You're cruising along, the board feels great, you add a little more throttle, and suddenly the deck starts shaking from side to side. The shaking gets faster, your legs stiffen, and every correction seems to make it worse. That's electric skateboard speed wobble, and almost every rider meets it at some point.
The good news: speed wobble is rarely a mystery and almost never a reason to buy a new board. It comes from a handful of causes you can control: stance, bushings, truck setup, wheelbase and speed. This guide explains why your skateboard wobbles when going fast, what to do while it's happening, and how to set up your ONSRA board so it doesn't come back.
What is speed wobble?
Speed wobble is a fast, self-reinforcing side-to-side oscillation of the trucks. One truck turns slightly, the board steers, the rider reacts, the other truck answers, and within a second the trucks swing back and forth faster than you can correct them. On a non-electric longboard it usually shows up on steep downhills. On an electric skateboard you can reach the same speeds on flat ground, which is why "eskate speed wobble" is such a common question.
Three things make it dangerous:
- It builds on itself. Small movements become big ones in a few seconds.
- Tense riders feed it. Stiff legs pass every vibration straight into the deck, and the trucks answer.
- Hard braking during a wobble often ends in a fall, because the board is already unsettled.
The key idea for the rest of this article: a stable board is one where the trucks return to center calmly and the rider stays relaxed. Everything below supports one of those two things.
Why does my skateboard wobble when I go fast? 5 causes
1. Stance and weight distribution
Most wobbles start with the rider. If your weight sits on the back foot, the front truck is light and free to oscillate. Standing too narrow or locking your knees has the same effect. Ask anyone who rides fast and they'll tell you the same thing: weight slightly forward, knees bent, upper body calm.
2. Bushings that are too soft or too loose
Bushings are the urethane cushions around the kingpin that control how easily the truck turns and how strongly it comes back to center. Soft or loose bushings make carving easy, but at speed they let the truck move with very little resistance. Fabian points out a few things in our bushing video that riders often overlook:
- Bushings settle. After you ride a lot, they compress and the truck gets looser. Check and re-adjust after a ride.
- Temperature matters. Rubber gets harder in the cold and softer in the heat, so the same setting can feel different in winter and summer.
- Play is the enemy. If there's free movement between the bushings, the truck can move before the bushing even starts working. That free play is a classic cause of speed wobbles and of wheel bite.
3. Truck type and truck angle
Truck geometry decides how much the truck turns for a given amount of lean. Steeper baseplate angles and double kingpin (DKP) trucks turn sharply, which is fantastic for tight carving and less forgiving at speed. Traditional kingpin (TKP) trucks turn more gradually and are generally calmer when you go fast. Channel-style trucks like the VELAR CNC Channel Truck let you choose: the bushing position changes the feel from surfy to very stiff.
This isn't a "TKP good, DKP bad" story. It's a trade-off between turning and stability, and you can tune every truck type toward the stable side.
4. Wheelbase
The wheelbase is the distance between the front and rear truck axles. A longer wheelbase means each degree of truck movement has less effect on direction, so the board feels calmer at speed. A short wheelbase is nimble and fun, and needs a firmer setup when you go fast.
You can see it across our boards. The Challenger 2.0 has a 73 cm (28.7 in) wheelbase and is built for agile carving. The VELAR 2.0 and VELAR 2.0 S have a 96.5 cm (38 in) wheelbase, and the VELAR 2.0 page notes that its low flex provides stability at high speeds.
5. Speed beyond your setup
Every setup has a speed where it stops feeling calm. A board tuned for relaxed carving through town will feel nervous at a speed the same board handles easily with firmer bushings. Speed wobble is often just a sign that you've gone faster than your current setup supports. Electric boards add one more factor: you can accelerate into that zone very quickly, without the slow build-up of a downhill.
How to stop speed wobbles while riding
When the board starts shaking, you have about a second to react well. This is what works:
- Relax. Bend your knees, loosen your ankles and breathe out. Stiff legs amplify the wobble.
- Move your weight forward. Put more pressure on the front foot. A loaded front truck is a calmer front truck.
- Look ahead, not down. Your body follows your eyes. Looking at your feet makes you tense up.
- Carve gently. A slight, smooth turn loads the trucks and often breaks the oscillation.
- Brake progressively, not hard. Ease off the throttle and roll on the brake smoothly. A sudden hard brake on an unsettled board is how many wobbles end in a fall. Our guide on how to stop an electric skateboard covers progressive braking in detail.
- If you can't recover, bail early and in control, onto grass or the side of the road if possible, rather than riding it out until the board throws you.
Wear the gear that makes a fall survivable: a helmet, gloves and ideally armor. Our ULTRALIGHT ONSRA Armored Jacket is designed for exactly the speeds where wobbles happen.
How to prevent speed wobbles: setup fixes
Technique gets you out of a wobble. Setup keeps you from getting into one. Work through these in order and test after each change.
Tighten your bushings, one step at a time
Tightening the kingpin nut compresses the bushings, which adds turning resistance and makes the truck return to center more firmly. Fabian shows the process on a BLACK Carve in the video below: on that board you remove the top screw to reach the kingpin nut, then tighten in small steps. He also sets the motor truck a little harder, because that's where more weight sits.
Small steps matter. A quarter turn at a time, then a test ride, is better than cranking the nut down and ending up with a board that won't turn at all.
Fill the gap with inner bushings
Remember the free play between the bushings? Our inner bushing insert sits on the kingpin between the two bushings and fills that gap, so the truck can't move freely before the bushings start working. Matthew explains it in our Lucerne showroom: more stability, less wheel bite, and you don't need to tighten the trucks nearly as much. The idea came from our team after we noticed that some beginners couldn't tighten their trucks enough to feel safe. In our test rides the insert removed the wobble without any extra kingpin tightening.
Matthew's tips from the video:
- You don't need to tighten a lot once the insert is in.
- Tighten the lower screws more than the top one.
- Heavier riders and beginners can go a little tighter, experienced carvers a little looser.
- Repeat the same process on the rear truck.
The 95A bushing inserts are designed to reduce speed wobble and wheel bite, and the product page lists them as ideal for double kingpin trucks.
Set the rear truck tighter than the front
A firmer rear truck is one of the most effective anti-wobble tricks. The front truck keeps steering and carving lively, while the rear truck stays calm and stops the board from oscillating. In our VELAR channel-truck video, the stock setup works exactly like this: front bushings in the inner position, rear bushings in the outer position for more stability.
Choose the right VELAR truck setup
The VELAR CNC Channel Trucks are a good example of how far truck setup can change a board. In this video our rider tests three setups (on a prototype, so some details differ from the production board):
- Stock (front inner, rear outer): a balanced middle ground that carves well and feels safe at speed.
- Carviest (both inner): so turny that he finds it almost too much.
- Stiffest (both outer): the most stable setup he has ever tried, and the screws can be tightened further. He recommends it for really heavy riders.
The VELAR 2.0 ships with 65A bushings (the VELAR 2.0 S page lists 85A bushings on its suspension trucks). Heavier riders, or anyone who wants extra stability, can switch to the 82A VELAR bushings. Our advice from the product page: adjust your current bushings first before you upgrade.
Keep your bushings in place
If your bushings keep popping out, the truck has play no matter how you tighten it. The VELAR Bushing Retainer & Pin Upgrade uses longer pins and reinforced retainers. It's aimed at heavier riders, very soft setups, aggressive carving and slides.
Tune TKP trucks with washers
On the ONSRA TKP trucks for the Challenger 2.0, washers change the feel: the standard washer setup gives maximum stability, flipping the top washer makes the truck more responsive, and removing the bottom washer gives maximum carve. If you've been riding the responsive or max-carve setup and you start getting wobbles, go back to the standard setup first.
If you ride a board with double kingpin trucks and want calmer high-speed manners, a TKP setup is the bigger change. Our ONSRA TKP CNC Truck Kit is described as perfect for high-speed rides, and the DKP to TKP conversion kit lets you switch from DKP to TKP for better control. Truck choice is a big topic of its own; for a deeper look at truck tuning in general, read how to adjust electric skateboard trucks and how to improve eskate carving stability.
Our bushing setup by rider type
There's no single correct setting, but these starting points come straight from our product pages and setup videos. Use them as a baseline and adjust in small steps.
| Rider | BLACK Carve / Challenger (with inner bushing insert) | VELAR 2.0 (CNC channel trucks) |
|---|---|---|
| Experienced carver, relaxed speeds | Kingpins a little looser; on TKP trucks, flipped top washer for more response | Stock setup, or both bushings inner for maximum carve |
| All-round rider | Moderate tightening, lower screws tighter than the top, rear truck a little firmer | Stock setup: front inner, rear outer |
| Heavier rider or beginner | Tighten a little more; motor truck a bit harder; standard washer setup on TKP | Both bushings outer; consider the 82A bushings |
| Bushings popping out or very soft setup | Check the insert and the hardware | Retainer & Pin Upgrade |
Two habits apply to every row: re-check your trucks after the first few rides, because bushings settle, and expect your board to feel a little different in cold weather.
When speed wobble is a hardware problem
If your setup is right and the wobble still appears, check the board itself:
- Loose kingpin nut or baseplate screws. Hardware that works loose adds play. Check all truck screws regularly.
- Worn, cracked or deformed bushings. Old bushings lose their rebound and don't center the truck anymore. Replace them as a set.
- Missing or damaged inner bushing insert. Without it, the free play is back.
- Bushings popping out of their seats. On the VELAR, that's what the retainer upgrade is for.
- Wheel and bearing issues. A wheel that doesn't spin true, a damaged bearing or a loose axle nut can start an oscillation. Spin each wheel and look for side-to-side play.
- Bent hanger or damaged truck. After a crash, check that the axle is straight and both wheels sit square.
Your wheels play a part too. Our electric skateboard wheels guide explains how wheel type, size and durometer change grip and ride feel.
If you find a damaged part, replace it before riding fast again. If you're unsure, contact us with a short video of the problem. That usually tells us more than a long description.
For a reminder of what a dialed board can feel like, watch our short on a high-speed BLACK Carve 3 setup.
Speed wobble FAQ
What causes speed wobble on an electric skateboard?
Usually a combination of rider stance (weight on the back foot, stiff legs), bushings that are too soft or too loose, free play between the bushings, turny truck geometry, a short wheelbase and riding faster than the setup supports. Hardware problems like loose screws or worn bushings can add to it.
How do I stop speed wobbles while riding?
Relax your legs, shift your weight to the front foot, look ahead and carve gently to load the trucks. Ease off the throttle and brake progressively. Avoid a sudden hard brake, because that often turns a wobble into a fall.
Do tighter trucks stop speed wobbles?
Tighter bushings help, because the trucks return to center more firmly. Tighten in small steps and test after each change, though, because overtightened trucks make the board hard to turn. Filling the gap between the bushings with an inner bushing insert often gives more stability without overtightening.
Should the front or rear truck be tighter?
The rear truck. A firmer rear truck stops the board from oscillating while the front truck keeps steering lively. In our VELAR channel-truck video, the stock setup has the front bushings in the inner position and the rear bushings in the outer position.
Which bushings are best for stability?
Harder bushings and a firmer setup give more stability. The VELAR 2.0 ships with 65A bushings and offers 82A bushings for heavier riders or extra stability. Our 95A bushing inserts are designed to reduce speed wobble and wheel bite. Adjust your current setup first before upgrading.
Does a longer wheelbase reduce speed wobble?
Yes. With a longer wheelbase, each small truck movement changes your direction less, so the board feels calmer at speed. The VELAR 2.0 has a 96.5 cm (38 in) wheelbase, while the Challenger 2.0 has 73 cm (28.7 in) and needs a firmer setup when you ride it fast.
Are TKP trucks more stable than DKP trucks?
In general, yes. TKP trucks turn more gradually and feel calmer at speed, while double kingpin trucks turn sharply and are great for tight carving. You can make either more stable with harder or tighter bushings.
Is speed wobble a sign that my board is broken?
Usually not. Most wobbles come from stance and setup. If the wobble persists after tuning, check for loose hardware, worn or popping bushings, a damaged inner bushing insert, wheel or bearing play, and a bent truck after a crash.
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