technique assistance - losing speed in the cones.

[Lawrence Kurtz]

Hi. Its too cold and salty outside to skate but I did a little pump practice in garage when at the gym tonight.

I mod'd my board a bit (skaterbuilt hybrid). I moved the foot stop back a bit - I was losing too much speed and over controlling the front. Works fine now.

My winter set up uses 65mm Abec New Skools. The wheelbase is 20" plate to plate. I reduced the wedging of the bennett front to about 5 degrees overall I think. I have a 1 degree wedge in there.

The rear end RTS sits a lower front than the front. I have it seriously dewedged...almost to vertical. It still turns, but way less than the front.

So here is the problem:

I was running back and forth in the garage...maintaining speed alright.

I added straight cones at around 6 foot centers. When I hit the cones I have to really extend the pump and then I scrub off all my speed. What do I do?

[Rick Floyd]

Lawrence - if you have the capability to post a vid, or link to a vid, we can likely give you much better feedback.

The wheelbase for 6 foot cones sounds about right. I assume your feet are pretty much directly over each truck, and that you have soft bushings in front (75-85 depending on weight/course) and firmer (85-95) in the rear. I used to use a modded Bennett front, with a +5 degree wedge for ts/hs and 0 degrees (flat) for gs. I found that it tends to dive and be hard to bring back even at those shallow wedge angles. The solution for me was to place a yellow 75a stim on the bottom (board side) with a bushing cup under it - and then a standard bushing on top (kingpin nut side). The stim/cup combo keeps the truck from diving and "mushing out", which may be why you lose speed, especially on a flat course. You want that puppy to pop back to center so you expend minimal energy transitioning to the next turn - the fat stim helps that happen. I wouldn't use a stim on any other front slalom truck though - in my experience it only really works for the Bennett. I weigh 210 and didn't find it too soft. I did shave the part of the stim away where it contacted the pivot arm, as it tended to bind a little right there.

The NoSkoolz are definitely not slalom wheels - you need something with a squared lip like a ZigZag or HotSpot...try an 80a rear and 86a front to start. I don't know what duro your NoSkoolz are, but if they aren't soft, with those rounded lips, you won'y have the grip to feel comfortable really pumping hard and thus could also be losing speed there.

Hope that helps!

Sk8 on!

-RF

[Joe Iacovelli]

move the cones closer together?

[Lawrence Kurtz]

I'll try to take a video tomorrow and post it on photobucket...or email it. I have soft bushings up front (khiro - inner inverted small orange cone, orange khiro barrel, truck pivot, then white cone outer). I stand to the right. I had the footstop (extra bushing) on the right front bolt. I thought I was oversteering so I moved it back to the right back bolt. So my steering foot is planted just behind the front truck. The wheels are temporary..i threw a chunk out of my retro zigzag and still have to replace it.

[Lawrence Kurtz]

I will see what happens when I space them 5' apart....I think the problem is moving from brisk shallow pumps to deeper longer pumps.

[Joe Iacovelli]

your foot should be over the front truck

[Lawrence Kurtz]

Maybe it would help if I can see some pics of foot position...but I will move my footstop to the left bolt...that will move my foot a little further forward.

[Rick Floyd]

Lawrence, I can almost guarantee you that the "oversteering" problem you feel is from the setup of the bushings on the Bennett, not foot position. If you can't do the yellow stim setup I recommend, at least get rid of the cone bushings and use barrels only, with a cup washer on the bottom. I used several fiber washers or a shaft collar under the bottom bushing (if using a khiro size barrel) to get it to the right height on the Bennett. The cone are only going to increase the "divey" feel of the truck - what you refer to as "oversteer".

If you use a hard bushing as a toe stop it should be on the front-most left bolt - if by "I stand to the right" you mean your left foot is forward.

The cone spacing shouldn't matter - courses have all kinds of different spacing from 4 feet (super tight TS) to 100 feet (Super-G).

[Lawrence Kurtz]

I saw the previous posting on this issue last nite and my plans are to eliminate the bottom cone on the bennett. I have a bmx spacer that fits but its not a tight fit on the kingpin...I will look for some fibre washers tomorrow. Alternatively I might put a really hard bushing on the bottom for now...that should help as well. I'll see what happens today and I will move the toe stop....

[Rick Floyd]

I saw the previous posting on this issue last nite and my plans are to eliminate the bottom cone on the bennett. I have a bmx spacer that fits but its not a tight fit on the kingpin...I will look for some fibre washers tomorrow. Alternatively I might put a really hard bushing on the bottom for now...that should help as well. I'll see what happens today and I will move the toe stop....

Ditch the cone bushing on the top too - the Bennett is one of the turniest trucks around and the cone will make it too turney and divey. Don't go too hard on the front truck bushings - if you are currently using orange and white Khiros, then go to a blue khiro barrel bottom and orange barrel top...and remember to use the stock Bennett cup washer on top of the fiber washers or shaft collar and under the bottom barrel.

[Lawrence Kurtz]

I picked up a stack of steel washers. Couldn't find any fibre washers but they have pretty good tolerance and fit with the existing kingpin so they shouldn't put too much wear on it. I stacked enough that the stack (7 washers) cup and Khiro barrel are the same height as the original bennett barrel plus cup. I'm using the orange barrel inner and white barrel outer to start. I will see how it works.

[Rick Floyd]

I picked up a stack of steel washers. Couldn't find any fibre washers but they have pretty good tolerance and fit with the existing kingpin so they shouldn't put too much wear on it. I stacked enough that the stack (7 washers) cup and Khiro barrel are the same height as the original bennett barrel plus cup. I'm using the orange barrel inner and white barrel outer to start. I will see how it works.

Nice! The only thing the fibre washers do besides less wear, is less noise - I found the steel washers make clicking sounds...doesn't hinder performance, but it was annoying to me.

That should help the truck "pop back" to center - allowing you an easier transition to the next turn and thus more consisitent power and grip on the back wheels = more sustained and easier pump/power. Go to a orange K barrel on top next, if you need it - and for even more responsiveness and "pop" use some Abec 11 barrels. If you can find a yellow stim for the bottom, that will really help stop the "diving" on the Bennett. Rock it!

-Rick