bushing shapes affecting performance

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Ian McKerrell
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Joined: Mon May 05, 2008 7:13 am
Location: QLD, AUS

bushing shapes affecting performance

Post by Ian McKerrell » Mon May 05, 2008 7:24 am

hey guys i hope slalom takes off in australia like it sounds like in America..
anyway just wondering how bushing shapes affect performance eg. barrels, cones, hourglasses? and what are best for slalom? and what bushings have awesome rebound?

cheers!!

Lenny Poage
Lenny Poage
Lenny Poage
Posts: 244
Joined: Tue Oct 21, 2003 1:46 am
Location: Huntington, WV
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Post by Lenny Poage » Mon May 05, 2008 4:34 pm

Hope this helps. As far as your answer goes, it's a mix and there are probably as many opnions as skaters. I personally am fond of a mix of Khiros
http://www.khiroskateboardproducts.com/ ... oducts.htm

Right now I can skate two barrels and a b!tch on my front truck (Splitfire) and a barrel and a b!tch in the back. I've been skating that set-up for several months and stoke quite a bit on it!!

Really the thing I suggest is good old trial and error and see what you like, what gives the best combo of turn and stability at speed, etc.

Have fun!
HOSS

Danny Trinen
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Joined: Thu May 28, 2009 6:42 am
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Re: bushing shapes affecting performance

Post by Danny Trinen » Mon Jun 08, 2009 11:27 pm

Ian McKerrell wrote:hey guys i hope slalom takes off in australia like it sounds like in America..
anyway just wondering how bushing shapes affect performance eg. barrels, cones, hourglasses? and what are best for slalom? and what bushings have awesome rebound?

cheers!!
bushings like tall barrels are better for deeper, more stable carves, while short barrels are better for tighter, less stable carves, elims are great for stable, wide carves, better for downhill. cones, in my experience, turn the tightest, and make the truck less stable. as for the rebound question, its all personal preference, in my experience venoms have awesome rebound, but others disagree, a lot of people dig khiros and a ton of people dig retros, hope that helps

Eric Brammer
Posts: 324
Joined: Sat Sep 25, 2004 4:48 am

Bushing shapes, duro, bounce.

Post by Eric Brammer » Tue Jun 09, 2009 7:32 am

In my experiences, so far, original Tracker Stims were the bounciest bushing in the softer duros, but because of the 'love handle'(stepped barrel) middle, they were far more stable than a normal barrel bushing. I hated seeing them get lathed down to become a barrel or tall cone bushing, but a few years back, they were cheaper (and available even!), and did make an interesting front bushing once trimmed down. This holds true too with Radikal's oversized barrels, although the Krypto formulas didn't quite bounce as good as a Stim(though better than Khiros, at least in harder duros). Now, though, both Jim Z and Venom have made stepped barrel bushings that rival Stims in performance, so for lower rear bushings, I'd give them a try.
At the rear, on the top (nearer the kingpin stopnut), go with a big barrel bushing, but you'll need to pick the duro with care. Too soft, and you'll 'mush' in pumped turns, or wob a tad at G.S speeds. Too hard, and you'll miss that offest cone, or start poppin' cones in tighter sets. Remember, though, that a slightly softer top can be 'dialed' by wrenching, but a too-stiff bushing will just 'stop' your turn depth and/or disrupt your timing. Better to err on a bit soft, and wrench it a bit stiffer.[Btw, some have found that a 'dead' bounce top combined with a 'lively'-but-stiffer lower bushing yeilds good pumping/turning while keeping wobbles at bay. McPherson struts, but at their simplistic minimum?] All of the above is why I prefer Seismic gen-1's with stiff springs as my rear truck... ;-)

Up front, taller is better, usually.Bouncier is great, dead+unbouncy is bad. Softer isn't always the answer, though, to turn resistance. Conical bushings can really make for an easily and rapidly turned truck up front, but I rarely run two conicals, as I want the truck to have a 'center return' that's fairly quick. Mixing duros is almost a given, as you'll now find that between Khiro/Bitch, Venom, Retro, Holey, and lathed Radikals, there's a huge range of bushings anywhere from 74A up thru 90A that might work up front. Personally, I'm usually running something in the 78A to 82A up front(Love Lt. Blue Trackers from the 80's!), unless it's an 'oldie' that historically requires Tracker TK-01 Rubbers or ACS orange bushings.Rubber always seems to have that 'feel' in deep turns, possibly because it can stretch a bu\it more than urethane. Oh, yeah, and as for 'hourglass' bushings, I never saw a use for them (Holey's excepted), as they 'cave in' and act very nervously, or like a softer-than-they-are bushing, but without the ability to deal with being wrenched on much. The worst, by far, was the GUS bushings, which actually interfered with the truck's turning behaviour. The softest (on the market now) are the white Bitch tall conicals or white Khiro barrels, though a few 'dance' rollerskate bushings might actually be softer (but likely not in production anymore). I haven't been on the new Retros, but have been on Retro wheel-cut bushings, which seemed to be a tad livelier than Venoms or Radikals. Of these, Khiro has my vote in Blue/Orange/White, while Venom's sub 83a stuff is very good, and Radikals that've been lathed in Clear or Red are as good as the old light-blue Tracker barrels or Holey hourglasses. Soft lathed-down Stims, well, don't do that to a Stim; go get Retros or Vemons instead, and put the Big Stims on your cruising board and Surf the turns...
"Surfin' these Old Hills since back in The Day"

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