Supprisingly complicated and nuanced question!
I’ll preface that I can only really talk specifics about Nothing Fancy (Lacroix Duality build) and Ankle Wreacher (Stooge v5 4wd build), but they’re very different board. I hope that the conclusions that I draw from the differences between the two (very different boards) are accruate conclusions of Dualities vs 3-links, generally.
General Feel
Nothing Fancy is definitly more snappy and manuverable then Ankle Wreacher. This makes a big difference to the characteristics when turning- I can be much more dynamic on Nothing Fancy, feeling out and riding the edge of traction with my feet/ankles. On Ankle Wreacher, because of how much inertia it has, I do by feathering the throttle on the edge of traction. However, this difference in prefered riding style is most likely due to the weight difference and power avalibility, not trucks. Ankle Wreacher is significantly heavier then Nothing Fancy(like, 2x) and has like 6 pounds of motors attached to the front truck.
Another massive difference is the deck/frame
Nothing fancy is a Fiberglass/plywood deck that has a non-negligible amount of flex. When I go into a turn, pressing into the deck flexes it, and changles the geometry of the trucks to be more agressive, decreasing the turning radius. Bascically I’m able to throw myself into a corner, and the cornering forces change the board’s shape and truck geometry, which pulls the board around me. I’m able to make fine adjustments to the turning radius very quickly by changing the pressure I putting into the board with my legs.
Ankle Wreacher doesn’t do this, at all. Makes switching between the two boards on race day a challenge, and was eternally grateful for the outlaps in San Fran. When I go into a turn, the turn I set is the turn I get, pressure on the board be damned. If anyone’s ridden a stiff 3-link setup with BRP’s, you know this “on rails” feeling. It doesn’t have the “dynamic turning radius” that Nothing Fancy does.
To complicate things further, the standing platform is different. Ankle Wreacher’s V5 frame has me level with the axles. Nothing Fancy is close, but it’s ~10mm higher then the axles. This, plus tires that are ~20mm larger in diameter puts me higher off the ground. HOWEVER- when I’m in a turn and flexing Nothing Fancy’s deck, the standing platform lowers to be much closer to Ankle Wreacher’s.
Tires
At EE San Fran, I ran BRP Wides 45A on Ankle Wreacher, Linpower Slicks on Nothing Fancy(Thanks @poasttoast!). Obviously, the BRP Wides have more grip then Linpower Slicks, so I was able to be faster around the corners.
Another notable effect is tire “squish” under pressure. When applying turning forces, the shape of a tire deforms from a perfect circle into a “squished circle” shape, decreasing the effective diameter. This decreases the “ride height” of the board. But due to different pressures on the inside/outside sides of the turn, but the effect isn’t equal, and can cause the trucks to no longer be level with the ground, which changes the deck angle(with the ground) that’s required to hold a set turning angle. This can change the turning radius non-negligiblly.
On Ankle Wreacher, the BRP wide tires have basically zero tire squish. The Linpower slicks don’t either, but when I switched to Linpower tires the morning of racing (From 200mm Kendas), I had to compleately re-learn the dynamics of Nothing Fancy because it had a much more “on rails” feeling. Not as much as Ankle Wreacher though, because of deck flex and the Lins still have some squish.
I mention this because it definitily affects the feeling of the trucks, and how responsive they feel. Just another factor to sus out.
(I daily Nothing Fancy on 200mm Kendas, which have a lot of squish and are very fun to slide on)
Power
No competition here. Nothing Fancy is 20s, 180 max total motor amps. Ankle Wreacher is 720 max total motor amps, 12s.
I was frequently full throttle on Nothing Fancy before I compleated the turn, while on Ankle Wreacher I could barely touch full throttle without breaking traction, so could only happen after I’ve compleated the turn and lined up for the next one (aka there was basically no power ceiling).
Conclusion
At EE San Fran, I was faster on Ankle Wreacher then Nothing Fancy, but not by much! Only a second or two. I belive this to be primarily because of Nothing Fancy’s traction and power limitations, not because of the different trucks setups.
TLDR; All of these factors makes it hard to detangle what is an effect from the trucks and what is an effect from the 3-links. I think the differences between my to boards are down to powertrain and deck setup, not the trucks. From my perspective, 3-links and duality trucks achieve the same thing, just with very different mechanisms.
I’m confident that with the right setup, a Duality raceboard could definitely challenge a 3-link setup.
I would really love to see duality trucks on an MLR Deck (and a custom powertrain). With the stiffness and crazy dropdown of that deck, I think that’d be an OP setup that could be directly compeate with 3-links.
I don’t need another board…I don’t need another board…Anyone wanna commission it