Lets get this shit straight: Rojas are NOT torsional trucks! I called them that once and it made Jared Braden cry. That may or may not be true (it’s not), but it’s his word against mine (thats true) and I haven’t lied since I was four (I have) and I’m not about to start now (that itself was a lie). So unless you’re one of those suckers who wastes his time reading inside parenthesis, I think we can all agree that torsional geometry is a pretty sore subject over at Braden Boards. Which isn’t unreasonable…torsion trucks have a pretty bad name in the longboard community and a lot of people hate on them. I’m not here to condemn or redeem those trucks…but rather just distinguish them from Rojas, which are ultimately a completely new and unique product. If you haven’t tried them yet, seriously…do yourself the favor. There’s really nothing else like them…and while some will hate them, some of you will love them! I started off thinking of Rojas as a bit of a niche market item, even a little gimmicky and weird. After testing them for a few months I’m left thinking of them as a third kind of standard truck…not replacing TKP, or RKPs but rather providing a third option with strengths and weaknesses all its own. Allow me to explain…

Freestyle :

Lets start with freestyle. Rojas and freestyle have a complicated relationship. It’s kind of the opposite of what you’d think, having only seen pictures of these trucks…the bare axle hanger is actually really strong and resilient. I had these things on a brick with foot cuffs and one of my riders took it off some huge drops…no bending whatsoever. However, they are actually really heavy. They don’t look it, but they are. Another drawback is that they have the ride height of RKPs with the axle set past the kingpin, like TKPs. What this means for freestyle is that kicks are effectively shortened and raised…say goodbye to your pop. If you stick to Shuvits, manuals and early grabs you won’t be disappointed, the rest of you need to grab some foot cuffs because these rock on short WB bricks anyway.

Downhill :

Speaking of which, that was one of my favorite things about these trucks. Really short wheelbase riders rejoice, TKPs are no longer the only logical option! Rojas extends your wheels past the bolts the way TKPs would, extending your EFP and adding stability, while still maintaining maneuverability and that consistent RKP turn. In fact, Rojas is a completely no-slop truck. The hangar rotates the kingpin on two bearings while the pins stretch and compress the bushing disk to provide resistance. This makes a very precise truck with a very strong center. Though I’d caution anyone that thinks they know their bushing preferences…I did, and I was wrong. Not only are the bushings the only thing saving you from wheelbite (so you’re going to want to follow the weight chart and not go to soft), but the combination of the typical push back to center with the added pull back that Rojas has…high rebound urethane can be overkill. Luckily, there’s charts on the website and the Braden team is more than willing to help weary of confused customers.

Freeride :

This is also relevant to DH, but lets keep this thing moving, shall we? One of the most interesting things about Rojas was how strong the center is. Not just creating a good return, but also what I’m going to call a break away. You feel it a lot more on the softer HR bushings, so if you top mount you’ll probably be using hard enough bushings that you wont notice it too much…but it’s something to get used to either way. Basically, the trucks can hold center almost too well…so even on soft bushings you might have to lean more than you’re used to just to break center, which you’ll probably respond to by over leaning and dive straight into a sharp turn. this makes slide initiation REALLY easy…but control a little harder (at first). Soon you’ll find that sweet spot where the trucks break away into a controlled turn and you’ll absolutely love these trucks for freeride. Grab some soft bushings and throw them on a long WB with cutouts and get ready to throw out long standies like its nothing.

A Few Other Things I Noticed :

So usually I’d have another discipline here…instead I just want to blab a bit on how unique these trucks are. Rojas are definitely convention challenging trucks…every time I assumed something they proved me wrong. First off, the break away made initiating slides so effortless that drop-through decks felt like they had top-mount leverage. Cutouts were also a favorite for me again (for the first time in years) because with nearly no limit to how far these trucks can turn, with the right bushings you could achieve the controlled turn radius of both low and high degree trucks…just lean more to turn more. Though, on the other hand different degree baseplates would be very interesting. Braden claims the standard Rojas truck is 45* though in reality it functions more like a 135* truck. You don’t notice at such a perfect middle ground…but say you lower the hangar to 40*, you’d turn more. Thats because you’re not really lowering anything, you’re raising it to 140*! What does this mean to you, the rider? It means, beyond 90* raising the baseplate degree is also lowering the ride height. So a 140* Rojas will be low as a 40* but have the turn response of a 50* baseplate. Is this making sense? I think its cool…but I think we’ve established I’m pretty geeky about longboards. Speaking of which, if you’re a mad scientist yourself the Rojas also open up a whole new world of experimentations. The Silverfish thread is chocked full of homemade bushing mods, and I’m sure a lot of you will be coming up with your own soon enough!

That’s about it for Rojas, not so much the short lived gimmick as it is the third viable option for kingpin geometry. Not sure what they’ll call it yet, re-reversed kingpin trucks? Who cares, they’re fucking awesome…so be sure to check out their Facebook page and give them a like. Who knows what might be coming out of Braden Boards next.

DISCLAIMER: This company was confident enough in its quality that it was willing to provide me with product to review.