Skate Culture Article #16: Smith Grind...

Grinds in skateboarding are when one of the trucks (axels) makes contact with an environmental edge (be it edge of a ramp, curb, rail, etc) whilst in motion. Grinds can take many forms such as one or both trucks in contact, different angles of the board and different orientations of the trucks.

A smith grind is considered one of the hardest basic grind and is where the back truck is grinding the edge of something and the front trucks are under the line of the edge.  It was invented by Mike Smith, hence the name.  On a ramp like in this picture you can see the rider has come up the ramp and his back trucks are on the coping (metal edging) and he's placed the front truck just down inside the ramp. He then grinds in this position along the coping. It is backside as opposed the frontside because his back is outside the ramp.

When done right, these look so smooth and effortless which they are far from.

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Notes of Skate Culture Articles...
This is part of a series of Skate Culture Articles I've been writing as an insight into the sport of skateboarding for an outsider. You can find the rest of the articles by entering tagged skateculturearticle by tractorfactoryphotos into the BlipSearch.