We’ve been developing a progressive steering truck.
That is to say, the effective pivot angle increases as you lean.
So at center you could have a lower responsiveness/higher stability, and the farther you lean the more it gives.
One thing that has progressive steering which a lot of people are already familiar with is Skis and Snowboards.
I have a couple videos right now going into whole concept.
And this one of one of our early prototypes as part of this current project.
I’ve got a lot more videos lined up to follow along with the development from 2021 until now.
But in the mean time this would be a good place for more open discussion about it.
We’re still working through a number of limitations with the design. So rather than forcing it and molding it to be a good skate design that adheres to normal skate expectations, for the moment we’re just letting it be what it wants to be, learning ways to make it work better and how build/tune it as we follow it along its course.
I always assumed TKPs were progressive curve and that’s why they feel divey or more extreme the more you lean. Is that wrong? Are TKP linear as well or progressive in a diffeeemt way from what you are developing?
There is a chance straight pivot TKPs do a little bit, if the pivot lifts out of the pivot cup during the turn.
But I’m pretty skeptical that actually happens in practice under the weight of a rider, and with the force of a turn, even if it does happen if you moving the trucks by hand on a table.
The progressive feel of TKPs is largely due to their high amount of rake, and the way the bushing seat is more in phase with the pivot axis. Progressiveness there is more about how it feels and the interaction between leverage advantage and resistance progression, but not about steering progression.
And then there’s surfskates.I don’t know if progressive steering is happening there, but having an independent pivot like they do its plausible. May even be situational.
I’m going to have to grab a set of TKPs and do the marker test to see how they pivot. There is a YouTube video where someone did this with 3 links to demonstrate the steering angle adjustments.
Isn’t that sort of how raked trucks act? It just sounds similar to how some people describe what a raked truck does so I’m curious if it feels similar at all.
It does seem neat, and if it ever ends up being esk8 safe it looks like something I’d want to try out on my front end only as a potential replacement for my surf adapter + reverse raked RKP combo. (with a normal 45 RKP on the rear) Only thing about it that seems different from that setup is that the surf adapter is more stable/ harder to turn at higher speeds but turns super easily at low speed or when standing still.
I don’t know if they are but I can at least say that everything you described about this new truck sounds like what I like from my surf adapter + reverse raked RKP. Without a raked truck it feels slightly different but it’s not that significant of a difference and I can’t even describe the difference in how they feel. (best I can do is say that having no rake feels bad when carving)
Ive been messing around in my notebook, i think your front truck is the rear truck of carvers. You might be able to flip the rear carver truck or buy 2 to acomplish a dual diving effect.
I don’t think its plausible to manufacture them again, but I think I might be able to put together a kit for people to buy and make their own.
It’d have to be zero degree baseplates, for mountainboard style decks. Trampa style.
It could have pre-cut aluminum angle, pre-printed sticky back drill templates. Thread in axles, so big long axles solid axles which normally have to be custom made aren’t needed.
And selling something as a kit sets I think a better expectation for more, say… less conventional construction, but also sets the stage for modification/customization.
I’d seriously considered manufacturing my own mountainboard trucks based off the Other Planet trucks. Just to be able to use myself, I have zero commercial interest here. My first e-board used an Other Planet truck in the front and it was AMAZING. If you have a good idea of what would be needed, I’m totally interested in building up a set and have access to all the tools needed to get myself back on top of a progressive cam.
I’m not posting all the videos from the project on this thread, but this video is an important one.
I think its important because, this is where I learned that so much of how I was describing and understanding was wrong. And that’s such an important part of staying grounded, and making sure your ideas of how things are working are reflected in reality. And that’s part of making.
So this was the reality check, this shows my process of going through it.
This version of the truck is worth highlighting.
I took everything I learned from my deep dive exploration of how it works, and decided to CAD something out to see where I could take it.
I really like this design direction. Not just for this R2, but the way the bushing seat integrates into baseplate. I’d like to try and implement that same thing on a RKP/TKP style at some point.
Watching some riding, you can start to really see what it means to have progressive steering.
The board we’re riding in this video has very low pivot angles, 22 deg front, 18 deg rear.
But because the effective pivot angle increases as you lean, as well as being able to lean a lot more than typical trucks, you end up being to do some pretty wild turns.
We could push things in a direction where we’re trying to make it behave and feel closer to a traditional Longboard. That’s what the experimental design in the previous video was about. Frankly, having such low angles, and having to lean so far in order to access basic maneuverability is not something most riders are used to, or even open to.
But letting the design follow its own course and be what it wants to be is I think still the right approach for the moment. There’s still a lot of lessons to be learned through this course, and the result is becoming something really unique.
