Is an LDP setup possible using DH/freeride trucks & deck?

[breeseomatic]

I have a spare top mount kick tail deck with a 26" wheelbase and two sets of 180mm trucks lying around, one Bear 852, the other Paris 50*. Wedging/de-wedging? I'm not doing 261 miles at Daytona, just a few miles on the beach path. But I also want to be able to lay down some nice laid out turns with the slide gloves too.

[Puddy Tat]

I started pumping a landyatchz dropcarve with Bear 852 trucks last summer. It works. I just had to push to get up to speed and then could pump until my speed dropped off. Changing the rear truck to a Bear 840 and top mounting the deck made it even better for pumping. I used softer bushings in the front truck and harder bushings in the rear. I was doing about 30km distance on that set-up with no extra wedging

I've only been at this for one season but conventional wisdom seems to be wedge the front truck to about 60 degrees (8 degrees on the 852) to make it more turny and de-wedge the rear truck to about 30 degrees to make it more dead (so 15-20 degrees on the Paris or 10 degrees on my 840). There are even more extreme versions of this (like zero degree rear trucks) but the 60/30 seems to be what is generally suggested.

Late last season I bought a Roe Triton with a Bennett 5.0 and Tracker RTS 129 which I can pump from a standstill.

Dave.

Edited February 26, 2013 by Puddy Tat

[breeseomatic]

looks like I'm getting wedges and bushings this afternoon. Thanks for the info.

[Puddy Tat]

This probably goes without saying but when you set the deck up, just make sure you've got enough risers in to eliminate any chance of wheel bite. When the trucks are set up that turny the board leans over a lot more.

Interestingly enough when my Roe Triton arrived set-up from Stoked it was unrideable due to wheelbite until I had installed a couple of 1/2" risers. Took me an evening playing around to get the wedging and risers set up to the point where I could ride the board.

I was actually getting wheel bite on my dropcarve which has open wheel wells, but it wasn't ever enough to stop the board. I just happened to notice the wear marks on the edge of the front wheel wells one day.

Dave

[Eric Brammer aka PSR]

Khiro Rail-Riser pack (boxed set) is a must-have to dial in steering, and the rail risers work (reversed) in drop-thru's. The 'pack' gives you 1,2,4,5,7,+10 degree pairs of wedges, so finding a decent angle set is very likely.  

 

With bushings, be sure that at least one is a high-rebound type, regardless of durometer. A lot of the DH/Fast trucks are using kind of 'dead' bushings, as sliding put big loads on them, and 'bounce' = wash-out or scuffing at the wheels. ABEC 11, Riptide, and Tracker have bushings with good rebound. I've found Venoms to be stable and unresponsive, so they don't go on any 'turny' boards.

 

Look into a good toe-block, too. It makes a big difference in energy transfer and acceleration.

[Mig]

Khiro Rail-Riser pack (boxed set) is a must-have to dial in steering, and the rail risers work (reversed) in drop-thru's. The 'pack' gives you 1,2,4,5,7,+10 degree pairs of wedges, so finding a decent angle set is very likely.

Actually, the included rail wedges are 1,2,3,4,5,7,10 and 15 degrees. Unless they have changed them lately, all the kits I have bought were like that. Definitely a must-have!!!

[Eric Brammer aka PSR]

Hmm, must've used the 3* + 15* on some loaner board that either Schwipp or Nelson are running... They're not on any of the current quiver here.

 

Anyhow, Mig's right, and I double checked the storage box (nifty little stowage unit in it's own right) for the fact-sheet. 

 

With drop-thru's, I noted 'reversing' the wedges, which you have to do, as the pivot angle is contingent with the 'other' side of the truck baseplate. These wedges are not good with Randal trucks in a dropped-thru, as the baseplates have tabs that protrude, and fitting around those would either make the truck or the wedge-rail too weak. However, several companies are making wooden rail-wedges from laminate scraps, and those can be used on Randal bases in a drop-thru.

 

Oh, and I'd add that Khiro's bushing selection is great, with good rebound in all but the very stiffest durometers. I'd usually buy them in a 'race case' so we'd have the right bushing setup for whatever hill we're on.

[Mig]

It would be so cool to see you and Schwippy show up at a race next summer, man! I think I have not seen you after meeting you at the Bald Mountain Dam race in 2005, and Schwippy has been MIA for the last three os so years.

[Eric Brammer aka PSR]

Mig, if Marc Dean puts on another few of the 'Push Culture' DH races around here (last year was Killington/Bear Mt. rd., and  QBurke tower access rd.), I'll likely be there as a curious spectator. There was talk of using the Okemo  Solitude Condo chair and that hill (the road is SICK, many beautiful curves in it), and perhaps putting a 'longboard slalom' G.S. into the mix. I don't know if my health will be good enough to run/organize such a race, but it's something I'd like to see occur.

 

As for Mr. Schwippert,  I don't know if he'd get back into it at all. Seems like many of the old New England crew have moved on to other adventures.