thinking of sizing down to 8.25 and getting a thunders, but is 14.25 WB going to be a a hindrance? i just want to ollie right, once again. tried a friend's setup but his was 14" WB, it felt great to ollie, but the market now sooo saturated with 14.25" WB decks. just wanna see other's thought.
The two main things are (1) 8.25 with 14.25 is a very common size and I know any number of people with Thunder trucks on that board size / wb so you wouldn't be the only one there, by a mile, and (2) any board shape and different trucks might feel a bit weird at first, but once you get used to it, you will most likely think nothing of it.
There are other boards, including 8.25s with 14, 14.1, 14.2, 14.25, 14.3, 14.38 wheelbases all with people riding Thunders on them, as well as other trucks too, so although it might feel easier doing things on an 8.25 with 14.0 wb, most people can adjust in time to the other options.
I have a few set up and mostly 148 hangers on both cast and forged baseplates, usually with smaller wheels, but it is surprising some of the combinations that do work, that I might not have thought would be so good, but I have been experimenting a lot more since the Thunder inverted kingpin option came out too, even if I would have often had other trucks on these boards.
More mellow kicks on longer wheelbases seem to be the thing for me, or steeper kicks on short wheelbases also work well, when I have lower trucks too, but all I needed to adjust was how much lower I got to ollie on Thunders, which then made it quite easy to get a decent and comfortable pop.
What trucks are you on or what is your current setup at the moment?