Gear madness support thread

[Ok]

I feel that, thanks for sharing

I definitely can flick a perfect fakie inward heel, I just don't have the balls to jump on it. Never landed one. Easier to learn fakie than regular for sure. I don't think the board being literally only 1/4" shorter is gonna change anything. Magic carpeting 139s with smaller wheels might though but I just can't get down with the small trucks for most of what I like to do. I don't wanna have a buncha different setups like a damn ski quiver or something. Don't have the time space or money

I think I need to try a baker 8.25 OG again, something about the pointy kicks makes the board feel lighter and more manageable. If I'm ever gonna get switch 360 flips back(last time I had them consistently down was ~2006), it'll probably be on one of those.

I think I'm officially giving up on the board dimension madness after learning how the whole fingers of flat/wheelbase drilling situation usually happens

Blue eagles, baker b16s, and pretty much anybody's BBS 8.25 should be perfectly fine for the rest of forever, I just need to take care of myself and try harder hahah

So I'm left back at my government-issue style board again

8.25 to 8.5 BBS, 14.25 wb
Indy standard 149s
52 to 54mm spitfire classics

the baker pointy shapes are fucking sick, imo. you get the landing space of an 8.25, but the flippery (in some ways) of an 8.
magic carpeting worked really well for me. sometimes hotrodding did as well. go figure.

putting the fakie/nollie inward down, idk. fakie pop shuv can easily get tangled up for me, nollie pop shuv feels….easy isn’t the right word, im not talented, but it doesn’t feel like much of a trick. anyways, you’ve inspired me to try one next session. i’ll report back

[swongolianbbq]

Kinda where my head was at with the 8.25 x 14, I wanted it to skate like an 8.

Knowing now that it's probably the same mold just drilled for 14, the baker OG 8.25s are looking like the most attractive option

The og mellow bakers look like a 90s board to me

I always thought the momentum/rotation or whatever for inward heels made them easier to learn nollie or fakie

I can half cab heel pretty decent so I just gotta do it without my body doing the 180, get my legs outta the way

I feel like with classic shape wheels, hot rodding works better cause the rounded edge and the actual edge of the riding surface of the wheel is further in

I skated an 8.25" baker with conical fulls and 8.5" trucks and it messed with my kickflips, hardflips, frontside flips. Switching back to classic shape solved it

[MetalAnkleMan]

Im writing this to hopefully inspire others:

I just loaded up my trunk with half of all my skate gear and it's time to part ways (it's an absurd amount of gear). Madness has taking over my life to the point its starting to affect my quality of life, its *almost* all I think about and most importantly taken the fun out of skateboarding.

Ive learned I don't have the personality to have gear on hand, I will accept having two completes (1 for my main set up, 2 for my curb set up, just because I need my curb set up trucks to be really loose) If I have gear on hand, I constantly switch it out and my sessions become more of a science experiment versus having fun and learning new tricks.

I feel like now is a great time to get rid of gear with Christmas around the corner, hopefully all the people at the park tomorrow will be stoked.

Madness is such a waste of time, energy and money. I can confidently say all the headaches its given me was not worth any slight improvement in my abilities.

I want to be inspired by someone who doesn't give a fuck about their setup, to me that's so much cooler than obsessiving over the smallest details.

For every pro there is a con to your setup, its a losers game trying to find the perfect setup.

I hope this is a step in the right direction for me to make skateboarding fun again....I feel cleansed as fuck right now.

[Slave IV]

Im writing this to hopefully inspire others:

I just loaded up my trunk with half of all my skate gear and it's time to part ways (it's an absurd amount of gear). Madness has taking over my life to the point its starting to affect my quality of life, its *almost* all I think about and most importantly taken the fun out of skateboarding.

Ive learned I don't have the personality to have gear on hand, I will accept having two completes (1 for my main set up, 2 for my curb set up, just because I need my curb set up trucks to be really loose) If I have gear on hand, I constantly switch it out and my sessions become more of a science experiment versus having fun and learning new tricks.

I feel like now is a great time to get rid of gear with Christmas around the corner, hopefully all the people at the park tomorrow will be stoked.

Madness is such a waste of time, energy and money. I can confidently say all the headaches its given me was not worth any slight improvement in my abilities.

I want to be inspired by someone who doesn't give a fuck about their setup, to me that's so much cooler than obsessiving over the smallest details.

For every pro there is a con to your setup, its a losers game trying to find the perfect setup.

I hope this is a step in the right direction for me to make skateboarding fun again....I feel cleansed as fuck right now.

Congrats to your revelation! I definitely have a lot of stuff but not that problem. I don’t like to keep switching my stuff out, especially trucks so once I mount them, they either stay on for their life or the decks life or I might swap them out once. So on that note, which park and what time will you be dropping this gear off?

[rikki]

fakie pop shuv can easily get tangled up for me, nollie pop shuv feels….easy isn’t the right word, im not talented, but it doesn’t feel like much of a trick. anyways, you’ve inspired me to try one next session. i’ll report back

Bs fakie pop shuv is one of my favorite non-flipping flatground tricks along with regular fs shuv.

Nollie pop shuvs result in a whole lot of ghost pop for me these days. Hence I've been madnessing about truck height somewhat. Whereas I should just concentrate on my front foot and forget about the 1-2 millimeters.

[rikki]

I want to be inspired by someone who doesn't give a fuck about their setup, to me that's so much cooler than obsessiving over the smallest details.

I wholeheartedly agree with this and hope to enjoy a more madness-free year of 2026 myself. Thanks for the inspiration.

[FrAnKenFrEd]

Im writing this to hopefully inspire others:

I just loaded up my trunk with half of all my skate gear and it's time to part ways (it's an absurd amount of gear). Madness has taking over my life to the point its starting to affect my quality of life, its *almost* all I think about and most importantly taken the fun out of skateboarding.

Ive learned I don't have the personality to have gear on hand, I will accept having two completes (1 for my main set up, 2 for my curb set up, just because I need my curb set up trucks to be really loose) If I have gear on hand, I constantly switch it out and my sessions become more of a science experiment versus having fun and learning new tricks.

I feel like now is a great time to get rid of gear with Christmas around the corner, hopefully all the people at the park tomorrow will be stoked.

Madness is such a waste of time, energy and money. I can confidently say all the headaches its given me was not worth any slight improvement in my abilities.

I want to be inspired by someone who doesn't give a fuck about their setup, to me that's so much cooler than obsessiving over the smallest details.

For every pro there is a con to your setup, its a losers game trying to find the perfect setup.

I hope this is a step in the right direction for me to make skateboarding fun again....I feel cleansed as fuck right now.

Nice. You inspired me to give away a complete.

[SwitchBenihana]

Giving away gear and having an empty stash is really cathartic. It's not COVID and gear/sales aren't scarce anymore. There's no magic weighting in our bins. We all know what the outcomes are we just need to rip the bandaid and commit.

[rikki]

Reporting back: Indy Ti 149s were good today. No huge difference compared to Standards. I might've had better control of my ollies at some points of the session. Board didn't feel too light, but skating it might've felt a tad lighter here and there. I felt I had better approaches to a certain bank to curb at the park for some reason. Maybe it was the tail popping a bit earlier. Flips felt no different. 

There was an overall crispier/harder feeling to my setup, but that isn't saying it was necessarily a bad thing.

Might even be a keeper for now. Madness avoided, I guess.

Oh, but then there's the issue of stock vs. blue bushings... for some strange reason the blues feel harder on Titaniums as compared to Standards. Am I insane? Or is it just the physics of a larger mass squeezing the bushings more...

I love skateboarding.

[swongolianbbq]

Skating's tight

I think I'm still gonna switch it up and try the 8.25 x 14, after seeing some skated ones in videos and stuff, and pondering the "fingers of flat" shit. If I like them, I'll just track down a bunch and stack them up in my closet. I've been wanting to try something different. Might as well! It might work out great.

I think if I really wanna try something different, I should try some Indy 144 standards. I had poor experiences on 144s, but thinking back, they were hollows, and also on flight decks. The whole situation was too light. I remember trying to throw a big heelflip over a sidewalk sign off a curb cut(8.5 deck) and it took way more tries than it should've, cause it didn't have the feedback that a heavier setup would. Maybe I changed too much too fast, instead of trying little differences at a time

My favorite trucks ever that I did a lot of my best skating on were stage 7 and 8 146s

And if you look at the Indy size chart, an 8.375 truck makes sense, each 3/8" apart. So I think it doesn't matter to me so much to be a hardcore 149er guy, maybe people just like them cause they've been around since '86, and SF... 49ers.. at one point in the late 90s or early 2000s I seem to remember 159s not being available, leaving either 8 or 8.5 as the truck of choice for 8.25-8.5 board skaters.. lots of magic carpeters in the early 2000s for the stair-counters... Greco, Romero, Spanly, Reynolds, Ellington, Herman, etc as far as I know. I know Rowley still fucked with big trucks though. Heres the size chart with 146s instead of 149s:

7.625
8
8.375*
8.75
9.125

So, going from skating Real/Baker/AH 8.5x14.25, and lots of Baker 8.25x14.25 on 149 hollow standards... I want to go down in wheelbase to 14, back to regular standard indys, and down to 144s. I think I'll have the meaty grind feel I miss from standards, but flip tricks will be a bit easier.

So after years riding pretty much the same shit, then studying and questioning stuff recently, I think all I really want to do is try a quarter inch shorter deck and a quarter inch shorter trucks hahah.

I tried all the wheels and trucks and boards already from 8" to 9" and 50mm to 60mm but I think my perception of 144s was skewed by them being hollows and also on a flight deck, so I'm gonna give em another chance as standards on a regular ol BBS. Should feel pretty close to my old stage 7s and 8s, much in the same way that my stage 11 149s do... But a little lighter, little more flippy.

I have a lot of free time, I'm not really suffering or anything and I don't have any spare parts aside from extra nuts and bolts and bearings. Currently don't have any spare trucks or wheels. Just what's on my setup. I do have some extra decks though, I think I have 4 left. 8.5x14.25 BBS.

Can't wait to try the new situation... I can get used to it in my garage and be ready to go when the snow melts

Edit-

I usually mull stuff over quite a bit before buying something, and post on here for any feedback, but I think I'm ready to buy some shit.

I feel like the standard 144 will be a smooth transition from hollow cast 149s. Gonna Christmas myself with an 8.25 SWB and some 144 standards. The madness purchases last year were all just wheels, and I've passed them all on already.

Really though, instead of releasing 144s, it would've been tight if they just made 149s 8.375" instead of 8.5"

But I think a lot of folks are mad concerned about matching their board size to their truck size, so I get it. And I think Reynolds wanted to try the 144s. which is funny cause he went back to 139s so quick

Anyways I'm psyched to try something that seems truly different to me since I skate trucks for at least 6 months, but that's still close enough and has the feel I'm after

[Obijuan91]

The madness keeps the industry afloat….

[Sedition]

The madness keeps the industry afloat….

I ordered bearings. They arrived today. Why did I order bearings? Because it is was the one thing I needed in order to give a full "madness complete" away to some random kid (kid ain't getting my extra Swiss 6 bearings).

Shedding the madness...also help the industry.

[swongolianbbq]

Skated my friends board for a little bit today. Easy rider blue eagle, 144 titaniums, 54mm OG classics

I could kickflip higher and more consistently on it

I think it might be because my trucks are looser than his

It still felt too light though with them forged tits

Expand Quote

The madness keeps the industry afloat….

[close]

I ordered bearings. They arrived today. Why did I order bearings? Because it is was the one thing I needed in order to give a full "madness complete" away to some random kid (kid ain't getting my extra Swiss 6 bearings).

Shedding the madness...also help the industry.

I've definitely bought a set of mini-logos for this exact purpose before.

I've had the same two sets of swiss six for years. I bought the other set in case I broke one, I'd have replacements. Hasn't happened yet.

[FrenchSkater]

Im writing this to hopefully inspire others:

I just loaded up my trunk with half of all my skate gear and it's time to part ways (it's an absurd amount of gear). Madness has taking over my life to the point its starting to affect my quality of life, its *almost* all I think about and most importantly taken the fun out of skateboarding.

Ive learned I don't have the personality to have gear on hand, I will accept having two completes (1 for my main set up, 2 for my curb set up, just because I need my curb set up trucks to be really loose) If I have gear on hand, I constantly switch it out and my sessions become more of a science experiment versus having fun and learning new tricks.

I feel like now is a great time to get rid of gear with Christmas around the corner, hopefully all the people at the park tomorrow will be stoked.

Madness is such a waste of time, energy and money. I can confidently say all the headaches its given me was not worth any slight improvement in my abilities.

I want to be inspired by someone who doesn't give a fuck about their setup, to me that's so much cooler than obsessiving over the smallest details.

For every pro there is a con to your setup, its a losers game trying to find the perfect setup.

I hope this is a step in the right direction for me to make skateboarding fun again....I feel cleansed as fuck right now.

This message really speaks to me too… I’ve been in this hell for almost ten years now. At first it started with deck widths, with the question of whether a wide board is better, or if a narrower one is better… And then came the hell of trucks. Over ten years, if I really think about everything I’ve had, I must have bought almost 20 pairs of trucks, which is crazy considering I barely do any grinds and that trucks can sometimes last three years.

Then the ultimate hell was also the questioning about length, wheelbase… all of that mixed with which trucks to choose, high or low. I recently went on the Baker Boys Archive page and saw a few board models I had in my early skating years, and damn… seeing that I was able to skate well without overthinking it on boards with lengths of 31.6 or 31.8 drives me crazy. Because now I act all precious and like a spoiled child when sometimes the board is “too long,” so I get mad and use that as an excuse for not landing certain things.

But like I read above and it’s true when you think about it every setup has its advantages and its disadvantages. I currently have a brand-new board that’s 31.9 long with a 14.25 wheelbase, and I really want to not give a damn and skate it like I did in my early days…

I also use my own stupid situation as an example : I’d win a board at a contest, I should be happy like a kid who’s just enjoying having it but with this hell in my head, I’d end up wondering whether the board would even suit me and if I’d be able to skate it. I m tired of overthinking, of telling myself I shouldn’t go below 31.5 and should stick to a 14 wheelbase. Maybe there’s also the fact that I’m 5'6", but ONCE AGAIN those are just excuses… I wish I could just not give a f***. Even more frustrating to see smaller skaters riding long and wide setups while I complain like an idiot.

But yeah, like I also read above : So much money and so many sessions wasted, and above all our pure enjoyment of skateboarding. I’ve gotten to the point of being disgusted with skateboarding, of being stuck in this vicious cycle..  :'( :'(

[Schinken]

Finished riding my 8.6 vx and got myself another one to keep free from madness.

For people interested in NHS VET concave. ATV concave on top for reference.

https://ibb.co/dszvF2Dm
https://ibb.co/SwfXv9YD
https://ibb.co/ksHP7Dt4

[bluedohdohs]

Damn some of ya’ll fellas down bad I’m sorry to see that haha
Thankfully i feel like i can have fun skating any set up
Use to be 8.5 boards and trucks until i got some 44s from Ace and then some 5.6 Ventures
To add to the cats up there i skated pretty good in Indys but i skated terribly in aces haha felt fun still but i remember a few sessions where i didn’t land anything. Couldn’t pinch good and got so much ghost pop lol
Pretty much been on the same set up since i was like 14 though
Sometimes I wonder if i should skate thunders or indys since i spent the majority of my time on them bad bois but that was the old days i liked what someone said up there about it’s better to not pay it any mind and just go to the shop or try friends set ups and see what feels good
I feel like not being sure if my bearings were still optimal or not was bugging me to the point of getting in my head a lil but I just put in these new olympia ceramic boys and just rolling around the house and trying to do stationary manuels and shit I’m def sure now my swiss’s are shot for the most part
Probably will just throw em on my crusier since the reds on those are super fucked i dont think cleaning will help lol

[codswallop]

Expand Quote

Im writing this to hopefully inspire others:

I just loaded up my trunk with half of all my skate gear and it's time to part ways (it's an absurd amount of gear). Madness has taking over my life to the point its starting to affect my quality of life, its *almost* all I think about and most importantly taken the fun out of skateboarding.

Ive learned I don't have the personality to have gear on hand, I will accept having two completes (1 for my main set up, 2 for my curb set up, just because I need my curb set up trucks to be really loose) If I have gear on hand, I constantly switch it out and my sessions become more of a science experiment versus having fun and learning new tricks.

I feel like now is a great time to get rid of gear with Christmas around the corner, hopefully all the people at the park tomorrow will be stoked.

Madness is such a waste of time, energy and money. I can confidently say all the headaches its given me was not worth any slight improvement in my abilities.

I want to be inspired by someone who doesn't give a fuck about their setup, to me that's so much cooler than obsessiving over the smallest details.

For every pro there is a con to your setup, its a losers game trying to find the perfect setup.

I hope this is a step in the right direction for me to make skateboarding fun again....I feel cleansed as fuck right now.

[close]

This message really speaks to me too… I’ve been in this hell for almost ten years now. At first it started with deck widths, with the question of whether a wide board is better, or if a narrower one is better… And then came the hell of trucks. Over ten years, if I really think about everything I’ve had, I must have bought almost 20 pairs of trucks, which is crazy considering I barely do any grinds and that trucks can sometimes last three years.

Then the ultimate hell was also the questioning about length, wheelbase… all of that mixed with which trucks to choose, high or low. I recently went on the Baker Boys Archive page and saw a few board models I had in my early skating years, and damn… seeing that I was able to skate well without overthinking it on boards with lengths of 31.6 or 31.8 drives me crazy. Because now I act all precious and like a spoiled child when sometimes the board is “too long,” so I get mad and use that as an excuse for not landing certain things.

But like I read above and it’s true when you think about it every setup has its advantages and its disadvantages. I currently have a brand-new board that’s 31.9 long with a 14.25 wheelbase, and I really want to not give a damn and skate it like I did in my early days…

I also use my own stupid situation as an example : I’d win a board at a contest, I should be happy like a kid who’s just enjoying having it but with this hell in my head, I’d end up wondering whether the board would even suit me and if I’d be able to skate it. I m tired of overthinking, of telling myself I shouldn’t go below 31.5 and should stick to a 14 wheelbase. Maybe there’s also the fact that I’m 5'6", but ONCE AGAIN those are just excuses… I wish I could just not give a f***. Even more frustrating to see smaller skaters riding long and wide setups while I complain like an idiot.

But yeah, like I also read above : So much money and so many sessions wasted, and above all our pure enjoyment of skateboarding. I’ve gotten to the point of being disgusted with skateboarding, of being stuck in this vicious cycle..  :'( :'(

Hope you guys are having fun again fr.

And I just wanted to give a +1 to the "madness" because I've gotten a lot out of it. I think this goes without saying given this thread but the best part is just having that language that only skaters understand.

[FrenchSkater]

To respond once again regarding this so called madness that many people feel and would like to get out of .. Yeah, it’s crazy how many of us are stuck in this endless loop… but at the same time, isn’t it because of all the videos and all the setup details we’re constantly exposed to now ? When you think about it, we didn’t have all that back then. And there was also that trend where everyone (especially in France) rode either 7.75 or 8.0, but nothing bigger (I’m talking about the years when I started, around 2007 to 2012). Then all these options and size parameters showed up, and it became easy to get influenced by whatever setups all the pros were skating.

It’ll officially be ten years in 2026 since I really fell into the setup madness hell, so it’s about time after ten years, to make a new resolution and get back to what I used to feel when skating. I finally decided to set up that infamous 8.0 deck (from a local shop brand) with a 31.9 length and a 14.25 wheelbase. I really want to say fuck all that and rethink skating the way I did when I started. (That’s actually why I went back to low trucks to get that “I don’t care and I’m not overthinking” feeling again.) I thought this setup would prevent me from skating well and keep me from landing my tricks, but stop all of that.. !!! 


I’ll end with a quote from Collin Provost about the expression “Stay Gold” :

“Stay gold means remembering how it felt when we first started skating giving no fucks before the industry entered the equation.”

[Slave IV]

To respond once again regarding this so called madness that many people feel and would like to get out of .. Yeah, it’s crazy how many of us are stuck in this endless loop… but at the same time, isn’t it because of all the videos and all the setup details we’re constantly exposed to now ? When you think about it, we didn’t have all that back then. And there was also that trend where everyone (especially in France) rode either 7.75 or 8.0, but nothing bigger (I’m talking about the years when I started, around 2007 to 2012). Then all these options and size parameters showed up, and it became easy to get influenced by whatever setups all the pros were skating.

It’ll officially be ten years in 2026 since I really fell into the setup madness hell, so it’s about time after ten years, to make a new resolution and get back to what I used to feel when skating. I finally decided to set up that infamous 8.0 deck (from a local shop brand) with a 31.9 length and a 14.25 wheelbase. I really want to say fuck all that and rethink skating the way I did when I started. (That’s actually why I went back to low trucks to get that “I don’t care and I’m not overthinking” feeling again.) I thought this setup would prevent me from skating well and keep me from landing my tricks, but stop all of that.. !!! 


I’ll end with a quote from Collin Provost about the expression “Stay Gold” :

“Stay gold means remembering how it felt when we first started skating giving no fucks before the industry entered the equation.”

I don’t really care what other people ride and never watched a video and had to have whatever gear some pro was riding. I do think all the videos and information in general available on the internet has given us way more accessibility to knowledge, which allows us to make more informed decisions. I never cared about any of the specs back in the day because, first, a lot of specs weren’t available and second, even if they were, I had no idea what difference they made. Now that I’m understanding more, I’m going to evaluate my skating and preferences and get gear that matches me. Part of the madness is figuring out what all that means and sometimes you gotta try to really know but in the end, I think most of us can get used to and make any setup work like we all used to do.

Damn some of ya’ll fellas down bad I’m sorry to see that haha
Thankfully i feel like i can have fun skating any set up
Use to be 8.5 boards and trucks until i got some 44s from Ace and then some 5.6 Ventures
To add to the cats up there i skated pretty good in Indys but i skated terribly in aces haha felt fun still but i remember a few sessions where i didn’t land anything. Couldn’t pinch good and got so much ghost pop lol
Pretty much been on the same set up since i was like 14 though
Sometimes I wonder if i should skate thunders or indys since i spent the majority of my time on them bad bois but that was the old days i liked what someone said up there about it’s better to not pay it any mind and just go to the shop or try friends set ups and see what feels good
I feel like not being sure if my bearings were still optimal or not was bugging me to the point of getting in my head a lil but I just put in these new olympia ceramic boys and just rolling around the house and trying to do stationary manuels and shit I’m def sure now my swiss’s are shot for the most part
Probably will just throw em on my crusier since the reds on those are super fucked i dont think cleaning will help lol

Yep, more of what I was saying but I just wanted to address the last part about bearings. I thought my Swiss 6 bearings were done because they were over 10 years old and some of them didn’t even spin when I took them out and tried to roll with my fingers. Got new bearings and set the Swiss aside. Then, I was setting up a new ride and didn’t want to pull my other bearings so I cleaned the Swiss 6. They ended up faster than the new bearings I bought so basically, don’t count out any bearings without giving them a good cleaning.

[swongolianbbq]

I think the continental divide of setups is 8.375" x 53mm and anything on either side starts to work better for specific styles of skating

Currently on the bigger side of it:

8.5 x 14.25
149s
54mm

Moving to the smaller side of it:

8.25 x 14 wb
144s
52mm

Christmas complete for myself for Christmas of something that's actually different and I'll feel it, but still fundamentally the same. Haven't made a wheelbase change in 5 years, haven't changed the width of trucks in 9 years.

 I skate worn down 54s all the time so the wheel thing doesn't matter as much, I'll probably keep buying 93a 54mm classics

If I don't like the 14" wb, it's just a deck and will eventually break anyways and I can replace it with any standard length 8.25. I think I'll like the 14 though, I like the shorter overall length for sure


I got short legs. I cut all my pants outseam(after shrinking them as much as possible) to 38", cause that's right where the pants touch the floor when barefoot and I don't want to be walking on my pants. Inseam depends on rise but usually ~27".

I know Foy and Jerry get down on the 14.25" wb and they're both shorter dudes but idk if I can hang

[MetalAnkleMan]

Im writing this to hopefully inspire others:

I just loaded up my trunk with half of all my skate gear and it's time to part ways (it's an absurd amount of gear). Madness has taking over my life to the point its starting to affect my quality of life, its *almost* all I think about and most importantly taken the fun out of skateboarding.

Ive learned I don't have the personality to have gear on hand, I will accept having two completes (1 for my main set up, 2 for my curb set up, just because I need my curb set up trucks to be really loose) If I have gear on hand, I constantly switch it out and my sessions become more of a science experiment versus having fun and learning new tricks.

I feel like now is a great time to get rid of gear with Christmas around the corner, hopefully all the people at the park tomorrow will be stoked.

Madness is such a waste of time, energy and money. I can confidently say all the headaches its given me was not worth any slight improvement in my abilities.

I want to be inspired by someone who doesn't give a fuck about their setup, to me that's so much cooler than obsessiving over the smallest details.

For every pro there is a con to your setup, its a losers game trying to find the perfect setup.

I hope this is a step in the right direction for me to make skateboarding fun again....I feel cleansed as fuck right now.

I appreciate all the responses I got from my original post above, just wanted to do a follow up

I went to two different skateparks today and gave away 50% of my hoard. It felt fucking fantastic, I even left a note saying "For free, merry Christmas" on the gear. I left the skatepark feeling the weight off my shoulders, it truly felt like "that's it its gone, that gear is no longer my problem"

I highly recommend anyone who is going through chronic madness to try this, I promise you once you leave the skatepark you won't regret it

I've been inspired by the "minimalist living" movement. One of my problems is holding on to gear that I don't even like but I read something and it hit me hard "holding on to that gear doesn't make the money come back" so not only do you feel bad from wasting the money and not liking the gear but now you let that gear weigh you down every time you see it you feel stress.

*GET RID OF IT*

Im still working on getting rid of the other 50% of my gear but huge accomplishment from me today, god speed to all on their journies to madness free living!

[swongolianbbq]

That's fuckin dope, hell yeah

Just got some 144 standards and 52mm classics, actually commit and bought something hahah

I used to live in my car so the minimalist thing has stuck with me HARd so I only have the one setup and a couple extra decks that's it

There are no indoor skateparks here and it's below zero, high wind, snow, so I can't really bronate my current whip

I think I'll just give these 149 hollows to my girlfriend

She is not concerned with the minutiae

[Sedition]

Back to the truck size thing for a second…

Many 8.75 decks are actually a hair under 8.75. Thus, one could reasonably ride 8.5 trucks on an 8.25, 8.5, and 8.75 deck, making 8.5 trucks the most versatile size out there.

[Ok]

Back to the truck size thing for a second…

Many 8.75 decks are actually a hair under 8.75. Thus, one could reasonably ride 8.5 trucks on an 8.25, 8.5, and 8.75 deck, making 8.5 trucks the most versatile size out there.

i think there is a lot of accuracy to your idea. i guess id say it more like this tho:

149s can be ridden, reasonably well, from 8.125-8.75, making them the most versatile size, for the most popular deck size range.

mmmmmm. or something. my wording is poor.

[Sedition]

Expand Quote

Back to the truck size thing for a second…

Many 8.75 decks are actually a hair under 8.75. Thus, one could reasonably ride 8.5 trucks on an 8.25, 8.5, and 8.75 deck, making 8.5 trucks the most versatile size out there.

[close]

i think there is a lot of accuracy to your idea. i guess id say it more like this tho:

149s can be ridden, reasonably well, from 8.125-8.75, making them the most versatile size, for the most popular deck size range.

mmmmmm. or something. my wording is poor.

I mean, you could say this with any truck size (e.g. 8” truck works 7.75 - 8.25), but 8.5 trucks really cover that sweet spot of deck range.

[swongolianbbq]

8.25" firmly established as the new 7.75" lol

[swongolianbbq]

Sounds like you're really figuring it out

I agree with all that too for sure

wheels don't matter for me as much anymore, sticking to 52, 53 or 54 f4 classics. 93, 97, 99, whatever. Can't do 55s or higher anymore.

I couldn't decide between 149 and 144, they're pretty much the same and I'm settling on 144s. Not as classic or cool as 149ers, but I think it'll be good for me

Also never buying hollows again.

I wish I could ride 149s and radial fulls and shit like the cool kids but I'm in my late 30s and like plaza skating so

Curious how the 14" wheelbase is gonna work out. If it doesn't, whatever. Still gonna rock the 144s till they die.

My only madness right now, is... Should I get a set of blue conical Indy bushings? Hahah

[bluedohdohs]

Yep, more of what I was saying but I just wanted to address the last part about bearings. I thought my Swiss 6 bearings were done because they were over 10 years old and some of them didn’t even spin when I took them out and tried to roll with my fingers. Got new bearings and set the Swiss aside. Then, I was setting up a new ride and didn’t want to pull my other bearings so I cleaned the Swiss 6. They ended up faster than the new bearings I bought so basically, don’t count out any bearings without giving them a good cleaning.

Appreciate the response yeah i actually did just give them a good cleaning the other week, but just acetone and iso and shaking it up. Do you mean removing the cages and cleaning it like that? I’m debating doing that but every wheel just seemed off and i’ve never removed the cages and cleaned like that so it was black friday and i was like screw it i’ll buy some and maybe actually service them

Pretty sure i’m just gonna throw em in my cruiser board, i take my dogs skating with it and they run fast as hell might get out whatever is in there on it’s own
You’re def right though the cruiser board had some crusty n rusty reds on there and I didn’t even remove the wheel just sprayed iso in it spun it a lil bit and after awhile added speed cream & that was enough to have it flossin like before kinda wild how many folks replace bearings before trying to maintenance em.
I was just in my head cause they don’t feel terrible I felt like i remembered them being faster at first
But seemed like Olympia’s  a small brand n it has Crockett n Westgate why not. If they’re faster i’ll keep em on if the swiss feel faster i’ll just throw the ceramics on the cruiser board. That’d be the ideal scenario honestly but idk these bearings feel pretty good so far went to the park yesterday and even though it was windy as hell i just skated a lil transition and tried a bunch of mannys round the park and it felt like i wasn’t miserable against the wind and i was flying when it was on my back
I’m gonna do a hill i did in the swiss’s the other week and report back lol

[Slave IV]

Expand Quote

Yep, more of what I was saying but I just wanted to address the last part about bearings. I thought my Swiss 6 bearings were done because they were over 10 years old and some of them didn’t even spin when I took them out and tried to roll with my fingers. Got new bearings and set the Swiss aside. Then, I was setting up a new ride and didn’t want to pull my other bearings so I cleaned the Swiss 6. They ended up faster than the new bearings I bought so basically, don’t count out any bearings without giving them a good cleaning.

[close]

Appreciate the response yeah i actually did just give them a good cleaning the other week, but just acetone and iso and shaking it up. Do you mean removing the cages and cleaning it like that? I’m debating doing that but every wheel just seemed off and i’ve never removed the cages and cleaned like that so it was black friday and i was like screw it i’ll buy some and maybe actually service them

Pretty sure i’m just gonna throw em in my cruiser board, i take my dogs skating with it and they run fast as hell might get out whatever is in there on it’s own
You’re def right though the cruiser board had some crusty n rusty reds on there and I didn’t even remove the wheel just sprayed iso in it spun it a lil bit and after awhile added speed cream & that was enough to have it flossin like before kinda wild how many folks replace bearings before trying to maintenance em.
I was just in my head cause they don’t feel terrible I felt like i remembered them being faster at first
But seemed like Olympia’s  a small brand n it has Crockett n Westgate why not. If they’re faster i’ll keep em on if the swiss feel faster i’ll just throw the ceramics on the cruiser board. That’d be the ideal scenario honestly but idk these bearings feel pretty good so far went to the park yesterday and even though it was windy as hell i just skated a lil transition and tried a bunch of mannys round the park and it felt like i wasn’t miserable against the wind and i was flying when it was on my back
I’m gonna do a hill i did in the swiss’s the other week and report back lol

I’ve never taken bearing completely apart, just remove the shields and shake them up in acetone or isopropyl alcohol and then a drop or two of speed cream has been enough. I suppose if thy get really bad, you could go as far as getting new cages but I haven’t needed to yet. Either way, it’s doesn’t hurt to have more bearings around.

[lurkpiv]

Anyone much smarter than me out there know if using washers to push wheels further out on a truck's axle will make the axle more likely to bend? Or is the amount of space minimal enough and axle strength strong enough that it shouldn't make a difference?

Basically how much of an impact would it make by moving the wheel on the axle out an additional 1/16"?

I have lightly bent my axles on the last couple sets of trucks I've had and want to just chalk it up to old trucks. I don't really huck much anymore so I feel like this shouldn't be happening. Really wondering if extra washers can make this worse.