Surf Rodz Grindz are precision manufactured traditional kingpin (TKP) trucks that come in a variety of sizes to suit both street skateboarding and longboarding disciplines.

These trucks are my favorite TKPs to ride because of their versatility and durability. One of the best features of these trucks is that all the parts are interchangeable and replaceable making them ideal for street skating.

Design

Surf Rodz TKP trucks have a stunning visual appearance at first glance. As you look at the trucks for longer you start to notice the intricate detailing that the manufacturers put into the trucks as well as all of the removable parts.

Surf Rodz Grindz come in three separate parts that are held together with two allen screws.

• Baseplate
• Bushing seat
• Hanger

All of these parts are fully interchangeable which is awesome! You can beat the truck hangers into oblivion doing all of the grinds imaginable, then buy replacement hangers to keep on rolling without skipping a beat. This swapability is also a huge benefit if you rainskate often! After getting your trucks wet you can disassemble them and lay them out to dry.

*It’s important to note that you should double check that the screws are fully secure after reassembling. I had one of them come loose from an intense street skate session but I want to emphasize that it was 100% user error and not a product issue. I have 3 other sets of these trucks I’ve disassembled and reassembled multiple times and the screws are still tight and secure.

The baseplates have six mounting holes to fit decks with old school and new school mounting options. The components are all very sturdy and can definitely take a beating. I’ve taken them up to 30 mph, off of small stair sets, and done plenty of grinds and the trucks show no signs of bending and the wear is comparable to how Independent and Ace trucks wear.

The interchangeable hangars come in a variety of widths including: 100, 127, 139, 149, 159, and 177mm to fit a wide variety of setups for a variety of disciplines. The hangars also come in a hex bar style if you don’t like how rounded hangers look. The hex bar hangars will still grind, trust me!

Bushing seat

My favorite part of these trucks is the bushing seat because it’s designed to use regular longboard bushings. This gives the trucks a truly unique feel and a ton of customization options because there’s a larger variety of aftermarket longboard bushings versus regular skateboard bushings. Venom, Riptide, and Bones are all solid bushing choices that work well with Surf Rodz trucks.

It feels like you get all of the lean and response from a reverse kingpin truck, but in a traditional kingpin body. The trucks truly do feel “surfy”. The seat is fairly restrictive which is keen to a very responsive truck with much less slop than cast TKP trucks, adding extra confidence for deep and long carves.

The bushing seat on the Grindsz can also accommodate some non traditional bushing shapes such as Venom Eliminators and Riptide Magnums. The bushing seat is a little too restrictive to fit a Riptide Fatcone as the base of the bushing that touches the baseplate is wider than a traditional barrel bushing.

Even though these trucks are designed to use regular longboard bushings, they can take regular skateboard bushings too! If you want to set up your Grindsz with regular or short TKP bushings, you’ll need to get a shorter kingpin to avoid kingpin drag when grinding.

If you wanted to run TKP bushings you could buy a shorter traditional kingpin (2 to 2.25 inches) and run a top washer like regular trucks, or buy a shorter inverted kingpin from Surf Rodz. As an added bonus, the inverted kingpin acts as a top washer, one less part to worry about losing!

Surf Rodz Grindsz are fun to dial in because there are so many different bushing combos that you can try out. On my main tech slide setup I run my Grindsz with a stock Surf Rodz barrel bushing boardside and a Riot TKP barrel roadside. The 2.25 inch kingpin fits this setup.

On my street setup, I run two Ripdite Krank Short Street barrels with a shorter traditional kingpin and top washer.

Street

Surf Rodz Grindsz are excellent trucks for skating street, and yes they do grind!

These trucks feel a little carvier than Independents or Aces so if you like to skate street with larger wheels (above 58mm) you might want to try using ⅛ to ¼ inch risers depending on if your deck has wheel wells or not to avoid wheelbite. 

They are lightweight and maneuverable and can stand up to all the abuse a street/park skater can put them through! The replaceable hangers are a real asset to street skaters who do a lot of grinds on rough surfaces as they won’t need to get a new set of trucks when their hangars wear through.

If you run double longboard bushings with the Grindsz on your street setup the kingpin will sit up a little higher. This does not impact their performance when grinding at all due to the large head of the kingpin that acts as a top washer. The kingpin glides over rough curbs and on smooth objects very well and I didn’t find that I got hung up due to the kingpin touching the grinding surface. 

Tech Slide

If cast trucks like Independent, Thunder, and Ace are industry standard for tech slide setups worldwide, you can only imagine how precision CNCed TKPs feel…AMAZING. Surf Rodz Grindsz are my favorite trucks for tech sliding by far. They feel more nimble than cast trucks and are incredibly responsive. You can easily initiate super short setup carves for quick powerslides just like you see the pros doing. When using Surf Rodz for tech slide, it’s like you are one with the truck since the carving motions are so fluid and surfy with no slop at all.

This extra carvey feeling/responsive feeling might not be for everyone, some people like their trucks to feel a little more dead, which is totally fine! If you are one of those people, Independent and Ace trucks are the way to go for tech sliding.

I think Surf Rodz trucks help build your tech slide skills because it takes a little more control to bust out slides with the extra carvy ride. Just like with cast trucks, you can hold out stand up slides on Surf Rodz with ease.

Also, if you dial in the bushings right they can handle well at speeds which I’ll discuss in the freeride section.

Cruising

Personally, I don’t cruise around as much as I should because I live in a busy city but we don’t want to exclude the millions of people who like to get out and push around for hours on end with this review! The few longer rides I’ve taken on these trucks have been fantastic! They are a blast to cruise around on and you can pump around with them effortlessly. If you run them extra loose and with larger wheels a ¼ inch riser is a must to avoid wheelbite.

Freeride

As you can probably expect, these trucks also excel at freeride! When freeriding these trucks I like to tighten up the kingpin a little to make the trucks feel a little less responsive. This provides stability and confidence at speeds around 30mph. As you can see, you can’t help but smile when taking these trucks down a run! 

Since the bushing seat can take a variety of bushing shapes it’s easy to dial your Surf Rodz in for freeride. I like to use an 88a Venom Eliminator paired with a Venom or Bones hardcore barrel in the 88-90 duro range depending on how fast I want to go. Freeriding these trucks with dual barrel bushings is also very fun for more experienced riders who like a little more lean in their freeride setups.

At speeds, the trucks feel stable yet responsive even when tightened a little extra. If you are new to freerding TKP trucks there will be a slight adjustment period to avoid speed wobbles when going above 20 mph. Once you adjust to the feel of TKPs, it’s guaranteed that you’ll have a blast riding these!

I wouldn’t take these trucks above 35mph often as they tend to get squirrely, this is not unique to just Surf Rodz TKPs, this is a general issue with all TKP trucks. Therefore, these trucks aren’t the best for strict downhill riding.

Conclusion

Surf Rodz Grindsz are amazing precision manufactured traditional kingpin trucks suited for riders who are serious about all skateboarding disciplines except for hardcore downhill. The interchangeable parts are ideal for street skateboarding because you can grind down your hangars/destroy the bushing seats and then buy replacement parts directly from Surf Rodz. This is also a great feature for those who like to match the colors of their trucks to their setups.

These trucks are extra versatile because of the variety of bushing combinations riders can use. If you don’t feel like running double longboard barrels on your street setup for a little more kingpin clearance, you can run regular or short street barrels/cones with a shorter kingpin. You can use a traditional kingpin or one of Surf Rodz shorter inverted kingpins. You can also run one longboard barrel and one street barrel/cone.

In addition to being able to use different bushing height without messing with the trucks rideability, you can also run different shaped bushings such as Riptide Fatcones, Venom Eliminators, and Riptide Cannons. 

Overall, Surf Rodz Grindsz are a precision TKP truck that has the carviness/surfiness of a reverse kingpin truck at nowhere near the cost of other precision trucks (both RKP and TKP) in today’s market.