Khiro bushing options?

Hey Braden,

Just noticed the Khiro bushings now have a price in the “Products” section (damn, missed the $0 offer)… can you let me know what you have available?

Khiro khiro khiro…where do I start?
I will expand the bushings product section to show the different duro’s.
They basically come in two shapes…insert and barrel. The barrel are the sh#t as they have the washers as such built in, which means they dont squish out of the washers (especially on Indy’s)
secondly the removal of the two washers lowers the geometry of the truck lessoning wheel bite (someone out there with a real education probably knows why!)
I reckon selling them as pairs is a better idea as who uses the black (very hard) and the white (very soft) ones in the kit anyway?
I will also sell the pivot cups, and set up some indy’s from stock with Khiro’s I call FRANKENINDYS so you dont have to buy twice.

As a vert skater, I can’t say that I’m very happy about having purchased a full set of the hardest Khiro bushings available.

After tightening my kingpin nuts as much as I could, my trucks were still too loose to handle The Bush vert ramp without potential wheel bite. What made it worse was that the heat had turned them to jelly.

I did two warm up kickturn runs and then decided to switch to a different brand. When I took the Khiros off, I found that I had been unable to tighten them because of the built in washer. Not only did the washer stop me from being able to tighten my trucks, but they also split most of the bottom half of the bushings.

Ti Coleing had the same problem with them splitting before he even rode his new board. I would take a photo of how both our sets of Khiros look now, but my camera has been stolen.

Were they the black ones Mick?
Did you remove the standard washers first?

The same thing happened to Nick of Bondi Bowl (formerly Blacktown). His brand new Khiros split before he even rode them! And yes, he removed the washers first.

BTW, I bought some other washerless rubbers a fews ago that lasted until very recently. They were extremely stable and yet still fully turnable. Can’t remember the brand … doh!

Bill.S

I will get onto Khiro and see what options we have…then I will pull them from products.

Yeap, they were the black ones braden. Ti had red ones. And yes, I did remove the cup washers. No point in having them if they’re built into the bushings.

I had another look at their condition before I went skating tonight. I even bent the crap out of the lowest part of the built in washer that protrudes through the bushing and surrounds the king pin.

Hmm… I’m going to cut one of these suckers up right now. I want to see how they’re constructed.

Ok… Now that I have hacked one of these things to bits I can see the root of the problem for people who need tight trucks. There is almost as much metal in the middle of them as there is being used as the cup washer. This effectively gives you about 2mm of squash before you’re hitting metal. Not Good!

One of the problems with the way they have been designed is that normal bushings pinch across the whole side of the bushings you are putting pressure on. The steel component of the Khiros has reduced the overall rubber width to less than half a normal bushing. This system may work fine for stopping bushing blowout on the sides, but it ends up cutting a nice doughnut out of the bottom of the bushing if you have them tight. If only I still had my camera I could show you what happened to mine and what the hell I’m trying to explain.

Gee, this is getting to be a long post.

I can’t say what Khiro bushings are like for slalom or hill bombing. Anyone had any experience with them on a slalom board?

It seems to me like the steel part acts more as a hub to keep the rubber attached to it, which is probably the only way to do it as their is no chemical bond between materials. It would be best to reduce the internal amount of metal and use a small rolled lip for connection. This would then increase the amount of rubber and tightening ability.

If I’ve got it all wrong, just luagh at me and say “There goes that young dude and his crazy ideas again!”

I think this is a case of the insert plus the very hardest Khiro urethane just not working. I have also seen khiro barrels get pinch splits because indy trucks have too small a washer on the base to support the Khiro barrel. If you use the indy washer then cut a bevel of the barrel bushing.
The softer khiro’s on slalom boards are awsome. The Khiro urethane is pretty good you just have to get handy (exacto knife) with some reshaping sometimes. And im not a big fan of the metal insert. For the same reason Mick stated above. They restrict movement. So use non insert Khiro’s with bigger cup washer for no worries.

Scott is right about the too small bottom washer on new indies - they won’t fit DOH rubbers either. However, the DOHs don’t split and this problem happened for Nick when using the soft khiros!
Bill.S

I have been using Khiros for at least 6 months now, and think their great.

Being a loose truck skater I have found that the rubbers have added a new level of response and carving to my boards!

Yeh sounds a bit sus to me. Possibably more technical data required from Khiro as to the correct aplication of their products. I had a set on on one of my boards and these were fairly old when I got them. I still got 8-9 months use before they wore out.This impressed me cause other brands supposidly real good didnt last a month.I ride loose trucks as well and this may have somthing to do with this problem that you have been experiencing.I havn’t had time to get onto some Khiro’s but was considering doing so.At the moment I use some Pills rubbers that I get for 50 cents each they have exellent rebound properties ,however they ware out fast. When my suplies run out I will be using Khiro’s.

I think you all have a valid point.

Kiro’s would probably suit the skater that likes the loose truck feel. I hate overtightening my trucks these days.Would rather change bushes to get the right feel, rather than wind down the kingpin nut, inturn effectively squashing the bushes.

I have to agree that overtightening them probably isn’t the best thing, and probably contributes to them failing

The word straight from Khiro Bob is:
Hello: Braden
Bob here, thank you for your letter. You are right with both of your Answers, if a skater “Blows” out a set of Aluminum Bushings that tells the skater that he/she should have gone to a “Harder” set of Bushings or they did just what you said they did, they Cranked down to hard on them which will for sure “Blow” them out.

Remember Braden everything has (A Limit) and when you exceed that limit any product will fail and it is not the product, it is the user of the product, abusing the limit’s that products will with stand. So your answers are correct, the skater needs to go to a “Harder” Bushing Set-Up and learn not to “Crank” them down to where they “Blow” them out.

What I find is most of the skaters “Crank” their Bushings down so tight
that the Truck doesn’t move (WRONG) Set-Up.
Example: Don’t expect a “Tire” with a Maximum Load of (1,000 Lbs.) to carry a Load of (2,000 Lbs.) and not “Blow Out”.

Please keep me posted on how things are going and if I can be of further help. I stand behind my products (110%) and if you feel that
the Bushings (Were Not Misused) please send them back and I will be more than glad to replace them, you have my word on that.

Best Regards and “Skate Safe” and will wait to hear back from you.

Bob H.
bob@khiroskateboardproducts.com

I personally think that Khiro’s dont handle being tightened more than a little, which probably puts Bones hardcore or aftermarket Indies in front for skaters who run their trucks tight. I am more than happy to send Khiros back and replace out of my stock.