Basically, Acton needs to serious work on these trucks. It wasn’t until I loosened the kingpin to basically unridable levels that I could turn 180 on a decently wide road, and even then, I could just barely do it. If you tried to turn, the trucks would try to bounce back and you wouldn’t be able to turn. If you tried to carve, the bounce back from the springs would try to throw you off. This by itself probably wouldn’t have been too much of an issue, but combined with the weight of the deck and high center of gravity it forced, the board became basically uncarvable and unturnable. They rode extremely high, and did not really play well with the hangars. The trucks on the prototype boards that we got to ride were actually hand made prototypes based on the Avenue trucks. Let me start by saying that they’re not the same as the current Avenue longboard trucks that you can pick up from Avenue’s online store. Part of what makes a board good overall, especially for eskates, is weight and trucks, which brings me to my next point. Now you might be thinking that weight doesn’t matter if you’re never picking it up. Peter says that they’re still attempting to make the whole package lighter, and that they’re using a different material than cast aluminum for the front and rear load bearing sections (he neglected to tell me what they’re switching to) so hopefully production models will be lighter. I even struggled a bit to pick one end of it up to turn around. If you imagine the weight of 1.5 GTXs but squeezed into a denser package, you’ll get the Qu4tro. Picking up the prototype feels like picking up one and a half Evolve Bamboo GTXs. Due to the materials used, battery density due to power required, and just overall design decisions, the deck is heavy. What is a huge deal, however, is the weight. Compared alongside the Carbon GT’s 40″ deck, it seemed around 3″ shorter, so I’d say the deck is around 36-37″ in length. In the end, it’ll be up to preference, but I don’t think it’s a huge deal. Some people will like that, some people won’t. The deck itself is durable, but I don’t think anybody doubted that, but just for anecdotal evidence, I’m a 125lb girl and jumping as hard as I could on the deck felt like I was jumping on the floor. The mid section is constructed from seemingly the same material as the Blink extrusions. The front and back load bearing sections are constructed from cast aluminum. The deck itself is constructed with three distinct sections. Please keep in mind that what I tested was a prototype and that this review should not be construed as condoning of condemning the final product. I have a feeling this won’t make it to production. Bottom line, suspension trucks on the Blink S2 will only appeal to extremely select people and will ruin the board for the vast majority. Turning radius was also ruined, but more on that later. You become completely disconnected from the road because you feel like it’s all you can do to hang on. I won’t say it was ruined, but these trucks the way Acton has them currently configured are not meant to go on such a light board. While everything electronic stayed the same, the ride quality was completely changed by the spring suspension.
I’d previously ridden a production S2 and owned an S for half a year so I know what the originals are like. Peter allowed us to ride this S2 while they were trying to fix the Qu4tro. What they basically did was put the “Avenue collaboration trucks” that were meant for the Qu4tro on the S2. The interesting stuff starts with the Blink S2. Let’s get the unimportant stuff out of the way first. Blink S2 with “Avenue collaboration trucks” (not as big a deal on the S2, but still big).We were taken to the back through their prototyping garage, which contained all sorts of boards in half built states, including another Qu4tro with its internals spilling out.īlink Qu4tro with “Avenue collaboration trucks” (these are a HUGE deal, I’ll come to that later) When I got there, there were two other people there, as well as a huge number of engineers gathered around. I’m writing this review for future Qu4tro owners as well as Acton engineers, who I’m also linking to this review. I was invited the previous day via email, and the person I corresponded with was extremely nice and extremely prompt when responding. Today () I went over to Acton’s Headquarters in Santa Clara, California, and tested the Blink Qu4tro. If you want the TL DR, see end of review Introduction It has only been corrected for grammar and spelling. No part of this review has been redacted in any way.
This review was originally published on Septemand reflects my honest opinions at the time of publication.
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