Being new to the franchise, I don't quite get how to excell at it. How do I keep the Tricky state up and running for a whole run for example? Is there a sweetspot for how long I hold a grab? What about the crazy spinning - good or is there a limit to the benefits? What about proper landings? And so forth.

I got so many questions. I'd love if some of you pro SSX'ers clear some of it up for us newbies.

I think the best way to keep your Tricky up is to do the board press things when your not in the air. I don't know what console or control set up you are using, but for me it's B and X on the 360.

Always be doing a nose or board press. You should never be riding without that going.

Another good tip is to try and use the L2 (on default controls?) to grind sharp edges. It wont happen automatically unless you hold the button, this'll letcha grind up those fallen trees. Also, a lot of the tunnels and underground areas tend to have an icy edge along the ground you can grind so you can keep your tricky while going through a tunnel.
 
As far as spins go, always be spinning. For landings, as far as I can tell there isn't any penalty for a sloppy landing besides a speed loss.
 
As mentioned above, hold square or circle (X or B on 360) to do board presses while you're between jumps on the ground, this'll keep your combo going longer and give you more score. I usually just keep jumping and doing small tricks, but board pressing is probably the better way to go since you have more control. 
 
Also, remember once you hit Tricky state, you have infinite boost, so always be holding R2/RT. More speed = bigger air = bigger tricks = more score.
 
I'm not sure about any sweetspot for grabs. I haven't been able to decide if doing lots of smaller tricks in one jump is better or worse than holding one big trick. You get some more score from the bigger trick, but you get a much higher combo doing smaller ones. I have a feeling the best thing to do is hold a huge trick the entire jump, and try and do smaller ones between jumps to get the combo up. Oh, and while not the sweetspot, make sure you let go before hitting the ground again!
 
 
One more tip: In Trick It, don't be afraid to rewind! If you accidentally hold a trick too long and bail, rewind and release earlier, you're only penalized 5000 score to start the rewind, and it increases for each second. Probably about 1000score/sec. So if you crash, rewinding a few seconds to keep your combo going might cost you like 8000 score, which is really nothing when you're posting 18,000,000 score runs.

@Xeiphyer: @joshthebear: @PeasantAbuse:

Thx for the feedback man.

Holding tricks is better than doing a lot of tricks at once. You wanted to get the 20x multiplier up as fast as possible and keep it up (that means mixing up your tricks and pulling of big jumps). COMBO COMBO COMBO. I finish these days with a 10 million score and a combo of about 100+ and when I cash it in at the end my score doubles.

Board presses are cool and help keep the combo going but I went through a phase of always holding down B when I was on the ground and I wasnt doing good at all because I wasn't focusing on getting to big ramps and jumps. I now only use then when my combo is about to end otherwise I am just hunting for the next big jump. If you are on a straight and board pressing maybe even just do a flat jump with a spin to get more points.

Hope that helped. Now I would love help on race it cause I can't break 2:08 and someone on my list has 1:48 :

Avoid big air whenever possible in the race, other than the beginning to build up to tricky ASAP for unlimited boost. Don't launch off jumps with A or X, just fly off them or try to bypass them. There are a few shortcuts on the track, you'll probably see the optimal paths if you follow the colored trails of the ghosts with better times than yourself. Then it's just a matter keeping the super tricky state going to always be boosting, with board presses and tricks when you can down the entire run. It's not easy, but very rewarding when you finally do get a sub 2 minute time.

Somehow I totally didn't see this thread - I'll just get a mod to close my one, no need for two.

I think that you should board press up to a point, then release and wind up to the jump,= (Press LS to the left) you spin about 2.5x faster. Find a route and stick to it.

The biggest thing I found while hunting for that gold is that you should hold tricks rather than doing multiple grabs and always put your fingers ready for a new grab while lining up the next jump. In races it's all about the balance. You want to do tricks only so much that you can always be boosting. Avoid big air, jump off ledges beside the actual ramp to avoid too much hang time.  

• Some lower ramps give you a nice trick opportunity without much air if you just don't jump at all.
• Some ramps have a very steep end and it can be really good to jump over it. So just release the jump somewhere half way up the ramp.
• Hitting the flares that are everywhere give you extra boost, this is a great way to get a bit of speed without hanging in the air.
• Generally speaking you should avoid rails. They are a great way to get boost and enter tricky mode, but most of them loop around way too much and ruins your time. Try to find the good short and straight rails and avoid all the slow one.