Aera Truck Thread


  •        Aera Trucks were not my first precisions, but they're the precisions I've spent the most time on.  They're similar in feel to cast trucks as they do not add any mechanism to aid in slop stopping aside from having precision milled components, and straight axles.  These changes allow for a truck that is similar in feel to casts such as Paris trucks or Caliber trucks, but with a bit more consistency which really shines at speed, especially when sliding.  While they may not have a mechanism to stop slop, @Pats Risers sells inserts for many different trucks on his website patrisers.com, and I'm heavily enjoying his 3D printed insert bushings in my Aeras.  These inserts make any truck have a more responsive turn, as well as adding some rebound and support through the turn.  I want this thread to be for people to discuss the differences between Aera trucks, how they set their Aeras up, and why they skate them.  Personally, I have tried the four "modern" Aeras (K3, K4, K5, and K6) and I have found myself spending the most time on the K5's.  I do believe it all comes down to personal preference, but for myself I have found that K5's compliment my skating style the best at this current point in time. 

           In terms of feel, K3's and K4's turn a bit quicker than K5's or K6's thanks to their smaller pivot.  They feature a small cylindrical pivot that allows for a quick and smooth turn.  K3's have a more "linear" feeling turn than the K4's as they have less rake.  If you don't know, rake is a measure of the distance between the pivot and the axle as shown in the photo below of Caliber 3's (rakeless left, raked right)
    Longboard trucks: Raked vs Rakeless

           If anyone knows how much rake each Aera has please comment, as I do not know. I do know that K3's have the least, K5's are in between the K3 and K4 (I believe it's 2.5mm?) and K6's are more raked than the rest.  The more rake the truck has, the quicker the board turns. Rake creates an inherent center point in trucks that is more noticable at higher amounts of rake and less so at lower amounts of rake.  K4's are similar geometry to the K3's but with more rake.  They feature the fast turning small pivot with high rake, resulting in a grippy, quick turning and playful downhill/freeride truck.

           K5's and K6's on the other hand I have found to have a slightly slower turn, but it is smoother and more supported than the turn on the K3/K4 geometry.  K5/K6 have a thick pivot which helps reduce slop and twitches from road imperfections and inconsistencies.  In my opinion, the two pivots have their own advantages and disadvantages, and it may really come down to preference.  However, I found the K5 and K6 ever so slightly easier to skate smoothly with the support of the larger pivot.  I believe since the bigger pivot is less reactive, there has been times the trucks have "saved" me from mistake that would've tossed me on a more reactive set.

           K3 and K4 use nylon braided pivot tubing stock to act as a pivot cup, and the K5/K6 have a custom poured silicone infused urethane cup.  While Riptide offers aftermarket pivot cups for all of these trucks, I've personally found them to be slightly softer and less supportive than the stock options.  I've found that all Aeras seems to feel their best when ran with the stock nylon tubing or pivot cups, with a tiny bit of silicone grease to keep things moving smoothly.  I don't mind the riptide pivots cups as much in the K5/K6 pivots, but I really notice the different in the K3/K4's.  I think it is due to the smaller pivots and forces being less distributed, because when freeriding K3's or K4's with riptide pivots, it is almost as if you can feel the pivot slop in your slides.  It doesn't really do anything bad to you, but it doesn't exactly feel good.  This full paragraph is completely subjective, as I know riders who would disagree with me, and some who would agree.

           For setting up Aera trucks, I think the best place to start is on Venom HPF.  I'm currently testing out a barrel and chubby combination of Riptide Krank bushings in my K5's, but all Aeras seem relatively easy to dial in with 85a to 93a HPF, and maybe a 95A if you're running a 30 degree plate.  A simple bushing setup that should work for most riders in Aeras would be 87a/87a front and 90a/93a rear.  I enjoyed running this combination in all of my Aera trucks as it keeps a good balance between stability and reactivity.  If anyone has experience on any Aeras, questions about Aeras, or has different ideas of setting them up, throw them below!

     

     

     



  • @Diego Murray rake according to Kevin FB comments over the years:
    k3 - 1.5mm
    k4 - 4.5mm
    k5 - 2.5mm
    p2 - 5mm
    k6 - 5.5-6.5(?)mm - Can't recall him saying a specific number for k6 but he said its a touch more than p2


  • @bhr Thank you for this, that makes sense based on how they're all feeling to me. I think I've heard K6 are 5.5 but I am not sure on that.


  • Currently riding 48/29 150 mm k5s on a 21.5 inch wheelbase on a Pantheon Tortuga. Have a tiny amount of wheel overlapping my rails with minimal adverse effects. Freeriding downhill wheels on chunder is super enjoyable. The tight bushing seat feels like its holding the trucks centered on the slide as can be without slop stoppers.

    So to prevent it becoming boaty and tippy, I'm using BS Krank 84a/ RS Seismic 81a front and BS Krank 90a/ RS APS fatcone90a rear as im about 150lbs all equipped. This to me helped keep the rear truck tracking behind the front. But still somewhat slower at the rear truck and needed more kickout and more attention when hooking up to avoid sudden grip.

    Trying now a different Rear bushing set up, now BS krank 93a/  RS krank 87a. And this feels similar to the previous set up, but allowing more articulation from the RS bushing, and hopefully grip felt initiating and hooking up slides, as long as weight is maintaining in the front truks which I haven't touched. And because the trucks are wide as, I expect these to freeride much easier and grip slightly more in line.


  • @Francisco Bocanegra Sounds like a customized setup! I think I plan on trying something similar with the Krank barrels, I was thinking I may go 84a/84a front and 87a/90a rear but in all barrels.  I'm currently on chubbies boardside in almost the same durometers, but there's been a few times I've eaten it because I'm much more used to barrels and how quick they allow you to turn.


  • @Diego Murray 
    I have k5's and I'm running 46/39 with 88a/88a hardcore bushings up front and 90a/93a hardcores in the rear. I still feel like my setup is a little too twitchy and reactive above 25-30mph. Do you have any recommendations for what I could try? I used to have 93a/93a kranks on the rear that I enjoyed. Might go back to those, but open to other suggestions!


  • @Sam Diefenbacher Honestly I've had the most success running HPF or Krank in my Aeras.  I haven't been able to get hardcores to feel as stable, I used to ride with some 85a's or 87a's in the front but just find it easier to get my trucks to do what I want them to do on HPF or Krank


  • @Sam Diefenbacher i know my hardcore bushings were actually be oversized for the k5s, and because they're slightly taller in the board side they could be feeling twitchy as they're not fully flush against the bushing seat and at an angle. Check the height of you have a standard height bushing to compare with. The hardcore's I have are taller by a little. Like medium height. You could try keeping one of these hardcore's roadside as the height doesn't play into the geometry then, but definitely look towards finding a standard height bushing for your road side applications. 


  • @Diego Murray I've been riding aeras since 2019. I've skated k5 the most.

    I got chopped k5 155-165 on 46/30 plates. I do a mix of dh/freeride but mostly fast freeride around 45mph. I ride riptide krank 84/84 cannon front cupped washer bs, krank 84/84 chubby/cannon rear cupped washer rs. I weight 210 pounds and can use this setup to skate at 20mph and have gone 55. I just tighten 1/2 a turn for each 10 mph faster. 

    I got some 134-144 46/30 P2 a few weeks back and have been using the same bushing setup. They feel very similar to k5 just a bit more lively and responsive. 


  • @Sk8bored Awesome looking setup man! I may try a setup similar to yours, I've been enjoying the chubby in the rear but I don't know if I like how much it limits my turn in the front.  Adjustable width k5's sounds real fun too.


  • @Diego Murray I tried a chubby in the front a while back and it was too restrictive. I only have it in the rear now with double cannons up front


  • For k5, Has anyone gone with krank 84/84 front 87/87 rear chubby bs canon/barrel rs? I was recommended this by a few people. I've been pretty happy with just hpf barrels, and some aps canons but aps feels a bit too springy/ reboundy I think 


  • @TRENTON N TETER I don't hear/feel good things about KranK ngl, 


  • @TRENTON N TETER a chubby up front if too restrictive. I used to ride 84 canon bs/rs front 84 chubby/canon rear and it feels good.
    I recently changed to 87 canon bs/rs front and 87 chubby/ 90 canon rear and feel more confident closer to 50mph


  • @Sk8bored sounds solid honestly I might have to try that, I was recommended this set up and told that at 50 gets spicy 😂 so greatly noted. 

    currently thinking of going 84/87 canon front 

    87/87 cubby canon rear 


  • @TRENTON N TETER let us know how it works for you! 


  • I think that you should only run barrels in aeras. I use seismic bushings in mine. Maybe fat cones boardside but chubby and cannon together is crazy. You won't have any lean at all. 


  • @TRENTON N TETER Krank are fun to me in Aeras, I've liked running all cannons/barrels in like 87/87 front and 90/93 rear or with the cannon/chubby combo 84/84 front, 87/87 rear. It actually leans more than Seismic bushings  if you don't run the washer boardside.  It gives you a really floaty setup that makes standups feel easier but it can feel a bit sluggish in the turn at slower speeds. I've gone over to all seismic now though on 87/87 front with a 90/93 rear and small washers and it feels pretty great for freeride and stable going quick. I think it's all style dependent and what you want out of you're truck, I tossed myself trying to do what I could usually do on barrels on the canon chubby combo, so now I'm back to barrels (or more specifically medium height seismic bushings.)


  • @Sk8bored @Gabriel Fockler so far the set up is incredibly fun for my stand up style, really the only reason I did this set up was for standup and some faster skating. 
    I changed the set up a bit, so instead of 84/87 canon front I went 84/84 front 87/87 rear canon bs cubby rs all krank 

    in my experience I would agree yes the chubby is to much and would block lean, but it serves otherwise. Still feels very nice and soft up front just with a slightly limited range at lower speeds. But once I get up above 25 it's feels very dialed and can switch directions and change sides fast without getting that classic rebound hop 


  • @TRENTON N TETER can't argue with results if it's working then!


  • Has anyone tried the .65in seismic bushings board side, and are they better than the .60? I tried putting in a washer w/ .6 to emulate a similar bushing height but it didn't work as well as .6.


  • currently running 

    rear 42: 87 chubby boardside/87 canon roadside

    front 46: 84 chubby boardside/84 canon roadside 

    recommended from @Trenton Teter

    it gives me a lot of confidence doing higher speed standup slides


  • @John Oliver the Cole trotta special baby 


  • I really appreciate this info. Of all the precision truck brands, Aera is the one I probably know the least about. Thanks for breaking down their differences.


  • @Sk8bored can you space your wheels on p2 axles? And what axle size do you have? It's so hard to find specs on aeras you'd think they'd include them in the website they sell them


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