What makes a great Giant Carving Board?
Start of with a deck made for Giant Carving (take advice or check out:
www.insect-skateboards-longboards.co.uk or visit: www.apollo11shop.co.uk that way when you choose the deck the shape cries out for carving right from the start, also if it is well designed you will be able to “pump”, (this ability to "Pump" is critical!) this allows you to increase the speed when needed. The flex is very important; of late riders are heading towards stiff decks but are they all good to live with? In our view no, some are great but a lot look amazing but are over priced rubbish. Pure Carbon Fibre Decks that are rock solid, ie NO flex only suites a minority of skaters, try before you buy!! So here is our advice in brief on deck sizes;
TS, known as technical or tight, 28” in length.
Hybrid Decks fall between TS and GS so there length is about 30”.
Giant (GS) decks tend to be a little longer, say about 32” – 34”.
Deck width, well this changes just like fashion, our advice if you are starting out would be for a width of around 8”-9” or 21 – 23 cm. Your feet must fit well over each truck for maximum control. Also try the old school way of standing on your board and then try the new school stance. The later is faster but takes a while to master.
Wheel base
You will see on most good slalom skate decks that the rear truck has several different positions due to the extra holes. As a rule of thumb; short technical course, short wheel base; longer sweeping courses mean longer wheel bases as long as some of the cones are not to close to each other, if it is a man made course. Urban free riding is a creative form of this sport! Also if you bare foot ride like Shane then you can curl your toes over the edge for better deck control or get away with a shorter deck. If you get this wrong it dame well hurts..."No shit Sherlock". For me on a summers eve, bare foot is the only way, you are so in touch with your set up, it becomes part of you.
Slalom Trucks.
Tracker RTs and Tracker RTx are always a great choice, available in several sizes and the RT-x and RT-s complement each other so very well. The Tracker RT-x model truck is quick and loose, has a high roll centre and a straight point pivot for a more "tippy" turn. Tracker designed the RT-x to be used as a front steering truck, one that gets the rider into and out of a turn quickly and predictably.
For some real fun try reversing your Tracker Trucks, there are many times that we have even raced with then like this. A Giant Carving Race Board set up like this emulates surfing! It’s great fun, try it….
If you are more technically minded then the winner’s choice goes to Seismic Trucks and Wheels. I just love setting these well engineered trucks with different spring combinations. Don’t over look 3dm Wheels as over the years they have helped more champions win races than any other skate company!
Slalom Wheels
So many technical articles have been published on this subject, so no tech stuff here, keep it simple and keep it fun….
Size; anything from 62mm up to 76mm is the norm. But hey we are skaters so ride on what you like not what the fool on the skate forum recommends and also professes to be a self proclaimed expert in the science of the “Race Wheel”.
So some guidelines:
Soft, say 75a -79a, great grip, but could loose out on top end speed.
Medium, say 80a – 88a, good grip, will drift on tight fast bends, or tight cone courses, these are very fast.
Hard wheel, 88a and harder, very fast, little grip, man you need to be brave or insane! Better left for free riding.
ABEC 11 and Seismic rule the race course here and it’s not hard to see why. Both brands have a great selection to choose from, if cost is a big issue ABEC 11 Wheels are a little cheaper to buy but the Seismic Wheel is of a higher quality and are fitted with a race core. Seismic Black Ops really are great, we have had a set of Speed Vent 73mm 80a running head to head with the ABEC 11 Zig Zags 70mm and Seismic got the vote from every rider involved but they are more expensive, this is the only down side. This is important, Seismic seem to stay in tip top condition longer than the ABEC 11 wheels, why? Not sure but if this is true then they are not so expensive after all!
Before spending your hard earned cash check out the wild card, the Bennett Alligator makes for great old school hard carving fun. They run faster and tighter through hardcore courses than you would ever dream of. Our choice from Bennett goes to the 71mm 79a wheel retro old school shape at its best.
Bushings
No competition here, the only word to remember is Khiro. The best thing to do is experiment with different colour combinations, do not over tighten these bushings, if you distort there shape they will not perform correctly. Slalom Bushings have a hard life so replace them on a regular basis this keeps your set up running just as you want it. Also do not neglect your pivot cups, they are dead cheap, trucks aren’t!
Get your mates together, swap boards, set up some cones and hey presto you have a "Club" and you will have so much fun! If you need a little support we will help any group of skaters and provide you with some big discount!! And that helps any skater smile. Thanxs to every skater who has made us what we are, without cool dudes and dudesses supporting APOLLO 11 we would be nothing, so thanxs to all.
