I wonder, for smiths and feebles, do inverted kingpins provide a significant improvement? Or are they more hype than substance?
I wonder, for smiths and feebles, do inverted kingpins provide a significant improvement? Or are they more hype than substance?
I used to love Grind Kings with their inverted kingpin back in the day. They would inevitably loosen after skating a while, but I’ve heard they worked that out.
Aesthetically, inverted kingpins still look silly to me on anything other than Grind King.
I now skate Aces because I love the turn. They are squirlier than Indies, and have very little bite (though I’ve heard the new Grind Kings are almost impossible to wheel bite on).
Having skated mainly Indies, Ventures, and Aces lately, the smith and feeble issue is worked out within the first 5 minutes of trying a few grinds. So, it’s pretty much a non-issue, and not exactly a selling point for me.
That said, Dan Corrigan kind of has me sold on trying out the new Grind Kings.
Ace worked that out as well with their new click-lock mechanism. They also sell these baseplates individually.
What makes me hesitant is that Ace doesn’t seem to sell spare kingpins for these, or any other for that matter. Perhaps they never break, I don’t know.
Another thought I had is, doesn’t the kingpin add another point of stability/lock during smiths/feebles? Whereas if only the hanger touches the rail it’s more prone to slide out of it?
I can see that being the case on ledges, but on round bars I could see the kingpin getting in the way and decreasing stability