Set-up Guide
The Book of Ronin How you set up your trucks is dependent on how you’re planning on riding, and really it just comes down to personal preference. With that in mind, our set up guide describes what we consider ideal for a given situation. We’ll give you a good place to start and if you need to, you’ll only have to do some minor tweaking to have the perfect set-up.
Baseplate Angles Baseplate angles dictate your lean to turn ratio on a board. Baseplate angles lower than 45˚ are going to lean more than they turn and baseplate angles higher than 45˚ are going to turn more than they lean. Because the standard Ronin baseplates are lower than 45˚, they are all going to have great lean and because of the positive rake in the hanger, they are going to have more turn than your standard 40˚ or 30˚ truck.
45˚/40˚ and 40˚/40˚ combinations are the perfect setups for freeriding as they have better over-steer for slide initiation, and the symmetrical nature ( 40˚/40˚) also allows for ease of use when doing 180˚ slides. Choose one of these setups if you want to lose traction often and simply cruise. The 45˚/30˚ combination gives you great lean, turn, and grip, and we recommend it for riders who care more about going fast and racing than doing 180˚s and freeriding. The split angle is biased towards the front, meaning the front of the board is always looking to take a more inside line than the back, increasing traction. 45˚/25˚ and 45˚/20˚ are what we recommend for serious racing. Tuning your perfect split configuration is easy using 5˚ wedges due to the obround mounting holes in Ronin baseplates.
Truck Widths The easiest way to decide what width hanger to get is to base it off the widest part of your deck, or the width of your deck where your front foot is. Matching this width will give you even leverage over your trucks. 184mm hangers are a little under 10” wide from axle tip to axle tip, making them a great choice for most boards out there. The 10mm difference between Ronin hanger sizes equates to ~.4”. Consider this for wider or narrower decks. With the typical deck width of 10”, going with a 174mm hanger effectively increases the leverage you have over your hanger, whereas going with a 194mm hanger decreases the leverage. That coupled with the fact that your wheels have to travel either a shorter or longer distance to reach the same point per lean gives a 174mm hanger a more responsive feeling, and a 194mm hanger a more stable feeling.
Fact: The most deceiving part about hanger widths is the myth that narrow trucks turn sharper than wider trucks. Lets say you lean your board to angle ‘X’. This angle will never change if you extend or narrow your hanger, therefore never increasing or decreasing steering. What is really going on is a perception issue through the different leveraging factors.
Colour/Durometer Guide
- Horchata 98a – 200+ lbs
- Iced Tea 95a – 160-190 lbs
- Fruit Punch 92a – 130-150 lbs
- Lemonade 88a -
BushingsWhen you order a complete set of trucks from us, we take your weight into account and set up your Ronin Trucks with the appropriate bushings so they’ll handle great for you right out of the box. If you want to do some experimenting, it’s important to take into account: your weight and what angle plates you’re running as well as what type of riding you will be doing.Lower angle baseplates give you more leverage over your bushings. It’s safe to say that when you change your baseplate angle by 10˚ you’ll want to change your bushing durometer by about 3a. (Please see guide on left)
Washers There are some grey areas in between weight classes where mixing and matching bushings duros with different types of washers will give you the feel you’re looking for. Cupped washers deliver a more compressed and restricted feel that some would describe as progressive or exponential resistance to turn. This is in contrast to flat washers, which give you a more open and loose feel that’s more linear. The reason for the difference is that you’re actually utilizing more of your bushing when you’re using a cupped washer.
Attention: If you’re switching out from the precision cup washers that are provided with the trucks, you’ll need to stack some washers in order to match the same thickness and be able to get the correct compression.
Compression Your nut should be tightened down close to being flush with your King Pin. Minor adjustments are normal, but if your trucks feel much too loose or much too tight at this point, it’s best to switch up bushings. You won’t be able to access the full range of lean and turn that Ronins can deliver if your bushings are bulging at the side under big compression and you won’t have a center-point if there are too soft.
If you’ve still got questions after reading this, shoot us an email and we’ll help you out. - the Ronin Factory