What Trucks Should You Put On An Old School Or Shaped Skateboard?

The answer isn't just "Indy or nothing!"

0:00 Intro
0:11 Size
3:52 Brand
5:44 Conclusion

This video is not sponsored or endorsed by any brands or persons mentioned or shown in this video.

[ThorneBenatar]

I intentionally did not make any specific truck brand recommendations as that's a very subjective topic, and I wanted to be objective in this video. One person may want to put Independents on a deck while another person may want to put Thunders on the very same deck.

Sorry for any audio issues, I still haven't gotten around to getting a new microphone so I'm still using my headset mic.

What trucks do you use for your old school or shaped deck?

[azazelreficulmefistofelicu]

Makes sense. Time ago I had a 10.5 board and was sold ten inches trucks. It was weird as the back truck stuck out nearly two inches. 8.75 was the right choice for me once I got used to the weird inbalance at the front. The 80's were crazy.

[srt]

finaly! someone talks about this! have been trying to find anything online and nobody talks about it!

[barrydworak]

Great video! Thank you. I'm just pondering this stuff myself, and you helped me feel good about a build I'm playing with.

I'm old enough that my friends and I all had the reissue decks when they were just decks, not reissue.😁

I had an Alva. My friends also had P-P, Schmitt, Vision, etc. A lot of decks were fish-shaped, with a narrow section over the back truck. The end of the tail, and about 2/3 of the way up, the board were very wide.

I like the Winkowski Pro shape now, which are part old school, but also have modern concaves and a bit of nose flip. The narrow point over the rear truck is about 8.5", and over the front truck the board is about 9" wide. The wide point, behind the front bolts, is about 10.25". Erik W rides 159s on it AFAIK.

Remember, when these reissues were new designs, flip tricks didn't exist. These boards were ridden more like surfskates are now. They typically had pretty high risers and relatively big wheels, and would carve more like a longboard today with loose trucks and lots of travel.

Freestyle did exist at the time, but those guys used boards more like flat popsicle sticks, much narrower than the pool boards. Nobody was doing coconut wheelies on a 10.5" Schmitt Stix deck with pool wheels.

The freestyle skaters did match their trucks with the width of their boards. But pool riders didn't really think about it so much. Again, they were more like tranny-sliding surf skaters now. They thought about how stable the deck felt going up the side of a pool, and how well it would turn when they shifted their weight.

TL;DR: before flip tricks started crossing over from freestyle to street and transition skating, maybe 35 years ago, nobody even thought about making the truck axles match the deck width. They were not TOO far off, at least in the rear, but trucks exactly matching decks wasn't how anyone set up an Alva or Powell-Peralta board back in 1985.

[YimingPan]

Great video! Another variable is probably the wheels. Old school wheels tend to be offset and wide which can help add up to 1/4” (eg. Dogtown, Mini cubics, Rat bones).

[diddymelone]

lol just this week I thought about buying an oldschool shape and wondered if any of my trucks would fit and now you come with this video.
very nice brother <3

[markdearlove]

MiniLogo also do a 6 hole base plate on their larger trucks! Good analysis btw

[joe.nail]

This might sound crazy but with my Welcome and Uma shaped decks I’ve run split width trucks - Indy 159 in front and 149 rear

[idmhead]

I totally agree with what you said. I've been doing the same thing. So far, the old school decks that I have are a Powell Peralta Ray Barbee Fire Hydrant, Vision Kele Roscrans, and Powell Peralta Ban This. I'm using Indy 159s (8.75) on the Vision deck. 8.75 is about right for the Barbee deck as well. The Ban This deck is a little wider. That one could maybe use 169s (9.13). I have 159s on it at the moment but they are a bit too narrow. The other thing you need to take into consideration is whether the wheels overhang the ends of the trucks. I forgot to mention, I also have a Powell Peralta Mike Vallely deck. That one actually measures 8.5" where the back hanger is. I have the new Rat Bones Dragon wheels on it, which over hang the trucks. Believe it or not, I actually found that Indy 144s (8.25) fit that perfectly with the Rat Bones. Rat Bones add roughly a 1/4" to the width of the trucks. Those new Rat Bones are really good for cruiser boards. They are narrower than the old ones and slide better. Indy 159s are my favorite trucks overall. I had been skating 8.5" Powell decks, but, I prefer the 8.75" trucks because the wheels (modern ones like Powell Dragons (Bones shapes)) are actually shorter than the ends of the trucks. Even though the axle stick out a little over the deck, the wheels like up with the edge of the deck pretty much perfectly. Actually, I wish Indy made another intermediate length truck like they did with Indy 144 and made a Indy 164 (5mm shorter than 169/5mm greater than 159). If they did, it would be perfect for a Powell 8.75 Popsicle shaped board which is my current preferred setup. I was surprised that Thunder and Venture don't make 6 hole baseplates with the old bolt pattern. I skated Thunder, Venture, and Tracker back in the 80s. Thunder and Venture are totally different looking trucks now than they did then. Tracker still makes Sixtracks which are 8.9". I just got my first set of Indy 169s which I put on a 9" Powell Popsicle shaped board (Cab). It's cold here, so, maybe it's just the temperature, but, I found that 169s seemed to be less turny than 159s. I compared them to 159s on a Powell 8.75 deck. Both had a 15" wheelbase. I have to test it more, but, that surprised me. I was wondering whether wheel bite would be more of an issue with the wider trucks. It seems to be less of an issue with the 169s than the 159s actually. Both trucks have the kingpin nut all the way to the end of the kingpin.

[mancubzavala]

Running Indy 169’s hollows on my Powell Peralta GeeGah Skull & Sword with mini-cubics 👌🏼

[illreputed]

Ace af1 hangar and regular Indy baseplate to use old school bolt holes. Works but kingpin is significantly lower. Really stable and turns quick with right bushings and top washers if rolling on bone’s bushings.

[Hardcorestilllives]

For a 10" inch oldschool board Ace 77 is the best choice for me 🤷 depends also on my type of wheels

[surfyskateboard]

Good subject to tackle. Super useful video!

[jimmyhuang]

Powell is releasing the all new X Formula wheels similar to Dragons but in 97A, you should get a set and review them.

[thundernixon]

Thanks for this video! Wish I would have found this like 1 week sooner… ordered 9" trucks for a Welinder oldschool board, but I think 8.75" would be better. Actually, my current 8.5" trucks aren’t so bad, either! I’m debating whether I’ll just keep the 9" trucks for that much more room to grind, or order again to get 8.75" for a better shot at flip tricks…

[idmhead]

The Saiz deck is only 8" at the back truck and 8.25" at the front truck believe it or not. Although it's not something you would want to do with a Popsicle shaped deck, I agree that 8.75 trucks may be best for that deck. I have one, but, haven't set it up yet and haven't decided on trucks. Probably, it would be Indy 159s with Bone X97s 56mm Wide Cuts. Or, if I used something like Rat Bones which are an offset wheel that adds 3/8" to the axle length, I'd probably go with 149s. I have 144s and Rat Bones on a Vallely deck.

[TheReal_DeanD]

Very super helpful video. Thanks for the insight.

[darthkra]

what you think about a deck 8.25 on front and 7.5 on the back ?i dont know if i should go for 8.25 or 8 trucks

[nicholaskearns]

I’ve made a monstrosity.. I bought 161 team thunders for my 9.75 powell geegaw deck and didn’t realize the deck had the old school hard ware set up while the thunder base plate was set to modern hardware. So lucky I had 109 stage 11 Indy’s with a six hole base plate and I took the thunder hangers and combined the two with the thunders bushings and it surprisingly works. But I know it’s an abomination against god. I have experience in wood work and thought of drilling the holes but I’m scared shaped boards ain’t cheap and thunders are better for me and also lighter then indys and of course thunder goes and makes 181 after I buy 161s but idk if the base plates any different

[sleepydog]

I just bought a film truck and they got also the old school baseplate