Thunder Trucks – Back On Board (2024)

Oct 03 2013

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Squeezing Sessions In:

I never realized how much things would change with both kids in school (different schools I might add). My son is in kindergarden, and my daughter recently started preschool. My wife and I only have 1 vehicle between us, so needless to say, it’s taken a bit of planning to make it all work. I’ve also been putting some long hours on the job, so it’s definitely been difficult to find the time and energy to skate. Amazingly enough, I’ve managed to squeeze in a session every few days for about an hour each (2 -3 hours on the weekends).

New Approach To Maximize Time:

As mentioned in my previous post, I’ve been trying to maximize my sessions lately by implementing a more structured practice routine. I’ve decided to follow a slightly modified version of Aaron Kyro’s trick learning order (1, ollie, 2, Front-Side 180 ollie, 3, Back-Side 180 ollie, 4, Pop Shove-it, 5, Front-Side Pop Shove-it, 6, Kickflip, 7, Heelflip). Again, just to mention, I’ve already learned some of these tricks, but I decided to go back to basics as a refresher course, to get more consistent with landing tricks, and to develop better board-control.

Typical New Session Breakdown:

A typical practice session now involves a warm-up of riding around a little bit, and working on manuals for about 5 minutes. Then I spend about 10 minutes working on my ollies, getting them higher, more constant, at faster speeds, over stuff, etc. Then, I go through the list of tricks mentioned above and perform at least 10 of each, keeping track of how many I make. After that, I go back and work on the next one in the list that I haven’t mastered yet. For me, that is number 3, the back-side 180 ollie. I have the front-side 180’s pretty much on lock, landing those almost every time. Usually this routine takes about an hour total.

A Battle With Myself:

I try to keep the number of reps for each trick ideally to 10, but sometimes I get this weird obsession where I must end on a make before I can move on to the next trick. For example, the kickflip is definitely one of the ones I will keep doing over and over again until I land one. This can be counter productive because I become increasingly more tired, and frustrated – but something inside me forces me to keep going until I land one. It’s like I must end on a good note for me to be satisfied. This is especially true when I’m having a mediocre practice session. The worse I do, the more that desire increases to end by landing the tricks I know I can make.

Crunching The Numbers:

My current averages are as follows (the percentage represents how many I make – higher is better): Front-Side 180’s, 90-95%. Back-Side 180’s, 10-20%. Pop Shove-It’s, 10 – 20%. Front-Side Pop Shove-It’s 5%. Kickflips, 20-45% (it varies quite a bit for some reason). Heelflips, a big fat 0%. I’ve been tracking these sessions for a little over 3 weeks now, and so far I haven’t really seen very much improvement in the numbers just yet.

On A Positive Note:

I have noticed my board control improving. When doing the drills, I notice I’m having a lot more near-misses with each trick (even heelflips). I may not be landing very many (or any) of some of the tricks, but I feel I’m slowly getting closer with each session. One super cool thing to report – I’ve definitely seen some improvements in my ollies. They are probably better and more consistent than they have ever been in my entire life (which is very encouraging as a 40-year-old). I’ve also noticed a significant improvement in my manuals. I started incorporating those in my skate sessions only about 2 months ago. Pretty encouraged about how that is going as well.

On a completely different note, I also started playing around with riding “switch” for the first time ever in my life. But more on that next time. Thanks for reading this far, on a bit of a technical post for me. Sorry, not many pics this time, but here’s one showing the wear on my skateboard set-up as of today.

Aug 31 2013

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Equipment Malfunction Updates:

As I mentioned in my previous posts, I was having some issues with my brand new Thunder Trucks, specifically the pivot cups breaking within only 2 weeks of use. I reported the matter to Thunder, they responded and sent me out some replacement pivot cups and some great stickers for my trouble (see photo below of the stickers). All in all, I am very pleased with their customer support – they were polite, helpful, and remedied the situation in a reasonable time frame.

I also finally heard back from Bones Bearings about the issue I was having with the covers coming off the bearings during my skate sessions. They practically accused me of carelessly over-tightening my truck bolts, thereby causing dents or damage to the covers. Anyone who knows me would get a good laugh from this, as I am ridiculously careful with pretty much anything I spend hard earned money on, from phones to skate gear. You could say I am a bit obsessive. There’s also the fact that I have been skating (albeit off and on) for over 25 years – so to have them say this definitely rubbed me the wrong way. Nevertheless, they promised to send out some replacement covers, so I graciously accepted.

Ok, here’s where it gets funny – I just received the replacement covers today. They came in a plain white envelope, wrapped up in a folded piece of paper taped on one end (see photo below). After accusing me of possibly bending the ones I have, they send me the replacements through the mail in a plain white standard envelope! Does anyone else see the irony here? Wow. For anyone keeping score – Thunder Trucks customer service vs. Bones Bearing customer service = a huge win for Thunder Trucks.

Set Up Just Right:

I finally have my board all back together and set up just the way I like it. I took out the stock bushings and replaced them with some old Shorty’s Doh-Doh’s (hard)- honestly, why don’t truck companies get a clue and partner with some companies that make quality bushings? I know very few skaters that don’t immediately switch out the stock bushings for something else. I like my trucks to be right in the middle of loose and tight, but the better bushings just feel so much more stable. With my set-up like this, I’m finally feeling like everything is dialed in just the way I like it and I’m having fun again. I must say, I’m really liking the Thunder Trucks. They are slightly lower and lighter than my old Independents – which took some getting used to – but now that I am it’s great.

Family Time and A Sweet New Skate Spot:

I took the family to a huge recently paved parking lot yesterday and had a blast. My son cruised around on his bicycle, my wife cruised around a little bit on my old Alien Workshop board, and my daughter had fun throwing stuff down a sewer drain. Me? I found my new favorite skate spot. I’m just super bummed we didn’t find it earlier in the summer. It was a great time – we spent a few hours up there and practically had it all to ourselves. Overall it was a pretty good skate session too – was landing some decent tricks, feeling like it’s finally starting to come back to me.

Aug 20 2013

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This post is a continuation of my previous post “All New Skateboard Setup”, so please read that one for the full story.

I wanted to post this as an update to some of the technical issues I was having with my new board setup. First off, the Thunder Truck issue. I got a response from their customer service. It turns out the problem I had was due to a batch of trucks with a faulty part they produced that are just now hitting the market. The part in question is called a “pivot cup”. See my photo below which shows what mine looks like. I am happy to report that they will be fixing the problem at no charge. I must say, I’m quite pleased with their customer support so far.

As for the Bones Reds bearings issue, I have attached a photo below as well showing the problem I’ve been having with the outer covers popping off after just a few hours of moderate skating. I sent their customer service a message last night about the problem, but have yet to hear back from them. I’ll post an update if they do.

Aug 19 2013

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I just put together my first all-new skate set up in close to 12 years. I’d been saving some money given to me for my birthday to put towards a new skate set up. After hanging on to it for several months I found out about a local skate shop within 5 minutes from my house. Visiting the shop with the money in hand, I decided to go for it and just buy an entirely new setup. The budget conscious husband/father in me wanted to find some awesome deal online for everything, but the old-school skater in me wanted to support a local skate shop. This was birthday money after all.

Deck Specs:

For the deck, I chose what’s known as a “price point” deck (which basically means it doesn’t have a pro skater’s name plastered all over it – just the basic company’s logo or something like that – so it’s a bit cheaper). The one I chose was made by “Real Skateboards” even though I had never heard of that company before, I was assured by the dude at the shop it was a legit company. I later checked it out online and confirmed what he told me, but in the store, the reasons I chose it were 1-price, 2-I liked the fact that it didn’t have a pro skater’s name on it, 3-I thought the graphic was pretty cool, 4-it was one of the only ones they had in the 8″ width range. There seems to be a bit of a trend with skaters these days riding wider boards (8.1″ and higher). The old Alien Workshop Danny Way board I was using recently (shown in the photos from my last post) is a 7.75, and I just got used to how that one felt – anything much bigger than that feels like a tank to me. Funny, because when I first started skating back in the 80’s, a 7.75″ deck would have felt like a super-skinny freestyle board to me (like skating on a paint stirring stick with wheels.

Not Quite G-Rated:

On a bit of a side note, when I went to the skate shop I decided to take my wife and kids along with me (mainly thinking my son would get a kick out of it). Well, I must say, I was a bit surprised with some of the practically adult rated material around – from sexually oriented graphics on many of the boards and tee shirts, to some of the skate magazines and ad posters scattered around. Basically raunchy, disrespectful images of girls, f-words, middle fingers, some horror type scenes, etc. I actually considered not going ahead with the purchase because of it. My wife even took the kids back out to the car while I finished up in the store. I know there was a lot of that stuff around when I first started skating back in the 80’s too, but sadly I just didn’t notice it as much. You may be thinking “what’s the big deal”, but bringing a 5 year old, a 2 year old, and my wife into the picture definitely makes you think about these things more thoroughly. This has been my number one beef with the skateboarding culture. Ok, I’m gonna stop preaching for now and get off the soap box.

The Rest of the Gear:

For the trucks, I went with Thunder Trucks (Hi 147 Polished). For my last 2 set-ups I have happily rode on Independent Trucks, but I decided to try something different this time and had heard good things about Thunders (light, durable, etc.). For the wheels I went with Bones 53mm, STF (Street Tech Formula). For bearings I chose Bones Reds. Probably swaying my purchase on the wheels and bearings – Bones was name I recognized from my youth – Powell Peralta makes these – my first ever true skateboard was a Powell Peralta (see photo of the Mike McGill board from my first post). Lastly, I chose Jessup grip tape, as I had heard some good things about it as well.

The Verdict Is In:

I was so excited to get the new board all put together and give it a try. I just knew I was gonna skate so much better with it. Unfortunately, this just wasn’t the case. Yeah, not even close. I had the hardest time getting used to this new setup. I mean, I felt like I was practically starting all over again, re-learning to ollie and everything. I had been doing pretty good on the 12 year old Workshop board, so this was a frustrating setback for sure. It was so much lighter, the deck was about a full inch longer and 1/4 inch wider, the ride felt way different and just not quite as stable. I really struggled getting familiar with it. Not only that, but I’ve had some hardware issues too. For instance, on the front trucks within the first 2 weeks, the rounded rubbery pice that lines the hole (socket) on the base where the pointed part of the hanger seats practically shattered, leaving that socket to grind and bang together metal on metal. Also, some of the outer covers on the bearings keep coming off, exposing the ball bearings underneath – leaving the cover to spin free and lose on the truck bolt. I’ve never seen bearings do that before.

Where I’m At With It Now:

As of now, I have sent a message to Thunder Trucks about the broken part. Hopefully they will honor their lifetime guarantee and replace the truck. In the meantime I have switched back to an old pair of Independent Trucks I had on an old Black Label 8.25″ wide board. I’m not really sure what to do about the Bones Reds bearings issue. It doesn’t affect the ride at all, just seems kind of cheap to me, and it lets more grime in than necessary, plus the inconvenience of having to pop the covers back into place after a few rides. May try to send them a message too and see what they say about it. On a good note, I am finally getting adjusted to this set up the way it is now (with the old Indy’s). The Indy’s are definitely heavier than the Thunders, but it’s what I’ve gotten used too over the last few years (they’re identical to what I had on the Alien Workshop board, just 8″ wide). My one all-positive review – I love the Real deck – definitely no issues with that yet. It’s a perfect size and shape – I’m happy with that part of the purchase for sure. The wheels seem to be holding up pretty good too – although I must admit, it’s taken some getting used to how small and thin the wheels are these days. Back in the 80’s and 90’s the wheels were huge by comparison. 🙂

Until next time, I’ll leave you with a few pictures of the new setup from when I first got it. I’ll post some later of how it looks now after a few weeks of abuse. I’ll also try and ad some photos of the weird hardware issues I’ve had.