This document relates to skateboards, and more particularly to a shock absorbing mechanism for a skateboard truck and skateboard.
A skateboard typically includes a planar board, or “deck,” a pair of trucks that each house an axle connected to the underside of the deck, and a wheel mounted on both sides of the axle. Most skateboards have four wheels, although it may be contemplated that some skateboards have more or less than four wheels. Most trucks are formed of metal, and include a pivoting hangar that includes the axle on which the wheels are mounted. The hangar is configured to pivot about a pivot point based on pressure applied to the topside of the planar board, and to allow the skateboard to turn.
A universal problem for skateboards, particularly in downhill or slalom-type skateboarding, is vibration from the skating surfaces on which the skateboard rolls. This vibration makes the skateboard and its rider significantly more instable. While a small amount of vibration can be absorbed by the wheels, depending on their visco-elasticity or softness, most of the vibration energy travels through the trucks to the planar board, and on to the rider. Vibration is more acute at higher speeds, and can inhibit turning and control of the skateboard by the rider.
One solution to counter or absorb vibration has been to employ riser pads between the trucks and the planar board. However, the riser pads are either not thick enough to dampen the vibration, too far removed from the source of the vibration (i.e. where the wheels connect with the skating surface), or raise the deck too high from the trucks, which itself causes further instability and stress on the bolts that hold the trucks to the deck. Further, the effects and amount of vibration experienced by the skateboard is usually more intense during turns, which adds a lateral vector of vibration energy to the overall vibration experienced by the skateboard. Riser pads are largely ineffective to counter or absorb this laterally-induced vibration.