Ace

Ace doesn’t make decks. It makes trucks, and it has done so since 2007, when Joey Tershay and Steve ‘Shrewgy’ Ruge started Ace Trucks MFG in the United States with the stated goal of building the best-turning truck in skating. The brand puts turn above everything and built its reputation on a truck that comes back cleanly without feeling mushy.

History

Tershay was already a well-known skater from the San Francisco Bay Area before the brand, and he had worked at a foundry that cast Thunder, Venture and Independent. Ace came out of that job almost literally: it started with a box of old baseplates and hangers from every era of Indy, Thunder and Venture that he found lying around the shop. “Ace was just a natural combination of trial and error,” he told Jenkem in 2022. That origin explains why Ace’s earliest geometry leaned so heavily on old Independent designs, something Tershay has never tried to hide.

In 2017 Joey Pulsifer joined as a third partner, bringing ideas to improve the strength and function of the trucks, and that move set up the technical jump that followed. That jump landed in April 2021 with the AF1, the model the brand credits with cementing its demand. Through it all Ace has stayed independent: despite Tershay’s deep San Francisco roots, the brand is not part of Deluxe and runs through Mesa Distribution, with flagship locations in Los Angeles and Barcelona.

The trucks

Ace bills the AF1 as “the strongest cast truck on earth.” Where other brands forge their premium models, Ace stayed committed to casting: the AF1 uses AA 356.2 aluminum alloy with a proprietary casting method and truly T6 heat-treated baseplates and hangers. It sits alongside the Classic line and the Low and Hollow variants.

Ace has played the fashion card too. The Carhartt WIP collaboration produced co-branded AF1 trucks and a skate tool, with an engraved hanger, a baseplate anodized in Carhartt orange and a Hammertone print.

The team

The current roster is one of the most coveted lists in skating, close to fifty riders that mix generations and styles. Veterans and legends like Brian Anderson, John Cardiel, Julien Stranger, Neil Blender, Tom Penny, Jason Adams and Alex Olson ride alongside a younger, more technical wave: Cyrus Bennett, Sage Elsesser, Leo Baker, Kevin Rodrigues, Casper Brooker, Jacopo Carozzi, Didrik ‘Deedz’ Galasso, Mike Arnold, Gou Miyagi, Maite Steenhoudt, Ronnie Sandoval and Kevin ‘Spanky’ Long, among others.

If you are torn between one height and another, the Hi and Lo trucks guide sorts it out before you buy.