Slappy Trucks was born out of downtime and obsession. During the pandemic, longtime team manager and industry lifer Mike Sinclair started tinkering with every piece of a truck—hangers, baseplates, bushing heights and duros, kingpins, even polishing—chasing a setup that turned fast yet refused to snag the kingpin on grinds. After more than two years of sampling, he landed on a geometry that felt classic underfoot but solved modern street skating’s grind-clearance headache, then launched Slappy at the end of 2022.
From day one the design brief was simple: increase kingpin clearance without killing the turn or the familiar feel. That philosophy shows up in Slappy’s “slappy angle” concept and measurable grind-clearance gains. On their own comparison, the Inverted configuration offers roughly 9 mm of kingpin clearance and about a 20° “slappy angle,” while the Classic geometry sits around 6.3 mm and 15°, both well above the industry average. The net effect is fewer hang-ups on Smiths, Feebles, Hurricanes, and those namesake curb slappies, with a lively return to center rather than a dead, over-stable lean.
Ride height and weight are equally deliberate. Slappy lists a consistent 53.9 mm height across sizes—squarely in “high” territory for wheel-bite resistance and deep carves—and publishes weights for both the ST1 Classic and Hollow constructions from 7.5 through 10.0 axle widths, making board matching straightforward for tech ledge skaters and pool riders alike.
The current lineup is unified by that geometry and split by construction. ST1 Classic delivers the traditional solid axle and kingpin feel with Slappy’s reworked clearances, a choice for skaters who want the most planted response. ST1 Hollow trims grams by hollowing axle and kingpin. ST1 Hollow Lights adds a forged baseplate for more strength-to-weight and a snappier feel out of the turn. ST1 Inverted Hollow Lights flips the kingpin for even cleaner grinds and quicker lock-ins, carrying over the forged baseplate and hollow hardware. Across these, Slappy markets the same through-line benefits—no break-in time, best-in-class grind clearance, less wheel bite, and quickest turn—but with different weight and feel profiles so skaters can tune their setup.
There are practical touches that speak to real-world setups. Retail listings show six-hole baseplates on certain models for legacy deck patterns and broader mounting compatibility, a small detail that matters when resurrecting older boards or experimenting with wheelbases. Finish and color runs rotate often, including rider colorways, without straying from the clean, classic silhouette that keeps boards looking timeless.
In a market long dominated by Independent, Thunder, and Venture, Slappy’s lane is clear: modern curb and ledge performance with measurable geometry advantages, packaged in something that still looks and rides like a truck should. Recent advancements show the R&D engine hasn’t slowed. Slappy announced an “Ultra Low Inverted Hollow Kingpin,” slated to roll out on Inverted Forged Hollow Lights models, pushing the inverted concept further for even cleaner grind paths and lower weight. That sits alongside ongoing collaborations—like limited truck drops with board brands—that broaden the aesthetic and team footprint without diluting the technical story.
Spec transparency also sets Slappy apart. The company regularly publishes size, height, and weight charts and even educates skaters on the “slappy angle” so riders can pick widths from 7.5 to 10.0 with confidence and predict how the setup will feel before they mount it. For shops, that data removes guesswork on who benefits from Classic versus Hollow versus Inverted Hollow Lights; for skaters, it speeds up that first great session instead of a week of bushing tweaks and washer swaps.
Looking ahead, the trajectory feels decidedly forward-thinking. With Sinclair’s iterative tinkering at the core and a product map that already spans construction, weight, and kingpin architecture, expect Slappy to keep refining clearances, materials, and angles while pairing them with rider-driven colorways and limited collaborations. The brand started as a pandemic garage project and is now an evidence-based contender that’s changing how street trucks manage contact with concrete—one slappy at a time.
