Axle Stall
The axle stall is one of the most popular skateboard tricks to do on a quarter pipe. It is one of the more basic transition tricks in skateboarding which is why in this article we will be teaching you how to axle stall. The axle stall is commonly performed as a setup trick when transitioning on a quarter pipe, skating up the ramp and back down into your normal stance. The axle stall allows you to easily settle on the top of a quarter pipe and gain stability as you gather your momentum to a stop, dropping back into the ramp in a controlled manner. Some people may often refer to this trick as a 50-50 as the setup and technique is just about the same as a 50-50 grind, however the axle stall is the stall version of the 50-50 grind. Therefore, rather than using your speed and momentum to do a grind, you will come to a brief stop at the top of the coping when performing an axle stall.
What Is An Axle Stall?
The axle stall is when you ride up to a quarter pipe, locking both trucks into the coping so your board is about parallel with the coping, sitting right on top of the ramp. You can hold the axle stall as long as you would like as it is not too difficult to balance so long as you have locked in nicely and are directly on top of the coping. Then once ready to drop back in you will pivot off the back truck of your skateboard and roll back into the ramp in your normal stance. As alluded to earlier, this is one of the more basic transition tricks on a skateboard, probably one of the first 5 quarter pipe tricks you will learn. This trick will be an iterative process though. When you first learn how to axle stall, there is a good chance you will not fully lock in and will have a hard time holding the stall. The best form for an axle stall is in the picture at the top of the page, where the back truck is nicely pinched into the coping with your whole body standing straight up on the top of the ramp.
How To Axle Stall
We will be going over here how to backside axle stall. When referring to the axle stall earlier, backside is the side we were referring to. Frontside axle stalls, which we will go over in a separate video, are commonly found to be far more difficult than the backside axle stall. That is because one of the most important parts about the axle stall is dropping back into the quarter pipe, which is more difficult frontside as you are going back down the ramp pretty much blind. The backside axle stall on the other hand gives you full visibility as to where you are going as you transition back down the ramp. However, when approaching the ramp in setting up for the axle stall, your visibility of the coping is more limited than with a frontside axle stall. If you want to learn how to axle stall on a skateboard, here is a quick tutorial:
@howtoskateboards This one comes in handy as a good setup trick #skatepark #miniramp #howtoskateboard #howtoskateboards #skate #skateboard #skateboarding ♬ Axis - Tia Tutt
A lot of the axle stall is about what you do with your back foot. That's why it may be helpful to learn backside slashes before you get started. For foot setup, place your back foot centered on the tail with your front foot over the bolts. Approach the quarter pipe backside as if you are about to do a kickturn. As you start to skate up the ramp, keep your eye on the coping so that you can see what you are locking your trucks into. Then as you are about to touch the coping with your back truck, starting to turn your shoulders 90 degrees as if initiating a kickturn, press down with your back foot on the tail, almost doing a manual into them coping for half a second. Then stomp down with your front foot pressing down on the bolts on to the coping so that both your front and back trucks are locked in and you are standing on top of the quarter pipe on your board, about parallel with the quarter pipe. No need to hold the axle stall when just starting out, but as you get more comfortable. play around with holding the stall for slightly longer each time. You may even struggle with getting a good lock in initially, whereas your upper body is not able to stand straight up on top of the ramp, but rather is still inside the quarter pipe. With this type of lock in, which is fine when just starting to learn, your trucks just graze the coping while your backside wheels are on the coping and your frontside wheels are still on the lower part of the coping or on the top of the ramp before the coping. To prevent this, really engage that back foot, using your toes to drive your back truck into the coping for a good lock in. Then to make sure that both wheels are all the way up on top of the coping rather than your frontside wheels pressing down on the ramp or lower coping, drive your upper body's momentum up on top of the coping with your torso leaning back slightly to follow the movement of your legs as they force your board to lock in. Make sure to bend your knees at this point as you enter the top of the coping for the axle stall for optimal stability.
Dropping In From Axle Stall
When dropping back into the quarter pipe, exiting the axle stall, the majority of the movement is done with the back trucks and your back foot. Initiate the axle drop in by making sure the frontside wheel of your back truck is starting to lean into the ramp, as pictured at the top of this article, with your truck pinched whereas only a small portion of the truck closest to your back wheel is still locked into the coping. If your back truck is not in this position and is well over the coping, you can use your toes to nudge the board/trucks forward a bit on the coping closer to the edge and inner part of the ramp. Then start to turn your shoulders the remaining 90 degrees back into the ramp. At this point you will start to press down on your back foot, shifting weight to your tail to lift up that front truck, guiding the board with your front foot 90 degrees back into the quarter pipe. In a very quick motion you will go from pressing down with your tail to pressing down with your front foot stomping down as you would for a drop in.
We hope you found this walkthrough helpful on how to axle stall. Here at How To Skateboards, our goal is help and empower you on a skateboard. If you have any questions feel free to leave a comment below and we will get back to you.