Avalons vs grippins: Best grip?

[Leonardo Ojeda]

I got a set of 81a grippins and i just put them in my board (Gs turner with TTC 100 back and DS90 front) beign the grippins centerset the no have a narrower distance between wheels. my question its that this will affect the grip a lot? will the deck be more turny, more unstable, what are the effects of a narrower path?

Leo

[Leonardo Ojeda]

Thanks for all your inputs, i didnt know this was a top secret topic.

leo

[Donald Campbell]

to each his own...

here's my 2 cents on the topic
i race with 3dms and will stay on that combo
i have cut-downs on the front and full size on the rear truck.
i tried abecs a year ago and i didn't like em as rear wheels,the started sliding sooner than i wanted em too.
i love the fat lip of the avalon and i believe it gives me more grip in the rear
cut-down wheels front and rear are good for a very tight slalom.europeans f.e. run tigther courses than the us-boys.
i would suggest that you go for a set-up similar to mine and maybe you like it.

ehmm yes dan gesmer sponsors my team but i would also buy the wheels-because they are very very good
another thing i would also suggest is manx in the front and regular avalons in the rear.
works also.
just to show that i'm really open to anything.

hope that helped

[Jonathan Harms]

Leo,
I don't think the grip will be affected much just because it's a narrower setup--maybe a little bit, but not much. Maybe one of our engineers (Chewning, Wallgren) could explain it in physical terms.

Personally, I've sometimes felt the opposite of what Donald said. In my experience, Grippins usually offer more grip than Avalons, not less. How's that for confusing the issue? I'm not doubting Donald, just offering my own experience. Different people may have different riding styles and different ways of judging how wheels feel.

I do recall that Kenny Mollica rode a fairly wide *rear* offset truck, with super-coned white Avalons, for the GS race at this year's Red Clay Cup and SMOKED everyone by a good margin, so maybe there's some reason to think that wider=more grip in certain situations. But I think it's not quite that simple.

To settle this to your own satisfaction, I suggest that you try both Avalons (or Manx, or whatever else you have) and Grippins on the same pavement and decide for yourself.

[Vlad Popov]

Given the same truck width, Grippins in harder duros are significantly quicker while Avalons are insignificantly faster for TS.
88/92A Grippins don't loose as much speed as Avalons in any duro when sliding.
88/92A Grippins and 85/86A Avalons have a similar grip.
Under hard pumping, Grippins in softer duros slide more then Grippins in harder duros.
81A Grippins should correspond to 75A Avalons, and quickness in this poopy-soft duro shouldn't be a factor on any race course.
Grippins make a truck set-up narrower and take away a significant amount of leverage making turning initiation harder but allowing for much quicker transitions at the same time.

[Guest]

Given the same truck width, Grippins in harder duros are significantly quicker while Avalons are insignificantly faster for TS.
88/92A Grippins don't loose as much speed as Avalons in any duro when sliding.
88/92A Grippins and 85/86A Avalons have a similar grip.
Under hard pumping, Grippins in softer duros slide more then Grippins in harder duros.
81A Grippins should correspond to 75A Avalons, and quickness in this poopy-soft duro shouldn't be a factor on any race course.
Grippins make a truck set-up narrower and take away a significant amount of leverage making turning initiation harder but allowing for much quicker transitions at the same time.

What he said....

All I can add is...

In a straight line and or a course that requires "roll" (the ability to save and hold speed) i.e. GS courses 3dm urethane and the sideset Avalon/Avila are faster than Grippins.

3dm urethane is generally superior in duros under 85a

Abec 11 urethane is generally superior in duros over 85a, though their current 84a urethane is pretty good, though not as good as it once was.

92a/88a Grippins are the schiznit for TS, offering the best balance between grip, slide-ability and speed.

Reversing Avalons (outerlip faces inward) gives a narrower truck width than grippins but sacrifices grip, though oddly you get better roll than Grippins and overall reversed Avalons are faster, though a reversed avalon front /grippin back combo is faster still, especially if said course has some more open sections.

If you need to mount your Avalons reverse to run a given course you might consider moving to a cambria (the best most unused wheel out there). Though in 99% of race situations avalons or grippins (see above) will be faster.

Bottomline, unless you are "sponsored" by one or the other you really need to carry both in your bag to races.

If you are running "poopy" decks and "poopy" trucks stick to Avalons. If your deck has a shred of torsional rigidity and your trucks don't turn like they don't have bushings in them then read the above two posts carefully.

[Pelle Gustafsson]

I have both but now i bought myself a set of manx wheels, i just say WOW they is from now my best wheels. Thanx from me