Grinds are a form of skateboarding trick where the skateboarder slides by grinding the metal between the wheels of the trucks on an obstacle. You can slide the skateboard deck on the obstacle too while in crooked grinds, like crooked-blunt slides. Grinds are performed on any object that the trucks contact with and slide on, but the wheels don't slide. Skateboarding moves have many names and combinations, but each trick has a unique name after you start enjoying them all. Slides, rather than grinds, are just performed using the deck and wheels.
The move likely originated in backyard pools, as the early skaters gained in skill and confidence with their high speed carves around the top of the pool walls and one day went that little bit too high. The trucks of the time, often being merely 'borrowed' rollerskate trucks, didn't allow much contact due to their inherent narrowness, but as skateboarding gained its own truck manufacturers who widened the hanger design, the possibilities for exploration became apparent, and all sorts of moves started popping up. Nowadays they are commonly performed on handrails or on the lips of objects such as benches, but any suitably hard, smooth edge will do.
Basic Grind Tricks[]
- BS/FS 50-50 (Both trucks are on it)
- BS/FS Boardslide/Lipslide (The bottom of the deck is used)
- BS/FS Nose Slide (The nose is on a 90 degree angle)
Advance Grind Tricks[]
- BS/FS Nose Grind (The front Trucks are in a nose manual position)
- BS/FS Tail Slide (Same as a Nose slide but the tail is used)
- BS/FS Smith Grind (The back trucks are like a 50-50 but the front is over what you grind)
- BS/FS Crooked Grind (Nose Grind, but 45⁰ angle towards the grind surface. Not to be confused with the overcrook)
- BS/FS 5-0 (The back trucks are in a manual position)
- BS/FS Suski (The opposite of a Salad grind)
- BS/FS Willy Grind
- BS/FS Losi Grind
Pro Grind Tricks[]
- Salad (This is like the 5-0 but the front truck is over the far side of the rail)
- Over Crook Grind (The same as a Crooked grind but the Decks over the rail at an angle)
- Feeble Grind (Back truck grinds while the front truck hangs over the rail's far side)
- Darkslide (Opposite of a boardslide where the grip tape is slid on)