Got to ride the 33's today. Initial impressions:
The turn is ridiculous, and it definitely has that pivot/seesaw feeling where you're almost playing a balancing act. These feel nothing like modern Indy, they definitely retain their... Ace-y-ness. The wheelbase is negligible, if you like the classics, you'll like these.
Build quality feels phenomenal.
Come to think of it, they really remind me of the Stage 9's I used to have in how they turn.
I'm still tempted to switch the bushings out with Krux. At least the bottom barrel. 86a just isn't cutting it for me - I tightened the trucks a half turn from factory tightness, which feels like it's perfect, but my fat ass still bottoms them out way too quick and the wheels press flat against the board without much effort at all. I'd definitely prefer the 92a barrels. I'm going to stick with stock for a month or two to see how I feel then. If I don't like how they break in I'll swap to Krux. Business as usual with Ace.
Anyhow, I just rode it around my block to get a feel for them, didn't do anything serious. A few slappies and I'm not 100% sure what to compare them to. They definitely feel harder than classics, or even indy/krux. Maybe sort of destructo feeling, or maybe Venture for a more common reference. It'll take some time to get used to, I think I got used to the softer metal, but it's by no means bad. Plus for the price I'm willing to trade the feel for longevity.
Speaking of price, I still feel like they're slightly too much, assuming you didn't get that Warehouseskateboards steal. At 65 I still would have wanted a hollow kingpin, I would pay 70 for full hollows, but 65 for standard still feels weird. My assumption here is that we're paying for build tolerances - Regardless of the brand, I can pick up their trucks and usually see something about them that isn't perfect. Who needs them to be perfect anyhow, going to ruin them regardless. With the AF1's I can't find anything wonky. They arrived flawless. It's weird - Not what I've become used to with skateboarding at all.
Anyhow, I'm using them on an 8" deck with 53mm Spitfire Classics. I ride anything between 8 and 8.25, don't really stray outside of that range these days.
So yeah - I'm not blown away, nor am I disappointed. For some reason I was expecting them to have a more mellow turn than classics, but that's definitely not the case. The only thing that I can see holding people back is the price point.