Need help/ideas with ride height

[windseek]

Forgive any nub-like characteristics I might convey - assembled a board for the first time today!

I've been riding for a few months now on a Sector 9 Grinder and it's been splendid. I did lots of reading, watching, information gathering, decided I wanted a speedboard, and purchased a Demonseed from Rayne. It came today un-assembled, no problem I figured!

It went easily enough: I learned to install the bearings into my 75mm 83a Orangatang wheels, the wheels to the trucks, and then drop mounted Randal 180's (regular, not flipped) to the board, as drop-mounting seems to be most common with this board. Sheeesh it's low! I took it outside and literally 2 seconds after stepping on it I go to turn: *SKKRRRAAATCH*. At first I figured this would be most easily remedied by tightening the kingpins, since they was very very verrrrry loose. After three or four turns I realized, the red Randal bushings were starting to pop over their washer's (in other words getting way to squashed and not doing their job). I continued to untighten them back to their original-working position. Back at square one.

So now I'm sorta stuck; logically, I figure the next step would be to A) top-mount it, B) get different bushings (firmer maybe?), or C) both. Anyone want to coach me a bit? :]

[windseek]

Additionally - the red 92a Randal bushings are both conical (top and bottom). I've seen barrel shaped and other ones. Do rounder, barrel shapes help with stability more than conical ones?

[R]

Yes, go get some Venom barrels, which ones depends on your weight.

[windseek]

Yes, go get some Venom barrels, which ones depends on your weight.

It seems like barrel type bushings give a bit more stability than the conical ones then. What would be the reason to have a Barrel/Cone combo?

[R]

Barrel/cone is a standard configuration/package as it provides stability and turn for most trucks and set ups. Heavier riders or those with wider boards or progressive concave benefit from dbl barrels.

[windseek]

KNOWLEDGE UPDATED! : I noticed that on my scraped up, dirty Sector 9, its own washers were cup-like - they sort of hugged its worn out looking stock bushings. Conversely, the Randal trucks on the new Demonseed have only simple flat washers. I proceeded to switch the washers, cupped ones now on the Demonseed.

To my delight I was able to do four whole turns... while the bushings are certainly looking squished, like they want to pop out of place, they're staying there without "spilling" over their seats! Took the board back outside and it seems almost PERFECT! I was able to lean almost to my limit, and as I watched with trepidation, the corner/edge of the board comes very close but doesn't scrape!

I'm afraid I may sound like an egocentric chatterbox, but the process of posting and tweaking has helped me to progress, haha! To consolidate my current questions:

->What differences are there between conical and barrel shaped bushings, or combinations?
->If 93a bushings are damn near bursting, should I get some firmer ones so my kingpins don't have to be so tight?
->Is it bad for bushings to be super-squished or is that normal?

[BigTreeFallHard]

->What differences are there between conical and barrel shaped bushings, or combinations?
->If 93a bushings are damn near bursting, should I get some firmer ones so my kingpins don't have to be so tight?
->Is it bad for bushings to be super-squished or is that normal?

a) conicals are bushings better suited to carving. The shape allows you to apply more and more weight to turn the same amount as the bushings gets more compressed (imagine an exponential curve that requires more force applied for more turn), whereas the barrel bushings need the same amount of force (imagine a linear curve) per "unit" turn. Because of the barrels greater urethane volume per bushing and increased surface area that touches the hangar and washers, they provide more stablity. Combos are just ways to customize. Barrel/barrel=very stable, barrel/cone=stable but has more turning abliity, cone/cone=very carveable and turny. This is not to say that cone/cone is hard to balance on or ride, my favorite setup.

b+c) if ur bushings are near bursting I'd def cosider getting some stiffer ones. How much do you weigh? I"m 180lbs and the 92a in my randals aren't bulging out at all. Also, cup washers (over time) have a tendency to cut into the bushings (with the lip of the cup). As you turn more and get the bushings to 'break in' the parts that spill over the lip of the cup have an enormous amount of pressure applied to them, so it's better imo to use the flat washers or to flip the cup washer 180 degrees. Good luck

[R]

Would you care to share your weight? Typically dbl barrels, Elims, JimZ are typical bushings associated with Demonseed set-ups. Ride what you have now but look into upgrading in the near future.

[windseek]

Awesome info, thoroughly appreciated. And certainly, I weigh 185 right now. I've been reading further and further online in general and on Silverfish - I decided to order the Khiro Standard (cone top, barrel bottom) Bushing Kit. I did see some varying opinions of Khiro compared to other brands, but the kit seemed like a good crayon box to start me off so later I can move up to what will suit me best.

Riding the Demonseed with its bursting double-cones gave me surprisingly good turn radius, so I figure switching it up to cone/barrel should be almost perfect with some tweaking/mixing and matching.

(Also if anyone else with bushing questions happens upon this thread):
Bushings. Different types and how to set them up.