Who killed Chromoly trucks?
Do you remember G&S Trucks? In my opinion, these things weren’t killed, rather delivered as a stillbirth. Everyone I knew who rode them always ended up breaking the weld that holds the hanger to the bushing casing, or bending the axle. They were not thought of fondly. Still, rather than continue my tradition on geeking out on minor notes of skateboard history, I thought I’d let someone else do it. After Prickly Pete raised the issue back in December of last year, Pete Brown graciously offered to research some obscure trucks and write it up. And I’m talking actual research. He got in touch with Henry Hester and Bill Danforth, two principals in the story. Job well done sir. You’ve just saved our readers from another 12 page photo spread on some old skateboard toy… for now at least.
Check out Who Killed the Chromoloy truck?
the fact that they sucked killed the chromoly truck.
I had a set of these and they did turn and grind great. The suck part was bending the hollow axles….
I had some of these G&S trucks back in the day, I was a little kid then… but what sucked the most about them for me was the nylon ends on the hangers that held the axel. Axel end got bashed in, couldn’t get the nut off, got jammed in the mushroomed head of the axel and then the whole axel turned and stripped it’s grip in the nylon ends.
So then I had my super gay hot pink T-Bones wheel stuck on this shitty truck of mine.
Maybe I shouldn’t be so harsh, the trucks did two things right. A) Punish me for riding the T-Bones B) Sent me back to OJ II’s and Indys
These trucks had a lot of flaws but they would grind on anything.
I have a new set of these I’m riding at the moment and yes they did have their downfalls, but the fact you got a nice grind on anything outweighed the shittyness IMO
This is funny, I recently had a post in my blog where these trucks got mentioned:
http://sk8boarding4life.blogspot.com/2009/05/bernd-kebschull-rocknroll-greenramp.html
Nylon baseplate? I think I saw some guy riding these at Van’s one time. The nylon baseplate would muffle the noise of the grind. Seems like that would take away the fun of a good harsh grind on concrete coping.
Didn’t those G&S trucks come in some crazy green and pink neon colors as well? Or maybe that was the Motobuilt and Gullwing trucks or both? Cheers Pete, cool article. The idea of some skate investigative reporting is a nice addition to SnA. Hopefully, there’s more to come.
Yeah Dude I had the neon yellows on my Santa Cruz Natas Kaupasnwith some white with red and black plaid wheels to go with!
Thanks, Rich. Yeah, those trucks came is some pretty aweful colors: olive green, neon yellow & orange, you name it. This was at the same time G&S had a plaid wheel. Pretty bad, but no worse than today’s barfy graphics on trucks.
I had a set of these as a kid in the 80’s and I too remember the horrors of a turning axle and stuck wheels. Otherwise I remember thinking they looked cool and turned well.
I still have a set of those old G&S trucks with the plastic baseplate. You can’t tighten the kingpin because the plastic that holds it stripped out. Not to mention that they are actually rusting. Yes they are light, and yes they are shit.
-“Now, the hollow axle was perfect for smoking weed.”
These came out at almost the exact time that Independent trucks had a problem with the hangers cracking…yeah, you could get a few weeks or months out of ’em still, but that did lead to me being willing to try other brands, especially if I won them. My G&S’s did the same thing everyone else’s did – bent axles, broken welds.
grind for days but sucked in so many other ways
this is the exact same truck as the San Diego Trucking Company trucks, right? Does anyone remember those?
Well… yeah, you should actually read the article, it’s all about them. (San Diego Trucking and G&S..) Click on this.
And today the competition comes from Brazil, and their innovative UP trucks, a mix of Steel axles, Auminum hanger, and a great chemistry of urethane to replace the usual metal kingpin.
Great innovation … but toolate for the Chromoly.
I see no mention of the ACS lite I & II series in the article: weren’t they also made of chromoly, and far earlier ?
ACS still has its part in Bmx parts today, as far as I know.
I came across an ad for the ACS trucks that were likely chromolly since ACS makes chromolly bike frames. It would have made another interesting aspect to the article and I should have mentioned it, but I was following the Henry Hester thread. Maybe he or Terry Myers sold the idea to ACS or ACS just took it from them. Or maybe ACS came first and G&S co-opted it. The chromolly truck saga continues!
I don’t know about those ACS chromolly trucks, anyone?
Bevilacqua – maybe you should do a write up of the ball shaped wheels on your blog. I had no idea there were that many manufacturers who made them.
I’ve ridden those up trucks.. While they technically work, I don’t like the fact that they can’t be adjusted, regardless of how much the company says you don’t need to, because everyone likes to fine tune a truck before they ride.
Hey! You’re pinching my images! At least give me a link!
I remember Chuck Burke rocking these for a good while…he rode for G&S for stint and localized our Cage Ramp in Eugene.
use mine daily on my EW SuperGlider !!!
I am in possesion of two great condition san diego trucks and one of them appears to have remnants of the classic G&S logo sticker on it. Looking at the sticker a little closer I can make out the word supply. So SDTS co. must have bit the style of the G&S logo. They are attached to a red Santa Cruz everslick with slimeball hairball wheels. The hardware is a system called airbolts. They are identical to the bridgebolts. Of course the bearings are also cheapo. NSK 608z’s.
“G&S *loosing* most of its top riders”
Losing.
Good article. I was a big fan of G&S trucks and moved on to San Diego Trucks afterwards, as the quality was much better. The grind was phenomenal, even on steel coping.
Great article and very interesting to find a really good summary and comparison of the G & S and San Diego Trucks. I have a NOS set of San Diego Trucks on the way for a NOS Ray Underhill I am setting up, really exited, gonna be rollin like old times on a set of super soft Rat Bones wheels, thanks for posting this article, it has been added to my favorites. “Skate on Brutha!!!”
RobtheGrindKing.
I was from San Diego and skated for a shop called Awesome Sports (most notably the bunker for many H street skaters at the time aside from Pacific Drive Skate Shop.)
I skated the G&S Chomoly truck when it came out as we carried them for a hot sec. And YES they did grind anything. Even cinderblock to my amazement which was in front of my house. my record was three in a row/three feet of unwaxed,uneven up to centimeter in heighth- so anything waxed was a guaranteed grind.
And yes the construction was pretty questionable. In a CASL contest in 1990 a “kingpin side” bearing exploded and melted the nylon endcap on the end of the hanger. with a few adjustments to the melted nylon and an extra center bearing Race I was able to still compete in my heat. I think I got 5th.
I liked the “slip grind” so much I switched over to San Diego Trucking Company as we carried those after G&S made the Roadhog. to my memory I told my shop not to carry “just another aluminum truck” that wasnt Indy Venture or Thunder.
The grind overcame the jenky construction. I remember bugging my shop to get a me a hook up to possibly skate for them. I remember the response was they wanted Jason Carney of H street to ride for them instead who was also on our shop team. He however steered clear from “those trucks” and after a few blow offs I said fuck it and switched back to independents…. the rest was history.
BTW- I would love to own a a pair to add to the quiver. respond back if you want to buy sell trade.
Hey, Rey Arturo…drop your email address. I know where you can get brand news ones.
Yo mesmer! I’d really like to buy some nos san diego trucks as well! the chromolies of course. my email is: brage23@gmail.com
Thanks!
Moly is dead…wait what!
I still have four sets of of San Diego Trucking Company trucks. Two are on longboards and the others are NIB
Chromoly will never die, I keep it alive everyday
Damn. What are they like?
I traded a set of Indy’s for the G&S truck in ’89. They were by far the best trucks I ever skated. Turning was tight & smooth, nice on ramps, vert and street. By far the best grinding trucks I ever had and the only ones where I broke kingpins rather than axles. I don’t know what some of these people are talking about but these trucks outlived a Caballero and a Knights deck and 2 sets of Mini-Rats.
Most reliable part of my set-ups back in the day.
My first trucks were Thunders, then these. I was so impressed. I would grind rough virgin concrete easily, like everyone else says. That plastic at the ends of the hangers always bothered me though. Gross. I broke both my trucks within about two or three weeks. I couldn’t believe it. First piece of gear I ever broke. They sent me brand new ones. Somehow I think I got to keep my old ones, so I had extra baseplates, and ended up with an extra hanger too. I was so stoked. But they looked the same, so I sold them while they were still new. I got my money back out of ’em and didn’t want to chance breaking them again, so away they went. Switched to Gullwing Magnesiums, best trucks in my life.
Well, feeling nostalgic, just ordered some San Diego Trucking & Supply with both style baseplates. Can’t wait to try their most evolved version!
Funny read! I remember aactually having had both the chromoly and stealth trucks from sdtc. I bought them in berlin when I was on vacation there in 91 or 92. Remember I liked them a lot, but that board got stolen or forgotten on a train or something. I actually liked it’s skeleton-like appearance, but then again i always liked things that looked a little different. I remember they grinded well, and i was shitty at that at that. Also like their turning. maybe we’ll see a revival, LOL?
Had a flashback to these today as Im thinking of getting a new setup for the first time in a few years. Hell yes these rocked, 88D Mini rats (kids don’t know nothing about D scale), Lee Ralph and G&S green yellow two tone trucks. The hex bolts make these ideal for street (actual slappies) because you can still adjust it unlike wearing off the bolt. Also they make more sparks than most other trucks on concrete, surprised no mentione of this yet. Never had a problem with the baseplates but friends had multiple sets screw up.
Gullwing Magnesiums seconded, every other Gullwing (shadows, phoenix, pro III) were my next favorite trucks, anybody know where to find them
The Pro III,with the little grinding notch (hurraaayy!) is recently reissued.
these trucks were horrible!!!!!!!!
I had the second generation G&S trucks, they made two-slightly longer nylon ends and plastic baseplates on the first gen.
Mine had aluminium baseplates and were strong as any other truck I ever used. And they were neon orange!
I still have them on my old Sims Jeff Phillips ever slick prototype (the one with P-Tex on the bottom.
They never failed and I put them through hell.
Awesome trucks.
It seemed that for every 50 sets that broke and failed, there was one pair that were absolutely bomb proof.
Guess I was one of the lucky ones.
I owned a set of these, probably was 1990.
I loved them, I was amazed at how well these trucks ground – but was always suspicious of those plastic ends. Plastic does not scream “durable” like a full aluminum Indy truck, and I’m sure that was an obstacle to purchase for many kids who weren’t as open minded or curious as me.
Eventually, my axles did bend, just enough to be visible. I don’t remember how long it took, I rode them I’m sure at least an entire summer, shredding probably 6 hours a day, every day. They weren’t bad, the grind was absolutely superior in every way.
I always wondered if they took a different approach – used something different as the plastic in the hangar, if these really could have been indestructible and lasted longer!
It’s one of those products that created raving fans in people who weren’t put off by the plastic content, and actually bought them – but even then didn’t create repeat buyers, no one who experienced axle bending would buy a second set. It makes sense they stopped making them.
In 89′ I had a Natas board with a G&S truck in the back and an indie in the front. I could grind anything. I loved it. It was the best setup I had.
I also loved the gullwing mach three – for one summer. Light and could grind anything. But then winter came and the front truck shattered upon landing an ollie. Couldn’t take the cold. Stupid design.
First welded prototype Chromoly trucks made 1986-87.
Hi from Sweden
Living and working in Chula Vista between 85-87 (back in the days🤔)
I got to weld the first 300 Chromoly trucks for a guy I don’t remember the name on today sadly to say.
I still have the first pair I welded that I sawed, done 38 years ago!, remember It was cool to be a part of it back then, It was new and something I understod G&S was interested and exited about.
They had their pro skaters test them out in the back of the workshop where I was welding them together, cool to see!!
I have picture of the trucks, just wonder if I could send pics for publishing on this forum?
Anyway great to see the post about them
All the best from Sweden
/ronny