Just gotta say I really appreciate all the solid info you’ve put out throughout the years so we can make informed decisions about our setup and not just falling victim to marketing and hype.

Unfortunately… I heard dwindle is… dwindling. They fired bill Weiss owner of madness, team manager and brand manager for blind. Enjoi is done. It’s owned by an investment company. And they are doing what a lot of corporations do. It doesn’t work in skateboarding tho

I'll be real with you , I had this problem for the first 10 years of skating where sometimes I'd get a new board and randomly I'd be ghost popping every trick I tried and it was making me feel crazy like I was skating wrong . Wish I would have known these things in my younger days but on a positive note at least kids have access to this kind of knowledge today . Thanks Ben , and also to Paul Schmitt 🤙👊

Early 90's, with the change from 80's boards to roughly the "modern" popsicle shape, I found I could not ollie with the "new" boards with fingers of flat. I went from easily jumping over anything to being unable to jump over a beer can. From kickfliping up a set of three or four stairs to being unable to ollie up a curb. The board was glued to the floor, the tail did not snap. It drove me nuts. My solution was buying old 80's boards and using a "popsicle" as a model to reshape them using the nose as tail(mellower) and the tail as a nose(steeper). Late 90's early 2k's were hard for me, flat skinny boards, bearing condoms wheels, etc. Some time ago I watched a video when Mr. Degros explained the "technique" to skate boards with fingers of flat.

Something usually not mentioned with "fingers of flat" is that having more flat helps with getting a nice pop out of a noseslide or tailslide. With a tiny amount of flat sometimes you can just fall out of a slide when trying to get a little dip on the nose/tailslide before the pop out. Glad you touched on that. I never really understood why that happened until somewhat recently. When's the professor Schmitt designed Ben shape coming out? :^)

Much love and respect to you and your channel Ben.

Ben glad to see you still doing your thing that’s how we stay young! Much love from Bay Area!

this channel is so good for skateboarding as a whole. i dont know how we went so long without thinking of these sorts of things

That was a very nice explanation of the geometry and effects on skating 🙏

That board looks incredible, it’s funny you mention the 90’s because it does look very much like a setup from that time 🤙

So stoked for a new vid ,Thanks for another amazing vid Ben , Much Love 🇿🇦🤘🏻❤️🛹

great video, I have recently switched to almost decks because of the shapes. I love the 2 to 3 fingers of flat, the mellow concave, single deck press, and overall attention to detail. Almost decks from now on for me.

This video was amazing such good work skating in between your topics great work much appreciated and your the best for the skate board community

my first non kmart board was an almost (way past them being cool, only like 4 years ago lol) and i loved the mellow concave feel. I kinda dig the visual of how quick you have to catch your flatground tricks, you obvs have the chops for that, but i can understand that it might not feel super great, but interesting how it seems to lend itself to a transition/ledge kinda setup. Love your wisdom & analysis as always Ben

In all my years of skating I've never fingered one of my boards. Will have to try now, thank you Mr. Degros 😄💕👍

Ben, I implore you to look into what’s happening with dwindle and to _not_ buy their products.

This is good stuff. I've been skating in some capacity for more than 10 years and this is the first time I've ever heard about this. Most people only mention about length and width when talking geometry.

awesome review... love the detail and intricacy...you can always just drill new holes in the back truck area. i did that on a blank that i have had for like 17 yrs, lol.... one thing i find really confident inspiring is when the front bolts have less flat to the nose... your foot just sits perfect and you don't have to worry about pushing to hard because it wont make the back come up... man that just feels so good in bowls. tks.

Interesting. It makes sense that the angle and length of the tail and nose affects the way a board feels and reacts while doing tricks. I have an unused old Nanda Zipp board afriend gave me from Sonic (he was doing the artwork for their boards back then), made in either '97 or '98. It's 7 1/2" wide and it has a blunt nose. However, the tail and nose are a bit on the mellow side, a little more scooped than that Almost board you have. My current set up is an old Salman Agah deck from '93 or '94 with Thunder trucks from roughly the same year (can't remember which ones) that I've been using. New wheels and bearings of course. It's my old deck from the early/mid 90s. Boards during most of the 90s were 7 1/2" wide. Just recently got back into skating and figured I'd start with what I've got. Anyway, happy riding! Love your videos, Ben!

This video is like a Ben Degros and Vancouver Carpenter collab.

100%. This is why I still shop in skate shops as opposed to buying boards online. Well one of the reasons. I favour BBS boards for this too. Always at least 2.5 in the tail, around 2 in the nose.

You videos are very interesting. Been skating since 96' and you bring up a lot of shit I never really thought of.

Ben I enjoy your videos and your compensation for boards and trucks that meet your needs I'm a flat ground phenom But I suck at manuals and ledges cause I always ignore them keep improving skating

I always wondered why they would mess with their shapes but I never actually put two and two together like Ben did here; excellent work.

Love you DIY channel Ben!

Nice Menu Skate Shop hoodie!! Love the place dearly.

glad to see you back Ben 🖤🖤

i love dsm boards, and i think they are often overlooked/underrated. granted there is a pretty wide variance of shapes among brands they make boards for, but they are consistently good quality.

So no joke dude. I just noticed wtf. THAT answered and saved much time as a scientist for myself thanks man! Lol🤙🤘

about a month ago I switched from 14.5 wheel base to 14.25 and same thing, shorter board and same width but 100% accurate video. Everything you said makes sense now. Thank you for that

Great info Ben! Always dope videos!

I love dwindle shapes, to fix the pop situation I found I get more pop when I ride them with Indy’s. Gives the tail a bit more angle and time to pop.

Second comment 😅 I'd been running Almost decks, *almost* exclusively for close to 20 years now, whenever it was that Almost Round 3 came out. I really like their shapes, both the twin tail and the regular long nose, and also really like that I can get steep and mellow concaves depending on how my feet are feeling that season. That said, as I mentioned in my other comment, I went to a flight deck ... and I'm not likely to ever go back. I do miss the familiarity of the Almost decks (ran 7.75 up until August this year), but the durability and pop out of the flight decks is kind of insane 😅

Sad to see Almost probably on the way out, really thoughtful shapes and (mostly) classy art..Glad I got one of their decks recently. I have two setups, an FA and an Almost and they are very different, but I enjoy them both equally.

Really looking forward to your mellow concave steep kicks Blind review. All my last decks were Enjoi(-Dwindle) steep kicks and after some madness with trucks, what I figured out was that if deck is 8.5-ish it really needs trucks more invards to have more leverage (like Ace Classics) and when it's 8 inch deck it works the best with trucks that make wb bigger, like Thunder-Venture.

Excellent topic. I am gonna try to change an old board up to see how it feels popping it .

Great video. That was a fun session, forgot about that.

This is the exact deck I am riding at the minute. I love almost decks the shape of them is just perfect I think.

I just clicked on this video and you looked so familiar. Then it clicked, you helped improved my drywall mudding technique

Honestly most skater I know don’t care a board is a board just skate it 🤷🏾‍♂️ thinking like this will have you in your head a lot. Love you videos Ben don’t get me wrong your info is very useful for the ppl out there that freak out about there boards.

You're the best, Ben.

I had a thank you Daewon board about a year ago, it was exactly like this just as you've described. What made me give it away was front side flips were almost impossible with it.

Merci j'ai appris un tas de chose technique sur ma planche à roulette.

Oh I love it! I don't think I'd feel comfortable riding transition, which is my fav, on a 14" wheelbase. I really like 15" wheelbase. It think the fingers of flat also help with slides on tails.

a new Ben video on my day off = perfect inspo to go sesh later

haha ok man, opened this video and I'm like he looks sooo familiar... that's because I've watched tons of your home improvement videos! And you skate! That's too good!

Hell yeah that was So Good 🙂🫠

I think the low trucks are better for slappy's, gives you more lift on that wheel hitting the curb.

Please do a tutorial on how to fs heel PLEASE !! Most beautiful I ever seen

Steep/Full Dwindle boards are where its at. Venture lows for the extended wheel base. Nice and snappy. I've been snatching up every 7.75" dwindle deck I can find because I'm afraid the days are numbered.

Remember that 8.25 PS stix plan B sheffey deck you skated? The yellow one with the short tail that was only like 31.3 overall? That's the shape that made me realize how important FOF is. Even with the short tail some of my tricks instantly clicked. I dont know if it was a different mold or I just got one of the bottom of the stack but I havent found another one that felt quite the same yet. I've been skating the strangelove 8.25 x "31.75" (a little under 31.5 tip to tip) shape and its close but a little steeper in the tail.

I gave this video a thumbs up, even though I watched only 2 minutes of this video, because my head exploded. 🤯

Limosine boards have been killing it for me, they are bareback but the shape feels better than any other bareback boards I’ve had. They definitely have that blunt but still popsicle nose

I’ve been riding that same board for the last couple of months and I love it! Feels much more stable than my other setups

After a couple years of watching this channel, Ben finally reviewed a deck that I have. Mine's an 8.5 and I think it has a longer wheelbase. I like the more blunt shape of it, but the nose is so long and steep it makes nollies hard to pop.

I have to say, in over 20 years of skating I'm not sure I've ever seen a board with such a pronounced visual difference between the nose and tail. Best possible board for this video, so good!

I really like the almost impact decks, I can skate those without my knees hurting after every trick.

Love these types of videos from you Ben! Just a thought when you mentioned shifting the holes back on the tail, there’s a tool/guide for that by chem skate you could try out to drill extra holes back. I know you said you’re done with the madness tho haha

Thats a mellow setup. Paul Schmitt mentioned on the nine club that most pro's ride between 34-36, angle of pop.

Hey Ben, thanks for yet another informative video! I've been riding CCS Custom decks because I like to put stupid images on my boards, but I know very little about the decks other than width, wheelbase, and length - I'd be curious to see your take on how those perform

Thanks pops! Woo!

I just picked up a Globe deck and the tail is way steeper than I'm used to. I skated some Almost decks years ago, I might have to look into them again.

hands down the most informativ skate channel

I've noticed that same thing when I ride low trucks ( popping high without something to pop over).

The numbers that you're talking about are so small that it's likely mostly in your head... I skated from '97 to '15 and yeah, I remember that nose shape too lol -- we snapped so many decks back then that if you didn't skate blanks then you'd go bankrupt but luckily this shop near me in Sacramento, called Copeland Sports had decent blanks with noses like that.

right now, the tail on my board's kick gap is so short and steep that you can see my baseplate isn't fully bolted on flat, the back of it looks like its on the edge of a cliff. while my nose actually has close to 3 fingers of flat

Fingers of flat feels so good, I don't ride low trucks and small wheels though. I'm tall and too little flat makes boards feel cramped. I got a Girl Couch deck with 13 7/8" wheelbase and about a mile of flat at the tail and it feels nice and roomy to pop.

Just got a new board today, and had the same problems with the pop. Was about to throw it away but then you posted this video 😂

I noticed this right away going from riding my Deathwish board and then jumping on my Santa Cruz....the Cruz has a bit of a longer tail and I was barely getting the nose off the ground because my back foot was naturally not sitting far enough back...I checked and the wheelbase was longer and the tail was longer on this particular Santa Cruz board....so measurements do make a difference.

This is a great insight to be aware of but I just try to get a good deal on any flight deck I can grab from 8.75 to just about anything and I just take time to adapt to the shape. Love me the flight decks, they last me about a year.

I really appreciate this video for how technical you explain things, I think I quit skating backin the day after a few incidents of lumbar strain injury (where I tore a muscle in my back after landing). I've been thinking about buying a new board and I want it to be perfect this time! I have an old waterlogged baker with independents and sometimes I step on it for a few minutes, and I still have my basic kickflips and stuff and it's a little bit flat and I like it. I can flick the board without messing up the top of my shoe. I'm 5'8 and a little heavier in my upper body, I'll probably get a wider board and do some warm-ups and excercise in the future before riding. I've been doing handstands because I had surgery on my back for a lipoma due to a metal alice pack, but I might also try doing my abdominals and squats. Some people are just very light naturally for their height, but I'm not unfortunately. But that hasn't stopped anybody who wants it! I'll never be pro at my age, but I can skate and have a 100% fun by myself.

For me I think 35 degrees is most favourable angle for the pop to start. In general I like both of the tips to be similar steepness so I could skate flat without thinking which is the nose and tail, it doesn't need to be a twin tip at all.

I think thunders would work well with that board. It would widen the wheelbase, and make the pop steeper.

you know that when ben posts I'm liking the video at 0:01. Keep it up!!!

I hope that all is well for everyone here and I hope that you all have a great day today.

I'm on an 8.25 Palace right now and it's the stiffest board I've ever skated despite the concave being on the mellower side. It feels slightly thicker than other boards too so it feels "big" for an 8.25. I think an 8.0 Dwindle would feel amazing with those qualities.

I don't know if its this spacing your talking about, or the carbon, or even the kick angle, but I got a flight deck finally and that thing has pop FOR DAYS. Don't know if you've had the chance yet, but I'd really like to see what you have to say about the Bones Formula X, I found the Dragons to be just a *little* too sticky but the Formula X's are absolutely great. Would be nice to have a video to reference for other opinions when homies ask at the park.

thx for all your in detail math and explanations. I feel like it helped me a lot finding a setup to come back after more than 15 years off skateboarding. never thought on stuff like that back then around the 2000s :) at the age of 40 I´m a bit tired of adapting to a new shape every time I change my deck. I don´t want to waste my limited time either. After 2 or 3 "trys" I ended up with an 8.25 /14.25 twin tail. The few I tried so far all felt kind of mellow. Ok, but could be better. Maybe someone got a recommandation for twin tails with a concave at the steeper end? Anyways, thx again for you great work, Ben. Keep it up. Greetz from germany

Canada's 6th favorite son. You're not a decenzo, but you got some good knowledge

Legends never die kid….

i've skated the tail as nose for more than 10 years now and i dont regret it xD. Feels better to me

I have a weird board that has zero fingers of flat on both front and back and steep kicks. Flip Lancer Mountain deck. I'm used to having a pocket to put my feet in. That deck doesn't have that. I'm used to skating Powell Popsicle shaped decks, which are pretty mellow concave as well as kicks. I think they normally have 2 to 3 fingers of flat. Oddly, the board I feel I can ollie best on is a Powell JM Duran deck that has a 17" wheelbase. I think the long wheelbase is amplifying in the weight of the front truck or something. I'm riding Indy 159 hollow forgeds on that deck.

Very cool Ben..I'm wondering if there's a way to measure/determine the optimum board dimensions for someone using a person's feet size/weight ?

Currently trying an 8" real deck and I'm not amazed with the pop. this video helped explain why

Mad skills bro

I'm short at 5'3 and my weight ranges between 160-190lbs depending on time of year. My short legs need a little help. Right now I have a girl G027 has 3 fingers of flat nose and tail. Nose is 6.75" long and the tail is slightly longer at 6.8" I have ace af1 and 54mm wheels speedlab sidecut. Feels good to me. I like a light pop makes it much easier for my to level kick flips in any stance. Plus a nice pinch point for mannys, nose and tail slides.

Ben, random questions that maybe you've mentioned before: what are the dimensions of your tennis court (along the fences)? Seems like the perfect size to fit in everything you'd ever want to skate. Cheers from Ensenada, México!

The promodels feld a bit better quality, stiffer longer poppier as the cheaper teamlogo boards wood felt a bit different. Rode 3 years almost always wanted to skate them the longest (lasting)compared to other brands i tried.. Miss them but into twintails now. Always felt at home insantly on every almost board and no number 1-5 press is soooo nice also when getting a new one. Really hope they make twintails soon they are missing out. Love your reviews, thanks.

Maybe try a blind I have one and it’s tail is much more pronounced than that one might like it love your content keep it up and btw I’m also an older skater that’s also a carpenter 🤟🏻

Daddy's Switch frontside 180 heelflips & Switch backside tails slides Wooooo.

Good stuff Ben 👊👊

I started skating in 84 age 10 and my most favourite deck shape and style was the deathbox u boat concave boards. Early 90s UK company. They were like u had glue on Ur shoes that wasn't shoe goo. Great boards.

Was that marble countertop salvage also a great product would be called the "true blank" and i could have a grid printed or better engraved on the top that you could use as a guide to drill your own holes for a personal custom setup.

this dad is fucking really good! holy shit

YES THIS WAS MY problem for my thunder trucks

Just got a quasi deck and it reminds me a lot of that shape

Hey ben i think it be really awesome if you did another Fa board review, i notice they are all each kinda different

Good review

I think you’ll love DGK and Thank you decks

dawg ur a scientist