| Information | |
|---|---|
| Color | Red, Orange, Yellow |
| Hardness | 78a, 82a, 85a |
| Price | $15 – $20 |
Riedell just released new cushions (bushings) for their plates and a lot of other brands on the market. For our fresher meat out their the cushions or bushings are the rubber donuts on your plates. They act a lot like shocks on a car and are also what allows you to turn to the left when you lean to the left. Just like your skate wheels they come in different hardness and each has their own pros and cons.
The new Magic Cushions are coming in three different hardness. The red 78a are for the skinny skaters and those of us who like to have our trucks really loose. If you have your trucks so loose that they move freely when you shake them then you need to upgrade to some soft bushings. The middle of the road cushions are the 82a and those are orange. For our big blockers they have the hard yellow 85a.
Bushings are something that do wear out after time and something that should also be rotated on a semi-regular basis. Prices for the upgrade is going to run you between $15 and $20 depending on which plate you currently have.
I’m going to pick up a set of the Red 78a and swap them out for my stock bushings. I will report after a few practices.
**UPDATE**
I ended up getting the orange 82a. This is the best $20 you can spend on upgrading you skates especially if you have the old white bushings. Do it today! Everything feels so much more reactive. I’m giving them a 5 stars on feed back but only 4 stars for durability quality since I really haven’t had time to break them in. Will update that in 6 months or so.
Thank you!!! I’ve been wanting to buy new bushings for awhile since I have my trucks loosened all the way, but I had no idea what to buy. This helps a lot. I think I may go for the Red 78a.
wetspot.
i think you should go for at least the mediums. i have been using the hard ones for 1.5 months and would say they are a huge step up from the stock cushions. one of the better performance per $ upgrades you can get.
Dirty Larry is bringing them all to practice tonight so I can test them out.
$15-20 seems expensive for these. I’ve been able to supply skaters on my team with Sure-Grip barrel-and-cone cushion combos complete with metal retainer caps and new pivot cups for only $12. They’ve been swapping them out for the stock cushions on their Powerdyne Tritons and Dynapros and have experienced a noticeable difference.
Do you know if Riedell plans on including these with their package skates so people don’t have to buy them afterwards?
They have upgraded the stock cushions they are sending lately and they are way better then what that had been but not as good as the Magic Cushions. Expensive for 8 hunks of urethane for sure but for making them such a better skate I think it’s worth the cost. I planning on adding the Sure-Grip cushions to our database. Would love to have someone review them for us.
I love these! I got the red ones, and they make a huge difference. I like my trucks pretty loose, and with the “stock” whites that come with powerdyne plates (there actually is two hardnesses of the white cushions that come standard, indicated by black or silver lettering, but both are really hard). I had to loosen my trucks as much as possible and then there was “flop” in the action.
I set up my truck now with a hard white top cushion, but the red soft bottom cushion, and the difference is considerable.
Thanks for the heads up on this!
Price note- a good reliable local skate shop should be able to get you these for much less than 20 bucks a set. That is probably just the “suggested” retail price. I just bought them for less than half that.
I <3 these. on my dynapro plate w/ short kingpins, these gave me the response & manueverability I was missing w/ the stock bushings. I can't rate the durability more than avg so far since I haven't had them very long
It’s amazing how much of a difference these things made. It’s the best twenty dollars I’ve spent in derby. Turnarounds are so much easier, mohawking is so much easier, skating backwards is so much easier, these bushings are FANTASTIC. I love being able to leave my trucks fairly tight, but still have flex in my skates. It takes a lot of the work out of skating, and I cannot recommend them highly enough.
Thank you for reviewing these! Nice to read a review from someone who is not just a name on the interwebs. ^_-