Hey guys, figured id share this with you... i just finished painting them yesterday and was pretty stoked with how they came out. :]

As im sure some of you are aware, the Bollie trucks have loads of excess material underneath the front and backsides of the hanger around the axles giving it a boxy and not very sleek or realistic appearance.

Original Bollies for reference:


I wanted them to look more like traditional skate trucks or BRTs and if they had improved functionality in the end of the process, id be even more happy.

BRT 2.0's for reference:


so i pulled the trucks apart, made some marks with a sharpie and broke out the dremel. During the first shaping I had gotten the basic design down and removed roughly 0.3 gram of material from the hanger, which is about the same weight of 2 china wheels seen on the trucks (not my main goal, but inevitable and definitely a plus.)

1st shaping:



After the first shaping, I took a break and looked at where i needed to even the hangers out and touch up certain spots.

the 2nd shaping was to really clean things up before paint and make sure everything was nice and symmetrical.

Final shaping/paint:





The final weight removed totaled to roughly 0.5g, which is a HUGE weight savings when you're talking <5g, so i was really pleased with this aspect.

So far, ive noticed flip tricks like to flip a bit faster and the board definitely feels a little bit lighter and responsive overall. Obviously when removing so much material you have to take structural integrity into consideration and this is by far my main concern as far as research and development goes.

They definitely give the board a more tech feel i think, the loss of weight and faster flips makes tricking into and out of grinds a little easier and enjoyable. I was pretty pleased with the appearance, i wish the paint was a bit better, but i can refinish them.

Today is the first day ive really had to test the final trucks since the paint dried, im hoping they hold shape and dont bend/break, I will keep this thread updated if anything goes wrong.  

O: That is so cool!

HightekFB wrote:

O: That is so cool!

haha thanks man! Im pretty stoked on them.

Nice shaping job!

Unfortunately, this has been done over and over. Shaping china trucks. It's not like you made them 32mm. Not trying to be mean, because you did it pretty well. But this has been done so many times. Also, I am not a big fan of the "shaped china truck" look (that goes for any company who makes shaped china trucks). Maybe if you put a cool, sleek spin on them, it would be appealing.
Nice start though

WantSomeSlaw wrote:

Nice shaping job!

Unfortunately, this has been done over and over. Shaping china trucks. It's not like you made them 32mm. Not trying to be mean, because you did it pretty well. But this has been done so many times. Also, I am not a big fan of the "shaped china truck" look (that goes for any company who makes shaped china trucks). Maybe if you put a cool, sleek spin on them, it would be appealing.
Nice start though

thanks dude!

yeah, im definitely not trying to make/sell these things lol. (although if someone asked me to make a set, maybe). I finally got some BRT wides on my main that i was really pumped on, so i figured id make a clone set for the secondary.

Too much time/effort would go into each set. this was more to make my secondary set-up more appealing to myself.

i wish could figure out something to do with the kingpin without changing the profile of the truck (i.e. height).

ive tweaked enough sets to know to leave the kingpin alone on these trucks, aside from a mild grinding. or you lose the option to run loose settings on the bushings and it messes with the way the board pops due to the new angle.

i think they look much nicer than the average china trucks! nice job!

i have shaped a few pairs an they turned out awfull but i was mostly trying to taper the hanger down so i could fit BRR wheels on em!

Looking good man.
Much better than they were!

Yea, awesome. 

Good to see people just posting cool stuff they did, we need more of this. 
Nice one

Those are supper nice man

Yeah, you did a nice job on these. I love all kinds of diy stuff, so even if its nothing new, I like the way you took your time and took some nice pictures and wrote down some words. Eyecandy and a good read is always welcome in my mind. Thanks for sharing! Also these turned out better than a few shaping jobs Ive seen actually..

You did a sick job dude! Love em!

I'd take those over the thick clunkiness of the bollies any day

Bakko wrote:

Yeah, you did a nice job on these. I love all kinds of diy stuff, so even if its nothing new, I like the way you took your time and took some nice pictures and wrote down some words. Eyecandy and a good read is always welcome in my mind. Thanks for sharing! Also these turned out better than a few shaping jobs Ive seen actually..

Agreed, nice work!

What type of paint did you use?

eddie Victory wrote:

i think they look much nicer than the average china trucks! nice job!

i have shaped a few pairs an they turned out awfull but i was mostly trying to taper the hanger down so i could fit BRR wheels on em!

Thanks!

Id like to see if i could fit bearing wheels on these eventually, ill have to get a cheaper set to experiment with... the china wheels are really the only drawback at this point.

Ian B wrote:

Looking good man.
Much better than they were!

Thanks!

Joe wrote:

Yea, awesome. 

Good to see people just posting cool stuff they did, we need more of this. 
Nice one

glad you enjoyed! I like posting up little reviews/threads so maybe ill do it more often.

Skaterd97 wrote:

Those are supper nice man

thanks!

Bakko wrote:

Yeah, you did a nice job on these. I love all kinds of diy stuff, so even if its nothing new, I like the way you took your time and took some nice pictures and wrote down some words. Eyecandy and a good read is always welcome in my mind. Thanks for sharing! Also these turned out better than a few shaping jobs Ive seen actually..

thanks for the kind words! I enjoy writing reviews, threads, etc. I plan on doing a couple reviews on a few decks and setups soon, ill be sure to post up here.

Yisus Pablo wrote:

You did a sick job dude! Love em!

haha thanks alot!

urbanjump wrote:

I'd take those over the thick clunkiness of the bollies any day

I agree! I was surprised with how much weight and material i was actually able to take off.

LazyFingers wrote:

What type of paint did you use?

just regular high-gloss spray paint and lay them on a sheet of cardboard .

2 super light coats on each side should be fine, the real trick is how you lay them out to be sprayed so you dont end up getting any seams.

I usually do the underside of the hanger FIRST, with the kingpin hole and pivot point facing up, let it dry, then flip it and do the top/grinding surface of the hanger.

I got so inspired by your shaped trucks dude! Here`s my effort done to some leftovers I had laying around. Paint is Humbrol Enamel Gloss Black simply painted on with a paint brush..

HOLY SHIT BAKKO! Did you do the baseplates??

those bases

those baseplates are smooth

Bakko wrote:

I got so inspired by your shaped trucks dude! Here`s my effort done to some leftovers I had laying around. Paint is Humbrol Enamel Gloss Black simply painted on with a paint brush..

Damn dude those look amazing Bakko!

The shaping on those hangers looks absolutely flawless,  not to mention that finish on the baseplates! That paint really makes me want to refinish mine again.  

Haha so cool to see other people doing this! Although, I think your set blows mine out of the water Bakko lol.

Have you experimented at all with bearing wheels on these trucks (china/bollie)?  I'd like to get a set of decent bearing wheels so I can have 2 decent setups around. I'm happy with the trucks at this point just need bearing wheels!

diy! nice work

Little update,  here's mine after roughly 2 weeks...

I need some new pivot cups,  and like I mentioned before,  really wish the paint came out better... I still love these things though and with a cheap set of bearing wheels they'd be perfect budget trucks.  




No bends,  no cracks,  just normal wear and tear

Thanks guys, and yours look just as good dude! And the good thing is that you can always repaint the hangers over and over and over..

Well, if I was to put some wheels on them I think I would go for some Grand Wheels (non brt edition) because of the long axle, as brt edition wheels tend to be very loose on the axles if a spacer is not used. Or maybe some bouble bearing wheels if they fit. A set of white Winkler Junks would look sick to go with the black hangers and goden baseplates though..haha!

Nah thrent, I didnt need to paint the bases. They are just some golden teckdeck bases I had laying around for a while. Bottom bushing is a Ytrucks bushing and the top one is a td (indy type with the white pivortcups and bushings) longboard bushing. The hangers are just the normal wider 29mm td hangers that has been shaped..