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| Q&A: McKendry on Speed (1810 Posts)
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Short, Steep and Straight
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On 10/4/2005
Chris Chaput
wrote in from
United States
(66.116.nnn.nnn)
To be perfectly honest, I hate "short" and I hate "straight", so "steep" just means that it will be over sooner, which perhaps is a blessing. It's nice that the surface is good. It sounds like a better Slalom or Slider hill than one for Downhill.
To answer your question though, it sounds like a pushers dream hill. A short hill with smooth pavement and without any technical turns means that whoever can push out in front might not be passed. A quick, low, narrow, lightweight setup would be ideal for getting a good jump, and a huge wheel won't provide any real advantages. The 76mm or 83mm Flywheels in 75a would be a good call. If the surface is bad, the Gumballs (although heavier) would smooth it out.
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wheels for short steep straight dh
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On 10/4/2005 brad
wrote in from
United States
(155.229.nnn.nnn)
Chris,
What wheels would you choose for a short, steep, straight dh (bombing)with good surface?
maybe a better question: do you think a short, steep, straight (bombing) dh has any merit?
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spacers for 10mm axles
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On 10/3/2005 droid
wrote in from
Sweden
(83.250.nnn.nnn)
Any idea where to get some spacers that would fit JimZ 10mm axles on his hanger?
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Abec Differences
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On 10/2/2005
Bola
wrote in from
United States
(206.53.nnn.nnn)
Shaner:
Going from abec 3 to abec 5 or 7 should not affect the ability of the bearings to withstand loads and shock, if you are within the same bearing family (same manufacturer). The abec rating is based on toleracing (balls and race, no pun intended) and directly related to surface finish. As for the biltins, 7 is the way to go.
Bola
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best wheels, bushings for "downhill" bomb race
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On 10/1/2005 brad
wrote in from
United States
(216.233.nnn.nnn)
Chris,
Best wheels, bushings for "downhill" bombing race, short, steep, good surface?
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Biltin abec differences.
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On 9/30/2005
Shaner
wrote in from
United States
(66.235.nnn.nnn)
awesome forum. and by the way, you should make some more videos like the one on your site of you riding that "waterski longboard." youve got style, (although the shirt was a bit much)
i want more speed in bowls and parks and i'll take it anyway i can get it. so was thinking of using abec 7 biltins, as opposed to the abec 3 biltins. but i was wondering if the abec 7's can take as much punishment (ollie'n, flat landings) as the abec 3's or if they would break. or any abec 7 bearing for that matter.
thanks, Shaner.
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Biltins on Exkate Cherry Bombs or Turbo
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On 9/27/2005
DeMitt Rutledge
wrote in from
United States
(12.110.nnn.nnn)
Yikes - this forum is THE BEST thing around . I TRULY appreciate the most informative and expeditious response ! ! Some little voice told me this might be the case - but I just wasn't sure. The information provided is such a help ! For now though - I'll stick to bombin' with my Greenies, and as far as the C.B.'s and Turbo's - never hurts to have wheels available for street ridin' 'eh? ? Thanks again for the great info folks.
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Spaced Out
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On 9/26/2005
Chris Chaput
wrote in from
United States
(66.116.nnn.nnn)
This picture is a few years old, but the numbers are the same except for the newer eXkates. The newer Cherry Bomb/M80 hubs have been converted over to the .400" standard. The older ones had this very strange proprietary spacing, and there's a good chance that the wheels DeMitt owns have the older spacing. To fix up the old wheels, two washers that are 1/32" thick will work perfectly between Biltins. So will one that is 1/16".
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2mm spacers
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On 9/26/2005 herbn
wrote in from
United States
(205.188.nnn.nnn)
find some washers or one thick one that add up to 2mm, you may need a caliper, electonic ones are getting real cheap and you can convert metric to universal decimal american.
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Regarding the note below....
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On 9/26/2005
DeMitt Rutledge
wrote in from
United States
(12.110.nnn.nnn)
There appears to have been some type missing on that last post....What I was saying is that I own quite a few different sets of Abec 11 Wheels,Satori,Exkate Wheels, and Sector Nine wheels...but Exkates just doesn't seem to take a bearing set with 10 mm bearing spacers...it looks like they take a 12mm bearing spacer. Anyone else notice this....Both my Turbo's and Cherry Bombs appear to have this problem...they don't spin freely when using 10mm Biltins with the axle nut even slightly tightened..but my Abec 11's can take biltins with the axle nut cranked hard as HE**
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Biltins on Exkate Cherry Bombs or Turbo
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On 9/26/2005
DeMitt Rutledge
wrote in from
United States
(12.110.nnn.nnn)
Say cool cats - I love longboarding and breathe it in deeply as often I breathe in air...I've been fortuante enough to own new sets of 76mm Gumballs , 83mm Flywheels , 82mm Cherry Bombs..76mm Turbos..Sec' Nine 72mm Nineballs with the 'racecore', NoShoolz, Cliff Sliders....etc. I have a few sets of Randal DH's and 180's...here's my question. My Biltins work great in my Green Wheels - but they don't work as well in the Exkates...I've even noticed a 2mm gap between the bearing races and inner race of actual bearings when the wheel is sitting against the end of the hangar arm.....it looks as though they take a 12mm bearing spacer ? Any answers to this dilemma would be helpful. Just to be clear,when using my Biltins in Abec 11 wheels - I can crank the axle nut until it bleeds,and the Abec's just roll and roll and roll forever...but when using the biltins on Exkates - I tighten the nut just a bit, and it drags and spins like like 3 revolutions per spin. any answers ? Oh - and is there any truth to there being a 82-85 mm Gumball coming out ? ? I use my Greenies for all riding now - but now I have 2 sets of wheels that seem kind of worthless not being able to use them efficiently....
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Footbraking
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On 9/25/2005
Chris Chaput
wrote in from
United States
(66.116.nnn.nnn)
Hey Dan, You want to set your foot down flat, close and parallel to your board, as if it was a ski. Just don't rub your shoe into your wheels. It's easier on low CG board because you don't have to bend your knee as much and "reach" for the ground.
Since there are two stances (regular foot and goofy foot)and 2 ways to brake (regular and mongo), there are four different ways to brake. I'm trying to "undo" 30 years of braking mongo by dragging my rear (right) foot (I'm a regular foot) but so far I only bust it out at the end of Slalom runs - I'm too chicken to try it in Downhill racing. So if you're just starting out, and you take your front foot off your board and drag it, maybe it's not too late to change. Usually whatever foot you push with, is also the foot that you brake with, and mongo is usually a disadvantage in controlled steering and setting up for turns.
Get some cheap shoes (or at least one "throwaway" shoe for the foot that you brake with) and practice. Try cruising along at a nice clip, setting up, and then just "tapping" the bottom of your shoe for a split second and returning it to your board. Keep doing this until until it feels like second nature. Then try doing it before both left turns and right turns. Steering left and braking is different from steering right and braking and both are different from braking in a straight line. You don't want to find yourself in a position where a high speed turn comes up and you've never set up for that direction before. Sometimes the road jogs to the left before making an abrupt right, and these are tricky as all hell. You may want to brake in the straights before the jog, or slide a turn that's too tricky to footdrag before.
Always be ready to slide if your braking isn't working as you planned. Sometimes you'll have just enough time to get your foot back on board and throw down a slide to save your bacon.
Remember that footdragging means that you are more upright, further from the ground, and is therefore more dangerous if you fall. It also incorporates airbraking which is less aerodynamic, and so it does slow you down very quickly. I never run off of my board, unless I would otherwise faceplant. What this means is that I'm constantly throwing down little footbrakes whenever I'm skating the bike path, on campus, the park, or at the end of a run. Replacing one shoe is cheaper than replacing 4 wheels, so find a "shoe buddy" and footdrag more often. The sound of a shoe scraping along the ground is the skater's equivalent of a horn on a bicycle. Comin' through!
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footbrake
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On 9/24/2005 dan@CSU
wrote in from
United States
(216.17.nnn.nnn)
hey chris just a quick ?. i have my pendulums down but want to learn to foot brake. what part of your foot touches the pavement? any other tips? thanks and i want some green bushings. -dan
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Kingpin Stress
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On 9/24/2005
Chris Chaput
wrote in from
United States
(66.116.nnn.nnn)
Imagine that your trucks didn't have pivots at the end of the hangers (I cut it off in the image above, and "pinned" the hanger to the kingpin to emphasize the point). The pivot cup couldn't help in supporting any of the weight of the rider. ALL of the weight of the rider and lateral forces are therefore placed on the kingpins instead. The kingpins in these trucks are cantilevered - unsupported at the end. Turn to the left, turn to the right. Repeat. This is a recipe for disaster. It's a bit like grabbing the metal from a coat-hanger, bending it back and forth until it heats up and breaks.
The problems with pressfitting a spherical bearing into the cushion seats are hard to ignore. Aside from being a royal pain in the neck to assemble, they prevent the pivot cup from relieving any of the stresses on the kingpin in every condition except for one. Two things must happen. The hanger must be designed so that it the pivot (or pivot shoulder) can "bottom out" into a hard (solid) pivot cup/pivot bearing AND the hanger must be perfectly perpendicular to the pivot axis (the axis of rotation). If you have a soft pivot cup, or one that doesn't support the hanger, it won't prevent the stress on the kingpin. We all know that the hanger is almost NEVER perfectly perpindicular to the pivot axis, and there are several reasons for this - undercompressing or overcompressing the cushions, too tall or too short of a bottom cushion, having one cushion which is harder or softer than the other. All of these conditions have the effect of "pulling" the pivot out of the pivot cup and putting the stress on the kingpin. There are ways of removing slop without adding stress to the kingpins. Stay tuned.
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truck ballz
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On 9/23/2005 sinned
wrote in from
United States
(216.9.nnn.nnn)
look up Jim Z speed parts
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Spherical bearing?
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On 9/23/2005 tom t
wrote in from
Canada
(66.241.nnn.nnn)
"I almost never break a Grade 8 kingpin, in part because I don't trap it with a spherical bearing in the hanger's cushion seats. There are better ways to remove slop..."
Chris...not sure what you mean, but I'm intrigued...can you elaborate?
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trucks
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On 9/23/2005
Bob
wrote in from
United States
(198.77.nnn.nnn)
I hear you Chris, and I pretty much agree with you.
I was out longboarding last night with 3 guys, all using Seismics. By the way, I love Seismics -- Dan is a genius. But...they are complicated to tune. I have never felt like I had mine totally dialed in. I attribute this to laziness on my part. I like to get a board set up, adjust it with my standard skate tool, and ride. Hell, I'm so lazy I just finally changed out the stock yellow bushings in my R-II's that are 5 years old.
Anyway, I'm going to give my Seismics some attention and see if I can get 'em just right. But if I could get another truck, simpler to adjust, with the engineering and quality of Seismics, that would be very good.
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Adjusting Trucks
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On 9/23/2005
Chris Chaput
wrote in from
United States
(66.116.nnn.nnn)
I like the theory of what you're saying, but I've never been a big fan of trucks that you can't adjust. And I want to adjust them in ONE place, with a 9/16" wrench. I don't want to adjust them in two places, where I can possibly preload it into turning crooked before I step on it. I don't want to have to carry around an allen wrench. I don't want to change the whole bushing to loosen or stiffen the ride. And I certainly don't want to have to change the whole truck to find one more suited to my weight in a given application.
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kingpins
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On 9/22/2005 herbn
wrote in from
United States
(152.163.nnn.nnn)
i've bought the long one and cut them into shorter ones. If you take that thred on bigger bushings as better bushings to one logical conclusion, you may come up with sort of a fusion of those urithane trucks(up trucks) but include a metal or carbon skeleton(hanger/framework)to keep a consistant turning geometry, with a large bushing molded into it.
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Kingpins
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On 9/22/2005
Chris Chaput
wrote in from
United States
(66.116.nnn.nnn)
I just posted this in the trucks forum:
Randal uses TWO DIFFERENT length kingpins for his longboard trucks (and more for streetluge) The R-II series (150mm & 180mm) uses 2 1/2" dome-topped kingpins, and the Downhill truck uses a 2 3/4" dome-topped kingpin. The Dome top is "grind friendly" but is harder to wrench. You can use Grade-8 2 3/4" kingpins in the R-II's and 3" kingpins in the Downhill trucks and put taller cushions on the top. The Grade 8 color is kind of brassy looking. The fine thread of a 3/8" hex headed cap screw for this has 24 threads per inch.
I almost never break a Grade 8 kingpin, in part because I don't trap it with a spherical bearing in the hanger's cushion seats. There are better ways to remove slop...
Above: 2 1/2" Grade 5 dome top, 2 1/2" Grade 8, 2 3/4" Grade 5 dome top, 3" Grade 8
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randal kinpins
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On 9/22/2005 tom t
wrote in from
Canada
(66.241.nnn.nnn)
hey guys...I recently snapped the rear kingpin on my RII 180s. Is there a tougher replacement you could recommend? I like hard carving and pumping, so I guess it fatigued.
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Still Skatin' After All These Years
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On 9/19/2005
Chris Chaput
wrote in from
United States
(66.116.nnn.nnn)
Hey Tim, I totally remember that session. And I remember with regard to the girl, that it seemed a bit strange to me that of all of the things in the world a young girl could wish for, spending a day with a pro skateboarder topped her list!
I'm glad that you were able to keep from soiling your trousers, and I'm glad that you got a kick out of seeing the Concrete Wave. Lots of great skate related things are brewing in the longboard and racing world. It's a great time to be a skateboarder.
If you have any old pictures from that event, I'd love to see them. The seventies were interesting times. I remember thinking how cool it was to have the whole park to ourselves. I loved skating. I loved putting on a show. So getting to do gigs like that were just as much fun for me as it was for you. I have a wife and a 6 year old daughter and skateboarding is once again a full time gig. Life is sweet, although my body does ache more at 44.
Keep in touch Tim, and thanks for the kind words!
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Chris Chaput
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On 9/18/2005
Tim Hatch
wrote in from
United States
(69.72.nnn.nnn)
Chris,im sure you dont remember me but ill try to refresh your memory.i met you while i was in 6th grade(75-76?),at a skatepark in Baltimore ,Md.the reason we met,was because i won a contest on a tv station called sports fantasy. i wanted to go to socal and meet a pro to ride with,well they wouldnt fly me out there from delaware,but i got to meet you and skate with you.the next day there was a chapstick board with lipbalm wheels waiting for me when i got home from school.that was the highlite of elementary school years.i rode that board into the ground,wish i kept it,but it received its intended use.it was you,me and a girl at the park,that was it,we had you and the park to ourselves.i remember you pulling countless 360s in the freestyle area.fast forward many years,the wifes buying whatever we need at wallyworld,im wastin time in mag isle,and see concrete wave magazine,there you are in an ad,almost crapped my pants(that would have added to the shopping list)anyway,thanks for the great memories,i still talk about that day,and still skate.
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Chris C.
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On 9/17/2005 d
wrote in from
United States
(216.9.nnn.nnn)
you are like yoda, wise words from a jedi trainer, always something more to think about.
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Big Green Cusion
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On 9/17/2005
Ric
wrote in from
United States
(68.7.nnn.nnn)
Chris, Would like to ask your opinion on a "strong, straight truck with an intelligent cushion seat." What are some good options that turn well? Would also like to know if you ever mix different hangers (front short back longer) to make the board steer more from the front?
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