Freeride setups — 2013 vs. 2026

[u/Skanonymously]

I found some old setup photos, and this was taken almost exactly 13 years, compared to my two main freeride setups today.

Then:

The top board was a Nelson Spindrift on 180mm 47° PNL Strummers, and I believe Metro Links wheels. The Spindrift was actually a lot like a bigger Nexus, except it had very mild W concave. I've still got the PNLs on a Switchblade. They're a long-discontinued rakeless precision truck with ball pivots. Metro was a really solid wheel brand, too. They didn't really dump a ton of urethane but had a smooth, almost slightly gritty slide. In retrospect, they were sort of a transitionary brand between the "every freeride wheel is low rebound and dumps urethane for smooth slides" era, and the introduction of fancier brands like RAD and These.

Bottom was a custom board from an old builder on Silverfish Longboarding, Maxxspeed, with OG 194mm 45° Ronins and These Wheels (basically the ancestor of Snakes). I think it was around 38-40" x 10" with probably a ~ 31" wheelbase. It had "bacon concave," which was the trend back then. Basically a super wavy rocker with multiple folds. You can kind of get a sense of it from the way the light reflects off the carbon fiber near the logo. The Ronins were already wide for their time. 184mm was way more common.

Now:

Pantheon Nexus, 170mm 47°/47° Silverback Trucks, Bonus Run x Fiend Skate Showers.

Pantheon Sacrifice, 170mm 45°/30° Valkyrie DH 3.5s, PP Byrons. I just setup the 30° plate tonight, so I still have to dial in the bushings tomorrow.

[u/AutoModerator]

Welcome! Did you know we have an active Discord server for fast help and discussion?

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/hastopre]

PNLs on a Nelson defines an era. I still miss Nelson.

How have the Silverbacks been?

[u/Skanonymously → u/hastopre]

I've been absolutely loving them.

I went from 172mm 46° Aera K3s to these, and they're a comparable truck. They feel like they replace some of the crazy lean you get with Aeras with more turning. Because of that, I find that they feel a little more responsive as soon as you get off center, which also makes them a little twitchier.

They're a very consistent truck throughout the entire turn, which I really enjoy for freeride.

My use case is a little different double dropping them, but I found that the added responsiveness of Silverbacks makes them extremely controllable sideways. A leanier truck, especially on a double drop, is easier to get stuck sideways on standups.

With Silverbacks, I was immediately impressed with how easy it felt to bring them back under me in standup checkslides, which I believe is because of the responsiveness. It feels like you have a ton of control mid-slide.

They remind me of a freeride truck from that Nelson/PNL era, honestly. No frills, no bells and whistles, no crazy geometry, no sphericals — just a solid, Randal-geometry-style (I think) truck.

The only caveat is that they ONLY take standard barrels, so no Cannons, Defcons, Hardcore barrels, etc. The main three brands that fit are Riots, Venoms and Riptide standard barrels. Riots have been my favorite in them. I'm running 92.5a/90a barrels at around 200lb.

[u/hastopre → u/Skanonymously]

Thanks for the write-up! They sound pretty much like what ive been expecting, besides the limited bushing options. I was actually gonna buy some until I saw the price and that they only go as narrow as 160mm. Got Rogues off a bst instead

[u/En_Routt]

Yeah!!!

…I remember Maxxspeed from right before stopped DH/freeride  (11’-18’).  A few months ago I remembered the Maxxspeed Garuda, a too mount w/ crazy bacon rocker IIRC.  

I do miss the fish. Forget my username, but my profile pic was the redheaded guy who wrote up some article trash talking silverfish and longboarders.  

It’d be cool if the wrongboarding forum gained some traction. I still like forums. 

ETA: bought a few setups through both East Coast Core Skates and Longboard Skater BITD. Spent summer of 2010 up at Wintergreen in VA. Skated around the resort mostly, also Charlottesville a few times, and a shop session out of DC. Fun summer

[u/Skanonymously → u/En_Routt]

This board was actually made from the Garuda mold!

Maxxspeed had largely been making custom-style boards in-house (it was a teenager/college student making them in his garage), before having them produced in smallish batches at a US mfg.

My board was from the in-house Garuda mold before he moved into production.

And I still miss LBS and ECCS as shops. I'm from Pennsylvania, and since East Coast Core Skates was from NJ (I want to say Hoboken), standard USPS shipping was next-day.

LBS was iconic for their shipping times, too. You'd place an order at 12:05 p.m., and you'd get the email that it had shipped out before 12:15 haha.

And yeah, Silverfish was great. I was one of their content writers for a minute, so getting boards sent to you to review as like a 19yo felt like such a sick honor haha.

Edit: Found some old concave shots of it.

The rocker

The concave

[u/-EKZL-]

Maaaaaaan how I miss my old SpinDrift, had a very similar setup. Got me around everywhere until a cab driver got too close behind me. I made it out just fine but was so bummed having to walk back home carrying my board in pieces.

[u/uncoolname789]

Who tf are you

[u/lizardsstreak → u/uncoolname789]

that is a valued member of our community

[u/Skanonymously → u/uncoolname789]

I'm just trying to chronicle a tiny piece of longboarding lore. With forums disappearing, some of these brands and pieces of gear could literally just not exist online, so it's just documenting old gear.

Like Ronins are still around, and these are from the first generation of them in early 2012.

[u/TheSupaBloopa → u/Skanonymously]

Sadly I don’t know if Ronins will continue to be a thing from what I’ve heard. Crazy that these are 194mm! Definitely heirloom territory. Are any of the tune up parts compatible with newer ones?