Virage Setup

Virage Skateboard Trucks

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Sam Gordon
Sam Gordon
Sam Gordon
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Joined: Wed Dec 11, 2002 1:00 am
Location: London UK
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Virage Setup

Post by Sam Gordon » Mon Mar 23, 2009 2:31 am

How do you run yours?


Here's a few general setup suggestions:

If you prefer a quicker turning front truck to see you rapidly around the cones then you could do a lot worse than running a pair of Khiro barrels up front as below:

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I weigh around 65 kilos, or 10.5 stone, and this combination seems to work pretty well for flat ground pumping with cones spaced at 6 foot and above. The front truck, with it's baseplate angle of 55 degrees, is mounted on a Pavel Pirnack. This deck has a slight upturn in the nose so that it naturally adds about 3-5 degrees to the existing angle, so making an angle closer to 60 degrees:

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If you can lay your hands on a Khiro wedge set, or have a regular wedged riser to hand, then try running these up front. The Virage baseplate is already prewedged, so it is not necessary to angle too steeply. Try gentle increments until you feel comfortable with its response. The angle in the above image is a rough visual guide.

You will find that the washer on the top of the top bushing (if the truck is upside down) will act as a natural turn limiter. If you are hitting the buffers too harshly then tighten the kingpin bolt a little. It's best to run the truck with zero play between the bushings and spherical pivot. If you have to crank down too harshly on the Khiro whites for any reason, eg: front end seems to twitchy, running the board on a slope or weigh greater than 65 kilos, then change out the bushings for something stiffer, one at a time. The next stage up might be to take off the bottom bushing collar/ washer (again looking at the truck upside down) and put in a blue Venom Eliminator with the curved away centre facing the spherical bearing. If again this seems too loose then put the collar back on. For stability at greater speed and for the heavier rider, then run two Venom blue Eliminators on the front truck with the collar removed. Initial turn will be good with the wider portion of the bushing causing progressive ramping and rebound. If Venom bushings are not readily available, then use similar Khiro barrel product. Again, if on a hill, you might want to run the front truck flat or with a slight reverse wedge to take out some of the rapid steering.



As regards the rear truck, on my Pavel Pirnack the unit is seated on the kicktail of the deck. In this instance I have added 5 degrees and a 5mm riser in order to reduce steering and to prevent the possibility of wheelbite:

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Again this is a setup for riding on the flat through six-foot-plus cone spacing. It works out to being roughly 75 degrees. For similar courses on a slope then it would be good to consider wedging the truck so that the baseplate is horizontal. This will help prevent the board's tail-end turning too sharply and causing oversteer. With the kingpin becoming more vertical, the effective pressure on the bushings is greater because the lever is more linear. In this situation you might want to run stiffer bushings to conteract the greater leverage.

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Currently I'm running two Venom pink barrels, but for a more taut setup try running a Venom Eliminator on the bottom such as the green. The wider bushing should help prevent the hanger turning too far. If this is not available then a Khiro purple barrel is a good option. In the pictures above, I am running a narrow washer on the top. Using the wider provided with the truck will stiffen the ride further.

Let us know how you get on and do post if you discover any other bushing/ setup alchemy!

Sam

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