Understanding decks dynamics and ride characteristics?

I’m newish to the hobby but working on my first DIY. I got stuck trying to pick a deck but haven’t experienced the different types to know what they’re about. AT wheels seem to go on any deck, but it seems like most (not all) urethane wheel boards are flat. I see builds on AT decks/trucks w large urethane. I see AT wheels on flat boards. Neither of these seem to be a norm. Is there a reason for this in terms of nuances, ride characteristics, agility, stability, cornering, comfort, etc?

Background
From a point of complete ignorance, I want to do a Direct Drive, custom 21700 12s4p,110mm urethane. For looks and an easy eBoostedShop enclosure thought about the Trampa HS11. I know I’ll have to get 35deg truck adapters as I can’t change the DD trucks. I can also cannibalize this later to build a belt setup with AT trucks. My other choice was something like the Bound Motor Sword dropdown, but having trouble finding a segmented (also for later cannibalization) enclosure for it. If I go that route I’ll have to do some fiberglass fabrication. Other than effort and cost, is there any reason to not do a build on either of these options from a deck/ride dynamics standpoint?

All terrain wheels; or pneumatic wheels will generally fit on most longboard decks with wheel cutouts as long as they don’t rub on the deck when turning. Wide trucks and/or decks with upturned ends (like mountainboard decks) are some of the best options to help avoid wheel bite with big wheels. You can find pneumatics on flat boards and urethane wheels on mountain boards occasionally like you said but it really comes down to rider preference due to a number of things. Perhaps someone doesn’t want to shell out the money for a nice AT deck & channel trucks (or expensive angled risers) and opts to use a cheaper “flat” board and traditional trucks while still using rubber wheels so they can do some light offroading without breaking the bank, and other times people love the feel of those mountainboard decks & trucks but don’t want the range or ride height sacrifice you often have to make with pneumatic wheels. They may not even care for pneumatics and just want a urethane board using the channel trucks that are made for angled decks that has a more “skateboardy” ride.

If you’re thinking about direct drive on a mountianboard deck you will need those angled risers, or even adjustable baseplates which keep the height low while getting you the right angles as I don’t know of any ready-made DD channel trucks.

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Thanks, that explained a lot. Keeping RKP trucks/wheels the same and deck stiffnesses similar, will a mountain board and flat board feel completely different in a turn? sluggish turn in? less pop? under/oversteer? turn radius?

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mostly rider skill on the given board is gonna tell you a lot

The game with motors is quite different from downhill.

The mountainboard deck will typically have about 30 degrees tips. So that will make a hell of a difference compared to a flat deck. If you were using some standard 50degrees RKP trucks designed for flat decks, that’d push the truck angle to 80 degrees, which would likely be too much, lots of turn, but maybe sloppy feeling and unstable. That’s theoretical, though. You might like it. And you can still de-wedge some of that angle as needed, but it’ll never look as neat as choosing the right deck/trucks combo from the start.

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Yes with a mountain board style deck, because the ends of the deck go _/ instead of __ ,it changes the angle of the trucks. So less turn radius and more stability.

Rkp trucks already have good stability but can lack carve compared to other style trucks. If you were to go with dkp trucks it might feel better. This is because dkp trucks are super carvy but lack high speed stability without hard bushings and pivot cups. So in theory putting dkp truck on a trampa deck would make it a little less carvy and a little more stable.

Let me know what you end up doing because I would love to see someone ride something like this!

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