wheel observation

[rawls]

First off I want to say that have a very strong pump and carve style to generate speed. Many times people ask me what bearings I use, assuming that the bearings "have" to be the reason I can ride so fast. The wheels I have been using for a very long time are 60mm-96a noskoolz (and I have lots of sets), with a various selection of bearings, typically ending up with Abec 3 or 5 Ed's (for their cost).

Earlier this year I underwent knee surgery, from an injury sustained at an old skate friend's cancer benefit in Bowling Green KY. Taking time to get back on the skate scene, I am now back up to the point where I am feeling mentally confortable. For example frontside grinds, at high speeds, on cement coping are once again a speed scrubbing manuever, as opposed to simply a chore of throwing it up for the sound.

My kicktail leg (the surgery knee) is not as strong as it was prior, I have really noticed it in the bowls and big ramps. Knowning that my strength and stamina are down, from essentially 6 months of inactivity on good terrain, save the occasional 5 ride routine in the bowls which barely generate a sweat.

I decided to cheat and play with wheels. I say cheat because I know there are countless wheel configurations and recipes that are noticeably faster than the noskoolz I ride on my tranny boards. Case in point, I never needed it before. I had a set of the Abec11/Retro Squirtz (never opened) in my stuff. The squirtz, for those that dont know, are basically a modern bowl style wheel. They may be a tad to the taller side at 62mm, but not so bad. The compound is typical, etc etc. In general, I swapped to modern typical park wheel, while maintaining some reverence to wheel width that I refuse to give up on. I refuse to give in to a super narrow sh*tfire wheel of something of the sort, like a Bones SPF. The squirts are 62mmx 40mm wide.

Anyway, enough background. On my first visit and drop-in, I came down from a fs carve in which I struggled to stay off of the coping (first run with no warm-up) and nearly blew the board out from under me as I came back down across the wall; used to pumping in the same fashion with my no-skoolz. From there on out, as I got more and more used to them, I was flying. Instead of thrusting thru the tranny, I could basically adjust my body positioning and be on spot with no effort. figure-8 carves with long double axle grinds on both directions and multi-carves with grinds were nearly effortless. I still think carve grinds, especially fs are the bomb on pool coping. Yesterday, I rode for nearly two hours, hard riding; a one person session with grinds and fast carves on nearly run. I was wiped to say the least.

the moral of the story, if you could call it that, is that due to issues with my recovery form surgery and lack of conditioning, I decided to try a knowingly faster wheel design. Guess what? I loved it. The ramifications are that now I have to work less. That is a bad thing for me. At 43, a heavy workout on the board goes a long way. But none the less I am having a whole lot better ride. Will I go back to the no skoolz? most likely not, and that is my worry. It nice to have an allegiance to brand or even model, but sometimes due to external influences things have to change. Like I said, prior, I had no speed issues. my strength was such that I could get speed with my pumping and carving. Even in the VAns Combi, thread-the-needle corner varve grinds were no issue, and consecutive carve grinds in the round end and up into the roll-in on my no skoolz. Even though faster wheels certainly were out there, I chose not to give in. Oh well, I finally did.

The next step is to regain roll-ins and acid drops and get back in charge of rock and rolls and slides in deeper terrain. the longer I go without these ( a mental block from my fall and surgery) the further they will slip out of my ability range; they used to be mainstays to my riding. Thats what happens when you are nearly 44, still riding hard, but get sidelined. Sidelining a 40 year old skater for 1/2 year is most likely the equivilant to sidelining a teenager for 2-3 years. IT takes a long time to come back. And at 40+ is there even a need to come back or simply is it a need to maintain comfort level to simply skate hard, regardless of what manuevers you can do. I choose the latter.

Oh well enough already, I definitely enjoy the decreased riding effort of my squirtz, but the same would apply to other wheels, and there are many wheels still faster I know. for example a stated fast wheel (ie sh*tbirds or similar with ceramic bearing would make for a wild ride, but I just dont want or need to go there. I want to work for something. MAybe when I get conditioning back, I will get back on the noskoolz, but then again, probably not!!!

Sorry for the long read, but maybe it paints a little different picture about wheel selection. and how buying the utmost fastest wheel combination can possibly take away from riding. In other words, if you can only skate with the fastest equipment, is that a good thing.

[stringtheory]

Well, this goes with what I've been saying for a while. Yes, you can use a longboard, or more longboard specific and old school equipment in bowls. But there is a reason modern equipment is different. It has advanced.

I personally use a shortboard in bowls with hard tranny specific wheels. I've actually converted non believers who refused to give up on older styled stuff.

90% of skating is the skater. But there is something to be said for using the right tool for the job.

Glad to hear you are back on your board man. Here's to a speedy recovery the rest of the way!

[Wells]

Shorter Rawls: I'm old. I refuse to use the best available equipment and want people to think I'm noble for getting an xtreme cardio workout on slow, crappy sk8trip wheels. Also, using wheels that don't suck is cheating. Or something.

[rawls]

this was on no-skoolz, with no speed issues whatsoever. And even this fall prior to my surgery, but after my fall, I was grinding the overhang in the Layton UT park (and all over the deep end of their deepest bowl on a work related trip. Once again on slow no skoolz. Was I missing out? defeinitely so, but it was not an issue until conditioning prevented me from riding like I did (prior to surgery and the major time off).

Is it noble or am I against technology? no. I just skate and when there are no inherent limits with my equipment I dont go searching for performance. When there were limits, I did just that; I upp'd the equipment capability.

[Hot Wheels]

rawls

Thanks for the excellent post. I am an older skater as well,
and noticed quite a difference going from Bones 64MM mini-cubes
(slower,smoother) to the hardest formula 63MM Tunnel Rocks, MUCH
faster.

So here is my question, since I ride and like the old 10X30 re-issue
early 80's Powell boards with Indy 169's wouldn't the skwertz be too
narrow on that board? I like my wheels to at least come out the edge
of my board for stability. I guess I could get a wheel like the 62MM Skwertz
or 60MM Rainskates and get Indy 215's, what do you (or anyone else) think?

[prettynoiselab]

Originally Posted by Hot Wheels

rawls

Thanks for the excellent post. I am an older skater as well,
and noticed quite a difference going from Bones 64MM mini-cubes
(slower,smoother) to the hardest formula 63MM Tunnel Rocks, MUCH
faster.

So here is my question, since I ride and like the old 10X30 re-issue
early 80's Powell boards with Indy 169's wouldn't the skwertz be too
narrow on that board? I like my wheels to at least come out the edge
of my board for stability. I guess I could get a wheel like the 62MM Skwertz
or 60MM Rainskates and get Indy 215's, what do you (or anyone else) think?

I have your solution to your wheel needs. Get some Rainskate 62mm 100 Stingers, the new white ones with the conical inner surface. Fast, grippy. The best blend of the old school and new. I just mounted up some 65mm Rainskate Avalances I will be testing this wednesday @ Pala. Join me if you want to try them.

[Hot Wheels]

prettynoiselab

Thanks for the reply, the Rainskates sound great, however my
problem (situation) is I have a 10 inch wide board. Even with
Indy 169's I think the 62MM Rainskates wheels would NOT come out to the edge
of the board? the way my Tunnel Rocks and Bones Mini-Cubes 64MM do.

[Wells]

So get wider trucks. Simple solutions to simple problems.

[msk]

Originally Posted by Hot Wheels

So here is my question, since I ride and like the old 10X30 re-issue
early 80's Powell boards with Indy 169's wouldn't the skwertz be too
narrow on that board? I like my wheels to at least come out the edge
of my board for stability. I guess I could get a wheel like the 62MM Skwertz
or 60MM Rainskates and get Indy 215's, what do you (or anyone else) think?

I find that 9" axle trucks (169s, Sixtracks, etc) usually fit pretty well on 70s/80s style 10" decks, when using modern wheels. Especially over the rear truck, those decks tend to be about 8.5"-9" wide, so a wider truck will usually end up putting the wheels out beyond the edge of the deck. I always prefer having the wheels even with the edge of the deck at the point where the truck is mounted, rather than even with the widest part of the deck...