Bushings explained: how a small piece of urethane changes everything about how your board rides

Most riders spend a lot of time thinking about motors, batteries and wheel setup. Bushings rarely come up in conversation, and when they do, they get treated as a minor detail. That is a mistake. The two small urethane cylinders sitting inside each of your trucks have more influence over how your board actually feels underfoot than almost any other component you can change without touching the electronics.

Understanding bushings is not about chasing marginal gains. It is about understanding why your board might feel unstable at speed, or why it resists turning even after you loosen the kingpin nut, or why two riders on the same setup have completely different experiences. The answer is usually the bushings.

What bushings actually do

When you lean on your board to initiate a turn, you are compressing one bushing and stretching the other. The resistance you feel, and the speed at which the board returns to centre, is entirely determined by the durometer of those bushings. Softer urethane compresses more easily and springs back faster, which creates a lively, responsive feel. Harder urethane resists compression, which gives you a more planted, stable platform especially at higher speeds.

The kingpin nut tightness changes how much pre-load is on the bushings, but it does not change their fundamental character. Cranking the nut down on soft bushings does not make them behave like hard ones. It just makes them stiffer in a less controlled, less consistent way. If your board does not feel right, changing the nut tightness is a temporary workaround. Changing the bushings is the proper fix.

Evolve boards use a double kingpin truck design, which means there are four bushings per truck, two on each axle. This geometry allows for deeper lean angles and a more surf-like carve compared to traditional single kingpin trucks. It also means bushing choice has a pronounced effect on ride feel, because you are stacking the influence of multiple bushings through the same turn.

Matching bushings to your riding weight and style

There are three durometer ranges to know. Soft bushings sit around 87A. Medium runs from 90A to 92A. Hard starts at 95A and up.

For lighter riders or anyone who rides primarily at moderate speeds and wants a fluid, carvy feel, soft bushings open up the turning arc and make the board feel alive underfoot. The kind of riding you might do on a flat coastal path through Christchurch, or along the waterfront in Wellington, where you are flowing rather than pushing pace.

Medium bushings suit most everyday riders well. They offer a balanced response, enough stability to feel confident at road speeds and enough give to carve properly when you want to. If you are not sure where to start, medium is the honest default.

Hard bushings are the right choice for heavier riders and for anyone consistently riding at the upper end of the speed range. At 50 km/h, soft bushings can introduce a wobble that catches newer riders off guard. Hard bushings eliminate that instability by keeping the trucks more planted through the turn. If you are a heavier rider on the Diablo Carbon All Terrain, or if you regularly push top speed on trails around Queenstown or on the long sealed stretches between Hamilton and Auckland, harder bushings make a real difference to how much control you feel.

Why this matters more on a high-performance setup

The Diablo Carbon All Terrain is a board built for performance. The forged carbon deck gives you a rigid, zero-flex platform, which means the board does not absorb turning input through deck flex the way a bamboo setup does. Every bit of your lean goes directly into the trucks. That is what makes it feel so precise, but it also means the bushings are doing more of the work in shaping how the turn feels.

Combined with the 175mm pneumatic all-terrain tyres and the wider stance those tyres create, the Diablo Carbon AT is a capable, planted machine. The dual 3500W motors and the 864Wh battery give you enough grunt to climb 45 per cent gradients and cover up to 50 km on a single charge across mixed terrain. On loose surfaces, gravel paths or technical off-road sections, that stability is what keeps you in control. Bushings that match your weight and riding style are part of what delivers it.

If you are running the Diablo Carbon AT at over 100 kg, hard bushings are not just a preference. They are a practical safety consideration. A board that wanders at speed on rough terrain is a board that punishes you for pushing it. Properly matched bushings tighten that relationship between input and response.

How to tell when your bushings need attention

Bushings wear out gradually, which makes them easy to overlook. The signs are usually subtle at first. The board starts to feel slightly vague mid-turn. High-speed wobble creeps in earlier than it used to. The return-to-centre after a carve feels slow or inconsistent.

Visually, worn bushings will show cracking, deformation around the edges or a flattened shape rather than a clean cylindrical profile. If you pull your trucks apart and the bushings look tired, they are. Replacing them is a low-cost fix that restores the feel of the whole setup.

The good news is that bushing swaps require no special tools and take about ten minutes with a skate tool. Evolve bushings are universal across all boards in the current lineup, so finding the right durometer for your setup is straightforward.

Getting the setup right before you ride

A useful starting approach: set both axles to the same bushing durometer initially, then ride and assess. If the board feels too twitchy or turns too easily at speed, move up one durometer. If it resists turning and requires more lean than feels natural, move down. Small adjustments in durometer produce noticeable changes in feel, particularly on a rigid carbon platform.

For riders in Auckland taking the Diablo Carbon AT through mixed conditions, sealed urban paths and then off onto something rougher, medium to hard bushings tend to give the most consistent experience across both surfaces. You are not sacrificing too much carve feel for the street sections, and you are getting the stability you want when the terrain gets unpredictable.

Kingpin nut tightness is still a variable worth dialling in after you have chosen your durometer. Snug but not overtightened is the standard starting point. You want the bushing to be able to do its job, not be crushed into submission before you even lean.

The honest take

Bushings are the easiest tuning lever most riders never pull. They cost very little, take minutes to swap and directly shape the most fundamental part of the riding experience: how the board turns. On a performance setup like the Diablo Carbon All Terrain, where the rigid deck and powerful motors amplify every input, getting the bushing choice right is not an optional extra. It is part of finishing the build properly.

If your board does not feel the way you expected, check the bushings before you assume it is something more complicated. Chances are, a single durometer change will sort it.