Brains trust
My skating style is fast freeride and reasonable downhill (40-50 mph). Current setup is a rhino on zealous v1, green krimes.
Considering putting a torque block on my setup, but want to stick with the one setup for both fast freeride and downhill. Torque blocks are obviously popular in the pure/race downhill world, but I was wondering what everyone's thought are for using a torque block in fast freeride?
pros/cons? I figure if it helps lock in the back foot for high speed downhill, the same would apply for fast freeride? But open to being warned against it. Keen to hear thoughts for and against - unnecessary? Restrictive? Redundant?
@Dave Thorn you won't regret it, especially if you get a skate tech torque block that is attached via Velcro. The biggest thing that's hard to get right is the position but with Velcro there is so much adjustability. I prefer a torque it to any micro drop, except the one on the evo. It basically creates a similar pocket to an evo or the tail pocket of a kick tail board.
I would definitely recommend trying one. I have a similar setup and do mostly fast freeride. You can put it on with velcro to find a good position. I started with it straight and ended up with it on a slight angle.
@Dave Thorn I find the most benefit for me is with fast stand up toe sides. You can make a great pocket for your back foot to enhance the concave that is already on your board. Im on a Pantheon Athena w/ zm1's which is a pretty mellow/flat deck already. When Im traveling and hitting up rougher roads than I normally have available I feel much better and safer having a foot stop, toe stop, and torque block. It also makes rain skating much more fun when my grip tape is getting muddy. I try not to keep my front foot up against my foot+toe stops most of the time. They exist just to catch me from sliding out of place and high siding. The torque block I used to run further back in a similar manner, but now Ive bumped it forward and use it all the time.
Some of the cons are that now your board is thicker. If you have it glued down under grip tape with bolts and washers holding it down like me its harder to stash in the overhead of a plane. If you dont drill holes in it moving your back trucks is a bit less conveniet. Velcro is good enough for holding it in place even for high level racers.
Over all it doesn't hurt to try it. I would reccomend buying instead of trying to make a home made one, so the angles are correct. You can make adjustments and cut it to shape after. I currently use the scythe torque block which I ordered over sized to then chop down for a better rail fit at an angle.
