For $90, hell no they shouldn’t!
Separate issue, but related to product getting worse since moving away from USA:
I’ve looked down the barrel of the axle on the hollows of a local ripper, and his are definitely bent from his gnar landings. Which may have always happened on high impacts, but it’s still lame.
They cost well over $100 here in Australia (more like $160+), but everything is almost double what people pay in terms of a figure here, when compared to USA.
As to Indy being made in China, I think that was more specific to a certain batch of ti axles having issues, how ever many that was from after the cross was removed in 2020, so maybe late 2020 to 2021, whereas Indy has been made in China since 2018 and parts from even further back than that.
Ti axles were in very short supply round pandemic times, so maybe someone somewhere subbed in poor quality materials or whatever - I am not a metal worker or have a whole lot of knowledge in that area, but even older ti axles from trucks all still made in China prior to that work fine with no issues, as far as I know.
As to other things going down hill since going anywhere, from where they were initially made, not just USA to China, I think sometimes things can get better, other times not so much, depending on the fine details.
Others have said before, moving production to China is not the issue, it is the quality of work that a manufacturer puts out, so if you pay for it, you get a very good quality of product / work from China, but if you go the cheap route, then you get the sub par quality product every single time.
I don't know any other details to be able to check, verify or otherwise comment on this, but someone, somewhere definitely made a mess of something with those ti axles and for some, who knows how old the product is that is sitting in skate shops or has been in possession of someone who might be selling sets online or elsewhere.
Re hollow trucks, from looking down the axle, some even from new don't seem to be perfectly straight, having a slight bend towards the deck, one definitely went the other way from another brand I can't recall right now, but most usually are pretty straight when you look at them.
I have an old set from one guy who only skated curbs and flat and they are more bent than almost any other hollow I had seen, without actually grinding through axle or breaking off from use or other, eg being run over. The guy was not heavy, or really anything else to note, but just the sheer pressure slowly made truck axles bend enough that there was no clear vision right through the hollow axle on either, more so on the back though.
You could say that is the nature of skateboarding - use and abuse product, skate and destroy, or whatever else, but everything from back in the day to height of production to current day, things can go both ways, some amazing still after twenty or whatever years, others broken very quickly or just don't hold up to even simple skateboarding.
That is also why warranty of products can be a really good thing, or a pain, depending on who you go through, which shop, which distro, which brand, etc. Some are really good with anything and everything, others leave a lot to be desired, from the local shop right through distributors to the brand itself.
Thankfully most major brands have a really good warranty department, but you always hear sometimes things fall through the cracks.
Topic: The Indy Thread (Read 133359 times)