I’ve always felt like Indy’s were the closest, most of the time, to a truck for everything, for me, but never felt ‘the best’. Couldn’t put my finger on why I’d like other trucks more, but then revert (damn it) back to Independents. The image, fans of the brand, marketing, all very rough. Hurtful even.
I think I like Indy’s on 14.25”. I like wider boards, now. If I’m doing this right, and I want to ride ventures, than I look for boards 14” wb and below? Skated ventures for years, of and on, but always smaller boards 8” and under.
Skating thunders, like them a lot actually, should probably just stick with, one of the main reasons for something different: bigger wheels.
Fingers of flat? Not exactly the correct thread, but is it that more fingers of flat are better with the thunder/venture style? And steeper boards better with Indy/ace?
I’ve tried so many different combos. Never fully developed preferences or stuck with a consistent set up. It’s always been fun to try different stuff. Agnostic
Cheers to those that have contributed mightily to this thread. Interesting to hear the choices people make and their context.
Fingers of flat seems to be preference really, even if the Schmitt theory is more fingers = more finesse and fewer = more power (I can't say that more fingers = more finesse because I am loose/sloppy as fuck but from a personal pov, I can say that fewer fingers and a steeper tail definitely has more pop for me than a board with lots of flat).
What is the 'standard' for finesse, that's what I don't understand. Flip tricks in and out? Technical precision? If so that would mean shorter WB, say what you will, a shorter WB flips easier than a long one.
As for trucks, I don't feel trucks have much of an effect on this on their own per say, but DO in conjunction with wheelbase, e.g., let's say you like finesse (more fingers of flat), lots of boards with more fingers of flat seem to have shorter WBs on average (primitive is the best example), say 14" or 14.1x" so riding a thunder or venture pushes that out to 14.2x
My ghetto rule of thumb is:
8.25" is the standard WB, it's seemingly the most commonly used WB across all brands. Then take a roughly .25" +/- depending on brand, away from that:
14.25" WB + Indy/ACE/Theeve = 14.x" WB
14.25" WB + Thunder/Venture/Tensor = 14.3x+ WB
14.3/4/5 WB + Indy/ACE/Theeve = 14.2x WB
14/14.1/14.125 + Thunder/Venture/Tensor = 14.2x WB
Over time I've managed to distill it down to preferring a 14.3x or 14.4x" vs a shrunken one (DLX and NHS make lots of 14.353/14.44/14.38 wheelbases) somewhere over 14.25, but under 14.5
Aaaaannnd, ollies...I can ollie high on anything but prefer short boards/tails with Thunders (or Tensor ATGs which feel like Thunders but taller) on a 14.25" WB
5'10" / 31" inseam if that fucking matters at all.