Carvology - Control

What are Stability, Maneuverability, and Control?
Their definitions may seem obvious, but the skate world has always been vague and confused about the terms stability, maneuverability, and control.
You control the angle of the deck’s tilt, and thus the size of your turns, by varying the distance you shift your weight across the width of the deck. These weight shifts create forces which compress the suspension elements (springs or, in other cases, grommets). When the suspension elements flex, the deck tilts, the axle hangers pivot on the baseplates, and the wheels roll through a turn.

Turning stability means trucks that don’t respond much to sideward weight shifts, so you can move your weight from edge to edge without causing the board to tilt or turn very much. Turning ease, or maneuverability, means trucks that respond more to lateral weight shifts, so you can make tight turns with less edge pressure.

Steering control (sometimes called “smoothness”) means the ease with which you can feel how far to shift your weight to make turns of varying sizes… in other words, the balance between stability and maneuverability.

Steering Control Redefined
Geometry alone doesn’t determine how well you can turn. Skateboard trucks need some type of suspension system to resist deck tilting. Ideally, this stabilizes your skateboard when you’re moving straight ahead and gives you precise control over the steering response.
Traditional grommet-based designs force you to trade off control and stability for maneuverability, but Seismic trucks make tight turns with total control and no wobbliness. To put it another way, they’ll steer loosely without feeling loose.

Some skaters can’t believe at first that any truck can make sharp turns while feeling so smooth and stable. If you’re used to squirrelly turning, Seismic trucks may feel a bit tight, but it won’t take long to adjust to the superior handling.

Our custom-made progressive-rate springs are engineered with a detailed understanding of the bio-dynamics of skateboard steering and suspension. When you lean sideways to start a turn, Seismic springs resist deck tilting far more logically than urethane grommets. This means a natural, easy-to-sense relationship between how far your weight shifts and how sharp you steer. No dead or flat spots in this truck’s response, just pure liquid velvety smoothness. Your turns get tighter at the exact same rate that you move your weight towards the edge of the deck, so it’s incredibly easy to feel how far to lean to make turns of varying sizes. You get unprecedented control and a remarkable combination of responsiveness and stability.