Are Hollow Kingpin Trucks Worth the Extra Cost? An Honest Answer

Short answer: yes, if you notice weight - and most skaters notice weight sooner than they expect. A hollow kingpin (and on better trucks, a hollow axle too) removes steel from the two heaviest parts of a truck without touching the parts that take impact. The result is a truck that flips easier, ollies lighter, and fatigues your legs less over a session - for a price difference that is usually the cost of a sandwich.

What a hollow kingpin actually changes

The kingpin is the bolt running through the center of the truck; the axle is the rod your wheels ride on. Boring them hollow cuts real grams from a part you swing around on every trick. Strength stays where it matters because the loads on a kingpin are mostly compression and the hollow bore is engineered for it - this is the same logic as hollow bike frames and hollow baseball bats.

Who should pay for hollow

Street and technical skaters get the most from it: lighter trucks mean quicker flicks and less effort on flip tricks. Taller skaters on bigger boards feel it less. If you mostly cruise, standard trucks are the smarter buy - spend the difference on wheels.

Where Slappy stands on this

We build hollow versions across the ST1 line - ST1 Hollow, the featherweight Hollow Lights (hollow kingpin AND hollow axle), and hollow builds of our inverted-kingpin Curb Killers, where the kingpin drops out of the grind path entirely. Every one is rebuildable with interchangeable parts, so the extra cost buys a truck you service instead of replace.

The honest checklist

Buy hollow if: you skate street or technical, you notice board feel, or you are already replacing trucks. Skip it if: you cruise, you are on a first setup, or the budget is tight - a well-made standard truck beats a cheap hollow one every time. Either way, match the axle width to your deck first - the size chart settles that in thirty seconds.