For somebody who likes to switch from 8” to 8.18”, and rarely 8.25”, will Venture 5.2’s get it done? I’m starting to skate more again, and I just put 5.2 highs on my FA 8.18, and it looks kind of sunk. I’m thinking I need that newer in between size, and these 5.2’s just for 8”.
Growing up I skated 7.62-7.75 with 5.0 lows, and never questioned anything else, and knew Indy’s weren’t for me.
The 8" (5.2) up to 8.25" (5.6) truck is probably the smallest increment in size change and when I did it with my trucks a number of years ago now, I could feel the slightly wider axle but it was not a problem.
The best way to check / look at it on your existing board with the 5.2 trucks is sit the wheels on about 2 - 3 mm out further on each side, eg take the axle nuts off and just bring the wheels out to look at while still on the axles or even just have the axle nuts only just on, so you can see where they sit. *** Don't skate it like that, just look at it.
If that looks like it will work for you, then the 5.6 trucks should be good, but if it looks like it sits out too far, then stick with what you have in the 5.2 size.
I used to add 3 washers to the inside, none outside anyway, as I was always riding the 139s (5.2 width) on 8.12 and 8.18 sized boards for a long time, so the truck and wheel still sat under but was not as much as with only one washer on the inside.
When the 144s (5.6) sized trucks came out in 2017, I didn't need to have so many washers on the inside and it still skated really well on the usual 8.12 and 8.18 boards.
That is just me though and I know others who stayed with the 8" trucks as that was what they were used to, muscle memory being a funny thing like that.
At least if you did get a set of the 5.6 trucks, you could run two setups if needed, the 8" with 5.2 and 8.18 with 5.6, depending on what you were feeling.
I like options like that, but in the end it is up to you really.