ok I’ll have to get some then cuz my current ones just dont feel that stable at speed when they are at a good tightness. I may just need slightly harder ones cuz this deck was set up as a cruiser before it became my eskate
My current setup isn’t really suited for high speed like over 20 mph. I’m running 87a all around and I’m 195 lbs. for high speed I would need to go harder duro
Oh I see. Yeah for under 20 mine feels fine but when I get up to the mid 20s especially if the pavement is not ideal, it feels a bit unstable unless I tighten the bushings which limits turning a lot
I have tried a lot of bushings and a range of duros. Now I feel that it’s better to have soft bushings tight than to have hard bushings loose. And I know some people like to mix duros and I have run harder bushings in the back but I don’t mix duros on the same truck because when the hanger pivots, the bushings have to work together in unison but if they are not matched, there not gonna compress evenly. How can the hanger pivot smoothly and precisely when the top is compressing differently than the bottom?
Huh well I’m pretty sure the standard is to go hard and run them looser. Cuz if u just crank down soft bushings it will limit ur turning radius as well as damaging the bushings
But if you run hard bushings loose, there will be slop around the neutral position which will make your board unstable when your not turning Using bushings that are soft enough to run tight and still turn because they are easier to compress will be more stable in my opinion. This is the conclusion that I have come to after a lot of experimenting
Because the top and bottom bushings are not loaded evenly. The bottom (board-side) bushing is loaded more heavily and bears most of the riders weight. I almost always run one step harder on the bottom
3 Likes
Surprised no one has mentioned split angles
De-wedge your rear truck or run a lower angle baseplate in the rear. Compensate with harder bushings to match. We always run splits on downhill speed setups. Sometimes as much as 20-40° difference from the front to back. Wedging this much is not practical, which is why a lower angle BP is preferred. Since you are on Randals, search around for a 35° plate. 50/35 is a good start
Also, take your stock bushings and throw them away. They’re all crap. High rebound bushings make a world of difference. Reflex (Abec11) are my favorite but tough to find now. Venom and Riptipe make awesome bushings in multiple formulas in a range of duros. Unfortunately some dude on a forum won’t be able to dial in your setup for you, so buy a bunch and experiment. For a 50/35 split, I would probably run something like 85/87 upfront 92/95 in the rear
Personally I always run a split, unless I intend to be riding switch (e.g., freeride or tech slide setup). Often that means I am running 4 different durometer bushings…
1 Like
What he said. Most of my set ups (freeride/downhill) I run 45/30 (degrees).Then mostly super hard bushings boardside and then play around with the rest. Sadly every truck has a different turning and especially diving mecanic. And everytime I step on my Eboards I miss my ronin pro light / sabre trucks.
i advise u to take to local shop. they will let u test diff duro for free. and about split angle, it affects commuting too much. so I tried but wasnt so good for me and it makes ur board high off ground.
I mentioned split setup with the dewedge in my pictures above^^
Also you shouldn’t be tuning your setup with kingpin tightness, you should be tuning your setup with bushing duros.
Basically if you noticed where my kingpin nuts are - bushings should be just tight enough that you can just barely spin them around the kingpin. If you can spin them easily, or can’t spin them they’re to tight or to loose. Bushings perform the best when they aren’t precompressed by the kingpin tightness. Basically you want to define your turning/stability by bushing hardness, and washers used - not how tight or how loose the kingpin is.
Having a tight or loose kingpin makes it so the bushing changes the exponential of how the bushing performs over the throw of the lean. Where bushings that are just seated, that are the correct hardness for weight, that you can just barely spin. will have the same performance across the entire lean of the truck, making the feeling linear, and more predictable. Having a predictable setup under your feet over the course of the lean allows your mind to precisely account for the beginning of a wobble, your ankles learn exactly how much to compensate, where with the wrong bushings, the board isn’t necessarily “at your will” so to say.
Bushings have more impact on how a board performs(feeling wise) then any other modifications - wheels, truck angle, kingpin tightness, and pivot cups. (however all of them important).
So as jmasta said, harder duro board side for stability, (Blood orange Wedges in my case, as more thane gives better rebound) and softer/smaller bushings road side allow you to tune your tune along with the shape of the washer. If your trying to reduce truck slop, get some riot plugs.
Either way notable things -Kingpin should be just tight enough to slightly be able to spin the bushings in their seat with a good grip -Bushings should be the same or harder duro boardside then roadside -Running the same duro all around, with a 1 duro drop roadside front works well for most people -Running harder bushings in the rear works well for alot of people. -dewedging the rear for a 44/50 setup helps alot, and is good for about 35-40mph…faster and youll want to dewedge/use lower baseplate angles -you want to be able to hit the rails consecutively in deep leans and not loose control -you want controllable rebound/return to center, ie the truck holds the angle you want and returns to center when you want, you don’t want to fight your bushings because they’re the wrong duro. fighting your bushings is asking for wobs -use the right bushings for the job, forget cones all together. Wedges, eliminators, and barrels, should be the only types on your list for any type of speed. -use the right roadside washer, a flat washer with a barrel will be looser then a cup or precision cup, technically you can run a harder duro barrel with a flat washer, and still acheive the same feel as a softer duro with a restrictive precision cup.
4 Likes
Tons of good info in there!! Solid tips all around
One more thing specific to electric skateboarding… If you run a rear single-drive like I do, heavily dewedging the rear helps reduce or eliminate torque steer!
1 Like
This and running the motor toeside. If its on heelside it will have more authority 
but its also dependent on speed
If your a cruiser and your foot is mostly across the board for 15mph toeside will be better. If you go fast alot and go into tucks with rear foot mostly pointed forward up on your toe, heelside will give less.
Ok, that makes sense. I had not considered that aspect. I’m running 87s top and bottom. I’ll get some 84s for the street side and try it. I don’t want to go harder on the board side because I love the cushy ride that I get with soft bushings and I practically never go over 20mph anymore.
1 Like
Maybe I’m over thinking this but if the board side bushing is pre-loaded by rider weight, then isn’t it as if it where a harder duro already because of the pre-compression? The more you compress the bushing the harder it gets. So what if you ran the softer bushing board side and the harder bushing street side? Would not the pre-compression of the softer bushing balance it out with the harder bushing?
I’m not trying to argue the point, I’m just throwing ideas out there and I’m willing to try just about anything to improve handling and stability.
1 Like
im not 100 sure why is this but, it get ristricted if u do so. the harder bushing rd side doesnt do much work either.
So you have tried running a harder bushing road side?
yeah. it feels weird. can’t really explain but doesnt turn well but unstable. I was curious so i did like 80 97? something like that. Im ganna change soon. doesnt work for me
80 97 is too wide of a spread. Did you mean 87 90
i just chked 83 97. it was for experiment.