The Thunder Thread

[SwitchBenihana]

I've had mine since they came out and no issues with the axles. Haven't seen any locally.

I did notice a funny Dustin Henry ad where he says something like "turn great out of the box" and then you can see his board and he's got 3 threads showing from cranking them out of the box. I had a bit of a love/hate with them initially, but I think it's safe to say I'll probably never ride T1 again if I choose Thunder.

[Richard Skidder]

I haven't had time to go back and read yet ... but anyone else having issues with floating axles on their t2's?  I have very little hours on them and I thought my bearings were going bad and realized both trucks axles were floating super easy and pinching my bearings ... sucks

My current set of T1 are doing the same thing.

[Ok]

Expand Quote

I haven't had time to go back and read yet ... but anyone else having issues with floating axles on their t2's?  I have very little hours on them and I thought my bearings were going bad and realized both trucks axles were floating super easy and pinching my bearings ... sucks

[close]

My current set of T1 are doing the same thing.

damn.
i haven’t a single thunder quality concern since the 90s (broke hangers and baseplates, this happened on featherlites too).

still waiting on that bobby setup video and then i’ll inevitably buy these.

[FrAnKenFrEd]

Expand Quote

I haven't had time to go back and read yet ... but anyone else having issues with floating axles on their t2's?  I have very little hours on them and I thought my bearings were going bad and realized both trucks axles were floating super easy and pinching my bearings ... sucks

[close]

My current set of T1 are doing the same thing.

funnily enough my Ace hollow axles were slipping before I switched to T2s. i thought we cured this a long time ago...

[SwitchBenihana]

Ace has so many QC issues that people quietly let slide so that's not surprising. The amount of destroyed AF1 bushings (apparently this is happening a lot on the IKP tops), axle slip, pivot cups, and for a while a lot of the axles were bending or were threaded a bit too coarse and even normal axle nuts weren't staying too tight. If that was DLX or NHS people would never let it go.

[FrAnKenFrEd]

Ace has so many QC issues that people quietly let slide so that's not surprising. The amount of destroyed AF1 bushings (apparently this is happening a lot on the IKP tops), axle slip, pivot cups, and for a while a lot of the axles were bending or were threaded a bit too coarse and even normal axle nuts weren't staying too tight. If that was DLX or NHS people would never let it go.

B/c the turn outshines everything else. It is still worth it.

Seriously though, I've had equal amount of issues with Indy, Ace and Thunder...

[Deadringer]

I've had mine since they came out and no issues with the axles. Haven't seen any locally.

I did notice a funny Dustin Henry ad where he says something like "turn great out of the box" and then you can see his board and he's got 3 threads showing from cranking them out of the box. I had a bit of a love/hate with them initially, but I think it's safe to say I'll probably never ride T1 again if I choose Thunder.

They do (from the batch I’ve seen) come cranked at least a couple of threads from the factory

[Chalupa]

Expand Quote

I've had mine since they came out and no issues with the axles. Haven't seen any locally.

I did notice a funny Dustin Henry ad where he says something like "turn great out of the box" and then you can see his board and he's got 3 threads showing from cranking them out of the box. I had a bit of a love/hate with them initially, but I think it's safe to say I'll probably never ride T1 again if I choose Thunder.

[close]

They do (from the batch I’ve seen) come cranked at least a couple of threads from the factory

I got them when only 2 or 3 shops had them, and my set was flush. It was too loose for me, so I tried some of the OG aftermarkets, and settled for the dark blue ones…forgot the durometer. Now, I’m curious about riding them stock since many people have said they firmed up over time. I wish I didn’t give away the bushings, but this gives me an excuse to buy a set from the next drop.

[FrAnKenFrEd]

Yeah, the stock firm up really nice. Took about 3 hours of skateboarding for me... and some carpet wiggling

[Chalupa]

https://dlxskateshop.com/collections/all/products/thunder-frank-gerwer-grimple-t-ii-trucks

The wait is over.

[Murge]

Was really hoping these would be hollows.

[Rick Trapasso]

https://dlxskateshop.com/collections/all/products/thunder-frank-gerwer-grimple-t-ii-trucks

The wait is over.

Good for frank, this is cool.

[Mbrimson88]

.

Also on the DLX Skateshop site is the white 90 duro Thunder bushings, which I haven't seen in a long time.  Not sure if people were over the orange ones, or just like the plain white ones, but they are back in stock for now too.


https://dlxskateshop.com/collections/thunder/products/thunder-premium-bushings

[Chalupa]

Was really hoping these would be hollows.

T-II Hollow Lights are supposed to drop in Spring ‘26 according to the Thunder IG. I have no idea whether it’s a pro model or team polished.

[rawbertson.]

i am getting those gerwer FOR SURE

[Murge]

Expand Quote

Was really hoping these would be hollows.

[close]

T-II Hollow Lights are supposed to drop in Spring ‘26 according to the Thunder IG. I have no idea whether it’s a pro model or team polished.

Awesome! Thanks for the insight on the time frame.  I really wanna skate T-IIs but the standards weigh as much as the ace hollows I’m on now so I can’t justify it. Hoping they don’t use a forge baseplate and  it change the WB

[Enrico Pallazzo]

Set up some 151 T2s, a couple sessions in so far and really enjoying them. Bushings are still breaking in, rebound isn't quite there yet but getting better and firming up a bit. Have them turned about 1/2 thread below flush and they're definitely loose but not floppy. Also threw them on an older deck with a 14.25 wheelbase, so it's for sure upping the twitch factor. Pop feels pretty Ace adjacent, more like a Classic than a AF1. Grind is comparable to T1/Ventures.

Pivot cups on mine were white vs the ice blue pictured, not sure if that's the same case for all sets. On the subject of the pivot cups, I think that's where a lot of the folks who felt like the T2s were too loose and squirelly were getting their complaints from. These are for sure a softer duro similar to Riptides, and out of the box the turn felt similar to some Stage IVs with Riptides in. It's absolutely an acquired taste, but could explain why these were polarizing at launch in addition to the soft bushings.

One interesting quirk is how much the bushing seat/yoke hangs over the baseplate. Slightly bizarre to look down on. Planning on continuing to skate these, looking forward to how they feel fully broken in and on a board in my preferred 14.5-14.75 wheelbase.

[FrAnKenFrEd]

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

Was really hoping these would be hollows.

[close]

T-II Hollow Lights are supposed to drop in Spring ‘26 according to the Thunder IG. I have no idea whether it’s a pro model or team polished.

[close]

Awesome! Thanks for the insight on the time frame.  I really wanna skate T-IIs but the standards weigh as much as the ace hollows I’m on now so I can’t justify it. Hoping they don’t use a forge baseplate and  it change the WB

Hollow T2s aren't in any of the Spring Drop catalogs. I know that's not definitive at this point but something to consider. Also pretty cool to hear Thunder reportedly will use the IKP system on T2s  at some point...

[tzhangdox]

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

Was really hoping these would be hollows.

[close]

T-II Hollow Lights are supposed to drop in Spring ‘26 according to the Thunder IG. I have no idea whether it’s a pro model or team polished.

[close]

Awesome! Thanks for the insight on the time frame.  I really wanna skate T-IIs but the standards weigh as much as the ace hollows I’m on now so I can’t justify it. Hoping they don’t use a forge baseplate and  it change the WB

[close]

Hollow T2s aren't in any of the Spring Drop catalogs. I know that's not definitive at this point but something to consider. Also pretty cool to hear Thunder reportedly will use the IKP system on T2s  at some point...

Ya its the ace ikp tech. Tried it briefly, seems to do the job

[Jort250]

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

Was really hoping these would be hollows.

[close]

T-II Hollow Lights are supposed to drop in Spring ‘26 according to the Thunder IG. I have no idea whether it’s a pro model or team polished.

[close]

Awesome! Thanks for the insight on the time frame.  I really wanna skate T-IIs but the standards weigh as much as the ace hollows I’m on now so I can’t justify it. Hoping they don’t use a forge baseplate and  it change the WB

[close]

Hollow T2s aren't in any of the Spring Drop catalogs. I know that's not definitive at this point but something to consider. Also pretty cool to hear Thunder reportedly will use the IKP system on T2s  at some point...

Do you happen to have any intel on if hollow IKP OG Thunders might also be in the works?

[Mbrimson88]

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

Was really hoping these would be hollows.

[close]

T-II Hollow Lights are supposed to drop in Spring ‘26 according to the Thunder IG. I have no idea whether it’s a pro model or team polished.

[close]

Awesome! Thanks for the insight on the time frame.  I really wanna skate T-IIs but the standards weigh as much as the ace hollows I’m on now so I can’t justify it. Hoping they don’t use a forge baseplate and  it change the WB

[close]

Hollow T2s aren't in any of the Spring Drop catalogs. I know that's not definitive at this point but something to consider. Also pretty cool to hear Thunder reportedly will use the IKP system on T2s  at some point...

[close]

Do you happen to have any intel on if hollow IKP OG Thunders might also be in the works?

The original / regular Thunder inverted trucks?

The hollow inverted kingpin Thunder trucks had been out for a whlie, the hollow kingpins had lots of issues breaking, so they went with the solid kingpins instead.  Everything seems to be good with those now, at least no known breaks.  Just the nyloc in the shaft nut wears a bit and then the kingpin can loosen off on its own.

There have been a number of posts about them in the last dozen pages I think, or at least a lot for the last while, maybe more so from the last year.

If you were asking about hollow axle versions, no I don't think that is really out there, or I haven't seen or heard anything, but a few people I know have swapped in other hangers on the inverted baseplates.


The current version with solid kingpins:

https://www.thundertrucks.com/catalog/summer24/th-inv-edt-01.jpg


Looking back through DLX catalogs, they appear to have changed all the product pics to solid kingpins, but these were the hollow kingpin versions that first came out:

July 2024

[TorontoTrustFund]

I've had mine since they came out and no issues with the axles. Haven't seen any locally.

I did notice a funny Dustin Henry ad where he says something like "turn great out of the box" and then you can see his board and he's got 3 threads showing from cranking them out of the box. I had a bit of a love/hate with them initially, but I think it's safe to say I'll probably never ride T1 again if I choose Thunder.

Dustin Henry can’t tell his left from his other left

[logjammin]

saw the new gerwer t2's in person yesterday and the baseplates are really cool in that textured sparkling black colorway. they got in a bunch of raw and fully black ones as well, and all the new batches seem to have the white/clearish pivot cups, not the light blue from before.

[SwitchBenihana]

I've brought up pivot cup break in before and wonder if the newer cups might use a harder formula? I personally prefer a harder pivot cup like most other brands use and disliked Riptides, but it does help create a very fluid turn without a specific part of the turn feeling stiffer/looser than others. Definitely the least progressive turn of the turny trucks.

[FrAnKenFrEd]

Tried the T2s in a deep and fast bowl today and they felt a little too squirrelly. Should have kept them cranked a bit as it was a little sketchy at speed. (Whereas, Ace really shine at being predictable/ stable on center at speed on round wall, but still turning on a dime).

I think I am going to prefer the T2s without risers. Can probably get away with a 55mm wheel riser free, as long as the contact patch isn't too wide.  Used to prefer the T1s with risers.

Also, as predicted it has been pretty easy switching between T2s and Ace.

Still need to bomb a hill or two on the T2s.

[gaunting]

I’m sure it’s a ways out, if at all that they will release a forged/hollow version of the t-2. but I’ll hold hope.

[Bob Loblaw]

im T-II from here on out

they are perfect for me

[Esmith5488]

Curious about the T2.
Currently on af1’s but have a while before I can skate again. Looking for something slightly more stable and with a little better pinch. Think this will fit the bill or do I just give up and go back to venture lol.

[tzhangdox]

Curious about the T2.
Currently on af1’s but have a while before I can skate again. Looking for something slightly more stable and with a little better pinch. Think this will fit the bill or do I just give up and go back to venture lol.

T2 will obviously be more similar to af1 than ventures. But it'll prob still feel a bit different due to the difference in wheelbase

[FrAnKenFrEd]

Curious about the T2.
Currently on af1’s but have a while before I can skate again. Looking for something slightly more stable and with a little better pinch. Think this will fit the bill or do I just give up and go back to venture lol.

I still consider myself to be in the breaking in period so take this with a grain of salt but, T2s = Better pinch, harder grind, lighter but less stable than Af1s. I personally still prefer Af1s but T2s are so good, I will definitely continue to use them. And like I've said before it's great to have another hollow hanger body option that turns this well. Most the other great turning trucks have the old school closed, round hangers.