Wheelbase on your trucks

[DarkPools]

For me:

- WB too short = faster turn "bottoming out" or wheel biting quickly or not feeling turny enough
- WB longer = gradual turn with no "bottoming out" too fast and more stable. Also the turns are more fluid and consistent
- WB too short = spin tricks spin too fast. Board feels "squirrelly" so no stability and pop timing comes too fast to control properly
- WB longer = reliable snap in pop and easier to control. Not too delayed or too quick.
- Indys provide that balance of stability & response in regards to their effect on WB in my experience for how I like to skate

All of that is hinged on the decks WB and length. Boards too short in WB and length with Indys do all the negative things I mentioned above. While, boards with longer WB and length do all the positive things I mentioned above with my Indys.

[Slave IV]

Ok, I’ve heard Royals get mentioned too often here lately and now my madness is kicking in. Where do they sit on the wheelbase chart?

How is the general feel for them in terms of turning, pinch, kingpin clearance, wheelbite. I know these other questions belong elsewhere but wouldnt hurt if I could get the whole picture here.

[tzhangdox]

Ok, I’ve heard Royals get mentioned too often here lately and now my madness is kicking in. Where do they sit on the wheelbase chart?

How is the general feel for them in terms of turning, pinch, kingpin clearance, wheelbite. I know these other questions belong elsewhere but wouldnt hurt if I could get the whole picture here.

I was tempted by them recently so lurked the old royal threads, this is what I recall, could be wrong and I've never owned them so take this with a grain of salt:

Wheelbase should be something like an indy forged give or take a bit I believe

More kingpin clearance than ace/thunders I think, but not a crazy amount like ventures. Maybe indy ish if not slightly better?

Pinch sounds solid, not quite thunder or venture good, but maybe slightly better than indy?

Turn is good apparently, something between indy thunder and venture I think

Baseplate is a little catchy at first apparently

Bushings come really loose out the gate so you either have to crank em after breaking in if you dont ride loose trucks, or apparently ace hards serve as good alternatives.

No idea though, decided not to go through with it. Maybe if they were polished and didn't say Royal I would have be down lol

[Slave IV]

Expand Quote

Ok, I’ve heard Royals get mentioned too often here lately and now my madness is kicking in. Where do they sit on the wheelbase chart?

How is the general feel for them in terms of turning, pinch, kingpin clearance, wheelbite. I know these other questions belong elsewhere but wouldnt hurt if I could get the whole picture here.

[close]

I was tempted by them recently so lurked the old royal threads, this is what I recall, could be wrong and I've never owned them so take this with a grain of salt:

Wheelbase should be something like an indy forged give or take a bit I believe

More kingpin clearance than ace/thunders I think, but not a crazy amount like ventures. Maybe indy ish if not slightly better?

Pinch sounds solid, not quite thunder or venture good, but maybe slightly better than indy?

Turn is good apparently, something between indy thunder and venture I think

Baseplate is a little catchy at first apparently

Bushings come really loose out the gate so you either have to crank em after breaking in if you dont ride loose trucks, or apparently ace hards serve as good alternatives.

No idea though, decided not to go through with it. Maybe if they were polished and didn't say Royal I would have be down lol

Thanks! They sound very middle of the line, like Slappy, which were the next trucks in line if I was going to buy another set. Main difference sounds like Royals are lower (than Slappy standards) and don’t have the kingpin clearance that Slappy emphasizes. I think Royal might be generally lighter as well, which was another thing that caught my attention about them.

[Obijuan91]

Royals are middle of the line af and that’s what makes em good. Mid height. Wheelbase in between Indy standard and Indy forged. Pivot cups are gushy in a good way. Even with ace hards they still have a nice turn to them but not twitchy

[Slave IV]

Royals are middle of the line af and that’s what makes em good. Mid height. Wheelbase in between Indy standard and Indy forged. Pivot cups are gushy in a good way. Even with ace hards they still have a nice turn to them but not twitchy

Thanks! Again, they are sounding a lot like Slappy’s with the main differences being weight, height and kingpin clearance. I’ll move to the truck thread for follow-up on this but thanks for all the feedback here. I also rewatched the Ben Degros video that was posted in the Royal thread.


For this thread, I would be curious still to see measurements or just the numbers for the wheelbase effect.

[swongolianbbq]

I want to try thunders, and a lot of people were saying the wheelbase on cast thunders is the same as forged indys, when in my experience, forged and cast indys both have the same wheelbase. And I've seen a lot of indys where they're drilled like shit. That would definitely increase wheelbase by a little hahaj

Measured my forged hollow Indy 149s

Measured my deck wheelbase first and it's bang on 14"

Measured both sides and evened it out, subtracted 14, and I got 3.028"

So a hair less than 3 and 1/32"

Pretty sure Indy forged and cast are supposed to be the same wb, and the discrepancies folks are getting is either due to how they're measuring, or the baseplate holes were drilled in a slightly different spot. I've seen many indys over the years where the holes are drilled so close to the inside edge of the baseplate, the hardware nuts hang over so much. Early 2000s I saw a pair that pulled right through there from loose hardware

Seen a stage 11 set last year like that. Standards. I could see their wb measuring 3.125" hahaha

Definitely interested in trying thunders again, as the boards I usually ride are 19° kicks and 14" wb.