New Precision Bennetts... Getting STOKED!!!!

[Chris Iversen]

Not offended at all Donald, but thanks for the disclaimer anyway.

Yes I posted the same post on CD, mainly because I am truly stoked about this project and I really hope it flies. That, and I knew the response on CD would be heated, as most of those guys aren't slalomers. I just love stirring sh*t up! I am currently riding OG Bennett Pros on my Hybrid set-up and absolutely love the way they turn and feel. I am excited about this same feeling in a new truck with 8mm axles and polished hangers. I think they will make a great, not too expensive, front truck alternative to the Tracker RTX/Indy 101 market. Pair it up with a Splitfire, Airflow, or the like in the rear, and I think they'll be killer! I'm poor (school teacher) and can't afford the high performance trucks like Radikals, etc. Any hey! Buy a set of them and you have front trucks for 2 set-ups!!!

Here's my current set-up with the old Pros:





Notice the ACS baseplates (standard for the day). The new ones will have an aluminum baseplate, solving the old cracking headache.

[Andy Bittner]

I don't know Ron Bennett, and I've certainly got nothing against him personally. I seem to recall he was a buddy of Hobie Alter, and I kind of like the Alters. However, as for Mr. Bennett's products... I wasn't impressed then and I don't expect to impressed this time. Despite having a quick, responsive geometry, Bennett Trucks were some of the worst engineered, most prone-to-failure products in the whole of the 70s skate era. After awhile, it seemed Bennett could only sell his trucks by loudly trumpeting his 100% replacement guarantee on certain broken parts, particularly baseplates. Most manufacturers seem to offer such guarantees in a "it'll never break, but if it ever does..." kind of way, with Bennett, it may as well have said, "No matter how many times it breaks, and it will break many times, we'll keep sending you more of the same!" Never mind the fact that the target customers were children and that, somehow, the expectation was that we could go without trucks (or skating) for the days or weeks it might take to transact such a part replacement. After awhile, I was surprised Mr. Bennett didn't start using slogans like, "Not nearly as bad as our last truck!" for each successive attempt at making the same old crap work. Maybe he finally got it right with the Vectors, who knows? By that point in time, every skater I knew had experienced far too much Bennett-burn to even care about the next Bennett Truck. I sure broke my share of Bennett Truck baseplates and bent my share of Bennett axles back in the day. I was injured by Bennett Trucks breaking under me, on more than one occasion. When I finally gave up trying to make Bennett equipment, or pieces of Bennett equipment, work, I never missed the Bennett headaches.

[Donald Campbell]

please follow this link and read
the same opener on concretedisciples interesting discussion

http://www.concretedisciples.com/bbs/in ... opic=13677

[Jani Soderhall]

Could be interesting if they turn well. We need trucks that turns sharply and are not too expensive. The Trackers are good, but it wouldn't hurt to have something that is even easier to learn pumping on and that allows you to turn even sharper.

But, let's try them out before we know if they're good enough.

/Jani

[Donald Campbell]

the same story continues

letters from mr.bennett

i remember those things from back in the day

after a 25-30 year hiatus bennett comes back and gets hyped by a few...
fact is:
nobody has ridden any of the new trucks yet
promises are easily written on paper

trackers-once modiefied a la ramon-are the shiznit
splitfires,airflows,radikals are some of the best stuff out there if you are serious about racing and performance of bought equipment.

bennett just repeats what he did a long time ago

i can't see anything new on that stuff

if they are good,then he's lucky,since the geometry of his trucks is absolutely old-fashioned and almost the same of a lazer,f.e.
why the geometry of those trucks has been changed or why some companies were not able to keep the pace or the demand of customers is an open book to anybody involved in skating and the industry over the last few decades.


but...

what about all the other aforementioned people who spent a great deal of time and racing into their product,thus increasing the performance of their trucks?

i'm really not into offending either the poster of the topic in question nor "mr. bennett".

but you should be able to see that some things have changed over the years.

we are talking about progress not stepping down the ladder in evolution.

[Chris Iversen]

Ok... So I was wondering about these new Bennetts we've been promised, and was getting a bit impatient and starting to think Bennett was up to the same old tricks, so I figured I'd email Mr. Bennett again, expecting the same auto-reply that many of us had received in the past. Here's what I got instead:


Looks like it's the real deal Doods!
I can't wait until these things come out! I have one pair of O.G ones with ACS Baseplates, and absolutely love them! I will be soooo stoked to be able to have a few of these as an economical front truck that IMO turns just as well (if not better) as a Splitfire or some of the other much more expensive higher end slalom trucks!!!! Save yer scheckles boys and girls... These are gonna be rad!!!