Bushing Guide

A quick and clear explanation of everything to do with bushings and what affects them.
Taken from 'fish. Bushings. Different types and how to set them up. by gavmck




Bushings. Probably one of the most important parts of your longboard setup. These can dictate how your board feels to an amazing degree.

Board getting boring?
Want to liven up a setup but don't have much cash?
Need a little more stability?

Play with your bushings! One of the cheapest parts of a longboard that also has one of the biggest effects on the ride...

Lets begin with setting them up. I'm gonna use the example of a Randal truck cos that's what most people run and this info can be easily ported to other hardware heh.

Randals begin with 2 'cone' shape bushings, one larger than the other, 2 cupped washers and a 2.5" kingpin.



Hardness:
Bushings have a perfect compression point (How tight you crank your kingpin). This is when the bushing is 'engaged' at the center point, when the truck is not turning, but not too tight that the bushing is already in a state of compression. There should be no slop if you wiggle it before you can feel the bushing engage. It should have a smooth feeling. The sides should not be bulging out at all at the center point.

If you have slop, use softer bushings. If you have bulging edges, use harder bushings.



Washers:
Personally, I like flat washers. These allow for the maximum turn depth, whilst still retaining good rebound. A cupped washer will make the bushing compress more towards the edge of the bushing as you turn. This gives a more progressive turn. The resistance to the turn will build up faster the more you lean. This often limits the turn depth a bit as you will need more force to get the same amount of turn when at the peak of the turn. Using no washers will give you a deeper turn, but with less bounce back at the peak of the turn so it can feel a little squirrely or 'twitchy'.

Flat washers should match up roughly with the edge of your bushing. Use a bigger one for things like JimZ, medium for barrels and you can go quite small for cones.



Shape:
The shape of a bushing gives a lot of it's feel (apart from the urethane compound). Standard shapes are 'stepped' like an eliminator or JimZ, Barrel or cone.

Cone shaped bushings do not have much support in the center and offer a greater turn depth. This makes them great for craving when you want a flowy ride that never goes in a straight line.

Barrels offer a stronger center point whilst still retaining a good bit of turn. They will offer less depth than a cone shaped bushing, but you get a bit more kick back out of the turns at the peak.

Stepped bushings offer the strongest center point and the least turn depth. This is why people often like them for downhill as they feel very 'stable' with the strong center point and do not turn too much so you drift out too far.




Compound:
The urethane formula used to make your bushings is really quite important. Generally there are three things that make up how a particular urethane 'feels'. Squish, bounce and compression. Squish is that feeling of sqashyness like foam or rubber. Bounce is how much it 'bounces' you back out of the turn. And compression is how far it compresses before you can feel the bounce. Below I offer my personal opinions of these values (Out of ten) for most major bushing manufacturers. Unfortunately I am unable to give scores for ABEC11 because my delivery seems to have been delayed. Will post up when I get em in though...


Khiros - Squishy, but not much
S 5
B 4
C 4

Holeys - Squishy with light bounce at the peak of turn
S 7
B 6
C 5


Bones hardcore - Smooth thoughout the turn
S 6
B 6
C 7


Venom barrels - Mad compression and bounce
S 3
B 8
C 7


Venom Eliminators - MAD bounce in the soft duros
S 3
B 9
C 5


JimZ - Smooth and supported
S 4
B 5
C 5


Sabre - Squishy feel with mad turn depth and a good kick at the bottom
S 8
B 7
C 9


Abec11 - Where's my order?
S ?
B ?
C ?


So there's my slightly dodgy summary of bushings, enjoy!