Bushings et al
Posted: Thu Oct 28, 2004 12:15 am
From what I've been able to tell, using my personal 'Bounce and Bite' testing methods, the good stuff out there is the following.
Hard Durometer; Tracker,old schoolin' stuff from the mid-late 80's. Look for white with a black Tracker star logo in Stiff,or Purple with a white logo for Medium. Stimulators in Blue or teal-shaded Green. Very bouncy yet at a higher Durometer than most. Good for truckin' fast, or on the rear of a Super-G board. Khiro for the sizing, though not as bouncy as Tracker's older bushings in harder durometers. Sure Grip RollerSkate bushings, Look for the CH-### print on the bushing. Their "dance" bushings are quite lively even up through the 93A class.(sorry,don't recall whether that's Blue or Red in color)
Radikal, the Other Wide bushing. Great pour quality, neat shape, though maybe not as lively as I would've hoped from Kryptonics. Color coded to ease race-day confusion about durometers, and they've got the spectrum covered!
Medium/Soft durometer; Lazer Red Rubber bushings! Good luck getting those! Tracker again, Yellow with Black logo for med/Soft, and Light Blue with Black logo in Super Soft. Very,Very bouncy, but will deform ungracefully. Good for front SL trucks or lightweight riders. Yellow or Bright Green Stimulators. Medium/Soft, and Lively. Fat enough to use as a rear in HYB/SL applications, or to get an excellent deep turn outa the longboard. Sure Grip again, but going to the Yellow for a Soft/Med hardness. Good as a top rear in SL/HYB/GS, or for heavier riders up front. Khiro Whites as a Super-Soft bushing has only the old Lt.Blue Tracker as competition. By far the coolest bushings for light riders or for those who want ultra-quick turns in Slalom. [A Note about the Aluminium-topped bushings..Do Not use these without some kind of washer between the nut and bushing! The bushing will be fine,mostly,But you can end up with a really loud 'click' noise occuring when the bushing deforms in deep turns. This is from the Aluminium insert catching on the Kingpin Threading!] Tracker Black hourglass bushings, while maybe not the exact shaping I'd want, still really decent 'thane, good as a Soft/Meduim, and actually nice as a top bushing. Older, clear-colored Powell hard-topped conical bushings are great, and the Blue-Tinted ones were great up front as softs. The newer Powells,(White,with the hardcore being color coded) are still decent,but not quite as lively. ALWAYS use a washer with these bushings, as the 'hardcore' part can split when it rides up againg a kingpin locknut. This Bad, Very Bad at Speed!
Other notable bushings that are out there. Doh-Dohs used as a bottom bushing, medium to hard. Stable,tough, not prone to wearing out, but not very lively either. Tracker TK-05 Rubber bushings. They don't last when compared the urethane, but are silky smooth in feel. Variflex Clouds from the 80's. Look for the black striped Variflex logo, Blues and Whites are pretty decent medium/soft bushings, but will split under duress. And, Simsfuciuos has to know, Pillz Bushings rock! A bouncy bushing, very hard to find, good as a Medium/Soft in Red ,Soft in Orange.
There are others out there, for sure. The biggest factors are Fit, Bounce, Hardnesses, Wear. Wear is the one thing you can't know until you've used them up. Fit, well, you gotta take and put them on your truck, or measure by caliper (yeah, right, I got THOSE numbers right at hand..Not). But Hardness can be felt, and bounce can be measured by simply dropping bushings on a hard surface (Beware of Stims, they'll bounce right under the couch 90% of the time), so you can kinda figure out what's going on with those subjective factors. Those of you who label Green Wheels for their Durometers, take that as a cue, and just write a simple one-letter note on bushings, such as S, M, H to clarify things within the toolkit. Also, know what you want outa your trucks, and know your strength, and weight. There's no need for a female rider of 110 lbs. to be on Green Radikal bushings unless she's got them on a Streetluge. Conversely, a guy who's 6'+ and 180 lbs. dosen't need any of the soft bushings (Yellow Stimulators poss. excluded) I note.
Hard Durometer; Tracker,old schoolin' stuff from the mid-late 80's. Look for white with a black Tracker star logo in Stiff,or Purple with a white logo for Medium. Stimulators in Blue or teal-shaded Green. Very bouncy yet at a higher Durometer than most. Good for truckin' fast, or on the rear of a Super-G board. Khiro for the sizing, though not as bouncy as Tracker's older bushings in harder durometers. Sure Grip RollerSkate bushings, Look for the CH-### print on the bushing. Their "dance" bushings are quite lively even up through the 93A class.(sorry,don't recall whether that's Blue or Red in color)
Radikal, the Other Wide bushing. Great pour quality, neat shape, though maybe not as lively as I would've hoped from Kryptonics. Color coded to ease race-day confusion about durometers, and they've got the spectrum covered!
Medium/Soft durometer; Lazer Red Rubber bushings! Good luck getting those! Tracker again, Yellow with Black logo for med/Soft, and Light Blue with Black logo in Super Soft. Very,Very bouncy, but will deform ungracefully. Good for front SL trucks or lightweight riders. Yellow or Bright Green Stimulators. Medium/Soft, and Lively. Fat enough to use as a rear in HYB/SL applications, or to get an excellent deep turn outa the longboard. Sure Grip again, but going to the Yellow for a Soft/Med hardness. Good as a top rear in SL/HYB/GS, or for heavier riders up front. Khiro Whites as a Super-Soft bushing has only the old Lt.Blue Tracker as competition. By far the coolest bushings for light riders or for those who want ultra-quick turns in Slalom. [A Note about the Aluminium-topped bushings..Do Not use these without some kind of washer between the nut and bushing! The bushing will be fine,mostly,But you can end up with a really loud 'click' noise occuring when the bushing deforms in deep turns. This is from the Aluminium insert catching on the Kingpin Threading!] Tracker Black hourglass bushings, while maybe not the exact shaping I'd want, still really decent 'thane, good as a Soft/Meduim, and actually nice as a top bushing. Older, clear-colored Powell hard-topped conical bushings are great, and the Blue-Tinted ones were great up front as softs. The newer Powells,(White,with the hardcore being color coded) are still decent,but not quite as lively. ALWAYS use a washer with these bushings, as the 'hardcore' part can split when it rides up againg a kingpin locknut. This Bad, Very Bad at Speed!
Other notable bushings that are out there. Doh-Dohs used as a bottom bushing, medium to hard. Stable,tough, not prone to wearing out, but not very lively either. Tracker TK-05 Rubber bushings. They don't last when compared the urethane, but are silky smooth in feel. Variflex Clouds from the 80's. Look for the black striped Variflex logo, Blues and Whites are pretty decent medium/soft bushings, but will split under duress. And, Simsfuciuos has to know, Pillz Bushings rock! A bouncy bushing, very hard to find, good as a Medium/Soft in Red ,Soft in Orange.
There are others out there, for sure. The biggest factors are Fit, Bounce, Hardnesses, Wear. Wear is the one thing you can't know until you've used them up. Fit, well, you gotta take and put them on your truck, or measure by caliper (yeah, right, I got THOSE numbers right at hand..Not). But Hardness can be felt, and bounce can be measured by simply dropping bushings on a hard surface (Beware of Stims, they'll bounce right under the couch 90% of the time), so you can kinda figure out what's going on with those subjective factors. Those of you who label Green Wheels for their Durometers, take that as a cue, and just write a simple one-letter note on bushings, such as S, M, H to clarify things within the toolkit. Also, know what you want outa your trucks, and know your strength, and weight. There's no need for a female rider of 110 lbs. to be on Green Radikal bushings unless she's got them on a Streetluge. Conversely, a guy who's 6'+ and 180 lbs. dosen't need any of the soft bushings (Yellow Stimulators poss. excluded) I note.