your dh setup

[eye_candy]

How 'bout 3 inches shorter with a foam core and a sweet finish?

howdd ya do it looks sexy !

[badger555.5]

I say go with 76mm 82a RFs. You could go with the 74mm if you want a more grippy but smooth sliding wheel.

Hey Mr. when are you gonna skate with me again?! call me man!! 949-315-1436

[bagelbum]

haha, you answered your own question. With a shorter wb you can turn more WITHOUT sliding. That's exactly what big wb's do, when you turn in too hard they break loose. With short wb's you turn in too hard and... you turn in too hard! Its fantastic.

On top of that, everything responds faster. If you lose traction you can recover from it in an instant because it's soooo responsive compared to a more sluggish wb. You have to try it to understand. The first time I rode a short wb was like the first time I rode topmounted. Everything is at your command.

What I meant by that is that there is no need to turn any more. I've skated more than my share of turny roads and short wb boards...by all means am I not suggesting that a shorter wheelbase isn't more responsive, but in a DH setting over 20mph, there is just no need to have such a short wheelbase. And, the marginal traction increase given by a shorter wheelbase wouldn't be much of a factor as the turniest roads would have your wheels losing traction regardless. It's somewhat of a moot point, as you're more than free to ride what you want, but it seems like you're losing stability and a smoother slide for an increase in cool points and a slight hint of maneuverability. But in the end, we're all just skating.

[JY Jelly]

Nemesis?
10shortdroppeddeckswith30-28wb

nemesis has a 32-33" wheelbase

[Largeboarder]

haha, you answered your own question. With a shorter wb you can turn more WITHOUT sliding. That's exactly what big wb's do, when you turn in too hard they break loose. With short wb's you turn in too hard and... you turn in too hard! Its fantastic.

On top of that, everything responds faster. If you lose traction you can recover from it in an instant because it's soooo responsive compared to a more sluggish wb. You have to try it to understand. The first time I rode a short wb was like the first time I rode topmounted. Everything is at your command.

Yes it does respond faster. But at faster speeds you'll also have to think/act faster.. Making it a tad hard to control in terms of stability.

[loserplayer]

to each their own....

so back to dh setups

dh40
50/42 randals
purple elim/barrel front
purple elim/red barrel back
rain grooved lime freerides

[oldnbroken]

I'm a trendsetter....I like loooong wheelbases for going slooooooww it works awesome.

[Shimotakimas]

Mcgoon, did someone mill holes in those black smokeys? Got anymore pictures?

[CasterTown]

What I meant by that is that there is no need to turn any more. I've skated more than my share of turny roads and short wb boards...by all means am I not suggesting that a shorter wheelbase isn't more responsive, but in a DH setting over 20mph, there is just no need to have such a short wheelbase. And, the marginal traction increase given by a shorter wheelbase wouldn't be much of a factor as the turniest roads would have your wheels losing traction regardless. It's somewhat of a moot point, as you're more than free to ride what you want, but it seems like you're losing stability and a smoother slide for an increase in cool points and a slight hint of maneuverability. But in the end, we're all just skating.

I totally understand your perspective. On a race course the difference in the ride probably won't mean a faster time. But I've ridden a 32" wb back to back with a 28" on the same trucks, and the difference in feel is drastic. The board just feels more nimble. That's a perfect way of putting it. For me, there's no loss in stability because there is so much extra control.

There's a 30mph left-hand corner on my local mountain road with a rough patch right on the centerline on the inside. With a 32" wb I would be holding the line, hit the rough patch, lose traction and that line was toast (if not the whole run). With a 28" I've hit that rough patch, lost the rear end, and been able to quickly shift weight so that the board snaps back into place without an issue. It's outstanding.

[cuzz467]

I totally understand your perspective. On a race course the difference in the ride probably won't mean a faster time. But I've ridden a 32" wb back to back with a 28" on the same trucks, and the difference in feel is drastic. The board just feels more nimble. That's a perfect way of putting it. For me, there's no loss in stability because there is so much extra control.

There's a 30mph left-hand corner on my local mountain road with a rough patch right on the centerline on the inside. With a 32" wb I would be holding the line, hit the rough patch, lose traction and that line was toast (if not the whole run). With a 28" I've hit that rough patch, lost the rear end, and been able to quickly shift weight so that the board snaps back into place without an issue. It's outstanding.

so for a garage what would be an ideal length

[jman1365]

so for a garage what would be an ideal length

I use a humu

[isk]

[mcgoon]

Mcgoon, did someone mill holes in those black smokeys? Got anymore pictures?

Believe it or not, Landy did. They were experimenting with getting the weight down on the smokies. My buddy that has been doing their team foam cores received a few sets to mess with. I'll see if I can dig up a few more pics.

[Shiyuchi]

Frock yea

Old Salt Flat
50/42 randal plates, back dewedged to 40.
160 DH Hangars
76mm GPS Wheels
Green venom barrel bottom, yellow barrel top.
Mix of speedy lunatics and bones reds.

Best setup ever.

[jessse]

That finish looks so sick! How did you do it? I might even do it myself!8)



edit: And what did you do to the bears on the first one???

[tomahawk]

haha, you answered your own question. With a shorter wb you can turn more WITHOUT sliding. That's exactly what big wb's do, when you turn in too hard they break loose. With short wb's you turn in too hard and... you turn in too hard! Its fantastic.

On top of that, everything responds faster. If you lose traction you can recover from it in an instant because it's soooo responsive compared to a more sluggish wb. You have to try it to understand. The first time I rode a short wb was like the first time I rode topmounted. Everything is at your command.

partially correct. it depends on the speed. at slow speeds where you're nowhere near the limit of traction of your wheels, this is true, flying into a hairpin, this is not true regardless of the WB, there's a limit to how tight you can turn before traction breaks.

as for differences with hitting a rough patch, i would hypothesize because on a longer board, less of your body is near the trucks, so losses of traction are tricker to control, so it's less a function of the WB, and more a function of weight distribution (which undoubtably is facilitated by more compact boards, but not not always)

to make this post not completely useless



deelite nemmy (now on the shorter 32" WB cuz im badass!)
184kahas
inheats
spinny bearings
venoms

[CasterTown]

partially correct. it depends on the speed. at slow speeds where you're nowhere near the limit of traction of your wheels, this is true, flying into a hairpin, this is not true regardless of the WB, there's a limit to how tight you can turn before traction breaks.

as for differences with hitting a rough patch, i would hypothesize because on a longer board, less of your body is near the trucks, so losses of traction are tricker to control, so it's less a function of the WB, and more a function of weight distribution (which undoubtably is facilitated by more compact boards, but not not always)

to make this post not completely useless

deelite nemmy (now on the shorter 32" WB cuz im badass!)
184kahas
inheats
spinny bearings
venoms

Tomahawk, please. Flying into hairpins is my specialty. The roads I skate involve 35mph corner entries into 20% switchbacks. And besides, its not like there's no limit of traction when you're going 20mph either. You're just turning much tighter.

I used to ride a nemesis with kahas. I hated it because it was sluggish. It is just as sluggish at 50mph as it is a 20mph. That's my opinion. Don't try to make it sound like I don't skate fast just because I like boards that you might find unstable.

[Reece Man]

I've yet to understand why people like having such short wheelbases. Anything under 29 seems trivial. I've skated some pretty damn turny roads just fine on a 32" wb. I can see shorter wheelbases being good for sub 20mph, but at any speed over that...if you're turning any more than a 32"wb board can...you'll be sliding.

Not at all a criticism, just an honest question. It doesn't make sense why people here on SF have continuously gone shorter and shorter...

This is my take. You can grip the same types of turns but for me the turn is more effortless. I don't have to lean as much to get the board to turn where I want it to go. Like on Maryhill I would start on the outside of a turn with my Fullbag and really lean through the turn to make it to the inside. With my Slalom board I could just tilt my ankle and stick the inside the whole time, virtually effortlessly, staying in my tuck no problem.

That's why I like short wheelbases.

[Longbord1]

Just skate what you like. Who cares? There are so many variables in downhill it's dumb to choose one board...

Get a board you can change the WB of.

[Reece Man]

The shitty thing about adjustable WB boards is that the wheel wells are usually only designed for one wheel base.