Rubber truck bushings, better than stims?

[silversurfer]

Ripped from the truck review forum at www.ncdsa.com;

"On 11/20/2004 Geezer-X wrote in from 141.156.xxx.xxx: (United States)
I have some NOS Tracker TK 05s and TK 051s, softs which were light grey, mediums which were black, and hards, which were white.

I've got rubber bushings on all my vintage slalom setups, and no modern bushing feels anything like rubber. Which brings me to one of the things I finally worked out yesterday (I spent 12 hours in the shop working on product development)

Rubber bushings from MMW. They look and feel just like TK 05s, except they're a tiny bit bigger, and they're not dried up from sitting in a box since 1977. 1" od, 3/8" id, .55" tall. Black neoprene in Shore 75A.

$12/set of 4

We still have plenty of Stimulators in every duro for urethane fans

In other news, we have finished prototypes of a Tracker RTX with a spherical pivot. The difference this makes is unbelievable. No slop, laser accuracy. The conversion uses the same spherical pivot we've done to many TTCs and 3TCs.

We also prototyped a new RTS with a 7/16th in titanium axle shouldered to 8mm. The hancer is cut to about 80mm, and the Ti axle is pressed and bonded to the bored out hanger. It's about 20% lighter than a regular RTS. This is an amazingly straight, stiff, light rear truck.

The XTS Ti / XTX spherical pair are simply the most precise turning, grippiest trucks I've done, and I've done a lot of trucks.

We've also got a new version of the XTC. Starting with a 3DM 3TC hanger, we machine off about 50% of the material, and add the usual spherical pivot, delrin cup, cut down NOS Stimulators, long kingpin, and those swell 8mm 4140 CrMo axles, and faced hanger and nuts...

A day in the shop is a good thing.

Pics and pricing will be up on the Vendors Forum soon."


What do you think?

[Michael Billings]

Neato. I am always willing to try different bushings. I just cut down my radikals last night so they fit into the randal bushing cups. Pretty ugly, but it works...

[EBasil]

I can remember the day our contact at Variflex told us they'd poured some urethane "rubbers" (as they were called since they were...rubber) and wanted us to try them. After tearing and cutting truck rubbers on every truck up to that day, I was eager to yank the rubbers out of my Trackers and never looked back.

I think the Variflex "clouds" were the first urethane bushings, and they came in two durometers from the outset. Tracker and Indy sold trucks with rubber on them for at least another year or two after that, but our Vans team all used the urethane. Actually, I still have set on my TeamRider. WAY better.

[silversurfer]

So are you in the skate industry somehow, EBasil?

And you were on the Vans team?

There has been an ongoing discussion about the terms
"bushings", "rubbers", ect. on the vendor corner at ncdsa.
I think that is what gave Geezer X the idea for the rubber bushings.
Some of the same history you mentioned was mentioned there.
Interesting, I love history. Particularly skate history.

[EBasil]

No,no,no...I'm referring to an era known as the Seventies... I lived a few miles from the Variflex warehouse/factory and we had a family friend that was one of the founders (all non skaters). They were created by buying out a brand and mfg set up for "Coast Riders" wheels, and the first Variflex wheels WERE Coast Riders. At that time, their boards were completely inflexible oak decks. Some of us kids became test riders for newer gen wheels and my younger brother rode their decks in the mid 80's.

"The" Vans Team, no. "A" Vans team, yes. Local Vans stores in SoCal could sponsor their own teams before there was a corporate team. Our store manager was down with the Variflex dudes, even after we rejected their crappy wheels. My TeamRider/Tracker/Krypto/GMN bearing boards were from that time (got one left, but with Gully pros and different C-65's).

I wasn't a very good pool rider, but you can see my arm and half of my buddy's board in the Z-Boys documentary. We were standing on the edge of a pool those guys took over and blew us away riding in. They had Super 8 cameras with them everywhere they went.

[silversurfer]

The seventies....

Oh yeah. I remember.

Variflex's were completly inflexible. Ironic.

And what this....

Wait a minute.

YOU WERE IN "DOG TOWN AND Z BOYS"?

My favorite documentry of all time.

You are my idol.

[Captain Hampton]

actually, half of his arm is your idol. lol...

[atxjimatx]

I used to love those Clouds............

[CRASS]

a. im confused on the DT thing. Fill me in.

b. Rubber bushings can harden over time & well, they really arent all that great. They're not bad if in good condition, but not great. Just more "bounce" to em.. i can seem em being ok for slalom.

[RustyBurrito55]

nooo the stim source has been revealed! that guy hasnt replied to my emails......geezer x where are you?