ISSA - International Slalom Skateboarding Association

since curt and vlad added their 2 cents I feel I need to too...

I've been riding trackers since Sept. 01. Here is what I found without giving too many secrets, god knows I gave kimball enough for the season! hahaa.

***old school trackers***

Tracker midtracks (gnarly pivot)/nylon baseplates - tight, precise, quick. Good for tight courses with limited offsets, traction becomes and issue with big offsets and the narrow hanger. Straight drag races, noting beats them. They need system 1 rad pads. Best for sub 17" (h2h) wheelbases on a deck flex board.

Tracker fulltracks (gnarly pivot)/nylon baseplates - same qualities as the mids, but with added traction due to the wider hanger and bit lower profile. These are my go to truck front and back for most tight/tech/gilmour style courses. At speed they are INSANELY stable and not twitchy at all. The geometry of all gnarly pivot trackers is deep turn, in fact unless you stop the they will turn all the way, wheelbite becomes and issue with fulltracks especially. I've had fulltracks on my turner fullnose up to 30mph+, stable and safe. They ain't for everyone, they need ALOT of tweaking in the bushing/wedge area, as do the mids, but if you spend the time you get a huge payback. The also need system 1 rad pads. Best on wheelbases sub 18" on a "dead" flex board.

Tracker extracks (gnarly pivot)/nylon or aggro baseplate - lots of turn in the geometry, but bomber stable at most speeds. I ride these for GS or high speed crusing. Tons of traction due to the hanger width while not sacrificing quick turn feel like most wide hangers do. Best on wheelbases 19"+ . SICK!

***"modern" trackers***

RT-X - best suited for quick short turns, tight courses with offsets. Lots of turning up front, but then the dead spot quickly...which is great for tight turns. They have traction as good, if not better than fulltracks (105mm hanger). High profile truck, you can run minimum wedge and a large wheel, positive feel, though tippy at times.

RT-S - amped up gnraly pivot geometry, even more than midtracks...these trucks come alive at speed. They can do tight, though the RT-X is better suited for that...but they really love high speed long radius turns. High profile truck like the RT-X, you can run minimum wedge and a large wheel, positive feel, though tippy at times.

Turner TTC/rt-x baseplate - Traction, traction traction and more traction. I have never really trusted the arms on offset hangers and the turn feel always seemed sloppy to me but I get none of that on the TTCs. I jack the pivot out as much as I can and wedge it between 3-9*. This truck feels stable, dead turning (which calms the backedn down, something I like). It follows the front truck perfectly.

***combos***

mid/mid or full/full - I like this on tiny wheelbases for tight slalom. On sub 17" wheelbases an offset truck is not needed. Stability, alot of turning and with the right bushings high rebound.

RT-X/RT-X - twitchy, sloppy and too much going on for my taste.

RT-X/RT-S - not as twitchy as above, but again too much for my taste...the trucks seem to dead spot together, well the RT-X dead spots while the RT-S keeps turning, making for an odd twitch in the tail

RT-S/RT-S - ok feel, if i am doing this though I'll jsut run fulltracks and be done with it.

RT-X/TTC - My prefered setup for low to moderate speed short radius turns. The RT-X dead spots and the TTC just follows. Calm with a toon of traction.

RT-S/TTC - same as above though it favors long radius turns and moderate to high speed. On course where you need to carry speed and stay calm I like this combo.

fulltrack/TTC - Odd, too much turning in the front, if you stop the turning with bushings it is dead. Not fun.

extrack/TTC 127 - GS speed, stabilty and traction at 30mph+. My go to setup for high speed courses


now with any truck bushings and wedges (and a few other secrets I won't tell) are key.

My testing story. (Testing Trucks since April 2002.)

Indies 101s and Indy 101 offset: Skatebable, Pumpable, Turnable, but wedge/dewedge/bushing-set-up-picky.

Tracker Fulls & Mids. Classics. Require somewhat more input then the below-mentioned trucks. Have a different stearing geometry as well.

TTC/RT-X worked well, but I think the problem with this set up is offset/conventional truck. I believe front Seismic works best with the rear TTC. But only a few can lay their hands on the German-made silver-spring ones. The new Seismics that I tried did not work for me. Repeat. For me. The best TTC set-up I tried was TK’s and it included the German-made Silver-spring Seismic as the front truck.

RT-X/S. The best so far. The rear can take any input and translate it into traction. Front requires some bushing/wedging work to be of use under powerful pumps. Front underwedging works better then overwedging. For me.

RT-X/X. Twitchy. Too much dewedging needed in the back. Not worth it.

RT-S/S. Still in testing phase. So far, front wedging is the only issue. Good for working both trucks at the same time. More testing needed with a timer.

I only wish Tracker improved the quality of these new trucks. Other then that, they are great.

I am very disappointed that Kimbel found “the right” combination so fast. I now will have to work even harder to catch him.

A good example of two independent testers finding the best combo (for them AND numerous friends) at the same time.
Right on, Curt! We soon will have a spec class within our open class. A typical example of convergent set-up evolution

In conclusion I want to add just one thing: he who tries my new S/X set-up usually buys a similar one. The next day.

Vlad.

_________________________________________
Still testing after all these years:)

I’ve been testing trucks for 9 months. Here’s a synopsis of what I’ve found.

Board: Roe Wide Tail Bottle Rocket, medium flex. Every run timed on a variety of permanently marked courses in the street in front of my house. I typically wedge the front, and dewedge the rear.

Indy 101/Indy 101 (several hundred timed runs): Easy to ride. Good all around truck. Occasionally had trouble with alignment due to the angle of the pivot, which was occasionally cocked to one side (appeared to be cast crooked). With the Indy you lean quite a bit before it turns, but then it turns rather quickly. I rode this combo for the first couple months.

Seismic Front/Indy Rear: (nearly a thousand timed runs): Very quick and easy to ride through tight courses due to the fast return to neutral inherent in the design. Hard to draw out clean lines on longer turns due to same traits. When riding courses with larger offset cones, the Seismic truck will turn in, straighten up, and require me to turn in again, making a jerky turn rather than a clean smooth arching turn. I also had to regularly check the truck for a loose king pin bolt (found it backing out several times). The Seismic takes a few days to get used to, after which it is an easy to ride truck that is very effective on TS courses.

Tracker Racer X Front/TTC Rear (several hundred timed runs): The Racer X felt comfortable immediately. It turns quicker than the Indy yet feels very stable. The TTC was a different story. I tried several bushing combinations, a half dozen pivot adjustments, a variety of foot placements, and still could never get the truck to consistently ride comfortably. It would occasionally and unpredictably over-turn and give me a “squirmy” sensation that I could never adjust out of the truck. It may be due to play in the pivot cup area. I tried and I tried. I thought, “everyone is using this truck, why can’t I make it work?” But the stopwatch is my guide, thus I bagged the TTC.

Tracker Racer X Front/Racer S Rear (several hundred timed runs): Easy to ride, nice feel, consistent performance. I have run this set up in extremely tight courses at 20 MPH, and GS at 30 MPH. It feels good and gives me the confidence I need to attack the course. This is the best, most comfortable set up I have ridden to date.

Though the Trackers are my preference, people are winning on a variety of trucks. With time and practice, you can adjust to anything.

Curt


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Curt Kimbel on 2002-10-03 11:23 ]</font>