Newbie- Wobble

[skatardude10]

Hey guys, I am a total streetluge newbie. I can take a speedboard over 50mph just fine, but when it comes to a streetluge, there is something about it that freaks me out. It's nice and comfortable laying down and all- relaxing and FASSST. Everything is just great untill I start to wobble. I am using 50* baseplates with DH hangers on my woodie. The trucks are pretty tight... but I just don't know why I always wobble once I reach around 40mph. Did any of you guys have this problem when you first started out?

I know what to tinker on a longboard to make it do what I want, but I don't know where to start with a streetluge. Is it the weight? It weighs quite a bit... Could it be the 'longer than normal for a streetluge' wheelbase? I am still confused about how streetlugers can hit over 65mph with 60* baseplates, and not wobble! Gosh, somebody help me out...

Im going to go search on streetluge.net for a while to see if I can find anything else that might help.

[djackson]

I wondered that too. I run with 35 degree Randal DH trucks on one luge (no speed wobbles what so ever) and Independent 215's on the other (no speed wobbles) and not sure of Indy's degrees? I hear of wedging or risers, but I'm not one to answer the question...cant wait to see the answer though
Don J

www.geocities.com/djackson9504

[JetLuge]

I use 60 deg plates no prob. The first step to troubleshooting this is weight distribution testing and truck placement. When laying flat on the board. The front axle should be from mid point between knees and crotch (mid thigh) or toward your ass for shorter wheel base. Never Never infront of mid thigh. Then you need to weigh yourself and luge and add together. With someone elses help to hold you steady and read the bathroom scale you need to read the weight on the front wheels and then the rear. The distribution should be 60% up front and 40% in the rear. plus or minus no more than 6%.

To adjust: You set the front truck like I said.. (mid or behind mid thigh). then you move the rear truck in or out to balance the weight distribution.

Once this is set correctly we can go from there.



bob

[djackson]

Damn skatardude10 ya lucked out. You have Bob giving you advice! listen up son, he tought me too! Check out the 2nd page of my site. theres good sites to go to on there that I used. Whats up Bob? Got my new luge Bama style and it rocks! See ya
Don J

www.geocities.com/djackson9504

[skatardude10]

Hey Bob! Thank's for the help. I think you may have nailed the problem.

Here are some of the measurements:

weight:
Me- 153 lbs
luge- 20 lbs
Total- 173 lbs

Front wheels- 98lbs 56%
Rear wheels- 75 lbs 43%

The front truck's axle is far from mid thigh, it is a few inches past my knees.

[JetLuge]

yup sounds like you are laying on a hammock, blowing in the breeze. Send me a pict of you laying on the luge.. maybe we can tweak this thing remotely.

bob

[skatardude10]

Here you go

[I hate Cops.]

looking good dane. street luging in ur living room is always fun. top speed 4mph

[JetLuge]

from that angle it looks like your fronts are under your calf,,, waaaay to far forward. You must move it back as far as possible even of you have to shorten up the step transition. The plywood gussets were a good idea. Are they bolted or nailed? The gussets do most of the work. One suggestion I have is for you to use bigger washers or perhaps "T-nuts" for mounting to the pine 2x4's . The trucks are going to work on the bolts and will wear out the holes in the pine.

I like the shape of the board though.

bob

ps. It looks alot better than my first board.... here no one has ever seen this pict online... please laugh at it I do. 1995

[skatardude10]

!! Wow, that looks dangerous. Thanks for the compliments. I am going to move the front truck back as much as possible as you suggested. The gaussets are attached with wood screws. I noticed the mounting hardware is digging in deep, washers sound good.

[I hate Cops.]

my first street luge

[skatardude10]

Ok... I made the changes to the streetluge. My body now sits much further up on the platform. I also made a nifty head rest that works just right. The front axle is mid thigh now... but I re-weighed myself and I got about 30% - 33% on the rear truck, and about 67 - 70%

If it does happen to be 30% rear and 70% front... am I going to end up wrecking? I am planning on testing it on the parkway tommarow.

[JetLuge]

you should not wreck if you are careful. You will loose traction on the rear truck when turning. You now need to move the rear truck in until the distribution is right. you dont need to redrill holes until you find the spot.

go ride but dont count on turning anything sharp. wtihout a rear slideout till you fix it.


bob

[sean c]

my first luge from 1999. my front trucks were also too far forward

sean

[*SWEET*]

A good wheelbase for a luge is about 110cm...
Your back truck should be right under your head and well just add 110cm to that to know where to put the front truck...
Concerning the wobble thing well... Ride it with indys or Randals 180 and it will be perfect setup...
I've hitten quite high speeds on indys when i first started luge and they are really good..
Cut your pegs too... they are useless
Just don't think to much about setings and stuffs.... it's just a luge... R2 baseplates in front and in back is good..
I've hitten speeds way over 100km/h with mine and I ride normal R2 with stock bushings on it....


Good luck with it

[*SWEET*]

here are 2 pics of me riding my luge... I don't have pegs anymore now...
These pics is about 1 year old

[I hate Cops.]

is there an advantage to not haveing foot pegs?

[aaaaaaagh]

dont your legs get super tired from being suspended off the board for minutes at a time.

[skatardude10]

Thanks bob! Everything works great now! I went over 45 mph the other day completely wobble free!

dont your legs get super tired from being suspended off the board for minutes at a time.

No! Wow! I must say that it feels, and looks soo much better! As long as you have somewhere for your thighs to rest, all you have to hold up is your feet and lower legs. I cut off my pegs after I took bob's advice. Bob's advice made a HUGE improvement, but it seems to me that my board is even more stable now without the footpegs.

It's also MUCH easier to take through turns too. For example, I used to have to sit up a tad to take turns, and I would always have to re-adjust after I layed back down. Though without pegs, it makes things much easier. I don't have to sit up at all, I don't have to re-adjust, my legs don't get tiered now that I have somewhere for my thighs to rest. To turn, all I have to do is move my feet side to side by a few inches and I will drift side to side to take turns.

Here are some pictures.

[I hate Cops.]

pretty sweet dane. but i have to disagree with u on the looks part