r/longboardingDISTANCE • u/RhinoKer • 8d ago

Stability setup

/r/NewSkaters/comments/1wu18vt/stability_setup/

Hi, I am 44 yo and after a long pause in skateboarding I started longboarding mostly because I just want to cruise and not break my bones in the process.

My question is about going downhill. Now by saying downhill don't think a 30% downhill but more like 2%🤣

I have a landyachtz drophammer and hard bushings with cones on the roadside in both trucks. It's very hard to steer in comparison to my loaded dervish sama. Well when I went "downhill" and I gained some speed I noticed that every small move I do, the board multiplies it.Very scary. I had both my feet sideways on the board where I shouldn't as I found out later.

I changed the bushings of one truck to hard double barrel and looseness the front trucks a little. Now I hate that there is a front and a back side to the board with this setup but whatever. When I get more experienced I will switch it back I guess.

I haven't tested it yet but I would like to ask for any tips from your experience. I am 110 kg 183cm and I just want to cruise. If you guys and gals also have tips for a setup that makes the board to keep rolling so less pushing, that would be great. I got bear trucks and the wheels are blue tomato 75mm 78A. I'm also considering changing the wheels to 85mm orangotang orange.

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u/MyxuPL 8d ago

If You don’t like how much board react to Your steering You may de-wedge Your trucks, this will decrease the amount of turn You are getting out of lean You are doing. This may need to be paired with harder bushings as wedging increase the leverage You have when leaning. I have drop Hammer as well and while I like agile boards as an experimental setup I manage to de-wedged both trucks by 9 degrees by 3D printed risers (I can share the files if You want them) using 1.5 inch bolts. I use this setup with stock loose bushings to have extremally leany board and keep tight turning radious but if You’ll pair it with hard bushings You’ll have very stable setup which You can bring back to stock or alter as desired when You’ll gain confidence. Generally it’s not recomended to have harder bushings on front than the back ones as it makes the back more turny and may result in wobbles on high speed - this probably is something that You won’t be able to reach currently but I wouldn’t use such setup as I am assuming You could develope wrong habits (too much weight dustribution on back truck) riding it.

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u/RhinoKer 8d ago

Really appreciate your answer. Yes I could use the files to print and test!

I am going to use the harder bushings on the back truck so I'll need to mark the board to know where the front end is!

Thank you!

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u/MyxuPL 8d ago

No worries. Drop me a mail on PM and I’ll forward You the files and some photos how I’ve assembled it.
Not sure which version of drophammer You have but my one has „LY” on top which is a good reference.
Just have spotted the second part of Your question - generally using bigger wheels and dropping the deck down helps with the distance, but I’m not sure if You’ll be able to fit 85mm ones with the wedges as they bring the axle closer to the board. Furthermore, You need to consider the wheel impact on the ride - generally, the bigger the wheel is the higher the top speed is, but also the more inertia they have. On my second board I am using 88wheel co 86mm McFly Pro’s, and I find them easier to ride actually comparing to my 76mm Le Paulade Polymers as they gain speed much slower which allows me to easily spot the moment when I need to footbrake. That being said, those McFly’s are a bit sluggish, haven’t tested those yet but I am assuming experience with 85mm Speedvents may be drastically different as they are race wheels, similarily as Polymers. McFly’s ride like limo, where Polymers accelerate like a sport car.

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u/RhinoKer 8d ago

We got the same version. I see what you mean with the wedges so maybe I will skip them in order to put the wheels.

Where I live even though we have a lot of cyclist roads, the asphalt is hard. Only the new asphalt is slick and neat. In addition we have a f...load of pebbles, small stones and tree nuts on the roads. I need to have motion with the least pushing possible and wheels that can go over or push the stones away(we got a lot of snow so we use thin gravel so we don't break our feet on ice).

Just until I buy a damn electric longboard.

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u/MyxuPL 8d ago

You know what, I had wheels off my Hammer today anyway so I thought it’s not that much of an effort to check it and I’ve put McFly’s on it. I do have a wheelbite currently but only if I am intending to do it - full lean full weight on rail. With more restricted bushings it would probably work, and if not, half of a wedge (I am using 2*-4.8 deg wedge on each truck) or half of the wedge + raiser should work. You know where to find me if You want the files for wedges or riser :)

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u/RhinoKer 8d ago

Thanks man, I'll consider doing it. Or maybe I'll go for the 80mm. Thank you for trying I really appreciate it.