Seeing as there's no posts in this topic, I thought it would be a good idea to start off with a post of my experiences with different bushings I have skated, and how they've felt. I've been skating for the better part of 3 years now, with most of my experience being in freeride. I have little experience at consistent speed so it would be good to get inputs from more experienced riders, as I've mainly been freeriding, and hanging at speeds of around 25-40. Some of this will subjective and based on how I feel about the different formulas' variations in ride feel, but I'll try to keep comparisons of formulas more objective if possible. Bushing setup combinations will be in the form (Roadside Durometer/Shape)/(Boardside Durometer/Shape). Truck angles denoted by (front truck angle*/back truck angle*)
Starting with Venom HPF or High Performance Formula, as they are the bushing and formula that most skaters begin with when messing with their trucks. Venom produces a few different shapes, but their most popular for downhill is the stanrdard or tall barrel, depending on the trucks. All of my experience on HPF has been on double barrels in various RKP trucks. Venoms, when properly tightened, have a nice and almost linear feeling resistance throughout the turn. Venoms have been my preferred bushings in Calibers, Paris trucks, Zealous trucks, and Aera trucks (K3, K5, and K6). They are forgiving in their feel, and the relatively low or moderate level of rebound in the formula allows you to really lean your turns and grip corners without the feeling of the truck trying to spring you aggressively to center. In slides, they feel consistent. Mistakes in weighting that would have sent me off on a more reboundy formula, have many times just resulted in a quick twitch that the truck and bushings quickly correct.
Next, we have the Riptide formulas. Riptide produces 3 formulas for their various bushing shapes, which are APS, WFB, and KRANK. I have tested APS and KRANK, and have doing a few slides on WFB setups so I will discuss the first two more in depth and just say a few impressions I have on WFB. APS, or Animated Polymer System, is a formula that turns a bit more than HPF as the same durometer, but has a bit more rebound. They definitely feel more difficult to skate in my opinion than HPF, but have been more fun for cruising in my experience. With full barrels, I didn't enjoy this formula for my style of skating. I have not skated them since my first year and a half of skating, but because I found myself twitching and falling more on this formula on my Paris trucks more than when I had previously skated Venoms. They feel less supportive in standup slides in my opinion, but many good skaters make it work for them, so take my opinion with a grain of salt. I enjoy them 85a/90a front truck 90a/92.5a back truck riding barrels and fatcones in my Meepo Voyager Eboard, and they feel incredibly easy to control at all but the top speed of the eboard, and start to feel a little squirrelly pushing low 30's. I may experiment with this formula again at some point, but for the time being, I've found what I enjoy through HPF and KRANK.
Moving on to KRANK, which is a formula that was specifically designed for downhill and fast freeride use. It has the highest rebound of the Riptide formulas, as well as being designed to change in feel under different amounts of pressure. According to Riptide's description, "The effective range of control is from barely snug for the loosest feel to 2 full turns for the tightest feel.". I've recently began to skate this formula in my Aera K5's, and I have been a big fan. I'm running 84a/84a front with a 87a/87a rear on a 46 degree front plate, 42 degree rear plate. I'm using barrels on my roadside, and chubbies on my boardside bushings. This combination was recommended to me by a friend, and I've been enjoying it. The rebound, while less forgiving than the amount in HPF, provides a better support for the hanger in the turn, giving slides a noticable more stable feel, and consistent kickout. These characteristics give standup slides at speed a well defined kickout point. The center becomes stronger, but the turn becomes slower. This has punished me a few times already when I've tried to turn faster than the bushings allow, and I go from standing on the board to bouncing across the pavement. I may try a similar krank durometer combination in all barrels, but for now my main setup is that specific Krank bushing combination. For WFB, or World's Fastest Bushings, the formula has a feeling of little or no rebound. They allow a truck to turn and grip hard and I've seen riders with sturdy ankles rip on setups with WFB. Personally I was not a fan of how these setups feel in a slide, but the nimbleness of WFB makes a fun and fluid turn.
The last formula I have experience freeriding is Seismic Defcon bushings. I have only ridden these in my Aera K5's and K6's. I use the medium height bushings. They make the K5's feel like completely different trucks in comparison to when I ride them with Venoms. I would say that they're more fun and playful in feel, and provide better support in the slide than HPF, but the rebound makes them start to feel reactive at speeds. If your weight is planted and on top of them they still ride well. While I haven't fallen while riding them, I could see the rebound punishing a bad input in weighting. I honestly wasn't a big fan of how they made my K5's feel, and I swapped back to Venoms after a short time testing them out. In K6's though, they felt great to me. While being slightly more supportive in the slide than Venom HPF, I still ended up switching back to HPF in my K6's. I personally ran mine on similar durometers to my Venom's in the same set of K6's, but they run a bit looser in feel while being higher in the rebound.
Finally, this is what I'm currently riding:
Happy Board Co. Thunder V1 on Zealous trucks, Venom HPF Tall Barrels, 73a/78a front 93a/95a rear on a 51*/19* split
Rocket Rooster on 164mm K5s (sometimes K6 hangars), Krank in Barrel/Chubby, 84a/84a front and 87a/87a rear on a 46*/42* split as previously mentioned.
