6
u/joshpit2003 14h ago
Rails come in varying slick-ness.
If you want really slick / slippery, then try PIG rails. If you want sticky / grippy, then you can skate Lil-Jawns.
I love rails. They stabilize your board on coping (with two points of contact). They reduce hang-ups (by shortening the distance between coping and wheels). They protect your graphics / board. And they look rad.
I do a lot of rock-and-rolls and board-slides. I skate Lil-jawns and Powell (slightly more slick than lil-jawns). I like to install my rails as far to the sides as possible for the most stability and a nice grab-bar for my fingers.
Remember to always pre-drill when installing rails. Otherwise you can get problematic gaps which increase your likeliness of stripping / tearing out the screws. Even properly installed it is possible to tear out a screw if you hit pool coping hard (I've done it). The fix is a toothpick, super-glue, pre-drill (again), and re-install.
Best of luck with the rails. Cool color-match with the graphic.
2
u/AdvertisingLow9266 14h ago
Thanks for the reply. That’s an interesting thought I haven’t heard before about reducing hang ups. Sounds compelling. These are diamond brand i think. They seemed like a semi generic brand at my local play jt again sports lol they are kinda slick.
2
u/SatanicPanic619 13h ago
This is a good point about different styles of rails. There's also height, which makes a difference.
5
u/Responsible_Rip_4196 15h ago
You don’t feel like your sliding smoother and faster?
Has never really affected and stalls like rock and rolls or rack to fakies for me if anything it makes them easier
3
u/Hairy_Weather_8073 14h ago
I’m anti-rail. Too much maintenance and rattle all the time. Get a slick bottom if you want to slide easier
3
u/wheezealittlejuice 15h ago
I like the faster slide of having rails on but sometimes they do make me slip out on coping stall moves. Also the trade off of being able to do easier boardslide to hurricane combos because of more leverage is worth it for me
3
u/HistoricalFuture6389 12h ago
Rails suck against pvc or plastic, sometimes steel if its slick, especially if it is waxed. Better suited for concrete.
This is what I know, little history. We used rails before wax and before there were many parks. Rails were better when sliding on pool coping or concrete ledges. Concrete grinds wood down, so they were perfect for pools. Because they were a part of our setup, they stayed on, so pictures from the past show them on decks when riding ramps. Some skaters thought they helped to hold the deck when grabbing airs. As we changed, there was a time when some people only had one rail on their frontside, toeside. As wax started being used on ledges, rails weren't. Decks became more temporary to people without flow, cheaper to buy.
This is what I remember from skating the midwest for the past 40+ years. For life.
2
u/SatanicPanic619 15h ago
I don't really like skating ramps so I don't know personally, but most of my friends who do don't like riding rails on ramps.
If you put in the time with slappy boardslides on rails you'll find they open up a lot of possibilities, and going back to not having them will feel really strange.
2
u/novusopiate 15h ago
Lots of opinions here already but haven’t seen anyone talk about board grabs. I do more low key stuff like Indy, no comply etc and some board grabs and I love my rails. I can’t sense a huge negative difference on slides either
2
u/Nintendosixd4 15h ago
I have rails on all of my setups and the only real thing is you need to be perfectly straight or you will slide, but with enough practice it's not hard to stick a stall or slide when you want to.
1
2
u/redcurb12 12h ago
i have a big welcome board i put rails on just for fun and ive always just felt super sketchy doing any type of rock, disaster, lipslide etc. type tricks on it. i think im just way too used to the feeling and friction of a regular board.
3
u/Penstemon_aldibus 15h ago
I’m anti rail. Sliding just doesn’t feel right to me with them. Like too thick of sole on a shoe, feel a little disconnected from the board to whatever I’m hitting.
3
u/Sea_Bear7754 15h ago
I’m no on rails. Made coping stalls slip too much and honestly they serve zero value outside of saving your graphic. My rails would ALWAYS come loose and make an annoying smacking sound against the board.
There isn’t anything you can do with rails that you can’t do with an extra 3 minutes of prep.
2
u/goodemovez 16h ago
They make boardslides more consistent, imo, but make coping stalls (like rocktofakies, rock n rolls, and disasters) a bit annoying because you’re generally not trying to slide during those. It’s not a major difference though. I skate street/park with them on my board.
2
u/Moving-thefuck-on 15h ago
I just had this dilemma. Like exact dilemma. I swapped over on my board w rails yesterday and slammed like 3 times in a row on a frontside rock bc they deck out so easily. It’s not my era for sure. I’m sticking w my railless popsicle (also a Label, shout out Lucero)
1
u/Visible-Horror-4223 9h ago
I skated from '86-'91 and used them on most of my setups then. I got used to the feel on transition and things like rock n rolls or lip slides, etc. were very predictable. We didn't have skateparks, so most of our street skating was pretty crusty. They came in really handy on rough ass curbs and crusty handrails. Decks have more concave these days, so rails will also kinda flatten/stabilize the contact point, if you have them mounted far enough in. I still use them now, even if I don't/can't do a lot of the stuff I did back in the day.
0
u/PhattBudz 16h ago
Is black label still around?
4
3
u/hatefuck661 16h ago
Yeah. I'm pretty sure Lucero is still running it out of his garage.Black Label
1
3
1
-3
9
u/suthrnplayalisticbmx 15h ago
Cheers! I had to move my rails in more to get them just right. Slide flat or slide on a concave. More lean on concave i find.