Comparison Of Original Truck Carver Cx And Its Cop How Are The Cx ...

Surfskates are skates whose main feature is to have a particular front truck that allows much tighter curves and above all to generate speed through pumping.

The front truck is therefore one of the most important elements to differentiate a surfskate from any other skateboard such as a cruiser or a longboard.

Surfskate Trucks can be of various types. The fundamental distinction is between trucks that use springs or other more or less complicated mechanisms and trucks that are generally called CX trucks from the name of the first model of this type that was invented. The Carver CX, in fact. Very popular, versatile, resistant and available in many models more or less faithful to the original, today we decided to talk to you about this type of truck and above all what distinguishes the Carver truck from its more or less economical copies.

Carver CX4

In the late 1990s Carver had patented his C7 road surf truck. This truck was able to bring the surf feeling to a skate but while there were many riders who loved the smooth feel of the C7's adjustable spring system, others kept looking for a more familiar truck that still gave them a surf feel. Basically, a truck more similar to a standard truck, but still allowing you to free the nose of the board and behave like the C7.

Carver worked on this new project for almost 5 years, until finally with the right modifications to a standard RKP (Reverse King Pin) truck they managed to get a near-standard truck capable of carving and pumping. And at the same time, the rear truck was developed, the C2. Here was Carver's CX.4 surfskate truck. If you want to learn more you can read our post on the history of Carver and the Surfskate

The CX4 truck is a Reverse King Pin type truck, so like the ones that are used on most longboards, but radically modified so that you can steer a lot, much more than a classic RKP truck.

The trucks of this type are simple, light, resistant. There are no springs or other mechanisms. It is the geometry of the truck that allows it to steer and the bushing inside completes the job.

A normal cruiser or longboard RKP truck, even when slackened to the maximum, only steers a few degrees. Even with softer bushing, fat and everything you want, it doesn't turn because it's done differently.

On the other hand, a CX type truck can steer a lot and therefore makes your skate a Surf Skate .

The Truck Carver CX4 is currently manufactured in the Carver foundry in California. There is a line of CX trucks made by Carver in its factories in Asia and they are the trucks currently destined for the Tritons.

Manufacturing and assembling its trucks internally allows Carver to maintain precise control over every aspect of the production process and very high quality standards for every single component, including bushings.

Carver uses 89A bushing . Bushing and pivot cup are of excellent quality, very durable over time.

Specifically, the Carver kit consists of the CX.4 front truck and C2.4 rear truck: CX.4 Bushings: Top - 0.58 "89A Conici = Bottom - 0.65" 89A Conical C2.4 Bushings: Top - 0.58 "89A Conical = Bottom - 0.65 "89A Barrel

Carver CX compared to its copies

Production:

Carvers are produced in the foundry in California. Carver looks are produced in Asia

CX trucks were invented and patented in the early 2000s by Carver. Ten years later the patent expired and therefore today there are many quite similar trucks, produced in Asia. However, we are not aware of trucks of this type produced in Europe. All the trucks of this type that we know are produced in Asia today, whether they are mounted on LongIsland in Spain or on Outride or Algal in Italy and just to name a few quite well-known.

Construction features:

As often happens, the first replicas were quite approximate but now the quality is improving, especially in trucks mounted on medium or high-end surfskates. So much so that many non-Carver CX-like trucks today have little to envy to the original Carver. The geometries are now identical or almost identical and indeed in some cases the turning radius is even greater. The weight differs slightly. The Carver Cx weighs 420grams. The most common Cx similes generally weigh a little more: between 430 and 460 grams.

If we go to see the price it is easy to understand why many choose the low cost alternatives to the carver .. but there are differences and it is good to know them to choose in an informed way!

What distinguishes Carver's CX truck from many competitors is the extreme precision of its joints and the quality of every single component, including the rubber parts (bushing and pivot cup) which are often a weak point in other brands a little. cheaper.

Quality and wear of bushing and pivot cup

In many CX-like trucks the bushing hardness is not specified ... So often this data is not comparable. What we can tell you is that not everyone rides the same bushing. Some use softer bushing, others slightly stiffer.

In gait, especially when the skate is new, the skates fitted with CX-like trucks show quite often some squeaking . It can happen to Carver too, but we have found it less frequently.

E' bene precisare che eventuali cigolii dei bushing non sono assolutamente un difetto preoccupante... magari solo un pochino fastidioso. E sono anche facilmente risolvibili... fra poco vi spieghiamo come.

A little different is the discourse of usury.In this regard, we compared the trucks of our Carver Yago Dora CX after a year of rather intense use with other trucks used in the same period: Long Island, Outride, Algal, Miller, Mindless and other non-brands always of Asian production.

Bushing and Pivot cup of the truck carver are still more than acceptable. The others are almost all to be replaced or we have already had to replace them for some time. In particular, the Pivot cup seems to be the component that gives more problems. Sometimes it doesn't fit perfectly, sometimes it tends to crack.

I remind you that if the bushings and pivot cup do not work perfectly your surfskate will not move correctly. In particular, the rebound will suffer.

Is it worth buying a cheap CX-like truck?

After talking to you about the most common defects of surfskate trucks similar to the CX but made in Asia, let's see if these defects can be solved and if, in the end, it is better to buy these rather than an original Carver.

As for any squeaks, a pinch of nautical grease, or even simple Marseille soap in flakes, is enough to solve the problem. Just a bit of grease on bushing and pivot cup and the annoying noises will disappear as if by magic.

But not only. With a little bit of grease you will also make your truck much softer, and this also applies to Carver! Many are surprised at how smooth and smooth a well-greased CX can be!

The problem of wear, on the other hand, cannot be solved with a stratagem. If the bushes are gone and the pivot cup stripped, all that remains is to replace them . Do not worry, however, because luckily these are spare parts that cost a few pennies and changing them is not difficult, quite the contrary. Often we even change them to have a different feeling. For example, if the surfskate is a carver and is for a very light person or a kid, it may be a good idea to replace the bushing carvers with Orangatang Knuckle Soft or Long Island Cone Yellow .

So you are wondering if it is better to buy a skate with a cx-like truck or not?

In our opinion, the value for money of most of these trucks, or at least of those that we have in our hands and that we sell (Algal, Long Island, Outride) is very good and therefore we recommend them, because to consider the possibility of having to change bushing and pivot cup after a few months or after a year is not that serious in our opinion. Moreover, it all depends on the use you will make of the skate ... if you only use it a few hours on the weekend, maybe you won't have to change anything for much more than a year!

In addition, all the CX type truck skates we sell are shipped on request already set and greased, at no additional cost.

Pubblicato il 15 settembre 2021 | Blog > Equipments: SKATE