Wheel Manufacturers/Distributors

**lfatboy** · 10-19-2008 10:03 AM

I think in a nutshell the dude said that customers don't have to know where a product is coming from and that the information that marketing provides is enough for customers to make informed decisions. Too much information about a certain product on the customer's end is thus bad for the industry because people will have more of an idea of what they're actually buying rather than shelling out cash in hopes of buying a product which has been portrayed however the company has chosen to portray it. There's more money to be made in the latter method.

The logic sounds pretty crappy to me. It seems he has no faith in consumers. It immediately makes me think about the blank media industry and how you can't tell the quality of blank CD-R's by the name brand anymore (TDK, Memorex, etc), but by what factory and/or what country they're manufactured in. I'm not saying that the wheels' quality depends solely on what factory it's coming out of, but one has to consider that each factory is different in regulation and organization. And say that if there were a defect in a batch of wheels, a consumer should at least have the right to know why and from what factory.

I'm pretty averse to the idea of keeping consumers in the dark because of the proposed notion that it's "better for them." Consumers aren't retarded. Hate to get off topic but I personally hate how greedy companies like Sony, Bose and Monster Cable can be with their overpriced but well-marketed crap.

**bucksaw87** · 11-17-2008 09:01 AM

AEND pours:
abec11
neversummer
newer/some sector9
3dm/seismic
tunnel
comet
ultra (rollerblade wheels)
bennett
BDS

Labeda pours:
some earthwing wheels
dregs
the new landyachtz hawgs
oust wheels
bustin
GFH
Loaded
some Lush
new gravity wheels
System Martin wheels (TLS)

Creative Urethane
rainskates
some earthwings
autobahn
lush
sk8kings
manx/pps
poolking

Bravo Corp
gravity
kryptonics
landyachtz
sector 9
Xero wheels (italian brand)
(all 8mm race cores)

Mearthane
Road Rider
OJ
Ricta
Bullet
Crime
Madrid

Moska
moska
viking (european wheels)

In-House Pours
Spitfire
Powell/Surf One
Coretech (aussie brand)

**Pat S** · 11-17-2008 09:36 AM

I'm 90% sure the new gravity wheels are poured by labeda.

**Mile_High_Mark** · 11-17-2008 09:40 AM

Originally Posted by Pat S

I'm 90% sure the new gravity wheels are poured by labeda.

Ditto.

10orangecharwheels

**Blix** · 11-17-2008 09:43 AM

Originally Posted by Pat S

I'm 90% sure the new gravity wheels are poured by labeda.

Add 10%

Doug from Gravity said the new wheels are poured by the same company pouring EW`s and Orangatangs.

**bucksaw87** · 11-17-2008 09:57 AM

added the new gravity ones...i forgot about them

edit:
added TLS wheels too, just dind't feel like making a new post

**geolemon** · 11-17-2008 11:01 AM

Does that mean those TLS wheels are poured by Labeda as well?
Or are they not confirmed as actual EW "clones" yet?

**animal chin** · 11-18-2008 07:00 AM

Keep in mind - first of all - Earthwing uses 3 manufacturers that all have different strengths. slide wheels come from one place, drift wheels/freeriders another, and speed wheels another. and all the factories I work with give you a base formula to start from, and you design (or at least I do) the properties from there....more rolling speed/rebound/abrasion resistance/bond of urethane itself to help chunking...etc. I go back and fourth with the chemists to try new formulas all day. It takes forever. I know for a fact that Orangatang has their own formula, I have mine, and are developing an amazing new one.. but Earthwing's customers can't be fooled, so I don't even try. I guess I am saying - even if some stuff is made at the same place, and look the same, it may not be exactly the same - mine isn't.

**Alpha06** · 11-18-2008 07:14 AM

Honestly, it doesnt even matter if they are clones, the new price makes me rather wanter anything but them. I can get s9 race wheels for $6 more...

**Xgecko** · 11-25-2008 04:16 PM

Anyone know who pours the new PPS Racer X wheels??????
...the thane feels like EW, no idea what they skate like yet as its wet here right now

**bucksaw87** · 12-10-2008 01:14 PM

Originally Posted by animal chin

Keep in mind - first of all - Earthwing uses 3 manufacturers that all have different strengths. slide wheels come from one place, drift wheels/freeriders another, and speed wheels another. and all the factories I work with give you a base formula to start from, and you design (or at least I do) the properties from there....more rolling speed/rebound/abrasion resistance/bond of urethane itself to help chunking...etc. I go back and fourth with the chemists to try new formulas all day. It takes forever. I know for a fact that Orangatang has their own formula, I have mine, and are developing an amazing new one.. but Earthwing's customers can't be fooled, so I don't even try. I guess I am saying - even if some stuff is made at the same place, and look the same, it may not be exactly the same - mine isn't.

care to share the third company that pours EW?

**bucksaw87** · 12-18-2008 10:23 AM

AEND pours:
abec11
neversummer
newer/some sector9
3dm/seismic
comet
ultra (rollerblade wheels)
bennett
BDS

Labeda pours:
some earthwing wheels
dregs
the new landyachtz hawgs
oust wheels
bustin
GFH
Loaded
some Lush
new gravity wheels
System Martin wheels (TLS)

Creative Urethane
rainskates
some earthwings
autobahn
lush
sk8kings
manx/pps
poolking
tunnel
conspiracy
Speedlab
PPS
Skaterbuilt
NHS
Cowboy Punk
Better
Deathbox
Pig
Foundation
Toy Machine
Chetah
Black Label
Madrid

Bravo Corp
gravity
kryptonics
landyachtz
sector 9
Xero wheels (italian brand)
(all 8mm race cores)

Mearthane
Road Rider
OJ
Ricta
Bullet
Crime
Madrid

Moska
moska
viking (european wheels)

In-House Pours
Spitfire
Powell/Surf One
Coretech (aussie brand)

fixed tunnel and added conspiracy...as well as all the brands from SkullandBonesSkateboards.com ~ View topic - Creative Urethane

**Mile_High_Mark** · 12-18-2008 10:27 AM

Some of the SurfOne wheels are (most likely) from Labeda. I received some samples a couple of weeks ago, and they appeared to be the same as the 70mm EW Superballs.

**phil6x** · 12-18-2008 11:11 AM

the 77mm speedvents i got from mile high with my complete are pretty nice wheels,
but i only have one preoblem with them,

#^$&*@ING BUBBLES!
they have air pockets allllll over the back of them,
kinda disapointed concidering they are like $62

**Mile_High_Mark** · 12-18-2008 11:17 AM

Originally Posted by phil6x

the 77mm speedvents i got from mile high with my complete are pretty nice wheels,
but i only have one preoblem with them,

#^$&*@ING BUBBLES!
they have air pockets allllll over the back of them,
kinda disapointed concidering they are like $62

All wheels have bubbles. Some you can see, some you can't. Don't worry about them if they're in the inner "face" of the wheel.

**phil6x** · 12-18-2008 11:26 AM

yea i know its just a pet peve,
fricken bubbles

**geolemon** · 12-18-2008 12:24 PM

Who makes Darkstar?

I'd stick with that OEM for life - interested to know if they have other customers than shortboard industry brands.

**Barf** · 12-18-2008 11:30 PM

Originally Posted by Mile_High_Mark

Some of the SurfOne wheels are (most likely) from Labeda. I received some samples a couple of weeks ago, and they appeared to be the same as the 70mm EW Superballs.

The centerset spoked-core ones with the rounded lips?

**Fusarius** · 12-19-2008 01:18 AM

Originally Posted by rivers

Well think about it. Eventually the same thread will arise for trucks, and then decks.
This information will upset ALOT of people, and damage the industry.

To the customer, it does not make any difference if they know in which factory a wheel was made. For the majority of skaters, knowing the name of the wheel's factory amounts to no more than useless knowledge. Kind of like me finding out the name of the factory that made my toothbrush.

I see why you all think this is a good thread, and yes knowledge is power. And having access to certain things is empowering, but trust me, ignorance is bliss......

The full quotation is "when wisdom tis folly, igonrance is bliss" or "When wisdom brings no profit, to be wise is to suffer" two different translations form the play Oedipus Rex (King Oedipus). If you leave the first part off you destroy most of the meaning.

You make two arguments that at their very base destroy each other. Namely that "To the customer, it does not make any difference if they know in which factory a wheel was made" and "This information will upset ALOT of people". If the customers dont care who makes their wheels then why will they be upset? How will the throngs of apatheticly upset people negatively effect the skateboarding industry?

You have also given no reason for why the knowledge would damage the industry. Trusting in ignorance is what the germans did in the mid thirties to mid fourties... and look what that did.

You are not going to save the skateboarding industry through igonrance. If people do not care they do not look, but the industry has been needing to shape it's #### up for a long time. The faster the gaints fall the faster the phoneix can rise from the ashes.

**geolemon** · 12-19-2008 11:24 AM

Originally Posted by Fusarius

The full quotation is "when wisdom tis folly, igonrance is bliss" or "When wisdom brings no profit, to be wise is to suffer" two different translations form the play Oedipus Rex (King Oedipus). If you leave the first part off you destroy most of the meaning.

Thank you - fantastic quotes.
I think I can fully explain all the misery in my life now.

Seriously - applause, applause. Great citation.