pavedwave longboarding

jose · Joined: 14 May 2009 Posts: 7

Hello floggin. The mermaid looks like a nice board
Did you order the med flex ? at stoked skateboard ?

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

I got the soft Mermaid from Stoked and I've been very very happy with it (I'm only 125lbs, it might be too flexy if you're a lot above that).
With OWO front bushings (cone barrel barrel), I had to glue the cone and barrel together for a good fit, but that setup works really well for me. (I replaced the rear bushings too and added a bit of wedge in front for the extra height.)

pavedwave · Joined: 22 Oct 2007 Posts: 1120 Location: seattle wa usa

flogginmonty · Joined: 03 May 2009 Posts: 11

I weigh about 175 and bought the medium flex Mermaid.

Rode yesterday with stock bushings in both trucks (Bennett 5.0/Tracker). I generated a lot of speed by kicking a few times and then really pumping the board, flexing the deck to maintain speed. Switched the bushings out last night with blue cone, white barrel/orange barrel for Bennett and yellow barrel/red barrel for Tracker.

Today I jumped on the board, gave it a few kicks and started pumping, then about 50 feet down the road I ate asphalt. A severe case of wheel bite. I tried tightening down the bushings fairly tight, but I would still get wheel bite.

I was using 15* risers on front and 5* de wedging in the rear. I am running 75mm wheels.

I have switched to the following setup: I am using a thin rubber shock pad, 10+7+2 angled risers (a combination that Pavedwave said was "golden") combined with orange cone, white barrel bushings (super glued together)/blue cone bushing for the front truck. In the rear I have a thin rubber shock pad, 5+4+3 angled risers for a 12* de wedge with yellow barrel/red barrel.

It started raining so didn't get to try it out. I hope it works cause my elbow can't take too many more scrapes and bruises.

stocago · Joined: 14 Apr 2008 Posts: 227

Seems like you need an extra quarter-inch hard riser.

flogginmonty · Joined: 03 May 2009 Posts: 11

Thanks for the help.

Should I add that 1/4 riser to my original 15*/5* de wedge? Or add it to the new 19*/12* de wedge?

stocago · Joined: 14 Apr 2008 Posts: 227

Maybe just try it as is. If you were just using the large 15* before, adding an extra 1/8 or 1/4 would definitely help. But now since you've got 3 wedges it might give you just enough clearance. If your thin shock pad is only 1/8 inch, you could go up to 1/4 inch. I just don't like to cut it too close. A gentle nibble is okay, but no nasty bite!

Ian the Groove Worshipper · Joined: 03 Dec 2008 Posts: 79 Location: Largo, FL

I think that the suggested riser combos (and bushing recommendations for that matter) are all ideal choices for the Bennett 4.3. After all, this is JP's Bennett hangar of choice, and the Gear Page recommendations pertaining to Bennett setup have been based off of JP's extensive experience with the 4.3.

I've found that when using wider hangars, more riser is needed to avoid wheelbite. If you use the recommended riser combos on he Gear Page that are proven to work well with the 4.3, you will have wheelbite issues with wider hangars if you don't add more flat riser. For this reason, I've sent an email to Stoked suggesting that they take this into consideration when setting up their Mermaid Completes with hangars wider than the 4.3.

It becomes obvious when playing with different width hangars that narrower hangers offer the added benefit of a lower ride height, which seems important to some, and should probably weigh into their consideration of hangar width, accordingly.

Similarly, deviating from the 4.3 width will throw off the Gear Page bushing recommendations, as well. The wider the hanger, the more leverage there is on the bushings. Thus, the wider the hangar, the softer the bushings will feel. Therefore, the recommendations from the Gear page will probably feel too soft if you use a 5.0 or 6.0, so you'll probably want to bump up your bushing duros a step for each wider hangar selected.

pavedwave · Joined: 22 Oct 2007 Posts: 1120 Location: seattle wa usa

In reality I'm running 5.0's more than 4.3's lately. Especially after the couple intense months of riding only the Virage. I don't see a whole lot of difference in bushing squish between these two, so I pretty much just run the same bushings and risers (a super-squished orange Khiro cone bottom, white Khiro barrel middle, and red Carver CX bushing on top -- orange Khiro barrel on top is just as good and easier to order)

But I suspect that's because I use "more than ample" riser with the 4.3, so moving to the 5.0 doesn't require any change.

Where things really change for my setups is moving from 5.0 to 6.0... then I have to throw on a little more riser and I've found the need to replace the white Khiro barrel with an orange.

Good points to raise -- someday, the gear page might get an update Wink

flogginmonty · Joined: 03 May 2009 Posts: 11

I am a middle school PE teacher so I took my board into the gym and gave it a go. The setup I described in my previous post is perfect. It is a much different experience then Wednesday when I rode with stock bushings and 15*/5*. I can pump from a dead stop and get the board moving. I can also put both feet over the front truck and turn in fairly tight circle without any wheelbite. Can't wait to get on the trail. I also ordered a Bennett 4.3 and some soft angled risers to experiment with that. I noticed some of you guys live in Florida. I live in Orlando. We have an awesome trail system here. Give me a holler if you want to get together.