pavedwave longboarding

stocago · Joined: 14 Apr 2008 Posts: 227

Hey, thanks for that tip. I'll have to try that.

I most recently tried an orange barrel bottom and lemon barrel top with cupped washers on a Bennett and they held up fine for one ride. I'm mostly concerned about the bottom one, but hopefully with that duro it'll be fine.

egret · Joined: 18 Jun 2008 Posts: 84

Got some from Sk8Kings and they are impressive. On virage front I asked for a trim and spherical scooping. I'm 170 lbs and have settled on orange+ barrel bottom, top orange with lime barrel top. I like them. 40 miles so far and they look good. Powerful pumps and they hold nicely at speed (15 to 20 for me).

On the bennett 6.0 I'm using lemon barrel bottom with cupped washer and white khiro sliver, top orange. only about 12 miles on these. I had been looking for something inbetween orange and blue khiro and these are just that. I hope they stay in production.

stocago · Joined: 14 Apr 2008 Posts: 227

It's been almost a month and I haven't torn or blown apart any of my new abec11 bushings. I've been monitoring them closely and flipping them after every ride, which can't hurt. If they turn out to be nearly as durable as khiros that would be sweet.

Has anyone tried one of the tall cones in the bottom position on the Bennett? It's the shape of the khiro barrel/small cone combo. I only got one in the 92a duro, but it's great for return to center and straightaway speed. I'm using a pink barrel top, with cupped washer top and bottom. I tend to prefer harder bushings than most on the bottom, so your results may vary!

LDPanda · Joined: 21 Nov 2008 Posts: 418 Location: Seattle, WA

Well, i should probably take back everything negative ive said about abec bushings. Im now running almost completely abec all around. Im using two 89a barrels in back and a pink tall cone top in front with a 74a barrel (glued to a sliver of an orange khiro cone) on bottom. After splitting 90a venoms over and over again (both paris and venom pours in both barrels and eliminators) i finally made the decision to switch over to abecs. They are at least as durable as khiros with quite a bit more rebound. But shhhh, dont tell anyone, i want to hoard these before chaput takes them away from us Rolling Eyes

Moddos · Joined: 06 May 2009 Posts: 14 Location: Europe

Reading about all this has me a little excited Smile

I'm looking for ways to make my board feel a little more "alive" again after it doesn't seem to have the original reboundy-feeling while pumping (I can still keep the pump going, but it feels like I actively initiate both turns, whereas previously I'd get some energy back at the end of each pump).

I'm not yet sure why this is, it might be the wheels (I'm waiting for a set of new O'tangs, using Avilas now), but I feel I should try swapping out bushings -- I've been using the same OWO set all along (cone+barrel glued together).

Since I've managed to run out of white replacement barrels (trimmed one where I shouldn't have, and the other is superglued to a white cone, and I can't get the glue off..), I'm thinking of trying abec bushings.

Trying new bushings is cheaper and less work-intensive than trying Virage trucks, though I'd love to do that some time in the future. I also lack the tools (and confidence) to modify the truck/kingpin, though that sounds very interesting too.

Which ABEC bushings (shape+duro) should I go for if I'm mainly looking to replace the OWO front set? I'm using Khiros in the back (red and yellow), I've not really changed those much, but if it makes a difference I'm happy to replace the back bushings too.
I'm using a stock Bennett 5.0 front truck, without anything to prevent bushing wear, will that be a problem? The threading has eaten into my orange barrel quite a bit, but it didn't look like a problem yet (I might be wrong).

Shipping (to Europe) is probably more expensive than the bushings themselves, so it's a lot cheaper to buy a few too many than to get the wrong ones and wait for a second shipment Smile

Thanks for any tips!

LDPanda · Joined: 21 Nov 2008 Posts: 418 Location: Seattle, WA

OWO is pretty simmilar to what i was running before switching to abecs. Id say pick up some 74a green barells, some 77a tall cones, some 89a or 92a barells (for the rear) and possibly one or two 77a short cones (to shim up the green barells in front, i use a trimmed orange khiro cone for this purpose but i imagine the 77a pink short cone would work well too). In front, a shimmed up green barell with a pink tall cone on top is by far the bounciest combo ive found. In the rear, i found the 92a to be a bit to hard and caused some sliding problems for me but they were still very bouncy. I preferred the feel of two 89a barells.

One great tip i got from this thread was to rub the bushings on your griptape for a second to remove some of the mold shine and 'greasy' feel that they come with. That helped a lot with the slippage problems i was having.

As for bushing life, if you cant replace the kingpin (which you should, imo) it would be wise to at least clean up the bushing seats on the hangar with a dremel tool. Theyre cheap (<$100) and youll use them all the time, polishing up the bushing seats and pivot points, trimming down hardware, routing out wheel wells, etc.

Little Bob · Joined: 26 Jun 2009 Posts: 19

LDPanda · Joined: 21 Nov 2008 Posts: 418 Location: Seattle, WA

There you go Smile

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Little Bob · Joined: 26 Jun 2009 Posts: 19

Thanks LDPanda, much appreciated - I'm going to order a load of reflex bushings and give them a try.

I'll try this combo up front and a pair of 89a barrels on the rear tracker.

What kind of weight are you? - I'm 168lbs and use Khiro red & yellow barrels at the back with WOB on the front Bennett, looking to try something new to improve things if I can.

How are your reflex bushings holding up?

Do you think they will as durable as Khiro's?

Little Bob · Joined: 26 Jun 2009 Posts: 19

Thanks LDPanda, much appreciated - I'm going to order a load of reflex bushings and give them a try.

I'll try this combo up front and a pair of 89a barrels on the rear tracker.

What kind of weight are you? - I'm 168lbs and use Khiro red & yellow barrels at the back with WOB on the front Bennett, looking to try something new to improve things if I can.

How are your reflex bushings holding up?

Do you think they will as durable as Khiro's?