Tried out some 44 AF1's today and after carefully watching this thread I was pleasantly surprised. I'm coming off of venture 5.6's and when i put them up to each other the aces hanger was slightly shorter than the ventures, even accounting for the coned or "faced" hanger there was a little extra hanger on the venture's, nothing too serious but just annoyed me that they wern't the same.
Turn: The stock tightness is very loose as other have said, I did a full turn tighter and after an hour or so they started to stiffen up and feel more broken in. The turn is good, having not skated aces in years it took a second to get used to the deep carve you can get once you reach a certain point, but up until that point it feels pretty stable and comfortable. only skated for a few hours so we will see how the really break in.
Grind: Noticed no issues with the grind like others are saying, it felt fast honestly but my other trucks were pretty beat. I slappied a few painted curbs and grinded a marble bench a few times and I had no issues at all.
Pop: The wheelbase is smaller than venture's i believe so the pop felt a bit more responsive but not as snappy as venture, which was the selling point that got me on v's in the first place. I could still get my flip tricks up to the same height but just feels different of course. Tre flips felt great.
Pivot cup: feels good, no issues with mushing or squeaking like others have said, although i could see some lube that was coming out of it, which leads me to my next point
Sound!: My only complaint, what the fuck is up with the way they sound. It felt like i had water in my ears, its like new bearings but even worse. I'm assuming it has to be from the grease in the pivot cup, I really hope it goes away. It's really similar to the dead sound of new bearings but at least it doesnt make your board feel dead.
Overall I really enjoyed them, ace's wheelbase had always kept me away but hearing they got SLIGHTLY extended sold me enough to give them a shot. We'll see how I feel after two weeks.