Turned up very next day at which point I remembered that I needed to order some new tyres too. Hey ho, next time perhaps and you certainly can't fault them for getting things posted quickly.
Making the most of the good weather, got the tools out today in the garden and took a couple of photos to document the whole thing....
MBS Top Hangers: 2006 on the left, 2009 model on the right.
Only a couple of differences I could see between the old and new hangers. Firstly, the plastic ring that holds the bearings appears to have been reinforced. This is fair enough as I've certainly noticed a little bit of warping on the older model, probably from the strain from both springs. A picture showing this is shown below:
Despite this, apart from muck and grit getting in between the bearing and top hanger, I've not seen any further damage occur to either component.
The other difference is the lack of thread included in order to place the top hats/springs/shocks in the 'inner' position. This again isn't an issue since I've always ridden with springs in the 'outer' position, and the board is only drilled to allow the adjustment screws to fit in the outer position anyway. But it may be an issue for younger/lighter riders or those that want far less turning resistance.
I suppose the biggest change was the option to have a choice of not just black, but black, green, white or yellow. But hey, I like black - hides the dirt.
Maybe just a few words regarding the installation of the Top Hangers.....?
Firstly, note that MBS Top Hangers are symmetrical, but only from left to right and not from front to back. This is to say that if you screw a Top Hanger to a deck the wrong way round, then the adjustment screw holes will not line up correctly. Shouldn't be a problem normally, but is worth noting to save time during reassembally.
Second thing to note is that I've had issues in the past screwing bolts to attach the top hanger to the deck only to have the inside nuts pop out of their plastic housing. A dollop of super glue holding the nuts in place for this part has stopped my frustration levels getting too high.
On a final thought, many people joke* that MBS stands for 'My Board Squeaks'. It's been pointed out by a couple of people (including IIRC EvilC on the ATBSports forums) that the squeak is due to a flat Top Hat making contact with a curved deck and the resultant slight movement that occurs. This certainly makes sense, and attempts in the past to tighten the bolts have resulted in temporarily less squeak-age.
Hope the good weather continues, I'd like to get out early tomorrow but I know the misses has a list of jobs as long as the back of the envelope she scribbled on earlier. Wish me luck!
* - many other people are deadly serious....
2 comments:
hate to say it mate, but if riding a proper woodland cruzer like your noSno. You wouldn't be breaking plastic ;-)
haha, you do have a point...
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