Been on the AF1s for a few weeks now and figured it’s been long enough to share my experience. It’s largely been the same as what everyone else has said, but I’ll share anyway.
Manufacturing quality is definitely a lot better. Quality was my biggest complaint with the classics. The new metal is harder and seems more durable. No initial quality complaints. My last set of classics had the axle off center on both trucks, so one wheel would go on fine with a few threads showing while the other side would be a quarter turn past finger tight before the wheel wouldn’t spin. Plenty of thread on each side here.
For the break in process, I left them factory tight and rocked back and forth on them for about 20 minutes. They started to firm up, then I tightened them a quarter turn and rocked them again for about 10 minutes. They felt pretty good after this.
Took them to the park and everything was great. Really nice grind, especially on the shitty old pool coping that my classics would stick on. After scratching them up a bit I did notice they didn’t grind as well on metal as they did earlier when they were brand new. They still grind well, but the classics are better on metal. AF1s are definitely superior on pool coping.
About an hour in to the first session I noticed the clicking noise and the grease coming out of the pivots. Annoying but not a deal breaker.
After a few sessions on them they felt broken in enough to ride the vert ramp (13.5 ft). They were really sketchy here. I normally ride the stock Ace bushings until they stop turning as well, but these feel way less stable than the classics. I think the softer pivot cup is the culprit. FWIW, I’m 175 lbs so I might just be heavier than the average Ace rider.
This morning I swapped the stock bottom bushings for the Krux bushings I had in my classics. After the swap they were way more stable while keeping the tight turn. The clicking finally went away today, not sure if it’s from the bushing swap or just coincidence.
I think it’s been said before, but the pivot cups are also deeper than the classics. I tried swapping them but it threw off the geometry.
My final take is that if you’re already riding Ace, you’re not missing out on much, but when it’s time to get new trucks, the AF1s will not disappoint.