ISSA - International Slalom Skateboarding Association

Well I think your going to like the bushings in the 100mm G*Truck’s. I am working on trying to get a bulk amount from G*Truck direct that I can offer to slalomskateboarder.com participants. Gilmour is saying that he thinks they are the best thing out there for light riders. One of those G*Truck conicals was used in the winning jpl II rtx/rts rig. So, even pretty heavy riders like them too.

Also the parts on the G*Truck are exact from truck to truck. This makes me think that they don’t use a sand mold. The hanger bushing cups are very precisely shaped. I've been putting a dab of silicone grease in the pivot cup or maybe I could do that for you if you want me to before I ship. Real Silicone grease is hard to locate. I’ve got some from some of the boat work I do. Silicone grease would never harm plastic, rubber, urethane, etc.. And because it would facilitate less friction, the pivot cup would probably last much longer.

I’ve been considering sending a truck to Geezer to make me a G*Truck offset for the heck of it.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Glenn on 2003-02-15 23:55 ]</font>

Glenn,

I used a knife and a file to get ‘em round. Jig saw and Dremel works for getting rid of Avalons’ 5 mm outer lip. Ohm uses this electric wheel, which name I would know if I weren’t too much foreign. (Grinder wheel?) Says he gets a cleaner cut.

I skated with Geezer last night and talked about this and that. "Cones" never worked for me on flats, even though I use original Tracker cones for high-speed slalom. They are not as good on rebound, but they make the front end more stable. Geezer says his Stimulators work great. You might want to ask him about his shaping technique. I know he posts on ncdsa, but he doesn’t stop by here often. The lip you see on the Stimulators (on top and bottom) is the original bushing shape. Tracker found a whole bunch of Stimulators on their attic, so they are sold everywhere.

Most pivots I left untouched, but some of them, esp. the early releases, were so bad on quality, that they required a lot of Dremel work. Some pivot cups were destroyed in 2 weeks!

Chatter has several sources. Bushing shape doesn’t seem to be the major one. You have a privilege to skate with the fastest slalomers in the country. I’d ask them and keep it a secret

Geezer is over 200lbs, I’m under 150. We need totally different set-ups. I use soft/soft in the front and medium/medium in the back for flatland SL (there is Yellow Medium and Green Medium, they are different!). Geezer will need M/M and Medium/Stiff (at least!) if he’s to use the same trucks. I think he’s gotten more serious about slalom and less serious about motorcycle racing. By the way, we compared our times on the same race track (on race motorcycles), his was over 10 seconds faster on a 1:30 track!!!

Each set-up has a weak and a strong side. The ability to match the set-up to the course quickly is a ticket to the podium. I don’t have that skill yet.

I’m going to post more stuff in the DC forum to avoid double posting.

Looking forward to skating on your G-thingies. If they have a steering geometry of the RTS (not X) truck, I have great expectations for these twenty-dollar trucks. Waiting for my paycheck to send the money out. Couple more months…

Vlad.

Right on Vlad. Congrats on your 1st place run. Well done!

I think that what you’re doing is what it takes to be on top. You reshape your bushings; you reshape your wheels, and try modified hanger widths and put in longer kin pins. And you make your own boards.

And you Practice, Practice, Practice.

I'm gunna start experimenting myself with shaping the bushings. What did you think of my idea of putting the bushing on a bolt the size of the kingpin and get it spinning in a drill and then reshaping it using a Dremel with one of those flat discs that can grind metal? Do you have a better way to do this Vlad, anyone?

I know that you can get a VERY nice straight trim on Avalons by putting them up to the side of a metal bench grinder with the wheel mounted on the hanger and spinning as it is trimmed.

What I've been told about the hourglass shape is to only use it as a bottom (closest to the deck) bushing in the front. That it would be too twitchy in the back. Have you tried using an hourglass in a harder Stimulator duro up front? And how about conical shape Stimulator as a top bushing?

I’ve also been told that the shape of the cupped bushing washer under the nut is very important in regards to the shape of a conical bushing.

I do like the little lip the Geezer put on those Stim's in the above diagram. Seems to me that would help keep the hanger from shifting from side to side. What do you think of that? Would this reduce the chatter you might feel in a slide?

Also what I have noticed in the 6 RTX/S trucks that I bought, was that the hanger cups where the bushings sit are not all the same from truck to truck. I guess this is because of the sand molds they are made in. Have you ever taken a Dremel and reshaped the hanger cup to be more to your liking. Feeling that the bushing would fit it better if you did?

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Glenn on 2003-02-13 20:21 ]</font>

On the subject of Stimulators.

Glenn,

I don’t see any reason to make these bushings any shape other then round. The urethane is too soft to support a weaker hourglass shape. Round tops work quite well and don’t require any further shaping/cutting. I’ve thrown away a couple of soft bushing after I cut off too much lip significantly affecting their rebound.

Stimulators can be used as tops and bottoms. Therefore, it’s possible to mix durometers, creating 5 realistic settings, which are: soft/soft, medium/soft, medium/medium, hard/medium, hard/hard. As long as the stiffer bushing is the top one, this set up works quite well.

More on Stimulators can be found on this forum using the Search button.
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Quote from a different topic: “Better yet
would be an even less wide hanger like 95mm RTX/S, which they don't make.”

I made 90 mm RTs a while ago, they are easy to make using a dremmel tool out of the standard 105 mm trucks. I’ve been using them on courses under 6 ft since last summer. They are (much) harder to ride for beginners because a significantly shorter lever requires more input for steering at low/er speeds.
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This is my own set-up, that, as of today, February 13, 2003, is ranked #1 in the Cyber Slalom Challenge on http://www.ncdsa.com. It was created when Jani stopped by my place on his way form Morro Bay to Paris to sign some Plankk-R boards and conduct some other insignificant business. His (real) signature makes all the difference!




I have (almost) no secretes.

SomeSuperSecretSeriouslySickSlalomSkaterSupportingStimulators,
Vlad.

<img src=http://www.slalomskateboarder.com/Stuff ... rommet.jpg>

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Glenn on 2003-03-29 19:48 ]</font>