What wheels/deck/trucks/bushings/bearings should I get for #insert discipline#?!?

[gavmck]

Well well, let's talk. Sure brand names and stuff are all well and good, but you really need to know the physics of what parts you are buying for your board and this will help make an informed descision about what to get and what parts will match with others.
Sure, this isn't perfect as every hill is different, but if you don't know these things you must be a n00b and it won't matter, you just need a rough guide until you can make better informed decisions.

I'm gonna order this by discipline, starting with downhill. I got tired after that, but will be adding more later!

Downhill/Freeride
- Wheels
Most people like to grip when they are doing downhill or racing.
For a wheel to grip the best you're gonna want flexible lipped, soft, big wheels, with a hard edge (not rounded)
The flexible lip helps the wheel deform when you are turning so the pressure is more even and you grip better.
Soft (75a-81a duro) also helps the wheel deform, making you grip better and giving a cushy ride.
Big wheels have a high top end speed and can hold speed better on flats where you might be deccelerating otherwise. They also let you roll over stuff like drains and potholes with less risk of being chucked off.
A hard edge wheel will hold better than a rounded edge wheel as it helps the wheel deform and grip on the road, however, the slide will be slightly more sudden as they grip grip grip right till the end.

Summary: 70-85mm Diameter 75a-81a Duro Hard Edge Wheels

- Deck
You want a stable, stiff, wide, concaved deck that's gonna be predictable all the way down the hill.
Well of course it needs to be stable. Drop through decks and drop down decks are generally held to be a bit more stable than a normal top mount. Essentially, the lower you go the more stable it'll be at high speeds, but you will sacrifice some grip and cornering ability because of the pivot axis. Think about your trucks and how the deck moves as they lean. Lower deck, more sideways force, more slides.
I like drop throughs personally as they offer a nice low platform and are compatible with most wheels. Top mounts cannot always accommodate larger than 75mm wheels without losing cornering ability, which defeats the object of a top mount.
As for stiffness, it's gotta be STIFF. Sure a TINY bit of dampening flex is good, but you shouldn't really be able to feel it move at all when your just standing there. Once you get going fast, physics gets a lot more powerful, so a bit of flex turns in to a lot more flex and you can get bounced off and that will HURT!
Width is good on a speed board, because you want your feet to stay on the board and it gives you more leverage for turning.
Finally concave helps shape the board around your feet so you grip a bit more. When you're tanking through a hairpin bend at 45mph, you defo want those feet to stay in place!

Summary: STIFF, 9-11 inches wide, 39-44inches long, roughly 32-37 inch wheelbase, concaved deck, lower for stability, higher for cornering ability

- Trucks
Due to the decks and wheels being used, downhill trucks are wide with low angle baseplates and sometimes extra thick axles.
They need to be wide to accommodate the width of the deck that's being used so you don't get all tippy. If the trucks are too thin, it gets easy to lift a wheel in a corner and then you will be getting hurt.
Baseplate angles affect how much turn you get for the amount of lean in your deck. Lower angle baseplates mean that a defect in the road which bumps your truck slightly, will only cause a small amount of turn, so it should make you more stable.
However, if you get REALLY low, then you won't be able to turn at all, which makes going round corners rather difficult!
Some trucks come with 10mm axles instead of 8mm. If you are using very big wheels (80mm+) or you are a fatty, it is possible to bend the axles on an 8mm truck fairly easily. Most peoapl get away fine with 8mm though.

Summary: 175mm-205mm hangar width, 35-45 degree baseplate, reverse kingpin trucks (eg Randal)

- Bushings
BIG bushings! Many people say that you should have hard bushings for downhill because it makes you more stable. THIS IS A LIE. Harder bushings will hold off the wobbles a bit, but when they come they will be much worse. Wobbles on soft bushings arn't as bad and it is possible to control them through skill.
You make you stable, so no messing with hard bushings!! Now that's out the way, you need bushings that turn and have good return to center, or "Rebound"! Check out Venom downhill bushings pack. You will notice that both bushings are big fat barrels, this helps bounce the truck back to center after a turn or wobble and helps you get more stable.
Even fatter than these are Stim or JimZ speed bushings which have a 'spare tire' around the middle to give you even more rebound! Bushing duro is related to rider weight, so it's good to get a few until you find some that make the deck feel lively and supportive, not a stiff nightmare and not a floppy turning carve machine.

Summary: Big fat bushings, double barrels or JimZ/Stim style shapes in a hardness that suits YOU. Try a Khiro bushing kit to experiment!

- Bearings
Ah bearings, everyone seems to think they make you go faster. Screw bearings, as long as you have some by a reputable company and they are clean and well lubed, it shouldn't really make any difference. ABEC means nothing in skateboarding, so that rating is out the window. If you take your ABEC7 super bearings, mount them in your board and then drop the board from chest height onto the ground, they are now rated at much less than ABEC1!!
So imagine what happens to them when you smash them round a corner at high speed?

Summary: Good, cheap bearings. ABEC rating is bollocks and usually lied about. Try some bones reds, they're cheap and fast!

[transitioned]

Nice. Now lets talk SLALOM!!

[gavmck]

Ah yes, slalom... unfortunately I have yet to experience the power that is Slalom, so I won't be covering it in this series of posts. If someone fancies writing something like this for slalom though, that'd be real cool...

[byang]

+1 sticky!

10charredreviews

[tinypete]

Nicely done. Hopefully this will clear up a lot of the questions people have.

[oldspice]

kudos to you for making this sick post

+1 sticky as well

[gavmck]

Sliding
- Wheels
What wheels are best for sliding? Well DAMN, haven't we heard that question a few times eh? Sliding wheels are easy! You need a "hard as hell" centerset wheel with a rounded edge that is slightly wider than a normal skate wheel.
Hard wheels don't deforum as you turn so rather than the wheel mushing to grip the ground they will keep their shape and start to slide.
You want that transition into the slide to be nice and smooth, so a rounded edge will let it slip with less force than a hard edge and it'll make it hook back up smoother as well when you want to stop sliding, so you won't get thrown off as much.
Sliding wheels wears them down and creates "coning". Centreset wheels are great for this because you can swap them with the diagonally opposite wheel (keep it the same way round) to even out the wear and prevent the coning.
Finally, a smaller wheel will drift/slide a bit more predictably than a bigger one, as well as letting you accelerate back up to speed faster. That's why slide wheels are often a bit smaller than regular cruisin wheels.
And that's it! There is no holy grail of slide wheels, you just need to get better at skating! (As long as they're hard).

Summary: 60-65mm diameter 97a+ rounded edge, centreset wheels

- Deck
For sliding, the best bet is a slightly larger than normal skateboard, just like those street decks that everyone seems to hate on round here. You need concave, two kicks and square edges on the kicks can be nice as well for balance during bluntslides and the like.
A bit of tortional flex is good as well as it lets you transition into the slide better. Imagine, if the front can turn more than the back, but the back has to follow the front, then wheats gonna happen when those wheels can't keep up? SLIIIIDEEEESSSSS!!!
The concave will help hold your feet on the deck, because they are gonna have a lot of sideways force throwing them around.
Two kicks help create the 'pockets' that everyone wants for sliding that ,again, help lock your feet onto the deck. By letting you place your feet slightly beyond the truck bolts you get more leverage over the truck as well, which, just like tortional flex, will help initiate the slide better through weight distribution and truck leverage.
Try it out! Get your deck and stand on it. Place a foot behind the truck bolts and lean like you are turning. Pretty good eh? Now place it up slightly beyone the trucks and try again. WAY more leverage eh? Damn physics is RAD.

Summary: Concave, double kick, square nose/tail, 34-39 inches long, 8.75-10 inches wide, roughly 17-20 inch wheelbase

- Trucks
Trucks? Sliding? Hell we're sliding, who cares about turning?! The best thing you can do with your trucks for sliding is make em LOW. So, get some normal street style trucks. They'll need to be wide enough that the ends of the axle match up with the rails on your deck. EG. the Earthwing drifter is about 9 inches wide, so it goes with indy 169s which are also about 9 inches wide.

Summary: Regular street style trucks that match the width of your deck. Keep em LOW.

- Bushings
Once again, bushings!? We're sliding! Who cares about turning! Well... me actually hahaha! Since you want your slide deck low, you probably want some nice hard bushings so you don't get wheelbite. Bones hardcores fit street trucks very well.
If you like a bit of turn you may have to add risers which will mess up the lowness thing making it harder to slide. Since your a beginner, run em HARD, it makes the hook up and release on the wheels much more obvious which will help you to learn.

Summary: Hard street bushings, just like regular skateboards! Go support your local shop!

- Bearings
What? Another section we don't care about? Man, slide setups are EASY! Because of the tortional load on your bearings, sliding will destroy bearings. SO get cheap ones! It doesn't matter if they're fast or not really, because sliding is all about slowing down with style.
Just make sure you have spacers and speedrings appropriate for your wheels (usually 10mm spacers unless you are using kryptos, which take 8mm) and you'll be golden!

Summary: CHEAP ones!

[sean94]

very very good job.

[gavmck]

Bump up to the top with a new guide!

Dancing/Boardwalking
- Wheels
Boardwalkin eh? You'll probably be riding flat and pretty mellow hills so you want something that's gonna be nice and easy to push, with a high rolling weight and pretty good grip so you don't slip out whilst chopping that wood!
So, grip, cush, and a good speed holder.
Grippy wheels have hard/square edges, pretty much like a slalom style wheel. To keep that ride smooth and mellow go with a 75a-81a duro and about 70-75mm diameter to keep it pretty low and easy to push whilst not sacrificing roll time on the flats.
To hold speed you want the wheel lighter in the middle at the core with most weight around the edge. This works like when you lean out on a roundabout, it gives you more momentum so the wheel will roll longer. You also want a good amount of urethane depth to give it that weight to keep rolling, so look for something with a fairly small core like a Zig Zag or a Grippinz wheel.

Summary: 70-75mm diameter, 75a-81a duro, small cored wheel with hard edges.

- Deck
Dancing deck, hooray! Essentially a dancer just needs to be pretty long with lots of lovely footspace for you to move around on. It should also be pretty thin, so you can match it up with wide trucks and get lots of turn with no wheel bite or slippage.
A dedicated dancing deck want to be a good 45 inches long although many people can cope just fine on something about 42 inches. Boards specifically made for boardwalking will generally be more than 50 inches long though as it gives you lots of space to walk around on.
They will also be pretty thin, this helps to keep the wheels from biting the board so you can carve really hard into cross steps and such like. A bit of concave is often nice, but not essential, the same with camber.
Finally, some nose and tail is good to give you better leverage for manuals and g-turns, it doesn't need to be much, but a little bit will make it much easier to balance.

Summary: 45-60 inches long, 8.5 - 9.75 inches wide, top mount, lil bit of nose and tail, maybe a bit of concave and camber, but not essential

- Trucks
Dancing trucks should TURN. They should be loosey goosey, so you can carve around with ease. Matched with the deck style above, you'll want a 180mm reverse kingpin truck like Randal or Paris. It should be a nice carvy 50 degrees so you can turn real nice like.
Not much else to say, setting up a dancer is pretty darn easy.

Summary: 170-180mm hanger width, 50 degree pivot angle, reverse kingpin trucks, easy!

- Bushings
Bushings don't matter too much as long as they're nice and soft for your weight. Those bushings that came in the trucks you just got will do nicely, you can tool around with changing them later, but as long as they're loose enough for you to turn easily it shouldn't matter. Check out the Venom super carve bushings as a replacement if you really feel you need it.

Summary: Just regular old bushings, probably not even worth changing them out of the stock ones you got with those trucks.

- Bearings
Meh. Bearings. So much wondering, so little difference. Just throw on some good quality cheap bearings like bones reds or powell mini logos. They're really all the same and won't affect you rolling around on the flats!

Summary: Nice basic ones, try bones reds!

[gavmck]

Carving/Cruising
- Wheels
Ok, so you wanna go carve it up? Well you're gonna need pretty much the same wheels as those speed board guys up above. One little change however. Pushing on massive wheels is rubbish as they have a slower acceleration, so you might want something a little smaller, say 70-75mm diameter.
This will let you accelerate faster and make mellow hills more fun!

Summary: 70-75mm Diameter 75a-81a Duro Hard Edge Wheels

- Deck
Carving decks are fun. Carving is turning (HARD), so you want a deck that makes turning as much fun as possible. It should be fairly long in order to hold good grip and you'll probably want a bit of flex to bounce you out of turns and make for a nice cushy ride.
Pintail top mounts make for an excellent carver as they give you more leverage at the front, which makes for a better turn. You'll be wanting cutouts or wheel wells as well, so that your wheels don't rub against the deck during a turn and buck you off the board.

Summary: Top mount, 8.5-10 inches wide, 38-49 inches long, maybe a bit of flex, wheel wells or cutouts

- Trucks
Carving trucks, this is the important bit. Carving is turning and your trucks are the bit that make the board turn. You should get a nice versetile truck for a carver so lets go with a reverse kingpin truck at about 50 degrees that sticks out a little from your board.
Reverse kingpin trucks are real nice for carving and can be easily customised if you feel they need any changes later. They should be 50 degrees like aRandal R2 or Paris truck as this gives a great turn without being too tippy feeling.
The width of the axle should be slighly further out than the widest point on your board, this will help with grip during a tight turn and should give a bit more rebound to center when you want to get out of that turn.

Summary: 50 degree reverse kingpin trucks, slightly wider than the widest point on the deck, look at Loaded Vanguard and Loaded Pintail for an example of a 180 truck board and a 150 truck board.

- Bushings
Bushings! Those little bits of fun that make carving feel oh so good.... Carving bushings should turn nice and deep and give you a good rebound to center. Conical style bushings (Like R2 bushings) give a much deeper turn than barrels so they are great for carving! In terms of hardness, that's gonna be up to you, but you'll probably want em on the softer side.
As always, bushings are cheap as, so get a few sets and experiment!

Summary: Conical style bushings carve deeper, buy a few sets and experiment!

- Bearings
I spit on bearings, JUST GET NICE SENSIBLE CHEAP ONES!

Summary: Cheap, fun, made in factories!

[Krustyone]

Nice!! Everything in one place, I for one thank you!!

[Pat S]

I'm gonna have to dissagree with you on downhill wheels.... theres tons of riders out there who aren't riding slalom shaped super grippy wheels. Some examples of wheels that are awesome for downhill that aren't slalom shaped- flywheels, race core kryptos, gos shaped sector 9 race formula, grippins, etc. It all depends on the road, there are lots of times in downhill where a smooth drift is preferred to absolute grip. And when running slaloms shaped wheels, running a higher duro that 81a is very popular since the shape is already grippy, a higher duro (83-84a) is often preferred so that you still can have a smooth drift as well as faster roll speed. 75a for downhill is too soft imo unless the road condition is absolutely terrible or on a wheelwith a large core and little urethane depth (flywheel for rexample)

good thread though

[gavmck]

Yeah I'll agree with you there Pat, personally I prefer I nice smooth drifting wheel, this is really directed at the n00bs who aren't sure what to get for their first setup in that discipline so they don't really know what they want out of it. The idea is to give a basic guide, which, if you follow it, should provide a setup guide that will work and explain why.

Sure these setups might not be the BEST for everything, but I'm hoping it will aid questions like "Are bigzigs good for downhill?" that seem all too common round here. If you follow the guide (with no prior knowledge) you should at least get a relatively decent setup out of it with option to customise later for things like "I would like to drift a bit smoother". It's all very general, the majority of people seem to go for the hard lipped wheels for downhill, so that's what I suggested.

[Pat S]

IMO, Driftier wheels are easier to learn how to safety slide and drift on so I'd say they are a better and safer choice for new riders. They aren't going to be railing turns in a tuck anyways so its better to start with a drifty wheel like gumballs or grippins and move on to a super grippy wheel (bigzigs, monster hawgs, superballs)in my opinion. Otherwise you're going to have tons of people asking "why cant i get my pink bigzigs to slide?" It's easier to learn to slide and drift at lower speeds with drifty wheels which makes it much less painful when they do fall trying to slide.

I think something like"Any wheel made my a reputable company between 70 and 85 mm and in duro of 78-83a" is better. But it's your thread so do what you want.

[gavmck]

Ah bugger, I just went to edit it, but it's too late, I've been locked out!
You're right, I had some grippy wheels but couldn't learn pendys on them for the life of me so I switched out to some nice slippy kryptos. The problem is all the kids who seem set on bigzigs/orangatangs/whatevs from the start so they don't have any interest in something slippier.

Want to drift? Get rounded edge wheels
Want to stick? Get hard edge wheels

BAM!

[***TWITCH***]

I ride a set of kryptos on one of dh boards and a set of zigs on my other. I like the difference in riding the two.

[coldwar7]

Wow gotta say this is a huge help. I'm a noob that hasn't any of those dumb threads yet. I've been doing my homework on it and this is probably tied at the top for most helpful thread I've found. Thanks a ton!

[gavmck]

Bump to the top to help teh n00bs

[PurrCrabs]

This is a great thread, sticky it!
Not much use to me personally... but full of info!
Good job gavmck

Also, about carving: Personally I like a very soft bushing with a lot of rebound. I haven't experimented too much, but I find that very soft Venom standards or Downhill are a nicer ride than the Super Carves. More 'thane, more rebound, more kick out of them turns.

[rosewood thief]

i have a legendary dragon for dancing with orangotang in heats, randall R-II's and ninja bearings, its the most perfect setup, its also a great cruiser