Galac | Here & there

Subsonic Pulse 40 v3.0 Christmas Day build

What follows is a post sent in by a friend Tim Pritchard about his new LDP (long distance pumping) setup. Tim is a childhood friend which I introduced to longboarding back in 2007 – since then we have shared the discoveries made upon this journey of learning and stoke. The many emails crowding his inbox gave me the initial idea to start this blog as I thought the information may be useful for others besides ourselves. Merci beaucoup for this entry Tim!

I’d never thought I wanted an LDP setup before Goodwood Marathon this summer but I was lucky enough to ride a few boards and immediately, I was hooked! I’ve always dreamt about a nice slalom setup, but I only wanted to be able to pump. I now know that buying a slalom board would have been a big mistake, and LDP is the way. Riding an LDP board was exactly the sensation I wanted and something that I needed in my life and my quiver!

The next few weeks and months were spent researching setups, searching the internet, forums (Pavedwave), hours of reading, dreams and little sleep. I kind of get obsessed with the project in hand and this one was a major obsession.

I started looking into decks and trucks mainly and soon discovered that the art of an LDP setup is much more involved than just those two things. I knew that I wanted a Bennett due to costs and it was the nicer feeling truck at Goodwood. But the decision on width was a major one! I also liked the look of the Galac boards but ended up choosing the Subsonic Pulse.

The aim was to get everything together and build it up on Christmas day. A couple of bits were gifts, and I guess the deck was a Christmas gift to myself, so it makes sense.

The truck ended up being a Galacized Bennett from John Galac.

It’s been adapted in such a nice way I can see the huge benefit it is going to make. John also made the width narrower and fitted wheel spacers. This means it runs as a standard 5.0 with the spacers, and effectively a 4.6 without (halfway width between a 4.3 and a 5.0). I really wanted versatility as I didn’t want to get the wrong width. My Bennett will now serve me for a long time! The bushing choice for the Bennett to start with is Lime Reflex bushings as Galac suggests these are the best he’s found for LDP. I’ve smoothed off the edges as he’s done with a drill and some files.

The rear truck was an easy choice and of course is a Tracker RTS. After receiving the Galacized Bennett, I couldn’t believe how poor the Tracker casting was. So, I spent some time smoothing the bushing cups and pivot with some wet-n-dry paper. Its amazing how smooth they are now and how good they look! I’ve sure little improvements will make huge benefits. The bushing choice I was going with was red or yellow Khiro barrels but I’ve been trying to order them from a certain British online website for a while and they’re far from helpful. Christmas is just 6 days away and no bushings. So, I contact Michael at OctaneSport and I’m going to get some off of him. I’d rather support the good shops anyway! The bushings made end up being Sabres or Venoms? We’ll see.

As for the deck, a Subsonic Pulse 40 v3.0. When I started looking into the Pulse, Scott at Subsonic had just released the v3.0 and it sounded like the perfect deck for me. I got the deck through Michael at OctaneSport as he orders bulk decks from Subsonic. These two guys have been uber helpful along the way. I opted for the lightest flex, tiger grip and colouring fading from black at the nose to red at the tail.

Red Subsonic stickers finished it off amazingly! The deck is better finished than any deck I’ve ever handled. The routing on the edges of the deck is beautiful. The routing isn’t round, its kind of chamfered, but two different heights. This means that the routing chamfer sits just above the front wheel wells which looks and feels amazing. It makes sense also and shows how much thought has gone into the design.

As for wheels, I’m starting off with the Abec11 Gumballs from my Dervish as they’re not far off the ideal choice. My perfect choice would be Lemon and Lime BigZigs.

The Galac LDP website was invaluable for setup details. Riser angles and so much more that would have eluded me for months was explained for everyone to read. Amazing.

The only thing now to do is wait for my rear truck bushings, and build it on Christmas day.

Big thanks to everyone for their help so far:
Chris Vallender for introducing me to longboards, Corinne my fiancée for allowing to put so much time, effort and money into skateboards and Galac, Subsonic and OctaneSport for being so helpful.