Track racing - set up and riding style

Actually now that you mention it, there are also special PU wheels for rain and it sticks like mad. Also durability is lower and I think rolling resistance is higher ?

Edit : also you usually just swap the middle wheels not a full set to keep nimble front and rear wheels.

Do you think you can try and record your apex corner speed? With a mic included earphones or headphone or BT headset and a vocal speedometer ? Or maybe a smartwatch haha

Thereā€™s a free app available on Google store, I didnā€™t have enough battery yesterday to run both Strava + Real-time vocal speedo so went for Strava alone.

Hmmm actually an HUD screen in helmet would really be a game changer for this type of racing :checkered_flag:

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You can get away with flipping the Cones in cases where the hanger / kingpin space is filled as with a spherical or the SZ surfkeys, otherwise there will be unpredictable sideshift as the bushing attempts to find the bushing seat wall. This can also lead to sideloading the kingpin with a mechanical lock and eventually kingpin failure which can be catastrophic. Please pay attention to what is going on, this is not for the faint of heartā€¦

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Thanks for the warning Brad. I will pay attention. I look foreward to do the hanger mod so this doesnā€™t feel necessary. Or maybe the tkp is just the right way for me to go.

I have found the SZ TKP best for maneuverability without much lean and not that suitable for high speed due to the arc the axle follows

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I am still a cannonball run type of guy, open world street courseā€¦

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I have learned the following since last updateā€¦

The weather have been pretty nice so I have had some time on the street where I could dail in the trucks. I needed more turning so I increased the wedge in the front from 57 to 65 and still had the cone bushings flipped. But this made the front truck do a ā€œclonkā€ movement where the it all of a sudden shifted quickly when leaning. So I flipped the bushings back to normal.

image

This took away the ā€œclockā€ movement. The 65 front truck felt pretty good and I was eager to try it on the track.

But there is still something thatā€™s not dialed in. It felt a lot better than last week, but I was still far from being fast. My gut feeling tells me itā€™s the turning because of the longer deck. It feels like the changed turning from the longer deck canā€™t be compensated so it feels good. I could try to wedge even further but something tells me thats not going to solved the problem.

I simply donā€™t feel that the longer deck I have tried the last two times is ideal for the track I am on. There are different things that makes me say this.

First the turning has changes as I describe above and I feel that I canā€™t compensate through dialing the trucks and bushings.

Second it seems that I do not use the full length of the board. I naturally have my feet closer than the full plantform. If I dont use the full platform, I canā€™t see why I should have the longer platform as it changes the turning as I described.

Third, when I force my self to use the full platform it ads to the impaired turning.

Fourth, It feels like the deck is too wide. I need to have the the edge under my feet when turning in order to get the lean I need. Therefore I have to move my feet. I now many of you say that I should not move my feet but I have to. If I dont get the edges under my feet the turning sucks. I want to try a board that is narrow enough that I have both edged under my feet so I dont have to move them. At least where I have my feet. When the rest of the board can be wider - I donā€™t know. I am in the proces of learning to press decks so I will prototype my way through it in the time to come.

Or I should see what bindings might do.

On the positive side the longer deck did give me more stability and a better platform for accelerating and braking.

I will change back to the shorter deck and see if I get back to being fast again. If I do I know that this deck was not ideal for me. And then I am eager to set up the Xapham for the street with the sixshooters :slight_smile:

But on the shorter deck, I did feel that I needed a longer one. So maybe a deck in between. Time will tell.

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Holding out for the hanger mod is a good idea. Also is there room for shortening the wheel base by drilling new baseplate holes. Shortening the wheelbase 40mm could be a step in the right direction or make the difference. Research and development, donā€™t be afraid to chop the deck. Narrow that thing up and modify it to what suits your needs. Its a beautiful deck. In my eyes performing a function is what makes a deck beautiful. DH guys chop cut and customize their own personal performance details into deck design.

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