We take a look at innovative trucks available on the market to try and get an insight into what the future holds.

Tensor Magnesium

The first one to look at is the Tensor Magnesium trucks of which there are two sub-trucks; slider and response. The core aspect of these trucks, the magnesium construction, is 25% lighter than an industry standard truck. I managed to compare a set of these magnesium trucks to a set of Venture Raws which are what I normally skate and the weight difference was instantly noticeable from handling the trucks. The Tensor Magnesium trucks retail for £50 which admittedly is £16 more than my Ventures but I think it’s worth it. The difference between the Slider and Response sub-types are as follows:

Venture V5

It seems the most common aspect in skateboarding at the moment is being able to shed weight while maintaining strength. The new Venture V5’s promise to do this using two techniques and some precision crafted forged steel.

The first thing they’ve lightened is the baseplate, as you can see from the image it’s been slimmed down this not only sheds weight but also relieves pressure from the truck. Secondly a hollow kingpin made of reinforced steel.

Much like the Tensor’s these trucks retail for about £50, my only concern is the fact they’ve made the kingpin hollow. I may be wrong and the new reinforced steel may be as strong as any normal kingpin but I’ve had to change kingpins before (it’s not fun) and by making a kingpin hollow increases the chances of snapping in my eyes.

Independent Stage 10

GUARANTEED FOR LIFE!! Now there’s a quote you don’t see everyday in the world of skateboarding but it looks like the guys at Independent have gone all out on these trucks. Here’s an extract from their site explaining the construct of these trucks ‘Forged Stage Tens feature Forged aluminium baseplates, 356 T6 aluminium Hollow Body hangers, 4140 chromoly steel axles with reduced length rolled threads, grade 8 kingpins, and high-rebound cushions’. I’ve always been a fan of Independents durability when it comes to trucks and my last pair lasted much longer than I expected.  Like most truck companies they’ve reduced the size of the kingpin to reduce the chances of you hanging up. They’ve used a lightweight aluminium baseplate which seems like a sound idea, I think the only part of this truck that causes some concern is the fact they’ve hollowed out the hanger.

Thunder Hollow Lights

The last instalment in this rundown of new and innovative trucks comes from Thunder trucks. Two things have been done to these trucks to make them lighter and the clues in the name for the major change they have made. Like Venture they have hollowed out their kingpin’s to shed weight also they are using an aluminium baseplate all this for an average retail price of £50. This makes the truck a lot lighter than previous models however my concern still remains about hollowing out the kingpin, maybe they’ll prove me wrong??