It’s easy to think about skateboard design in terms of the deck, trucks, and wheels. But so often we forget that the little parts are perhaps the most important. Take bearings for example. A decent set of bearings means less pushing, faster acceleration, and a higher top speed. Lousy bearings will have you pushing constantly, getting worn out, and going slow. They can also generate a lot of heat from friction, which may even destroy your wheels! They’re just tiny little donuts with some balls in them, yet they could ruin the greatest longboard in the world.
But let’s take a look at something else that’s small: bushings. I have this large Sector 9 Meridian board I got a while back. It was my first longboard, my first real skateboard too. I couldn’t ride it well, and, because it was so large and unwieldy, I didn’t want to use it for commuting either. I replaced it with a Landyachtz Dinghy, and that’s what I then learned to ride on.
Since then I got a few more cruisers, a Penny board for travel, a push board/commuter, and a street deck. I’ve mostly spent time on traditional kingpin trucks. These are nimble, great for busy cities like mine, but not as stable for downhill or learning to slide and freeride. I went for years, enjoying them, and mostly using my Sector 9 Meridian as a cool art piece in my apartment. Then, something changed. I bombed a big hill on a Dinghy. It was a blast, but I could tell that, if I wanted to go faster than 25mph, that was not the board to do it on. I decided to take my Sector 9 out of retirement.
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Prep
To prep for getting back on my larger board, I decided to fit it into my quiver a bit better. What was it? Was it just a board for bombing hills? I have plenty of hills around me, but are often filled up with traffic or construction. Going down big hills very fast wasn’t always going to be something I could do. So, I got to thinking, how about a fun freeride board?
I got some Orangatang Morongas in their 86a durometer. They’re a bit hard, but should make for easy, lower speed slides, and a lot of fun. I also did some bushing shuffling. I put replaced the deck-side large cone bushing on the Gullwing Charger trucks with a Riptide barrel bushing. It would make the ride more stable. I also replaced the top cone with the top dome bushing from a set of Orangatang Knuckles. I still wanted some springiness.
Then, in an unrelated incident, I broke my wrist. Freeriding and sliding were out of the picture for months. I still shouldn’t even be doing standup slides. My Sector 9 Meridian went back to collecting dust.
First Ride: Wait, What’s Wrong?
I have my cast off, but still need to take it easy. I shouldn’t be skating at all, but that’s like telling a fish not to swim. Still, keeping sliding off the table for a bit, and keeping steep hills of my list as well. But, a few days ago I took that big ol’ Meridian out for a spin.
I hated it, and you can probably guess why.
It felt like turning through wet cement. I felt like I needed to be going at least 30mph to enjoy it, and, even then, would need to slide to turn anywhere. It was like riding a boat.
I asked myself, are all reverse kingpin trucks (RKP) like this? Have I just forgotten from all the city riding on traditional kingpin (TKP) trucks I’ve been doing?
But I got home and decided to go back to the double cone bushings. I was almost certain these were the true culprit, not the RKP truck design. Swapping out that barrel for a tall cone deck-side, and keeping the Orangatang dome bushing on the street side of the truck. Perhaps I just had to enjoy these trucks the way they were meant to be. They have no rake, after all, which means less rapid turn in. Perhaps the double cone bushings, while less stable, would make up for that?
Second Ride: Oh Yeah!
I just got back from my second ride. I’m out of breath because, in some part, my cast has restricted my activity, but, really, I was having a blast. I took the same route I did the other day at about the same speed. This time, however, I carved through long arcing turns like a surfer, flicking their shortboard through the waves. I bounced from crest to crest. This was freeriding. This was a blast.
I even, against my own best judgement, threw out those Morongas for a little fun. Ahem. Just once. You know, stay safe.
(Guys, it was fun!)
I forgot how large the board was while I was pushing. I forgot everything. It was just me, skimming across the cracked asphalt waves of my Brooklyn neighborhood.
Bushings, Bushings, Bushings
For freeriding especially, bushings change a lot. They can make it easier or more difficult to turn it, which can take your board from carvy to more stable. They can give you bounce into the next carve or let the turn die out and level you out, slowing you down. They can add life to an old board, or suck the fun away.
Always remember to think about what you want to use a board for.
Barrels may have been a good idea for stability, but that wasn’t what I needed in a freeride board. I’m not pushing 35mph in this thing yet. I don’t need to tuck in, find my foot stops, and try to hit my fastest speeds. I just need to have a little fun. For this particular truck, that best formula is the double cone bushing setup. For yours, it might be a firmer barrel and a mushy cone. Or perhaps some of Bone’s reinforced double cone bushings.
You can sit down at a computer and nod along. Mmm, yes, barrels bad, cones good, but that’s not what I want you to take away. Every little detail about your board, from the hardware you use to mount the trucks to the bushings in those trucks, changes the feel. It changes what your board is good for. Everything will react differently too. The bushings on a Bear truck may make it feel lifeless, but those same bushings may bounce playfully in some other trucks. The geometry is different. The rake is different. The materials are different. Hell, people are different. Different weights, different balance, different styles. That all changes how you ride. Heavier riders often favor harder bushings to give them more rebound, while lighter riders would find such bushings to be stiff and lifeless.
Sure, there are things you can lean on. There are skateboarding truths. Barrel bushings increase turn in difficulty and are therefore more stable. No rake on your truck’s hanger means less divey turn in. But to get exactly what you want out of your board, you’re going to have to play around. Don’t be afraid to experiment. Changing out a single set of bushings could breath life into an old board, and it’s a lot cheaper than buying new trucks.
Get out there and have fun!
