I was wondering if anybody had advice on how to ollie stairs and gaps. I know they require speed obviously. But even with speed and I can't really move that far in front of me with an ollie. I can get a pretty nice ollie, on average 2 feet-2 and a half, and clean, but not far. I was wondering if you guys could help me with that.

you might want to start out on a small set and start movin up. get speed(not necceraliy a lot) , i for some reason have my foot all the way on my front bolts. i still get good pop off a set. find a comfortable spot for your feet. i guess when your nose is about to the edge of the first stairs beginning, pop, tuck your knees in, and bend if you have to for the landing.

When moving I put my front foot about 3/4s up the board behind the front bolts. I still get good pop (2 feet-2 and a half), but I still can't go far, I get high but not far. I guess I could do like a 3 set and a five set maybe :P. That's how not far I can go. Btw, has anyone not gone the full way and landed on the stairs o.O

I was wondering if anybody had advice on how to ollie stairs and gaps. I know they require speed obviously. But even with speed and I can't really move that far in front of me with an ollie. I can get a pretty nice ollie, on average 2 feet-2 and a half, and clean, but not far. I was wondering if you guys could help me with that.

I cant ollie 2 and a half feet clean , but i can ollie gaps and stairs.

Does it help to be able to ollie high? Like more air time? Also, is there any variants that I could apply to the ollie to make it go farther?

Does it help to be able to ollie high? Like more air time? Also, is there any variants that I could apply to the ollie to make it go farther?

I guess in certain places. All i would say is go fast and Pop a solid only. Yestuday i ollied a step of with 3 steps. I put my front foot about a finger space behind the front bolts and back flat on tale.

Just get you moving ollies high and far, then just find a two or three stair and learn it.

it helps me to be leaning forward a bit, but don't let that lose your balance or anything.

For gaps or stairs I put my front foot right behind the bolts and my back foot in a normal ollie position. Get enough speed and just ollie. If you stick it you know you can do it. Just keep trying and you got it.

I think to get a cleaner landing you have to have a litte looser trucks because mine are really tight and it always sticks to the ground.

When you are doing stiars/ledges you dont have to have a high ollie all you need to have is a good amount of speed.

Speed speed speed.

when doing stairs you dont have to be going fast you just have to be able to ollie far. and when you land keep your legs straight (dont bend your knees) so you dont fall on the ground and eat it.

Aren't you supposed to bend your knees to help with the impact or something? I though you weren't supposed to strand straight.

A pair of balls. Speed. And yeahhh..

Btw. I can only ollie decently high with my feet like 3/4 up the board when I'm trying to do it over something, not just riding around, unless my foot is in the middle of the board. But that feels awkward when I'm riding, so I tend only to put my feet there before the ollie and not while I'm riding there, but I always get a high clean ollie that way.

ok so its not good to bend your knees when you ollie big stairs/gaps? and yeah, has anyone ever LANDEd on the stairs themselves, like undershot the jump?

When moving I put my front foot about 3/4s up the board behind the front bolts. I still get good pop (2 feet-2 and a half), but I still can't go far, I get high but not far. I guess I could do like a 3 set and a five set maybe :P. That's how not far I can go. Btw, has anyone not gone the full way and landed on the stairs o.O

wow this used to happen to me alot when i tried my first 9 set
i didnt know how much speed and ollie BAM hit the last step and cracked mah tail =P

You dont even have to ollie that good to clear most stairs. You only need speed.
And look at your board, or else the stairs will psyche you out. Just dont stare at the stairs i mean.
ha, thats funny...

look i have a little tip when you ollie of stairs and dont feel comfortable when landing it, when you oliie of the set kick your board away till you get the feeling of it and then you can start trying to catch the board till you feel totally comfortable and land it

As an experienced stair/gap skater, the only thing to ollies down stairs and gaps is:

1. Speed
2. The Ollie
3. Commitment

The speed and the ollie are cocurrent variables, if you will. (Don't know how else to describe it). The slower you go, the better ollie you will need. The faster you go, you won't need a great ollie. Some stairsets and gaps you'll need a great amount of speed and a very decent ollie, but for small sets like hat you'll be doing (3-5 stairs), all you really need is one or the other.

Now, Commitment, that's the hard part. When you first start skating stairs, your not going to want to stay over that board. But, obviously, your going to need to.

"But when I try, I can't stay over the board, it always goes behind me" - Common complaint.

Well, the answer to the above quote is kind of hard to describe in words. What's causing this is you leaning forward over the edge of the board to try and see what is below you/the end of the gap. If you lean forward to do this (Which most people do, especially when they are just starting stairs/drops), your board will go behind you and you won't land it. You have to stay centered over your board. Usually if you keep your soulders paralell with the board, you won't have a problem staying over it. Take this picture of me for example:
http://a345.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/87/l_32efd0200f3cb060e1e84602215e7818.jpg
See how my shoulders are over the board?

If you need to, you can even lean towards your heels a little to get used to staying up straight and not going forward/to your toes.

If you have any questions just ask me. :)
You dont even have to ollie that good to clear most stairs. You only need speed.
That rule only applies to sets smaller than like, a 7. Once it starts getting 7 and above, you need a decent ollie.

I was wondering if anybody had advice on how to ollie stairs and gaps. I know they require speed obviously. But even with speed and I can't really move that far in front of me with an ollie. I can get a pretty nice ollie, on average 2 feet-2 and a half, and clean, but not far. I was wondering if you guys could help me with that.

what helps me is to not look down at your board... look at your target then ollie. once committed, look down to adjust your feet placement and then stick the landing.

when you do gaps and stairs you might want your feet how over you are comfortable ollieing with. then u just need a pretty good amount of speed and right as your about to it the stairs/gaps start to pop the ollie.
p.s. you might want to stair on like a 2 or 3 stair