pavedwave distance skateboarding

LDPanda · Joined: 21 Nov 2008 Posts: 484 Location: Seattle, WA

Every once in a rare while I make an upgrade that totally changes the game for me. Changing to the Pulse, upgrading to the airflow, changing to softer bushings in the rear, and now the spherical Bennett. I received this yesterday from Curt C. of ISSA forums and put 36 miles on it after work. The most obvious change is the elimination of the infamous bennett dive, instead the truck slashes back and forth more like a radikal. Rather than the board tilting into the turn, the deck feels like it stays flat to the ground while the truck does all the turning, somewhat like a caster wheel. Futhermore, the truck is now incredibly responsive, if a fly lands on the deck the board twitches. This fantastic responsiveness makes hill climbs a breeze. I never even got close to wheel bite, i defenitely feel confident on this truck.
While its a pretty awesome truck, its not without some drawbacks. The elimination of a pivot bushing in the front makes the deck feel noticeably stiffer. While this wouldnt neccessarily have to be a drawback (like if you already had a really flexy deck) but i already use a particular stiff deck and it felt uncomfortably firm on yesterday's ride. The incredible responsiveness did lead to some minor wobbles on big momma (a hill on my route) but i was able to easily pull out of them with a hard carve. Also, the truck seems to 'grab' a little earlier than i would like. That is, the return to center engages earlier in the turn than im used to. I didnt experiment a whole lot with bushing choices tho, so this might be solved that way. My main concern with sphericals has always been durability. Although i didnt notice any jingling or rattling on my ride yesterday (a good sign) I havent put enough miles on it to really make a fair judgement yet. I also felt pretty slow on my journey yesterday, but there are several factors that could have contributed to that so i dont want to blame that on the truck, i should probably do more experimentation with bushings and wait patiently for my new wheels ^_^

Overall, a very positive review for the spherical bennett and for Curt's workmanship. I especially like how he installed the new KP such that it can be removed easily, ill try to snap a shot of that later. For now ill use Curt's pic from the ad, hope he doesnt mind.

Update: A few more observations now that ive had a few days to play with this.

1. The sphericals entirely prevent wheelbite with 75mm wheels. This definitely makes me feel more confident, especially when experimenting with bushing combos.

2. The speed issue does seem to be related to bushings, Im trying some harder duro combinations and its getting better but theres still work to do. I almost wish the hangar was wider to raise the comfortable cruising speed. Right now it feels like too low a gear, great for hill climbing but kinda tough to maintain a good cruising pace.

3. The board stiffness issue is very real. I dont think Ill continue to use this truck for the burke-gilman trail but its nice for greenlake or the CRT. Great for the smooth stuff, kinda painful on the rough. When i get a flexier deck or softer wheels I might switch back to this one.

Update #2:

Ive gone back to my classic setup of bennett 4.3 with khiro bushings for now. The board stiffness along with the difficulty in finding the right bushing combo has gotten me discouraged with the spherical for now.

dmccoach · Joined: 07 Jul 2008 Posts: 41

See this older post for same topic (see page 2) -

http://pavedwave.myfastforum.org/about129.html

I did not replace the cup with a bearing and I find this a good compromise between better control and NOT losing flexibility (i.e. no stiffness) -

I do these myself with a 3/4 Spherical bearing from McMaster and some epoxy as my picture shows on page two...

IMHO, this is a huge control improvement for the Bennett front truck - the other (for me) is the reversed rear truck (in this case a tracker).

Suggestion - order the parts for a few bucks:

This is the part number for the spherical bearing 63195K14 from McMaster
http://www.mcmaster.com/

And Convert a 5.0 (not a 4.3) - better IMHO - I found the 4.3 too "tacky"

Again, JMHO

Link

LDPanda · Joined: 21 Nov 2008 Posts: 484 Location: Seattle, WA

I agree that the 4.3 with the spherical is a bit too technical feeling. It was amazing for hill climbs but i couldnt really get the flatland speed i wanted out of it becuase it would reverse direction too early in the turn. I think a 5.0 with a kingpin spherical and standard pivot is probably the best compromise between precision and comfort. I might mill down the pivot on the bennett just slightly tho to make it more ball shaped and allow for deeper turning (with the possibilty of wheel bite mitigated by the spherical)

Redline · Joined: 29 Aug 2008 Posts: 31 Location: S. Everett, WA

Whilst hunting for spares(washers, nuts & bolts) for my trucks at "ACE Hardware", I think I may have run across these there as well:

http://www.mcmaster.com/#63195k14/=38c5gn

They were a bit cheaper but the size may have not been quite the same. I will try & check again next time I go.