Skateboarding Through a LateLife Crisis (and hope The Times doesn't sue me...)

[BlueB]

Flipping the hanger doesn't change the angle. However, it can change the feel, stabillity and agility.

[Puddy Tat]

Flipping the hanger doesn't change the angle. However, it can change the feel, stabillity and agility.

Ok maybe I'm confused. I'm new to the skateboard culture and newer to the tech side. What is the 'angle' we are referring to? I'm thinking I'm using the wrong reference plane.

I'm asking because my Bear Grizzlies 852s are a reverse kingpin truck, where the hanger is 'bent' when looked at from the side. The bushing cup also seems deeper on one side then on the other. This results in a different angle between the hanger and the board when it is installed on the same baseplate depending on whether the hanger is flipped or unflipped.

Running a non-flipped grizzly gives you and angle of 52 degrees while flipping I think gives you about 47-48 degrees. With both trucks flipped the board gets lower and more stable, running both unflipped resulted in a more carvey setup. Flipping a hanger literally lowered the end of the board that the hanger was flipped on by 4-5mm. How is this possible if the angle hasn't changed?

This morning running the rear flipped and the front unflipped seemed to give me a turnier front truck and a more stable rear truck which seemed to help the pumping efficiency (until I hit a rock and supermanned like ETFathead mentioned happened to him earlier from wheelbite).

Can you clarify this for me?

Thanks,

Dave

[BlueB]

Turning of a truck is defined by the angle of the axis of rotation. It's an imaginary line that connects the center of the pivot and center of the bushing seat. It doesn't change when you flip the hanger. As I said before, the stanillity and how "keen" is the truck to turn, can chamge. Search the Silverfish a bit, there are tons of info on this, even some drawings.

Now, if the tail of the deck dropped a bit from flipping, that would increase the angle of the front truck and decrease the angle of the back by the same angle. However, that is the effect of changing the angle of the mounting plane thus affecting the angle of the bases (like wedging), not an effect of the hanger flipping.

[Neil Gendzwill]

Flipping hangers.

[ExcelsiorTheFathead]

On today's ride I pumped by some little kids who had seen me before. They started screaming questions at me.

Kid #1: "How are you doing that?"

Kid #2: "How are you doing that?"

Kid #3: "Why are you doing that?"

[WEBSIGHT360]

On today's ride I pumped by some little kids who had seen me before. They started screaming questions at me.

Kid #1: "How are you doing that?"

Kid #2: "How are you doing that?"

Kid #3: "Why are you doing that?"

Why? Tell them your mom makes you do it...

[Puddy Tat]

Turning of a truck is defined by the angle of the axis of rotation. It's an imaginary line that connects the center of the pivot and center of the bushing seat. It doesn't change when you flip the hanger. As I said before, the stanillity and how "keen" is the truck to turn, can chamge. Search the Silverfish a bit, there are tons of info on this, even some drawings.

Now, if the tail of the deck dropped a bit from flipping, that would increase the angle of the front truck and decrease the angle of the back by the same angle. However, that is the effect of changing the angle of the mounting plane thus affecting the angle of the bases (like wedging), not an effect of the hanger flipping.

Ok I've got what you're saying. And I'm starting to play with this a bunch as I'll indicate below.

Anyways I've got a Roe Triton on order from Stoked. I had selected a mermaid, then heard there was a new board so I ordered that in early August. It hasn't arrived yet as Roe builds things the way Coiler does, "Beautiful, quality boards that are pretty much a work of art but with longer lead times."

I'm amazed at the distance you can cover on a longboard. I've started commutting back and forth from work (about 9k one way) on the longboard. Last friday I did about 30k total on the deck it's nothing compared to what guys on pavedwaved are doing but I'm pretty happy with myself. I'm heading out tomorrow morning to have a go at doing about 30k continuous. The exercise is great I think I've dropped about 15-20 lbs and 2" off my waist. It helps take the sting out of the occaisional road rash when I realize I can count it as weight loss.

The tech side is fun to get into too. My board is a 2010 Landyatchz Drop Carve with bear grizzly 852 trucks running 82a O'tang Durians (purple). I've changed bushings, to try and stiffen the rear truck and soften the front, then I stuck an 840 grizzly (40 degree baseplate) on as the rear truck to make it less turny, and then I cut a couple of stainless steel plates to cover and strengthen the drop throughs so I could top mount the board on the trucks. All of this has helped the board ride better. I'm hoping the Triton arrives shortly because now that I've essentially got a topmount deck I'm considering starting to look into some wedging and de-wedging.

I agree with Boris and Neil. That changing the hanger angle relative to the ground or the deck (it's the same angle) is what makes a difference here. When I compared the turn angle of the trucks with the 40 degree baseplate on the rear and the 52 degree on the front, with pressure being put on the side of the board, the amount of deflection in the front truck was much higher than that in the rear. Thanks I get it now.

Anyways with all the tech side to explore and the fun I'm having riding I've almost arrived at the end of September and I'm not going bat**** crazy from lack of carving. My wife in particular is appreciating this.

Dave

Edit: It's Saturday and I managed to put 38k on the board in 3 hours 8 minutes. Mostly pumping, though there was a bunch of mixed pushing/pumping on the outbound leg due to a headwind. Looking forward to my triton getting here.

Edited September 22, 2012 by Puddy Tat