Vintage giant wheels for Signal Hill

**sk8norcal** · 10-02-2008 06:47 PM

Rarest Skateboard Wheels Ever? Downhill Signal Hill - eBay (item 110293351690 end time Oct-03-08 10:42:09 PDT)

102mm tall x 48mm wide or 4" x 1 7/8" super soft.

Probably the rarest set of skateboard wheels you will ever see!, I got these wheels around 1978 when I was building a downhill board to race at the legendary Signal Hill, These wheels were given to me by a guy that worked for Elasco Wheel Manufacturing. These may be the largest skateboard wheels ever made, I think the only thing I have ever seen close to these were a 100mm. But I think Roger Hickey had a custom set of wheels that Labeda made him back in the day that may have been 4 inches as well, but they may have been a 100mm as well.

There was only a handful of these wheels made at the time and up until now, I have never seen another set of these in the last 30 years. The race got cancelled and I never rode these wheels, infact, I forgot I even had them up until a month ago when I was going thru boxes in my garage and found them.

**RileyC** · 10-02-2008 07:12 PM

saw these puppies... UFO and Power Paw made similar designs for signal hill specifically. cool vintage stuff.

**Ogre** · 10-02-2008 07:20 PM

I sold a set of ParkRider 4" to Ed Economy for him to put on Cliff Colemans Speed board.
I also have a set of 4" RoadRiders thAT i KEEP MOUNTED ON A 70'S DECK.
And a Set of UFO's.. mine are blue, but those blacks look to be the same mold... Only mine have the pain in the ass large bearings. They really aren't that Rare

**tinypete** · 10-02-2008 07:38 PM

holy crap. those things would destroy your axles.
i've seen 102mm wheels on the boards made by BRD Skate Co.
they're pretty awesome.
how soft are they?

**jkpvilla** · 10-02-2008 08:50 PM

eh. I've seen bigger.

**green** · 10-02-2008 08:55 PM

Originally Posted by jkpvilla

eh. I've seen bigger.

Thats what she said.

**OldSkateGuy** · 10-03-2008 07:52 AM

When I raced at Signal Hill in 1978 I had a couple sets of 4" wheels, one from Kryptonics and one from NHS/Park Rider. Both had aluminum hubs. The maximum wheel size at Signal Hill was 4". A few other rules in the skatecar division:
Max length 10'
Max weight 75 pounds
Lean steering
Brake and parachute required
(Most of the skatecars were rolling death traps, we were very luck no one was killed)

I ended up running the Kryptos and letting Henry Hester borrow the Park Riders, we ended up tying for 2nd in the skatecar division at 59.27mph. The winner went 59.92mph.

Years later when Tom Peterson was still at Kryptonics (before he started Hyper) he made me another set of 4" wheels. When they arrived at my house a couple of them had blood on them. Tom had cut himself when trimming them on the lathe. His comment..."Jack, I just wanted you to now I put my heart, soul and blood into these wheels".