What is a Rail Grind?

Series Summary

You've seen them in the park riding the edges of benches and fountains or even going up and down in a pool. Then we have seen the great tricks and stunts performed on television and videos. It might look dangerous but there is a feeling that it could be fun. Skateboarding can be a great way to get outdoors and get exercise.

In these instructional videos learn some of the basic tricks of grinding a rail. These videos show you how to safely grind a normal rail, a downhill rail, and a fat rail along with where to put your feet on the skateboard. You'll be able to impress your friends with an ollie to a rail grind in no time!

Video Transcript

"Front side fifty-fifty grinds on the rail. What makes front side fifty-fifty grinds different on the rail is that the grinding surface on your truck is a lot smaller. When you ollie into a front side fifty-fifty on a rail, you're only grinding just an inch of the grind. But what you have to do is ollie on to the rail, get up slightly above it, land right here, and lock your wheels against the side. What makes it different than a ledge is that on a ledge, of course, this wheel would have something to roll on. So you're going to want to make sure that you can grind ledges before you grind on rails. You can imagine all of the weight that's needed to be put on the rail, or on your board, is above the rail right here. So your heels are totally in charge of grinding across this. So, what you're going to want to do is ollie with just enough height to get on, because you don't want to over ollie and come down on it, and you grind across the top and then you ollie back off. Now you can grind any kind of rail. There are different types of spots call for different types of fifty-fifties, but this is the most basic of a front side fifty-fifty on the rail that's a really good example. You can also grind on big fat bars. It's the same principal. You've got a smaller grinding surface, so it's going to be focused right here on this little tiny part of your truck, and you're going to use your wheels to lock into that position. Now, some people grind a rail, and they go zigzag like this. If that ends up working for you, that's great. But the best way to do it is like locked with your two rear wheels grinding across the surface. This is going to make sure that you have more control. There isn't that much control in this kind of grind, but you can end up keeping that balance. So what you want to do is lock in front side fifty-fifty on the rail, and ollie out."