Anyone know a decent brand/set of bushings as alternates to Bones Bushings?
As there’s none available in my local shop (which is also the only skate shop in the country)
I remember looking into this a couple years back for bushings when I kept blowing out Bones Blues on Thunders, from memory the blues are 81a which makes it kind of hard to find replacements as most companies soft bushings tend to be around 87a. iirc Pig were the only ones with a direct durometer match of 81a bushings, and then some other brands (Tracker, Mini Logo and Film) have bushing kits that cover 82-85a. I’m on Ace now and their replacement sets for both classic/af1 use 91a top 86a bottom. Once you’re getting up to/past that duro you’re back in pretty much every major truck company’s replacement bushing range.
I will say that even if you’re skating trucks that don’t have Bones bushings in, using the flat washer that comes with them on pretty much any set of trucks will improve the turn - with the larger/rounder washers that come stock on most trucks, they’ll usually hit the inside of the hanger and restrict the turn (which you can see if you look at your hangers, there’s normally a gouge/mark) whereas with the flat washers it’s unrestricted.
Hopefully that’s somewhat useful.
2 Likes
Not really related but if you swap your Indy pivot cups for RipTide ones, get the cracked ice ones, not the green ones.
1 Like
I feel like the answer to this question relies on what your shop has available, otherwise why not order the bones bushings.
The krux ones used to be pretty good. But i try not to meddle with them anymore and stick with the stock ones.
78A Super Soft Indy Bushings.
I used to run the same Bones Bushings constantly but could not stop breaking them. I went through like ten sets in one summer, seriously. I’ve still got a ton of those little washers they come with. They’d break so fast, my local would send a photo to Shiner and they’d replace (and replace and replace) them.
Eventually I packed them in started skating the Indy ones instead and I probably change them out every few sets of trucks now.
Granted, I don’t think I can run my trucks as loose as I used to but, that said, I was constantly skating on broken bushings when I ran the Bones ones.
1 Like
Happy to help, that bushing saga drove me crazy, haha.
As I said, I don’t know if they’re quite as soft as the Bones ones but they were so knackered I don’t think I had a good gauge on what those bushings are supposed to feel like.
I actually just looked at my set up and it turns out I run two sets of Indy top bushings, with the little washer from a set of a Bones, so it’s pretty similar scenario. More so than running the fatter bottom bushing than the Indy ones come with but obviously that means buying two sets at once.
1 Like
You lot are so picky. My bushings are shredded but it doesn’t seem to bother me at all.
Yeah 100% I would’ve said this 20 years ago but I like my setup how I like it. And I really like the blue bones bushings, seems to make any truck instantly skateable (for me anyway).
Yeah man, I have many setups and all my top bushings are shredded, because I’m quite hench as Anon used to say. I can be really picky when it comes to my gear but I don’t care about that, once my trucks are broken in and feel right, I don’t touch anything on them. I need RipTide pivot cups in all my Indys though, they really do make a difference.
I’d be curious to know how Aces feel but they’re too low for me (I skate the high Indys with risers) and fuck adapting to different trucks and possibly feeling like changing all my trucks. If it ain’t broken…
I’ve been on some mental truck mission recently. Rode Indys for 10 years and switched to thunder lows and wanted highs. Talked myself out of buying them and just got risers instead. Nearly bought tensor mags the other day (super cheap about 45 quid iirc). Just because I wanted to know what lightest trucks possible were like to ride.
Maybe should’ve put the tensor confession in the mental health thread
7 Likes
Tell you what, I know I could make my setups lighter but I like how they feel. I mainly skate Indy Hollows but have a set of the standard 149s and they feel fantastic with shaped 8.5s.
The tensor mags grind better than most tensors but feel too light. Like they made any trick involving a shove feel unpredictable. Perhaps it’s something you’d get use to but I snapped the kingpin and gave up
Thunder all the way imo (with stock bushings)
2 Likes
Aces with Bones Medium bushing, no washers.
Yer to skate my Lurpivs
@Spanky I wonder how well a set of Ace bushings in your trucks would compare to the Bones Soft’s - whilst they’re not a direct durometer match I know the Bones bushings are favored for their rebound/returning to center quickly, and Ace achieved a similar effect using dual duro bushings (86a bottom 91a top), might be something to consider.
1 Like
This is suddenly becoming very complex
But fuck it, that’s what threads like this are for!
Shop has soft thunder bushings, think my only option is to try those
1 Like
as long as you don’t start waffling on about nanotubes it’ll be fine
2 Likes
