Board and Truck Width combos

[foureyedjim]

Just recently sized way up on my trucks while keeping my board width the same.
Rocking an 8.5 with Indy 169's (with the OG racist cross on the baseplates lol) after hearing Alexis from sk8mafia did the same.  My buddy is running 8.25 with 159's and told me crooks feel good and overall it feels really stable.

Anyone have other interesting combos and why you run it that way?

[RottenToTheCore]

Just recently sized way up on my trucks while keeping my board width the same.
Rocking an 8.5 with Indy 169's (with the OG racist cross on the baseplates lol) after hearing Alexis from sk8mafia did the same.  My buddy is running 8.25 with 159's and told me crooks feel good and overall it feels really stable.

Anyone have other interesting combos and why you run it that way?

I dont run it but 8.5 + 159 is pretty common for transition

[foureyedjim]

Makes sense.  I love wider trucks for transition for the cross locked 5050's. 

[Mantracker]

I ride 8.5 with Ace 44 classics. Kinda wish I had a bit bigger

[CannerSpaghetti]

Usually ride 8.5 with Indy 149 like a fucking square.

Just got an 8.38 and using the same 149s and it's rad I guess.

[Xen]

8.25/44s/149s, did the 8.6” with 159s for a bit, then an 8.625 with 161s, that’s as monster truck as I go.

[Mean salto]

Normally have boring 7.75 with 129s and an 8.5 with 149s but sometimes I'll setup a big board 8.75+ with 129s. Reminds me of 2005 when I started riding wide boards but couldn't get wide trucks. It's just interesting you can make it flip pretty fast and I feel like it's really easy for slappys even tho it's the opposite of what every Slappy person says.

Probably some time around 2007 I had a 7.5 with 215s Total hot rod style. When skating transition you could do a pivot and press on the wheel with your heel like a brake. One time I was skating home with a bunch of groceries and while pushing pretty fast I kicked the back wheel and absolutely ate shit and my stuff went everywhere.

[cucktard]

Although I have no experience with anything under 8.75, maybe someone with more tech savvy than myself could just create an editable chart on google doc.

Every available boardwidth in descending rows, and then columns of every major truck manufacturer (and models, even)
Then people could fill in the appropriate truck sizes, and you could finally have a reference to answer 80% of the questions on the boards.

[FatGuy92]

I usually run trucks one size bigger than board size. So 7.75 with 8.0 trucks. In the case of DLX, their 8.38s measure closer to 8.5 so I run 159s on that.

I'm thinking of doing the opposite to see how I like it in comparison.

[switchfrontshuv]

I used to skate 8 trucks on 8.25 decks but now I skate 8.5 trucks on 8.25 decks. Overall cant really find a difference other than more stability (duh) and space for pinching like I feel like I dont have to aim directly on the corner of the truck to lock in on a crook or something. Even for shit like fs 180 5-0 it kinda works better cuz I wont get fucked if I miss the ledge

Also drops feel a tad bit more stable in terms of having the board stick to my feet. Idk why.

either way the big trucks make the board feel kinda clunky sometimes (both in turning and overall feel). Im Considering stepping down to 8.125 decks/8.25 trucks cuz I wanna size down anyway

Was skating 149 thunders on an 8.125 this summer it was actually really fun for stairs, ledges (learned bs 180 nosegrind  cuz of this setup tbh) and flatground, but again it felt rather clunky sometimes. might be cuz they were thunders and dont give the same wheel-arc feel like Indies and aces (which would prob work better in a bigger size tbh)

[big_kev_215]

I usually like the stability for grinds and manuals having my trucks a little bigger than my board.  Ace 44s on an 8.25” and Venture 5.8s on an 8.38” have been two of the combos I’ve enjoyed the most recently.   

Might not be sound logic but I also feel like you can ride your trucks looser without sacrificing stability because you’re getting less leverage into turns from leaning side-to-side than if you were magic carpeting with the sides of your deck sticking farther out over the edges of the truck axel. 

[s0lkatt]

Currently riding venture 5.8 titaniums on a 8.18 FA board, usually ride 8.25 and was a bit skeptical about going to 8.18 but it's such a small difference. Love the added stability, having trucks the same width as the board feels too small for me now, I want the edge of the wheels to be parallel to the deck, not the axle.

[stupidfuckface]

FA 8.38 or 8.5 with 159s.. I love the extra width and stability...

[white guy in a durag]

Hockey 8.5s with 9" aces is a match made in heaven. I'd recommend 9" truck pairings with similarly full shapes; with more tapered shapes like pointy kicked or eggs, I would probably advise 8.75.

[MaXX_I-D]

I just sized down from an 8.25' deck to an 8.06' on some 8' ventures and an 8.38' with some 8.25' indys as a cruiser.
One could say I'm a "magic carpet" enthusiast.

[tzhangdox]

Did 8.5 trucks on everything from 8.25-8.6 for years. Recently started skating 8.38-8.5 on 8.25 trucks (with extra washers to pad the inside). I like it for a lot of things, but not sure if I prefer to 8.5 trucks overall just yet.

[switchfrontshuv]

Did 8.5 trucks on everything from 8.25-8.6 for years. Recently started skating 8.38-8.5 on 8.25 trucks (with extra washers to pad the inside). I like it for a lot of things, but not sure if I prefer to 8.5 trucks overall just yet.

right? I feel like I cant really discern whether either is "better" than the other.

[Bigwheelbite]

149’s on 8.25 decks is the tits...👌🏼

[Richard Skidder]

Expand Quote

Did 8.5 trucks on everything from 8.25-8.6 for years. Recently started skating 8.38-8.5 on 8.25 trucks (with extra washers to pad the inside). I like it for a lot of things, but not sure if I prefer to 8.5 trucks overall just yet.

[close]

right? I feel like I cant really discern whether either is "better" than the other.

This is the main catalyst for my madness. I ride 8.25 and flip flop between 144 and 149. If I could just settle on one or the other I could stop fucking with shit. Right now I’m running 144 on 8.25.

[Xen]

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

Did 8.5 trucks on everything from 8.25-8.6 for years. Recently started skating 8.38-8.5 on 8.25 trucks (with extra washers to pad the inside). I like it for a lot of things, but not sure if I prefer to 8.5 trucks overall just yet.

[close]

right? I feel like I cant really discern whether either is "better" than the other.

[close]

This is the main catalyst for my madness. I ride 8.25 and flip flop between 144 and 149. If I could just settle on one or the other I could stop fucking with shit. Right now I’m running 144 on 8.25.

I do this all the time...currently 144s but thinking 149s...the weight and width difference on an 8.25 is marginal, tho mentally 149s are a bit more stable and provide more grind room (the latter being true). I'm going to stick it out my first session on a new setup went very well and felt great....you know what they say, if it works, don't fix it.

One thing is for sure, 149s look way better on 8.25"S decks.

[IUTSM]

I rode 149s with 8.5 and up for a pretty long time because I didn't really pay attention to 149, 159, etc. Switched up to some 159s this year and they lock into grinds better but feel heavier. Might swap back to 149s and see how it feels

[GBLange]

riding thunder 149ti on a Quasi Poolman 9” egg..to compensate for the short sub 14wb

[mynameisnotjeff]

149’s on 8.25 decks is the tits...👌🏼

The old tried and true pairing.
Not a fan of 144s on 8.25 and I recently threw them on an 8.38 and they didn’t feel right. I’ve done 8.25 with 139s in the past and they felt surprisingly good. Other than that usually a size up, or whatever truck is big enough for the wider part of the board.

[FrozenIndustries]

Did 8.5 trucks on everything from 8.25-8.6 for years. Recently started skating 8.38-8.5 on 8.25 trucks (with extra washers to pad the inside). I like it for a lot of things, but not sure if I prefer to 8.5 trucks overall just yet.

@tzhangdox How are you feeling about this decision to run 5.6? Have a set that I am going to skate but also have the opportunity to trade them for some 5.8s. My madness is in full effect but in general I am trying to set something up smaller than the 9"-ish shapes and 8.75"-ish pops I've been skating for a while. I wear a size 11 and stress way too much about the truck to shoe size thing.

[tzhangdox]

Expand Quote

Did 8.5 trucks on everything from 8.25-8.6 for years. Recently started skating 8.38-8.5 on 8.25 trucks (with extra washers to pad the inside). I like it for a lot of things, but not sure if I prefer to 8.5 trucks overall just yet.

[close]

@tzhangdox How are you feeling about this decision to run 5.6? Have a set that I am going to skate but also have the opportunity to trade them for some 5.8s. My madness is in full effect but in general I am trying to set something up smaller than the 9"-ish shapes and 8.75"-ish pops I've been skating for a while. I wear a size 11 and stress way too much about the truck to shoe size thing.

I feel that, I'm a size 13 and lately have been gravitating back to 8.5 boards again. The 5.6 are fine, I have a set of 5.8 titaniums with cast plates on ice from a while back so I'm probably just going to skate those after these are done in a few weeks.

Still can't decide what I like more overall. It really depends on what your priorities are. Copying n pasting a previous post of mine about the 5.6 vs 5.8:

8.5 trucks definitely feel more stable, wheelbite less, lock into grinds better and are just a bit more comfortable in general.

8.25 trucks do have slightly better leverage for flip tricks, makes flip tricks that I struggle with a little easier. They also turn a bit sharper which is important for ventures. The wheels jam a bit less for nose/tailslides.

Its a bit harder to aim and hold grinds, especially on chunky ledges. And I notice myself falling off my board a lot more when I don't land flip trick perfectly centred. This seems to be partially due to wheelbite and partially due to the trucks just being a little more tippy, little less stable.