cool vids, nice patio action . endless...now thats a theme you can go with !

@lunchbox. That bank looks perfect. It's much harder to find one in my area than I thought. And by my area, I mean indianapolis and all the suburban areas that I work in. A good one has to exist, I just haven't looked hard enough. I will find one.

Quote: Originally posted by PHREERIDER

cool vids, nice patio action . endless...now thats a theme you can go with !

Yesterday was great weather and no wind. The perfect example of why I wanted these for endless no wind fun. I must have rode the little banks on my street's driveway cuts for 2 hours and I didn't have to drive anywhere.

Mother in law is over for Mother's Day. I had to seek asylum in the garage for a quick session. :D

also had to pay a price for goofing off when I shouldn't have been. :P

scored a super chili on a scratch and dent sale. 28 long and 21 wheelbase. No concave only rocker. Should be a hoot to kite with.

Way to go! And the quiver builds :D

Thanks! Now to figure out how to set it up. I'm almost thinking about 4.3 Bennett with wide side set wheels to have a huge contact patch. What do you think?

How wide is the deck? 4.3s only have a 7" axle. If you go too narrow the board will be really divey. I'd pick the wheels out first and then get the proper axle to line those wheels up with the rail. Might want an angled riser too depending upon how much turn you want to create. Let me know what you decide.

That's it. My buying and testing different "streetkite" set ups is done for the most part. I've now spent fair amount of money and time trying different gear and I find it almost unfathomable that the first longboard I purchased used for $40 is the best I can find for kiting. It's not very often that you blindly stumble across something that works so good right from the beginning.

I've tried 2 different types of reverse kingpin trucks. Top mount and drop through configurations. I've tried short board and traditional kingpin. I've tried specialized surf skate carver trucks. 3 different longboard decks and one cruiser deck. None compare to my original set up witch was an s9 drop through bamboo deck with 10" gullwing sidewinder II trucks. I cracked that deck and my pivot cups on the trucks were toast so I'd been experimenting the last 6 months with different gear.

Today, I removed the brand new charger RKP trucks I had on the new Sector 9 Mini lookout and installed the sidewinder II trucks with new pivot cups. I also put the new 72mm 78a nineball wheels on it. I went out today and had perfect 4m wind. It was fantastic. Much better than any of the other set ups I've tried. Keep in mind that all the set ups work so use what you have, but the combination of sidewinder trucks and a drop through deck provides a wonderful balance between maximum turn rate and low center of gravity and wide wheel stance with the 10" trucks that just seem like it was made for kiting. The carver trucks also do a pretty darn good job but I found you have to slow way down to make transitions and take the turns wide. Even though they turn on a dime, they are very high and narrow comparatively. This causes them to slip out when initiating a transition with any speed. The funny thing about the Sidewinder II trucks is they seem to be hated by the longboard scene so I thought there must be better trucks for kiting. I think they are hated by long boarders because they aren't the greatest trucks for sliding and downhill riding. I think Gullwing unknowingly created fantastic trucks for kiting though.

That's just my opinion and kiting/skating is all about personal preference, but a drop through deck with sidewinders is a great place to start for kiting if you don't know what to get.

Quote: Originally posted by ssayre

The funny thing about the Sidewinder II trucks is they seem to be hated by the longboard scene so I thought there must be better trucks for kiting. I think they are hated by long boarders because they aren't the greatest trucks for sliding and downhill riding. I think Gullwing unknowingly created fantastic trucks for kiting though.

Sidewinder trucks have a great feel (as you know) but they are a pain if you have to swap bushings around given they use twice as many. That doesn't make them crap trucks though. If they were, they wouldn't come standard on many boards (usually pintails). They are hated for the reasons you describe. Not the most reliable to use for bombing hills and sliding at speed and since that's what many on the Fish do... well...

Glad you are finding what's best for you. It's like building a kite quiver. You need to try a lot to find the few you like.

Yeah b-roc and the best part is I use all of my skating stuff without kite so each trial still results in stuff I can use regularly for different disciplines.

I've been talking to lunchbox and he has been enjoying his sidewinders for kiting as well. I think we have identical set ups except the wheels.

Going from Sidewinder IIs to C7s made me feel like I'd reached a new level all at once. Turns I never made, came easy. Bought some fresh pads before hitting the pipe tomorrow. I can't believe the difference. Now I've just got to break through and pivot from the shoulders. Sliding top turn, no more holding back, plastic courage to move past pumping up to the lip on a 5m vert. So much pucker factor before the drop becomes routine. Good things come in steps.

Carver's rule in the pool/park if you prefer uni-directional skating. I like the CXs but C7s have a bit of an advantage when grinding. Pads are key to confidence. You will fall in the park. I skate way better when padded as the fear factor is diminished.