How to Do a Caballerial: 4 Step Caballerial Tutorial

The caballerial is a portmanteau for “Caballero” and “aerial,” and is colloquially referred to as “cab” or “full cab.” This skateboarding trick combines a fakie—how a skater changes directions on their board without turning—with a backside 360 ollie.

The caballerial is named for its creator, Steve Caballero, a legendary San Jose skater and member of the Powell Peralta skate company’s revered “Bones Brigade” team. Steve invented the trick in 1980 and successfully executed it for the first time in competition on a half-pipe at Pipeline Skatepark (also known as Upland), winning the event.

The half caballerial, also known as a “half cab,” is a fakie backside 180 ollie—half the turn of a caballerial. A half cab is easier to land than a full cab because it doesn’t require a 360-degree rotation, so focus on mastering this trick before attempting a full cab.

To successfully perform a full caballerial, check out the following steps below:

1. 1. Ride fast and wind up. Ride backward up the ramp. Be sure you are going up straight, so your rear wheels will hit the coping at the exact same time. As you ride backward up the transition, wind up your shoulders to give yourself rotational momentum.
2. 2. Bonk and launch. Hit the coping simultaneously with your back wheels, launching you up off the ramp into a fakie ollie. If you’re going fast enough and bonk your wheels hard enough, it will give you enough separation from the wall to complete a 360-degree rotation.
3. 3. Rotate 360 degrees. As your wheels hit the coping, launching you, let your body unwind, sending you into a backside 360.
4. 4. Balance your landing. As you complete your 360, put your wheels down on the wall to land, now rolling forward.

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