pavedwave longboarding

barefootboarder · Joined: 28 May 2008 Posts: 51 Location: England

Just wondering how often I should be swapping out my bushings for fresh ones? Do you guys change yours every couple of months? Every year on the 4th July? Before every big ride?

I've been riding my Mermaid on the same bushings for about 9 months and I'm about to change them for fresh ones and see if I can notice a difference.

What do you reckon, am I being too fussy? Laughing

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

In the past, ive run my bushings until they fall apart. More recently, ive been on an experimenting kick and wanted to try new things. Ive been switching around my bushing setups frequently trying to find something that works better than my blue/white/orange khiros up front and double red venoms in back. Today ill be putting some miles on blue/orange/white to see how that goes becuase i see many slalomers setting up their front with orange/white. Ive also been doing a lot of experimenting with softer bushings in the rear. I have been running on an 80a stim bottom, 90a venom top for a little while but it was getting away from me a bit on hard pumps. Today ill be testing 90a bottom and 85a top to see how that goes. Ive been liking a softer rear, its defenetly not as efficient at the top end of speed but where i usually cruise it has a nice plushy fun feel to it.

for the tl;dr crowd: i run my bushings until they fall apart OR until i feel like experimenting.

barefootboarder · Joined: 28 May 2008 Posts: 51 Location: England

That sounds very simple! Very Happy

But do you notice much of a drop-off of the bushings performance as they get close to falling apart? I suppose the urethane must degrade gradually and lose some of its rebound?

What's the tl;dr crowd? I'm not too hot with my techy talk! Rolling Eyes

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

tl;dr = too long; didnt read

I suppose older bushings do give a little less rebound but they also seem to turn easier so i guess its a trade off. The point where i notice a real dip in performance is when my white khiros get small 'rips' or 'tears' in them. At that point (usually several hundred miles) I replace them.

I tried switching the orange and white so that white was on top, unfortunately it was destroyed within the first few miles. I tried some other front combos but the best ive found is still B/W/O. The rear with red/yellow venoms in the back felt really nice though. With the ultra coming up fast im pretty close to settled with the bushing setup changes.