This time on Rad Rat Video, we talk about high trucks versus low trucks. Is there
really a difference? Which one is better? I answer all your questions right here. Let's get started.
Welcome to Rad Rat Video! Here on the channel we talk about
all kinds of skateboarding topics from trick histories to game reviews to
learning tricks on the Shred school. All kinds of different stuff. Subscribe so
every Monday, Wednesday and Friday you can learn something new. But today we're
talking about high trucks versus low trucks. Originally this was supposed to be an
Ask Rad Rat question, but I got the same question maybe three or four times
within a week. A lot of people have been wanting to know about this, so I figured
I'd promote it to a real video, I would do some more research and do it up right.
So, first thing you want to figure out is: what the actual difference is between a
high and low truck. Is there a definition? Is there's an industry standard of some
kind that sets them apart? And the answer, unsurprisingly, is no. And not only that,
but most truck brands do not publish specs for their trucks at all. So if it's
a brand that brags about how low they are, about how light they are, you won't
find a height or weight most of the time. So it's very difficult to actually find
out some solid information, but there are a few brands that have different size
models that publish their specs. The first of which is Krux, and I have a
couple of those here. So the standard Krux, which is what I have on my board
right here, these are 55 millimeters and 335 grams, I believe. This is a
Downlow. This is 52 millimeters and 332 grams, or 3 grams lighter. It's about 2 or
3 paper clips less weight. Not much of a difference, but I'm going to put them
side-by-side real quick to give you an impression of what that's like. It's not
a very scientific comparison because these are mounted right now, but that'll
give you an idea, roughly, of the kind of difference we're looking at. Not a huge
difference, but it is a little bit lower. The weight - really not a big deal. The
other brand I found is Venture. So their lows are forty eight point three
millimeters. Standards are fifty three point five. Weirdly they have some
different lines of their trucks that have a high model, but it's actually the
same height as the mid from other lines. So it seems like they kind of use "mid"
and "high" interchangeably, which is kind of weird. Another thing really weird
about Ventures is that they have so many different types of models that are light.
They have their v-lights and all this other kind of stuff. They don't publish
weights for that stuff anywhere at all. There's also Independent which has two
different models right now: they have the stage 11s which are 55 millimeters, and
their Titaniums which are fifty three point five. They aren't considered high
and low - they aren't called that - but they are two different models with different
sizes. So when you talk about high versus low within a brand, it means something,
but in general it really doesn't mean much at all. Like, Bullet. They have
their standard truck, actually lower than the Krux Downlow, so that's a little bit
weird. The lowest truck I was able to find - keeping in mind that most of them
don't publish this stuff - is Tensor. So they have the tensor maglights and
those are forty five point five millimeters tall. Well what does that
mean? Can you really feel that difference? So the difference between those tensors
and the highest truck that I found are nine and a half millimeters, which is
actually kind of a lot. In any other part of your board, that would make a big
difference. That's about a third of an inch, maybe a little bit more. So that's
the difference between a 7.75 deck and 8.1. Pretty major difference. It's also the
same difference as having nine and a half millimeter bigger wheel. Actually
it's worse than that, because the wheel is half way above the axle, and half way
below the axle. So the height of your board is actually only half of the
difference. If you go from a 50 to a 52, that's only going to make you ride one
millimeter taller. So it would be like riding a 19 millimeter bigger wheel than
what you do now. That is a really big difference, but can you really feel it?
That would be up to you. So I switched from those Krux downlows to the standards
that I showed you, and I really didn't notice much of a difference. That was
really recent. In the past I switched from tensors -
tensor lows with 52s to Krux with 56's and I really didn't feel much of a
difference then either. Let me know if it's any different for you. All this
stuff kind of blows me away, because you think about how specific every other
measurement on your board is. People have their wheels locked down to a single
millimeter, you know. You don't want the 50s or the 52s, you got to get that 51. There
are people who will only skate a 51. And, you know, your deck width. How many people
just buy whatever? You know, you get your specific size, you get used to it, and you
stick to it. But with trucks, they're kind of random. If you switch brands, you
might be, you know, three or four millimeters off without even knowing it.
So it's kind of crazy to me that they're so all over the place, but does it really
matter? So what are the pros and cons of having high versus low trucks? This is
something that I was kind of surprised to do some research about, because the
skate industry has been obsessed with low trucks for a very long time. You know,
being lower and being lighter has been all that anyone advertises about for
years. But what is the actual point? The biggest thing that you'll see all the
time is that lower trucks are more stable and they're better for flip
tricks. So if you go to a buyer's guide on a skate shop website or anything like
that, you ask around, you look at reddit threads, and everything people always say:
"lower trucks are more stable and better for flip tricks," over and over and over.
That's all you'll ever see, but I can't really figure out why. What is it about
lower trucks that make you more stable? It's not like a taller board just tips over
randomly while you're rolling around, you know. If your trucks are a little bit
loose and you land heavy on the side, you turn, you don't just flop over. So that is
a little bit weird to me that people say that all the time.
Although it makes a little bit of sense in theory. So if you look at your board,
the center of gravity that it will flip around, let's say it's right here. If the
truck is a little bit lower, then it gets closer to the board, so it'll flip a
little bit quicker, but that's only theoretical. That's a very small
difference. I think the width of your board would be a much bigger difference
than how high the trucks are, but a lot of people say that. Now for me, like I
mentioned, I switched from tensor lows to Krux a long time ago, this is
maybe 10 years ago now. I was doing triple kickflips, I was doing Casper flips, I was
doing all kinds of weird stuff, really technical. That's what I was into, and I
didn't notice. I got a bigger setup, bigger wheels,
taller trucks because I had a mini ramp I had just built, and I was having trouble
keeping the speed with my low setup. Went with some bigger stuff, and had an
easier time with that. But I didn't lose any of my tech stuff and have any problem
with that at all. So I thought it was kind of weird that
everyone parrots this idea of them being more stable, when as someone who
would have really felt that, I didn't notice anything at all. The other
supposed benefit is the weight, and I've talked about weight of different stuff
on the channel before, but I had some of those specs right there. The Krux were
three grams different, and that is almost nothing. A paper clip is about a gram and
a half, like the jumbo size. Tape two paper clips to your board and see if
you'll notice. Although you have to count the weight of the tape too. So maybe tape one paper
clip to your board and see if that really makes any difference to you. It
seems like such a misguided way to save a little bit of weight, although looking
at this chart made by tensor makes this a little bit more of a blurry issue. So
with some brands, it is a 2 or 3 gram difference, but with the tensors the high
vs. lows are 20 grams apart. So over both trucks - 40 grams. That's over an ounce.
that would definitely be noticeable, but unless you go to your skate shop with a
kitchen scale and a ruler and you figure out all this stuff it's not really
certain what you're going to get or how much of a difference you'll even feel. So
if those are the upsides, what are the downsides to having low trucks? The
biggest most obvious one you'll always hear is wheel bite. To avoid wheel bite,
you have to go smaller and smaller with your wheels, which makes you keep less
speed and all that kind of stuff. I mentioned I switched for my mini ramp.
I definitely noticed a big difference when I sized up my wheels a little bit. So
that is one of the big downsides. The second is a kingpin clearance. This is a
kind of a weird issue to me, because what are low trucks good for? Stability and
tech. Well tech is a lot of grinds, right? But the kingpin sticking out - you
might find yourself in some trouble. One of the other things is the turning
radius. Again I didn't really feel this much of a difference myself, but maybe
it's just the way that I skate. So the taller the truck is, the more of more
room that it has to pivot, so when you turn, the truck can turn like this. If the
truck is shorter, there's less of a way for it to turn, so it's kind of a small
thing. Unless you really need to be able to carve on these. If you skate a lot of ditches or
something like that, that could be a pretty big difference. And that's one of
the major differences between having lows on a riser, as opposed to just
having a higher truck, is that the extra distance between the pivot cup will give
you a better turning radius. But the biggest benefit of having higher trucks
is that you actually get more pop, which is a really controversial thing. If you
ever look it up online, people debate it endlessly and argue about it, but if you
cut through all the noise, it seems like most people will find that you have more
pop. Some other people may have trouble getting used to it or something, but for
the most part, you do get more pop. And there are two big physics reasons why.
First is that, when the board is higher the tail pops, at more of an angle. So you
can slide your foot up a little bit easier. It's like having a steeper tail
without having to have your foot be on an angle more when you pop. So that's one
benefit. The second is that, when the tail is higher off the ground, you have more
room to get the tail to get some speed going, and you can really snap it harder
with the same amount of effort. So compare that to like ollieing out of a
tailslide, you know, where you just kind of rock the tail a little bit. You don't
have any room to build up speed and really snap it, so there is a difference
there, and it's really interesting to me because it's not what you would think. A
lot of people buy lower trucks, or lighter in general, any way to get more
pop. They want to have a board that's lighter, so they can pull it up with you
easier. But in doing that, that might actually be hurting themselves. So it
makes me think about the town I live in. There's a lot of bike paths and stuff. A
lot of people commute to work on their bikes, and every now and then, like every
day basically, I'll see somebody who's sitting there on
his bike. He's got the skin-tight suit with the fake sponsors he doesn't have.
He'll have the helmet with the tail on it that's a little more aerodynamic.
He'll have the wheels that are solid discs instead of spokes so they don't
chop up the air. He'll have a carbon fiber frame bike that is thousands of
dollars.. and he is 40 pounds overweight. And you think about, "do you really notice
that difference? Was it worth spending thousands more for a bike that weighs
one pound less, when you don't?" Shouldn't you have bought a garage sale bike like I did? And
then maybe buy a treadmill too? Like, is that the best way to accomplish
the goal that you want? If you're trying to get more height on your skateboard,
going lighter is not really the best way to go. So I thought that was kind of
interesting, and that's what it made me think of, but as someone who skates
mostly technical - I do a lot of flat ground a lot of flip tricks, a lot of stuff like
that - I've skated low trucks for a long time, and I was surprised to find out
some of these things that I did. So as I mentioned, I did switch to a higher truck,
and I never really noticed the difference. I think maybe next time I buy
a new set up, I'm going to go really low and just see if I really notice anything,
because if anyone will benefit from it, it would be me. So the one thing is that
I skate my trucks for a long time. I'll switch out bushings and just keep them
going until the axle nuts are just destroyed, and they won't tighten anymore.
So I don't have a ton of experience with a lot of different brands, but I've skated a few.
If you've skated a lot of different trucks, you've made the switch
back and forth, let me know what your experiences are like below. I would like
to hear if there really is that much of a benefit to low and why is it that I
have not felt it. So let me know about that below. Until next time, here's more
videos you might want to check out, and don't forget to subscribe by tapping my
logo on screen, so you can keep learning new things about skateboarding three
times a week. Thanks for watching.
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