Then I scribed where the heim/axle would line up against the current holes. Turns out it’s 21mm c2c. This pic also easily shows how much closer the regular HD long link would have been compared to the short link and my new middle position.
And this is the part that took a lot of time and patience. I really didn’t want to screw this up so I checked and rechecked the progress quite a lot. I also countersunk the the holes for flathead nuts to connect the adapter plate to the 3 link baseplate.
Yeah my jump drives are pretty old now and are insanely loud. I should probably regrease and adjust the backlash. I just hate touching a board that works
I’m not too worried about the deck. It’s more like a loaded bamboo deck in that it has a lot of flex. Maybe eventually it’ll delam but I think it will be ok.
Unfortunately can’t go any shorter on wheelbase and still run 8” tires. I think you could ditch the extension brackets if you were on 6” tires, but then it can’t be ridden off-road anymore. It still turns like a maniac compared to the apex airs that were on there before. I can do tight circles now.
This is the closest thing I have as a before and after pic
I finally gave in and pulled off the extension brackets. Surprisingly, barely any wheelbite in the front and none in back. This will work great, especially when I throw some smaller tires on for racing
165mm race tires on now because the MBS T2 tires I was using literally fell apart. You can see where the steel bead came out of the rubber and punctured the tube. They were fun while they lasted.
All done - ready to rip! This is the only board I own now, so it’s my do it all board. Running it @poastoast style - 165mm tires with 4wd. Gotta find some tunnels.
Standing platform height didn’t change much removing the extension brackets. It maybe raised 1/8” at most. If you think about the brackets, they move the axle up and away from the deck, but they are also 1/2” thick so they act as riser plates too. Those two things offset each other.
The more substantial change in ridefeel is actually in the flex of the deck. The deck was crazy flex before because the brackets added so much leverage to the deck. It has a much more normal amount of flex for a lacroix now.
I’ll get some pics of ride height when I take it out for a spin later.
Ahh makes sense! When I was experimenting with wheelbase extenders on my friend’s build I also found that they need a ton of extension just to offset the extra ride height they inherently add. By the time I got the ride height right the wheelbase was way too long, so I just scrapped that idea.
Maybe I missed it but how is that cable management done?
Dope grip with a regular piece of grip in the middle?
Or is there any other brand of foam grip tape?
While it definitely takes more time to apply, you can use it to form the footpad to how you like it, you can easily add concave or even a W concave with this. In my experience sticks great to the deck.
Also it offers a small amount of extra comfort which is nice.
