many breeds of pool skaters

[mjswider]

Warning, long and rambling post, enter at your own risk.

OK, so last December I got my first park/pool setup with the hope of becoming a park skater. The coolest thing I see in skating parks is the pools and such, to just flow around the park. As I have watch folks do this in my park, I see them doing it on lots of different setups. I have finally realized that it is not so much the setup, it is the rider. I think the setup is just personal preference.

So back to my skating experiences, I got the powell board in my sig. I like it, but I just never could get it to flow around the park. Seemed slow and hard to turn. Tried softer bushings, thought I would fall off doing stuff in the half pipe, too squirly. Rode a dozen or more sessions in the park, and just did not seem to be making a lot of progress in terms of bowl riding and just flowing around the park. So my session frequency dropped.

Lately I have been hitting the park again and sharing time between my Powell and my Loaded pintail. I love the way I can flow around the park on my pintail! I can take it into the bowl and carve it up. But because it has no kicktail and is a bit long for a lot of the drop in transistions, it limits me a bit in the park. So I've been using both boards during my sessions. My Powell is used for half pipe and sharp transistion stuff, the Loaded for just flowing. I've been wanting to combine the best of both.

Last night, I saw a guy riding a board with softer wheels, and very manuverable, on a Powell deck. I watched him awhile and envied him as we did just exactly what I've been wanting to do in the park. So I checked out his setup (should have rode it, not sure why I didn't) and asked him about it. He did not know what kind of trucks he has, but said he put in the softest bushing he could find and just ed them down to keep the trucks from being shaky at speed.

I happened to bring a bunch of bushings to the park last night, and so I popped in some white Khiros in front, and orange in back and gave it a shot on my Powell. I really liked the way the I could carve through the bowl, but still manuever with my kicktail. I was a bit concerned about wheel bite, I really had to the front trucks down to avoid it. I did not get to ride long as it was getting dark.

So, here is the question part. Looking for either bushing recommendations for my Indy 169s to get some more carve but not wheelbite. I'm thinking of putting my Randall 180's on my Powell board to help get the wheels out a bit and reduce my chance of wheel bite. If I go this way, any bushing recommendations other than the standard yellows, which I love on my pintail? any other recommendations for the sort of park board I am looking for?

Many thanks!!

PS, I'm leaving in an hour to go back packing for the weekend, won't get to see any responses until Monday, but keep them coming.

[stringtheory]

Not sure how much you weigh, I weigh 190. I use Bones Hardcore mediums (yellow cap). They are plenty soft for me. Though if they aren't soft enough for you, you can always go to the soft ones (blue cap).

[mjswider]

Not sure how much you weigh, I weigh 190. I use Bones mediums (yellow cap). They are plenty soft for me. Though if they aren't soft enough for you, you can always go to the soft ones (blue cap).

Thanks for the quick response.

I weigh about 160. I realized I had forgotten to post what my existing bushing setup was. I had played around with bones s, what I took off my board yesterday was the blues in the back, and Randall yellow bushings () in the front. That was not turny enough for me.

PS, I love the skate park somewhere in north Jersey with the Pirate Bowl, that place rocks!

[stringtheory]

You also may want to try some really soft Venoms on the bottom and Bones on top then. I've had some luck with a Venom Barrel shape bottom with a soft bones top bushing.

GardenSk8 in Pinebrook! Great spot! Cool peoples.

[Stupendous Man]

Ive had some good luck with yellow Venom Barrel's bottom/Bones blue top too. My preference for a park/pool truck is Trackers, as they just feel better to me. I really like there style of turn and I can run them lower and still avoid wheelbite. I have Indy's too, but I always feel like I have a hard time getting them loose enough without getting massive wheelbite, without having to add alot of riser, or going to a much harder bushing to limit the depth of turn. I have had luck with Indy's in a couple other setups and have found Tracker Stimulator's to work well with Indy's. The Venom Eliminator's would also work equally as well, and are much less $. Tracker Hourglass bottom, and a bones blue top is also a nice combo Ive had great luck with in Tracker Darts.

I put in my setups below to help give you some new idea's for other random combinations to try if your still experimenting. For reference I weigh about 180

Good luck man,
Michael

Top two are my favorites and are dialed in perfect for me for park/bowl riding.

Skaterbuilt Ground Hog III - Tracker 184's- (+5 dg wedge front-Venom Yellow Barrel bottom/Bones yellow top) (back-Bones Yellows top and bottom) Abec 11 Invertz in Park Plus

Skaterbuilt Skatercult II (Now called Tim Metz Pro Model) - Tracker 184's (+5 dg wedge front- Tracker B2 stock barrel bottom/Bones yellow Top) (back- I think Bone's yellows, but not certain off hand) 64mm BDS Dub Cons in black 90a thane

Skaterbuilt Trim Delux - Indy 215's - (front - Khiro black barrel bottom/yellow cone top) (back-Khiro Purple bottom, khiro black cone top) Abec 11 NoSkoolz in 96a . Im still not 100% about this setup and will probably try some randal's or something in this to try to liven it up more

Earthwing 35.5 Drifter - Indy 169's - Khiro Black barrel's bottom/Yellow cone's tops for front and back with Slida's

[mjswider]

Wow Stupendous Man, great reply. thanks for taking the time to put all that info down. Now that I'm back, it's time to start experimenting.

[Moa19]

Wow Stupendous Man, great reply. thanks for taking the time to put all that info down. Now that I'm back, it's time to start experimenting.

I have the Groundhog III as well set up with Indys and bones medium bushings. Very turny with the trucks snapping back into position in no time. Best bushings I've tried so far - better than Khiros IMO, but I haven't tried venoms. No wheelbite issues- I have bones spfs 60mm and a 1/4 coupled with a 1/8 riser. The groundhog has so much concave that I probably wouldn't need the extra 1/8 riser.

[Terrorsathan]

I see your riding Bones DTF' s on that board? Try something like No Skoolz or Spitfire Classic 80D

I think you indy's with a nice 1/2'' riser would be perfect. Oh, or some nice fat soft Rainskates.

[mjswider]

I see your riding Bones DTF' s on that board? Try something like No Skoolz or Spitfire Classic 80D

I think you indy's with a nice 1/2'' riser would be perfect. Oh, or some nice fat soft Rainskates.

I would like to put some softer wheels on this board for sure. thanks for the recommendations.

[Stupendous Man]

No trouble about all the info, just want to help you figure this out.

I dont know how tall you are, so this may not be an issue, but I checked out the spec's on your board, and the trouble your having might have to do with the shorter wheelbase. (9.5" x 32.75" + 14.625" WB, 7.125" N and 6.75" T). I started with something really similar to this when I started transition and was going through the same exact thing's now that I think back to it. I got a SantaCruz reissue with almost the same dimensions as your's, but a little narrower. I was ok with the width, even though I wanted a little wider, but the 32.75" overall length, and 14.5" wheelbase was killing me. I got the Skatercult II which is 10.0 x33.5/16.5 wb and everything clicked. The BDS wheels I have on there are absolutely stellar. They have the grip I needed for learning without killing myself by sliding out all the time and are hard enough to still carry plenty of speed, which means I can still really Carve and pump on this board like I could with my Motion Hybrid (imagine your pintail, but with a fuller back end, camber, and a gradual/rounded kicktail)
The extra wheelbase really changed alot of things for me. Especially since I was coming from only longboards, and appreciated a wider stance.

Just something else to consider

[Stupendous Man]

I should probably also say that my Santa Cruz was an Eric Dressen Powerply reissue, set up with Tracker 149 darts, and the BDS dub cons I have been referencing. I just couldnt get this thing to work right for me cause of the wheelbase. It turned well enough and everything due to the bushings and wheels, I just always felt cramped and couldnt ride or pump the board the way I wanted to.

[mjswider]

thanks stupendous man. I would have guessed my decked has a longer wheelbase that 14.5, but I've never actually looked into it. When I bought it I thought it looked like the right style. I definately like riding the longer wheelbase of my pintail, the main drawbacks are it's really too long for lots of the park, and no kicktail.

I'm crazy busy with life right now, but when I come up for air and get to experiment a bit more I'll post back on here and let you know how it all shook out.

[ollie]

I would also suggest bones,but you say you already tried that. Maybe try a bones bottom with a softer khiro top. Its all personal preference.

I see your riding Bones DTF' s on that board? Try something like No Skoolz or Spitfire Classic 80D.

why?

[Stupendous Man]

Mega Bump...I can't believe I found this thread after all this time.

Any luck dialing in your ride/technique over the summer?

[CRASS]

im about 200 and i LOVE blue hardcores in my indys. tons of flow

[mjswider]

I've not invested in a new setup. Only been to our skate park maybe 3 times since I started this thread, no way to get better without practicing. I still prefer riding my loaded pintail in the park for the most part. I'm hoping to get to a very nice park here in San Diego where I'm vacationing and take both boards to try them out in a pool. I'll let you know how it goes.

[mjswider]

im about 200 and i LOVE blue hardcores in my indys. tons of flow

I"m only about 160. I think I have blues in the back, I'm gone go between yellows in the front and a orange/white khiro combo.

[prettynoiselab]

I've not invested in a new setup. Only been to our skate park maybe 3 times since I started this thread, no way to get better without practicing. I still prefer riding my loaded pintail in the park for the most part. I'm hoping to get to a very nice park here in San Diego where I'm vacationing and take both boards to try them out in a pool. I'll let you know how it goes.

How long are you here for. I can bring a couple of different setups and a few different sets of wheels to try out. Normally I skate the Encinitas Y but Coronado is a great place to get your roll on. Easy to skate on all levels. Hit me up.

[mjswider]

thanks for the offer, PM sent.

[WillJ]

just an fyi... WIDER TRUCKS DO NOT REDUCE THE CHANCE OF WHEELBITE, especially on a pool deck