in the eye of the be-
holder. Maybe they seem like idiots
because they think you're one. I think a
lot of skaters have this attitude towards
anybody who thinks they're above
skaters. If you have a nose-in-the-air at-
titude going in, then most skaters see
this as an opportunity to call bunk on
you. Most skaters realize what it takes to
be a skater, and what you have to put up
with just to skate. So until you pay dues
like skating, searching for spots and
overall grovelling, they're probably not
willing to let just anyone be a part of their
trip. If you want to skate or be a skater,
then do it. It's because of attitudes like
yours that skaters are kept a breed apart.
So sign up, join in or ship out. Besides,
if you spend all your time worrying about
skaters you'll never get a chance to
pledge a frat, join the glee club, and hang
out with all the "popular" people.
Let them know that you know-order
an Ask The Doc T-shirt. Just send $13.45
(postage and handling included) to:
THRASHER, Ask The Doc T-shirt, PO.
Box 884570, S.F., CA 94188-4570.
OGIE
STREET PECK
LENGTH 31
WIDTH 10
NOSE 4 1/2
TAIL 6 3/4
WHEEL
34 3/4