It’s amazing what a 1.75in drop does for confidence at speed. I never felt particularly comfortable on the original Evolve Bamboo GTX deck, swapped it out for a Landyachtz Switch drop deck at the beginning of last season. A pair of even the composite Gbomb drop brackets + any decent deck is more $ than I spent on the Landyachtz drop deck, but I’m dying to make something cool out of this Beercan Boards deck I recently picked up. (Kegger 38, no longer made… Current versions are drop-thru only. This one has the sliding “truck trax” mounts that allow you to change the wheelbase.) It’s a bit tall and tippy on 8in pneumatics, but I’m throwing a pair of black/green composite gbomb brackets into the mix, sawing off the tips. Pics (once I’ve got embedding rights here) and riding impressions (if the weather holds) when it’s done. Gbomb is in Western Michigan & I’m in the Detroit area, so hopefully gratification by this weekend.
I have a dumb question:
Would using brackets on a board with cut outs cause structural weakness at the nose and tail?
Are there any points that would make this a no no to do?
And, I wonder, is it possible to attach brackets on top of the deck? I’ve only seen them under the deck.
Maybe reinforcing bottom, and it is at expense of deck space for your feet, but wouldn’t forces on bolts and deck not be pretty similar either way?
You’re definitely changing a compression load to a torsion, I’d guess that it’s probably worse with a dropped/ wedged design deck since there’s a designed in stress concentration with the bends.
You can probably strengthen it a bit depending on where the deck is designed to bend with some fiberglass/CF. At the very least, I’d add an aluminum deck protector thing to keep the torque from pulling one side of the bolts through the deck
wtf…
based on your comment, I just looked up their location and they’re less than 10 miles from my friend’s house. Despite how flat the midwest is, it never occurred to me that a LDP company would be based in Michigan.
Voila! 
…a platform deck like that 
with 0° dropped brackets … mounted with small underbelly reinforcement plates like these
At the very least, I’d add an aluminum deck protector thing to keep the torque from pulling one side of the bolts through the deck
Like these 
Those are nice! 
Definitely like them a lot better than the generic ebay x-things:
I’ll admit, they really fit in with the minimal grip on that pin tail.
(Hello fellow goofy rider 
)
Sweet ! I will keep that in mind.
I decided to try the brackets on the Beercan Boards deck specifically because it seems to be extra-strong & stiff, especially where the brackets will attach. There are pairs of reinforcing ribs that run the length of the deck on either side of where the truck mount, forming a channel in which the mounting blocks slide. Since the trucks (or brackets in this case) mount to sliding aluminum blocks, I won’t have to drill any more holes in the deck.
The Evolve DKP trucks I ride on most of my boards extend the axle a good inch beyond the center of the baseplate, which puts compression load on one end of the baseplate, tension on the other. The fasteners loosened up on a ride earlier this season, and by the time I noticed, the rear truck was only attached by the 2 rear screws, which had already bent. It was grotesque. I ended up tying the truck back to the deck with a piece of string trimmer line I found on the ground… Skated like a kitten for a couple miles, broke on the first bump. I ended up borrowing a screw from the front truck to get me back to the car.
I’m sure I’ll be putting a LOT more force on the mounting hardware with the axle > 3in beyond the center of the baseplate, but with this deck, I’m not worried.
By cutouts, are you talking about drop-thru mount decks? I’d want the material to be solid near the tips for this purpose. Most of the drop-thru decks seem to be too long for brackets, which increase the wheelbase by more than 6in over direct-mounting TKP/RKP trucks. I still want a “normal” wheelbase of about 36in between the axles, and a 24-26in foot platform. Putting these brackets on the evolve bamboo drop-thru deck, for example, would give more like a 42in wheelbase… Would turn like an aircraft carrier.
I was surprised Gbomb was in Michigan too. The brackets arrived in 2 days 
Thanks for this detail (and input from others).
I was talking top mount, not drop through deck. I meant the board shape (symmetrical).
I figured it would create issues with extra flex and possible stresses from increasing the wheelbase. It’s more for possibly adapting an existing board with stability in mind for speed.
Something like the ideaTB brackets which can be adjusted I match the drop that I need.
I think the aluminium deck protectors are the way to go to secure the deck, but not rushing the decision now. All just ideas in my brainbox for further upgrades/modifications.
I’ve got the Beercan deck assembled with the DD composite brackets, which btw were quite reasonably priced w/o their fancy hardware kit ($50ea for glass composite vs $70 w/fasteners I couldn’t use anyway, vs way more for aluminum or carbon composite.)
The deck height and wheelbase are nearly identical to the Landyachtz Switch 40, which rides like a dream, but I want to go lower… With 8in rubber I’ve got plenty of clearance.
So, I’ll drill the deck, use #10 x 1.5in 7/16-1/2 OD standoffs to mount the brackets to the top of the deck for an additional 1.75in drop. The lower surface of the bracket is angled ( about 7deg) and the fastener seats are recessed (thankfully at the same depth) so provided I use a reinforcement plate (old truck baseplate, etc) or fender washers on top (to spread load over O-rings and more of the top surface) the bracket should see force applied to the exact same points as if it was “properly” mounted.
Pics in separate reply…
what the fuck did you do to that board
I’m ADDING probably 3/4 in of deck height with the DKP trucks, so def want to try attaching brackets to the top. I don’t think I’ll miss the 3/4in or so of platform I’ll lose at either end.
tis an intriguing idea