Virage Slalom Trucks

[stridey]

Now doing a production run of the Virage rear slalom trucks, the Virage Trucks microsite is up and running at: Virage Trucks

And in the spirit of giving Silverfishers and edge on any deals, we would include Venom bushings free with truck orders, just let me know you heard of them here.

more trucks as we develop them.....and thanks for the input on the main thread in trucks, which has helped to develop these more than a little.

Michael

[mellowkat]

Cut down some KPs too, too much thread on stock bolts.
Nice site, neat trucks.

[Ogre]

Nice work Michael.. and good pics of the assemblies are left hand threaded nuts hard to find and are they metric?

[gabriel[abc]]

woudlnt it have to be metric in order to fit bearings anyway?

very nice work btw!

i really like the idea of reverse axle assembly

[TwinTown Skater]

Very nice work. But an old fart like me will never remember which thread is which. In all seriousness, it looks to be just about bulletproof. Which is a very very good thing.

Is 104 MM with spacers inside the wheels? If so, what is the minimum track?

[stridey]

mellowkat wrote:

Cut down some KPs too

Well spotted! The production kingpin is actually 1/4" shorter than pictured. (I didnt have a shorter one to hand at the workshop). As for thread remaining, I do see some people see the down side sticky out kingpin being that they 'may' chew the inside of the bushing. Rather than offer custom kingpins I feel standard, easily sourceable (Khiro do them) ones are absolutely fine. But If I find a long kingpin that I can cut down to reduce thread within a bushing I'll offer it as an option.

Ogre wrote:

are left hand threaded nuts hard to find and are they metric?

The left handed nuts were reasonably hard to source, and luckily I found a source in the UK. They cost 20 times that of right hand nuts. Approx $2. They are designed for the 8mm custom axles and for the machinist to do both threads is no extra in machine time. If you choose the 'off the shelf' bolts you don't get the Lh/Rh threads (unless you can point me to a good source - please!). In testing we did not have any threads work loose with regular threaded bolts, BUT obviously over time, or rare conditions the potential is there, similar to regular trucks (except our axles have the potential to rotate so there is a subtle difference) . Having said that there is a 5mm length PAST the nut to really minimise any chance of failure on standard bolts. The hanger will be subtly marked as to which side the special nut/bolt should go. I think that the custom machined axles are best with Lh/Rh threads as in real terms at that level $2 for the nut is a small price to pay for a clean, simple solution that mimics a solution found on some high end cars.

Gabriel [ABC] wrote:

woudlnt it have to be metric in order to fit bearings anyway?

The machined 8mm axles are in fact ever so slightly under, so as to allow the metric 608 bearings to slip on and off, but with minimal slop. Measuring of the shelf bolts at M8 size there is more lee-way in sizing. Whilst the hanger holes are designed for the custom axles with a good fit, you can get away with ever so slightly smaller axles as all the slop is taken up when the nuts are tightened. An off the shelf axle wont have the built in speedring, but as an option an off the shelf bolt 'should' be a better bearing seat than an imperial axle, as the bearings are held on smooth axle and spacing is limited to one speed ring under the head of the bolt.

TwinTown Skater wrote:

But an old fart like me will never remember which thread is which

The hanger will be marked on all hangers. The nut has a different coloured nyloc and is ever so slightly different to the standard nut, but not obviously so. Id have to say that if you are the type to lose nuts I'd order a spare. In testing its funny how odd it is tightening a reverse thread...you wont forget in a hurry.

Is 104 MM with spacers inside the wheels? If so, what is the minimum track?

The 104mm is the minimum. That IS the width of the hanger INCLUDING the inbuilt speed rings. I did test a longer axle, with spacers and it was successful but in all honesty for slalom racing even on GS a wider track isnt really needed with precision trucks. I'm not sure I understand what your asking, but these are designed for wheels that use 10mm wide spacers.

What we are developing is a wider hanger and longer axles for LDP.

[GPymp]

I have ordered my Virage truck. Have you ordered yours?

[EBasil]

What's the schedule for delivery to customers?

[stridey]

Ebasil wrote:

What's the schedule for delivery to customers?

FIRST line on the website, if you care to look: 'RAW' version release date 1st March 2009. To pre-order in the first batch of trucks at our special introductory price please purchase below. They will be sent out on or before the 1st March. Virage Trucks

And as we recently sent some GOGs out to an address in Denver that were ordered 10am US time and arrived NEXT day by 9.30 AM I hope we can keep to that. The world spins in our favour.

Some baseplates were made on Friday. More work this week.

My machine shop likes a two week time frame on orders to be able to fit around other work. And I do need to order in batches to keep costs down -as far as is possible with CNC'd trucks that is....

[Belegnole]

Well it's a good looking truck I wish you well with it. I happen to be setting up a LDP deck this spring and will await your LDP truck...

[stridey]

Would anyone know someone in the US who could copy them, cheaper?

[stridey]

LDP truck...

In this batch of trucks we are including a wider LDP orientated width truck to test, along with a wider front truck (which we are testing the narrower version for slalom right now)..

I have arranged for someone in the US to give them a shakedown for LDP'ing. IF and WHEN they test OK there, and here in the UK we shall release those too.

[EBasil]

Would anyone know someone in the US who could copy them, cheaper?

Did you get any orders from Orlando? Is it worth it to bait him?

[stridey]

Is it worth it to bait him?

No. But realistically what could we do anyway.

As for Florida..only one order so far. Its a Mickey Mouse operation though.

[Belegnole]

[Shakes head .......waits for testing to complete, and thinks about getting a much bigger fire extinguisher.]

I shall await with baited breath the results from "someone in the US" who's name would be on a short list....lol

[jspats40]

thats a funky lookin truck. lol

[stridey]

A couple of pics of the 60 degree FRONT truck, which I'm testing. We added 5mm 'lift' to the truck as when you tilt/wedge a standard truck you add a little bit of height. These are designed so you can minimise riser use, I like a little bit of riser as a 'shockpad'....

Also, by tilting to 60 degrees you lengthen the area where the kingpin passes through the hanger, which adds strength and stiffness.

[stridey]

A picture is worth 1000 words. Or $1000 bucks....

[dirtdynamics]

oh my goodness gracious me..

if there is a such a thing as a skate related orgasm then this is my pron.

I wants need to get into slalom

[EBasil]

Cool pics! Are all those spoken for?