Wheels Thread

[manysnakes]

Re: 97a Spitfires - I’m a bit advocate for these wheels and I think they work great if you are primarily skating crusty asphalt parking lots and busted streets somewhere near to or north of the 45th parallel. They are slower and they do not slide as well as other wheels, and in a skatepark or on smooth cement, they often lack the satisfying bark you get from sliding. The primary advantage they offer is that you are significantly less fatigued skating for hours on the shitty ground.

So if this is a concern for you, as it is me, get these wheels. Otherwise, 99a-101a will do you well.

[Ok]

Re: 97a Spitfires - I’m a bit advocate for these wheels and I think they work great if you are primarily skating crusty asphalt parking lots and busted streets somewhere near to or north of the 45th parallel. They are slower and they do not slide as well as other wheels, and in a skatepark or on smooth cement, they often lack the satisfying bark you get from sliding. The primary advantage they offer is that you are significantly less fatigued skating for hours on the shitty ground.

So if this is a concern for you, as it is me, get these wheels. Otherwise, 99a-101a will do you well.

Do you prefer a certain shape?
See I believe we have similar locations

[dr.prestige]

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Every time I think of migrating to another brand from F4 it’s like I cant quit an addiction. I mostly skate smooth ground but not parks. Is there any reason to fuck with Dialtone or Loophole? Their shapes seem reasonably close to Spit but I like the smaller brand vibe and their teams.

[close]

loopholes now! Quality is up there with F4. Never had dial tones but I doubt the urethane is on par with the loops

[close]

I second the NFG / Loophole props, they are really forgiving for hardness rating above 103a. Really liking the Square shape, just wish they did those in 52mm instead of 54mm and up.

[close]

3rd the loopholes/NFG camp, best wheels out

[close]

Man, I’ve been on the fence about speaking up, but I’m not super impressed with the finish on my NFG 95a 56mm V’s. There’s several small bubbles and there appears to be some bubbles just under the skin. I’ve contacted nfg about it and they assured me it’s cosmetic and said to try them first. And there’s the rub- I’m on the north coast and have skated 3x this year, all inside. I don’t fancy trying to wear the skin off new wheels at the indoor park, either. There should be some dry pavement this month, and I’m very ready to give these wheels a try.

@rocklobster - the “Square” shape comes in 52 and 54; the “Vee”, which is really square, comes in 54 and up.

They should skate identically to wheels without bubbles. I like to put the bubble side facing away from the truck, I like to think that the bubbles help me grip the curb better on slappies.

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Every time I think of migrating to another brand from F4 it’s like I cant quit an addiction. I mostly skate smooth ground but not parks. Is there any reason to fuck with Dialtone or Loophole? Their shapes seem reasonably close to Spit but I like the smaller brand vibe and their teams.

[close]

loopholes now! Quality is up there with F4. Never had dial tones but I doubt the urethane is on par with the loops

[close]

I second the NFG / Loophole props, they are really forgiving for hardness rating above 103a. Really liking the Square shape, just wish they did those in 52mm instead of 54mm and up.

[close]

3rd the loopholes/NFG camp, best wheels out

[close]

Man, I’ve been on the fence about speaking up, but I’m not super impressed with the finish on my NFG 95a 56mm V’s. There’s several small bubbles and there appears to be some bubbles just under the skin. I’ve contacted nfg about it and they assured me it’s cosmetic and said to try them first. And there’s the rub- I’m on the north coast and have skated 3x this year, all inside. I don’t fancy trying to wear the skin off new wheels at the indoor park, either. There should be some dry pavement this month, and I’m very ready to give these wheels a try.

@rocklobster - the “Square” shape comes in 52 and 54; the “Vee”, which is really square, comes in 54 and up.

[close]

Mine are the same way. Some are perfect, some are bubbly, but they’re great wheels despite the lack of aesthetics and polish.

Where did you find 52mm squares? I thought they only did the teardrop shape that small…

[close]

I have some Loopholes, that I just set up. I haven't used them yet as there has been a deluge of rain since... However, they have been sitting on my rug and they appear to have absorbed dust and dirt off the rug. It's peculiar and not something I can just clean off. The specs are beyond the surface and in the actual wheel. The surface is still smooth. Anyway, I hope this will wear away with use and not impact performance.

This sort of thing is normal. It'll wear off with some skating. Same sort of thing as your wheels turning black after skating asphalt or turning red after slappying some red curbs. I think it's because urethane is porous, so little bits of whatever you're skating collect in the wheel's microscopic pores. That's just a guess, though.

[manysnakes]

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Re: 97a Spitfires - I’m a bit advocate for these wheels and I think they work great if you are primarily skating crusty asphalt parking lots and busted streets somewhere near to or north of the 45th parallel. They are slower and they do not slide as well as other wheels, and in a skatepark or on smooth cement, they often lack the satisfying bark you get from sliding. The primary advantage they offer is that you are significantly less fatigued skating for hours on the shitty ground.

So if this is a concern for you, as it is me, get these wheels. Otherwise, 99a-101a will do you well.

[close]

Do you prefer a certain shape?
See I believe we have similar locations

I prefer the conical, but either shape is fine. I’m not very particular here.

[Ok]

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Re: 97a Spitfires - I’m a bit advocate for these wheels and I think they work great if you are primarily skating crusty asphalt parking lots and busted streets somewhere near to or north of the 45th parallel. They are slower and they do not slide as well as other wheels, and in a skatepark or on smooth cement, they often lack the satisfying bark you get from sliding. The primary advantage they offer is that you are significantly less fatigued skating for hours on the shitty ground.

So if this is a concern for you, as it is me, get these wheels. Otherwise, 99a-101a will do you well.

[close]

Do you prefer a certain shape?
See I believe we have similar locations

[close]

I prefer the conical, but either shape is fine. I’m not very particular here.

Thanks!
I have 56 97a classics. Skate decent. At parks, sometimes they can feel slow. Which is fine, as I’m always about to die in a park anyways.

[Gray Imp Sausage Metal]

Re: air bubbles in NFG wheels; they are hand poured so you will get discrepancies. Reminds me of 80s/ 90s wheels so I’m down and know that it doesn’t affect performance anyway!

[LebowskisRug]

Bought the 54 Jamal Williams teardrop shape and calipered them at 53.4. My worn in 53 classics are at 53.1, so not really much different.

[Frank and Fred]

First session on some Loopholes today. 54mm Tear drop shape. Very impressive. For a hard wheel they felt really good and fast on crappy ground. Maybe a little faster than 54mm 99a F4 Classics. They definitely feel grippier than 99a F4s though, which might be good on hills and the type of skateboarding you see the likes of Chris Athans doing. I will have to take them to a skatepark next and also see how durable they are after a few sessions,  but zero signs of wear and tear after a few hours.

I'd put them in the same high end category as F4s and STF. Certainly not your run of the mill urethane. Recommended.

[rocklobster]

Still loving the NFG 54mm Square shape, my wheels were sliding out hard on lipslide exits and zero flatspots. Not the same story with the SML wheels I rode a few weeks back. And really fast for the rough park I frequent. NFG if you're listening please make the Square and Vee shape in 52mm!

[Gray Imp Sausage Metal]

First session on some Loopholes today. 54mm Tear drop shape. Very impressive. For a hard wheel they felt really good and fast on crappy ground. Maybe a little faster than 54mm 99a F4 Classics. They definitely feel grippier than 99a F4s though, which might be good on hills and the type of skateboarding you see the likes of Chris Athans doing. I will have to take them to a skatepark next and also see how durable they are after a few sessions,  but zero signs of wear and tear after a few hours.

I'd put them in the same high end category as F4s and STF. Certainly not your run of the mill urethane. Recommended.

once you warm them up and break them in a little, the slide will be very similar to F4 99s, perhaps even more controlled depending on the batch you got.
I’ve let multiple people ride my setup with 56 v-cuts on it and almost all of them will immediately convert to loopholes, but will then tell me their wheels are “broken” when they put a fresh set on their own board. Even my first few sessions on my teardrops had me doubting myself but once they break in it’s hard to ride anything else…

[LebowskisRug]

I had some 53 F4 classics I got from my neighbor in a trade a while back and I could never remember why I stopped using them. Turns out if I land remotely off kilter or primo the wheel will slip and cause the bearings to bind. No spacers and this didn’t happen in my 52 classics that are now sub 50. Is this a defect?

[tom]

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I wasn't going in the waaaay back machine to the OG OG Spits, F1s are more 'relevant' to most people since they are not that old and were just before F4s.

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Ha yeah sometimes I think I say too much and talk a whole lot of crap, as well as being unable to get rid of anything, so I have way too much "history" in skateboard product still.

At first I thought F1 came out earlier than that but the earliest I can find is 2009 from old catalogs and online info.

Before that was like the Bronze Age for skateboard wheels, I guess.


I had seen a few older / early Spitfire wheels around too, but never had any interest in collector prices for wheels I didn't even know existed back in the late 80s.

All we had back then was Powell and Santa Cruz wheels, as far as I can recall from the big names, along with Cockroach wheels here in Australia.

I know this comment is a couple weeks old, but I want to say the F1’s were 2007ish. You can find posts from 2008 asking opinions about them. Deluxe prototypes to a handful of Slap posters about a year before they came out. That might be what’s throwing my timeline off a little bit


I finally got to skate some ideal(rough as fuck) spots for my 95a NFG’s the past couple of days. They do feel like a softer wheel, but on rough ground they perform the way a harder wheel does on smoother ground. They powerslide when you want them to without slipping out skating around. They’ll roll and keep speed over rough ground that’ll rattle you to a complete stop with a harder wheel. They’re a little slower on smooth ground and can catch on slides, but that shouldn’t matter if you’re skating them for what they’re intended for

I got some G Slides to try out as well. I’ll eventually report back on those

[Mbrimson88]

I know this comment is a couple weeks old, but I want to say the F1’s were 2007ish. You can find posts from 2008 asking opinions about them. Deluxe prototypes to a handful of Slap posters about a year before they came out. That might be what’s throwing my timeline off a little bit


I finally got to skate some ideal(rough as fuck) spots for my 95a NFG’s the past couple of days. They do feel like a softer wheel, but on rough ground they perform the way a harder wheel does on smoother ground. They powerslide when you want them to without slipping out skating around. They’ll roll and keep speed over rough ground that’ll rattle you to a complete stop with a harder wheel. They’re a little slower on smooth ground and can catch on slides, but that shouldn’t matter if you’re skating them for what they’re intended for

I got some G Slides to try out as well. I’ll eventually report back on those

Re Spitfire F1 wheels

Yes I was sure I had heard or seen them before then, but just didn't look hard enough at the time.


Re NFG 95s

Sounds good too!

[Mbrimson88]

I had some 53 F4 classics I got from my neighbor in a trade a while back and I could never remember why I stopped using them. Turns out if I land remotely off kilter or primo the wheel will slip and cause the bearings to bind. No spacers and this didn’t happen in my 52 classics that are now sub 50. Is this a defect?

Not sure if it is a defect or just how the wheels are now, as this sort of thing needs to be determined when new and usually within a certain period of time from purchase.

This also could be why they ended up as a trade, if the previous owner had issue with them, but there is not really anything to do about used or old wheels having that sort of issue, as some do as they get older.

If they still looked relatively new and fairly fresh, there is more chance to get something sorted, but as you didn't purchase them, it poses more problems.

[yourbreakfsat]

Not sure if this was covered but Cockroach Wheels is coming back

https://instagram.com/cockroach_wheels?utm_medium=copy_link

[Frank and Fred]

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First session on some Loopholes today. 54mm Tear drop shape. Very impressive. For a hard wheel they felt really good and fast on crappy ground. Maybe a little faster than 54mm 99a F4 Classics. They definitely feel grippier than 99a F4s though, which might be good on hills and the type of skateboarding you see the likes of Chris Athans doing. I will have to take them to a skatepark next and also see how durable they are after a few sessions,  but zero signs of wear and tear after a few hours.

I'd put them in the same high end category as F4s and STF. Certainly not your run of the mill urethane. Recommended.

[close]

once you warm them up and break them in a little, the slide will be very similar to F4 99s, perhaps even more controlled depending on the batch you got.
I’ve let multiple people ride my setup with 56 v-cuts on it and almost all of them will immediately convert to loopholes, but will then tell me their wheels are “broken” when they put a fresh set on their own board. Even my first few sessions on my teardrops had me doubting myself but once they break in it’s hard to ride anything else…

Good to know, thanks. Yeah, I find that with most wheels. You don't really know what you're getting until you've given them a good couple of sessions.

[LebowskisRug]

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I had some 53 F4 classics I got from my neighbor in a trade a while back and I could never remember why I stopped using them. Turns out if I land remotely off kilter or primo the wheel will slip and cause the bearings to bind. No spacers and this didn’t happen in my 52 classics that are now sub 50. Is this a defect?

[close]

Not sure if it is a defect or just how the wheels are now, as this sort of thing needs to be determined when new and usually within a certain period of time from purchase.

This also could be why they ended up as a trade, if the previous owner had issue with them, but there is not really anything to do about used or old wheels having that sort of issue, as some do as they get older.

If they still looked relatively new and fairly fresh, there is more chance to get something sorted, but as you didn't purchase them, it poses more problems.

Oh I definitely can’t warranty them and don’t care too much. The individual I got them from was my turn 13 year old neighbor who skated them twice and just wanted a really big wheel so I traded him for my cruiser board wheels.

[FuzzGNU]

What exactly is this NFG teardrop shape? Their site gives no actual info, just a poem?

It's it an asymetrical round/square wheel like other brands have?

[LebowskisRug]

Basically a copy of a Spitfire Classic. I just got some in 54 and they caliper out to 53.4mm diameter with an 18.2mm riding surface. The center of the wheel is a little fatter than a Classic so as it wears I think it will get closer to a radial shape.

Only skated them for like an hour today but fuuuuuuck they felt slippery as shit on smooth ground.

[Murge]

What exactly is this NFG teardrop shape? Their site gives no actual info, just a poem?

It's it an asymetrical round/square wheel like other brands have?

I think it’s their classic shape. Like a spitfire classic

[Frank and Fred]

Yep, very close to a spitfire classic. maybe the tiniest bit wider.

[Gray Imp Sausage Metal]

Not sure if this was covered but Cockroach Wheels is coming back

https://instagram.com/cockroach_wheels?utm_medium=copy_link

that’s crazy if true! He had some of the best urethane outside of the US, most Aussie skaters will swear by his other wheel brand in the late 90s whose name escapes me at this point …

[rocklobster]

What exactly is this NFG teardrop shape? Their site gives no actual info, just a poem?

It's it an asymetrical round/square wheel like other brands have?

Essentially the same as a Spitfire Classic

[Ok]

Interesting that truck weight is discussed, wheel weight never.
I’m riding 54 99 f4 classics. Not sure where to go from here, can’t imagine going smaller with the ground where I live, going larger starts the wheel bite problems. I like the classic shape for the flipping. A wide, yet rounded shape would probably work well for me. Conical fulls are definitely harder for me to flip with. Which is a personal problem.

[rocklobster]

Interesting that truck weight is discussed, wheel weight never.
I’m riding 54 99 f4 classics. Not sure where to go from here, can’t imagine going smaller with the ground where I live, going larger starts the wheel bite problems. I like the classic shape for the flipping. A wide, yet rounded shape would probably work well
for me. Conical fulls are definitely harder for me to flip with. Which is a personal problem.

Wheels differ maybe 2-3 grams each per wheel assuming same shape but sized up, to 8-12g total. Not much on paper but I definitely feel it the flips are slower and more force is needed to get them around. Could be something with how the lever (back trick) is affected by the load (wheels and front truck), maybe something to do with contact patch.

Going way into the weeds here.

[Mbrimson88]

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Not sure if this was covered but Cockroach Wheels is coming back

https://instagram.com/cockroach_wheels?utm_medium=copy_link

[close]

that’s crazy if true! He had some of the best urethane outside of the US, most Aussie skaters will swear by his other wheel brand in the late 90s whose name escapes me at this point …

It will be interesting to see what comes of it.

Tim (the original creator of Cockroach, Electric, Cosmo and other brands) is done and not doing them again, but they have tried to get as much info from him and others who are keen to see the shapes, sizes and durometers in good options and not just put "Cockroach branding" on generic wheels out of a mass produced factory, so it is looking good in that regard.

As to exactly what and where, I don't have details, but they are being made here in Australia, will be printed in Brisbane and should be a really amazing product, all going to plan.  Then when is still not finalised, last I heard, but they are not too far off.

[munchbox]

wheel weight is a step too far if you ask me
we really gotta focus on how bearrings tip the scales

[tzhangdox]

wheel weight is a step too far if you ask me
we really gotta focus on how bearrings tip the scales

On paper its not that much because its fairly minimal compared to other components if you keep the size constant. But in practice, classics and conical fulls can feel very different for some flatground tricks due to the slight weight difference.

This is exacerbated when you have very wide trucks as it pushes the weight towards the edges further away from the center.

[rocklobster]

wheel weight is a step too far if you ask me
we really gotta focus on how bearrings tip the scales

Only grip 60% of the board where your feet will be.
No washers, if you must only titanium ones.
4 bolts, titanium only.

[LebowskisRug]

There was some pro nerd on the Nein Club who was saying that the main difference is Conicals have a squared off edge so they don’t scoop the same. It’s also more surface area for slides and on some crooks it might effect the pinch.