Cut Down Bennett Vectors

#skateboarding #Pennyskateboards #Fishskateboards #Bennett #Vectors
The other day I finished my cut down Bennett Vectors.  I wanted some that would fit a Penny or Fish deck.  I have a purple Fish Skateboards deck that I think I will put them on but for now I threw this setup together because I wanted to ride them and didn't have the panhead hardware I wanted to use with them and the purple deck.

This setup is a Fish deck, the Vectors, cut down to have a 3" hanger and 6" axle, Penny wheels, Bones Reds and Riptide bushings.  It felt tall and tippy.  I feel like some less restrictive bushings will help that.  I already changed the Riptide chubbies and barrels to a set of medium nipples.  It feels much better, really quick.  I might even go softer with the bushings, at least in the front.

Kingsalojr from Instagram asked what tools I used so here we go.  I will say that I did not do this the easy way.  Better tools would make it easier, but I have done 3 sets of trucks this way so it works.  THe only things not in the photo are a Dremel, sharpie and a c-clamp.  Below is an idea of the steps I use.
1.  pound axles out of hangers with hammer(make sure they are pressed in axles, not cast in)
2.  cut axles and hangers down to size.  I have used the dremel for this in the past but I think it is just as easy and makes a nicer cut with the hacksaw.To get the hangers cut straight I put them in the vice and cut across the top of it.
3.  Hard part.  Threading the axles.  I taper the end of the axle with the dremel(if no dremel, use a file for this, will work the same just take a little longer) then put the axle in the vice really tight.  Then take the 5/16ths 24 tpi die and sweat and curse and lean and turn until I have about a half inch or so threaded.  I don't have one of those 2 handled wrenches for the die so I used a big c-clamp to make it easier to turn.
4.  With a file, I flatten and clean up the ends of the hangers.
5.  Pound hanger back in.
6.  Assemble truck, you are done.
Some of those steps might be a little over simplified but you get the idea.  As you can see, you cant get a much more haphazard set of tools to do this with than I do so this should be easier if you have access to some better stuff, but is completey doable with next to nothing.

Skateboarding is fun.

Painted Green Bananas

Nicoles favorite board is the Green Banana Eco Cruiser so we decided to paint the grip tape.  Looks pretty cool.  I painted the other Green Banana I have, the Lil Nanner while we had everything out.

Cut Down Bennet Vectors in progress.

I want some Bennett Vectors that will fit on a Penny sized board.  The smallest they make are 4.25" hangers so I guess I have to make them.  I am in the process of cutting some down to make them have 3" hangers and 6" axles.

The other day I pounded out the axles and cut the hangers down to size.  That part was very easy.  then came the cutting and threading of the axles.  That was not so easy.  I have done this with 2 other sets of trucks.  I have cut down a set of Randals and a set of old school G&S trucks, both to about 110mm.  On both rethreading the axles wasn't easy, but I was able to do it by hand without too much trouble.  Not so with these axles in the Vectors.  I even went and bought a new die to see if that was the issue, but still couldn't get it.  I ordered some bar stock so I can make some from scratch and as soon as it gets here I am going to finish these up and see how they ride.

I will eventually use them both together, but I think I will pair one up front with a Midtrack in the back for a tiny slalom inspired setup and see how that feels for a while first.  

Now I am getting to excited to play with these, I hope that bar comes soon.

Penny Time Prize

@pennytimegame @pennyskateboard #pennytime #thanks

I have posted about Penny Time before, it is a very fun iPhone game.  It has only been out for a few months and already had a contest where you could win a real Penny for doing well in the game.  To get one of the Pennys we had to be in the top 15 scores for the contest level.  I barely squeaked by and was 14th in the first Penny Time Competition.  After a few verification steps, and a little wait on shipping and what not, I received my new Penny yesterday.  It was raining like crazy, but I still got across the street between bursts of rain to take some pics.  

Thank You Penny and Penny Time.

My current Penny is a 2011 model, so I was excited to get the 2012.

And it is a great color combination too.

I cant wait to get out and spend some time on it once this bad weather breaks.  

Thanks again Penny Time and everyone reading this should go grab their app.  Im not so good at video games and I just practiced a little bit and now have a brand new Penny.

Globe Bantam

It has been raining a lot here so I put some new grip tape on my Globe Bantam yesterday.  It didn't take as long as I thought to cut the edges along the decks pattern.  I had this idea for a while and kept putting it off.  I like how it turned out.

For more discussion please check out plasticskateboarding.com/forum 

Holes

To fit standard old school drilled trucks like Tracker Midtracks on a Stereo Vinyl Cruiser, Fish Skateboard or a Penny, there is a little drilling that needs to be done.  Some people say they have been able to just force the bolts through, but I have not experienced this, I have drilled all mine.  

A comment on another post asked for some pics of the holes drilled.  Here they are.

The Left is the stock hole.  Right is the drilled hole.  As you can see, we are not drilling a whole new hole, just opening up one side of the existing hole because the standard mounting hole pattern is just a little bit longer than the Penny / Vinyl / Fish mounting pattern.

This opens up our choice of trucks to anything really narrow and drilled for old school mounting.

Grip Tape on Penny again.

I regripped my Penny again just because I wanted to do something cool to post with the #pennygrip hashtag on instagram.  By the way, I am holdsfast on there If anyone wants to follow me or @holdsfast me to show me some cool pics.
So I made some stencils, and a little spray paint later, here it is.  I like it.

Penny Grip Tape

The other day I picked up a piece of the Penny grip tape that I have seen around lately.

It was a little pricy at the local shop, but looking around its not very expensive online.

Penny has a cool idea, marking the bottom in a diamond pattern so you can cut out shapes that will match the diamond pattern of the deck

I finally got around to putting it on today.

Before anything else, I had to stencil and spray paint my dogs logo on it for good measure.

The old grip came off easy.  Usually I will leave the deck in the sun for a little while to soften up the grip to make it easier to peel off.  That wasn't necessary on the Penny, I guess because there is just less surface area for it to stick to.  I had Jessup on the deck previously, and it did leave a little stick residue behind, no big deal its getting covered right away again.

The pre-cut holes didn't match up perfectly, but for the ease of not having to take the trucks off to apply grip tape, I can live with that.  I will update after a few weeks of riding when I have a feel for how well it grips and holds up.