Caliber II Forty Four 158mm 9 inch axle silver downhill trucks

Caliber II Forty Four 158mm 9 inch axle silver downhill trucks

**Price is for a set of TWO trucks**

Hopkin Racing exclusive!!

The Forty Four Caliber was built for speed, and it is normally only available with a 10 inch long axle, that does not suit modern narrow decks. So we have put together some 9 inch Caliber Forty Fours. 

Why use Calibers for downhill?

It is the stability.

One of the most talked about features of Caliber is the rake. Rake is when the trucks turns and then gets to a point in the turn where it dives. Fun when you are longboard dancing or cruising, not fun when you are gripping a corner leaning in as far as possible and then the trucks throws you on the road...what happened? You got raked. The Caliber truck has no rake. This means the whole turn is linear and the same from beginning to end. Creates a predictable truck but also very stable. 

Calibers stepped bushing seat creates more options to customise your truck for your type of skating. The bushing seat is stepped and comes with restrictive bushings. What does this mean? The bottom bushing, the one closest to the baseplate has the new Venom plug barrel. Designed to remove lateral play from the truck by filling the gaps between the hanger and the kingpin. This results in a quicker return to centre, increased responsiveness, and a more direct turning feel over a traditional barrel bushing. The top bushing is a standard barrel bushing. 
Depending on how you want the trucks to feel, you can put in Canon bushings for a perfect fit, or play with an Eliminator shape bushing that is more restrictive and limits the turning. 

The baseplate angle of 44 degrees lowers the truck and creates more stability. At first the trucks and feel dead but remember these trucks are designed to perform at speed. When you are blasting down a hill do you want trucks designed to go fast? Or trucks like Paris that was designed for dancing and carving? 

SPECS:

• 158mm hanger (suit decks 8.5 to 9.5 inch wide)
• Axle to axle length is 9 inch
• 44 degree baseplate
• Updated bushing seat providing a perfect no-slip-fit
• Pivot re-designed for tighter tolerances with an updated chamfer
• Circular kingpin hole with updated diameter
• Truck strength increased by 40%
• Pressed-in Grade 8 hex head kingpin
• Beefed up and reinforced baseplate
• Thinner paints used for tighter tolerances