Wheels Thread

[Xen]

Is impossible to find F4 Conicals in here hence I'm tempted about getting some Bones. Easy streets have that "plasticy" STF feeling? Also what would be more conical feeling; v4 or v5?
Thanks pals.

The 99 STFs/Easy Streets feel very different (to me) and I ride STFs almost exclusively now; Get the V5, sick shape.

[jtrpma]

Stf v5 I got 55mm and really like them. Less chalky than 99a f4 but very smooth slide and fairly smooth on rougher ground.
The easy streets I have not skated much but whenever I tried some they felt stickier and less controllable when going sideways

[tyshoes]

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Is impossible to find F4 Conicals in here hence I'm tempted about getting some Bones. Easy streets have that "plasticy" STF feeling? Also what would be more conical feeling; v4 or v5?
Thanks pals.

[close]

The 99 STFs/Easy Streets feel very different (to me) and I ride STFs almost exclusively now; Get the V5, sick shape.

I was constantly sticking on tail slides with the easy streets and didnt know why, this morning i went there with the f4 99s and didnt have any issue. So yeah, not a huge fan of the easy steets. theyre fine but f4s slide better with ledges n curbs in my experience. Great on transition and no issues w reverts. Just soft and plasticy feeling. First stf wheel I tried. Ill gladly trade with someone who wants to try these. I pulled them and put my 50mm Ricta Lightning Boltz on my secondary setup. Not sure why Ricta gets so much hate on here. Those are really solid wheels

[jay_nev]

So OJ Keyframes revised their design? New core? Or just colored with new graphics?








previous:

[moonordie]

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Is impossible to find F4 Conicals in here hence I'm tempted about getting some Bones. Easy streets have that "plasticy" STF feeling? Also what would be more conical feeling; v4 or v5?
Thanks pals.

[close]

The 99 STFs/Easy Streets feel very different (to me) and I ride STFs almost exclusively now; Get the V5, sick shape.

[close]

I was constantly sticking on tail slides with the easy streets and didnt know why, this morning i went there with the f4 99s and didnt have any issue. So yeah, not a huge fan of the easy steets. theyre fine but f4s slide better with ledges n curbs in my experience. Great on transition and no issues w reverts. Just soft and plasticy feeling. First stf wheel I tried. Ill gladly trade with someone who wants to try these. I pulled them and put my 50mm Ricta Lightning Boltz on my secondary setup. Not sure why Ricta gets so much hate on here. Those are really solid wheels

Can't stand that, I was able to find some conical full (I was looking for just conicals) but in black... At least on the bright side they're cheap for a F4

[tyshoes]

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Is impossible to find F4 Conicals in here hence I'm tempted about getting some Bones. Easy streets have that "plasticy" STF feeling? Also what would be more conical feeling; v4 or v5?
Thanks pals.

[close]

The 99 STFs/Easy Streets feel very different (to me) and I ride STFs almost exclusively now; Get the V5, sick shape.

[close]

I was constantly sticking on tail slides with the easy streets and didnt know why, this morning i went there with the f4 99s and didnt have any issue. So yeah, not a huge fan of the easy steets. theyre fine but f4s slide better with ledges n curbs in my experience. Great on transition and no issues w reverts. Just soft and plasticy feeling. First stf wheel I tried. Ill gladly trade with someone who wants to try these. I pulled them and put my 50mm Ricta Lightning Boltz on my secondary setup. Not sure why Ricta gets so much hate on here. Those are really solid wheels

[close]

Can't stand that, I was able to find some conical full (I was looking for just conicals) but in black... At least on the bright side they're cheap for a F4

Yeah I almost grabbed the black ones too because there were no f4 52mms conical full 99s in stock. Ended up getting 51mm classic shape and those are good and have no issues but I prefer a larger contact patch usually. I havent had any colored wheels in a long time but I think its fine and just ride what you like. The f4s feel harder than the easy streets but are not any worse on rough pavement than the easy streets regarding the vibrations. Im just sticking with f4 99s or the mini slimeballs 97a from here on. For bad pavement, I keep a set of Ricta Clouds 92 in my bag. Im done with my wheel search. F4 ftw

[ILikeToMilkDucks]

So OJ Keyframes revised their design? New core? Or just colored with new graphics?








previous:

Core looks the same as my old ones. I think they just spruced them up. If anyone knows better feel free to correct me.

[Ol Nick]

I came across NFG MFG wheels a few weeks back on IG and thought they looked interesting. I live in one of the oldest neighborhoods in Houston which means I’m surrounded by miles of terribly rough, pitted concrete so I mainly stick to softer wheels but I’ve been wanting to try something harder and heard newer hard formulas are way better on rough streets than the old hard wheels I used to ride a decade or two ago so I ordered a set of the square shape 54mm from them.

Overall, I’m really happy with them and I don’t mind the feel on shitty concrete. They grip well enough on hard turns at speed, roll fairly fast, and are way more forgiving when sliding the board around after landing a little crooked than soft wheels are.

I know these guys are a small operation and have read a couple posts here where other people mentioned some weird blemishes, maybe, on the surface of the wheels from the hand-pouring process. Honestly, I was a little bugged out when I opened the set cause they definitely have a very different look than stuff I’ve bought from major wheel manufacturers. There’s weird bubbles on the sidewalls and some speckling that reminds me of melted vanilla ice cream or something. I have no experience with hand poured wheels or these newer formulas so I wasn’t sure what to make of it but the aesthetic issues don’t seem to have any effect on the ride; I guess time will tell if they have an effect as the wheels age.

Also, a note about the graphics: Right out of the shrink wrap some of the lettering (see pics) was just loosely adhered to the wheel and I found it would come off with just a little rubbing with my thumb. I dig the look of a blank wheel so it didn’t bother me at all, just thought it was strange they’d not want the branding to last more than a day, especially as a newer company. I later saw some posts saying that these guys also make wheels for Loophole and flashed back to a guy at a local shop telling me about his issues with the same phenomenon. He was saying that he loved them but recommended just taking the graphic off ASAP cause he had issues with the paint flaking into his shieldless bearings.

I figure I’ll ride these for a while and try out some other companies’ modern hard formulas to compare eventually.






After one session


After three or four sessions and rubbing the rest of the graphic off with my fingertips

[BL0B]

fuck no! not even for free.

[TwisT]

those look like they were made in someones garage

[Ol Nick]

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[close]

fuck no! not even for free.

Ha! Damn, really? Again, I’ve never seen wheels like this but I figured, given that some human had to see them when they were shrink wrapping the package, that it’s not a defect so much as just a byproduct of their process. Do you think it would result in some issue with the wheel as they wear down or is it more just an aesthetic thing that puts you off? Thanks!

[Sundaynuggets]

I came across NFG MFG wheels a few weeks back on IG and thought they looked interesting. I live in one of the oldest neighborhoods in Houston which means I’m surrounded by miles of terribly rough, pitted concrete so I mainly stick to softer wheels but I’ve been wanting to try something harder and heard newer hard formulas are way better on rough streets than the old hard wheels I used to ride a decade or two ago so I ordered a set of the square shape 54mm from them.

Overall, I’m really happy with them and I don’t mind the feel on shitty concrete. They grip well enough on hard turns at speed, roll fairly fast, and are way more forgiving when sliding the board around after landing a little crooked than soft wheels are.

I know these guys are a small operation and have read a couple posts here where other people mentioned some weird blemishes, maybe, on the surface of the wheels from the hand-pouring process. Honestly, I was a little bugged out when I opened the set cause they definitely have a very different look than stuff I’ve bought from major wheel manufacturers. There’s weird bubbles on the sidewalls and some speckling that reminds me of melted vanilla ice cream or something. I have no experience with hand poured wheels or these newer formulas so I wasn’t sure what to make of it but the aesthetic issues don’t seem to have any effect on the ride; I guess time will tell if they have an effect as the wheels age.

Also, a note about the graphics: Right out of the shrink wrap some of the lettering (see pics) was just loosely adhered to the wheel and I found it would come off with just a little rubbing with my thumb. I dig the look of a blank wheel so it didn’t bother me at all, just thought it was strange they’d not want the branding to last more than a day, especially as a newer company. I later saw some posts saying that these guys also make wheels for Loophole and flashed back to a guy at a local shop telling me about his issues with the same phenomenon. He was saying that he loved them but recommended just taking the graphic off ASAP cause he had issues with the paint flaking into his shieldless bearings.

I figure I’ll ride these for a while and try out some other companies’ modern hard formulas to compare eventually.






After one session


After three or four sessions and rubbing the rest of the graphic off with my fingertips

I’ve got a set of these and also a set of Loopholes which are exactly the same wheel. Lettering peeled off quick but the quality of both sets of wheels is great for me. Feels decent on medium/low crusty streets, slides and grips well. Feels/sounds like a slightly muted F4.

[baustin]

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fuck no! not even for free.

[close]

Ha! Damn, really? Again, I’ve never seen wheels like this but I figured, given that some human had to see them when they were shrink wrapping the package, that it’s not a defect so much as just a byproduct of their process. Do you think it would result in some issue with the wheel as they wear down or is it more just an aesthetic thing that puts you off? Thanks!

Looks like they need to go back to the drawing board because no one in their right mind would pay money for wheels that look like that.

[BL0B]

i wanna see a clip of these wheels spinning all fucking wonky, they don't look concentric.

[Ol Nick]

i wanna see a clip of these wheels spinning all fucking wonky, they don't look concentric.

That might be distortion from the wide lens you’re seeing? Anyway, here’s a video, they all seemed to spin the same.

Edit: To clarify, the wheels’ shape are fine, the bearings seated as well as or better than most wheels I have from major manufacturers and they roll smoothly on the ground.

[drinny]

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I just bought some 53mm slime ball vomit miinis. The white ones. There was a seller on Amazon selling them from 23 dollars prime shipping, so I figured that's cheap and grabbed them. I guess I was right because as soon as the order shipped the seller bumped the price up to 33.

The shape looks cool. Never rode these before, though, will I hate them compared to 99a f4's? Will riding them with the graphic in make a difference due to the shape? For the price I can't imagine I went wrong.

[close]

"The 97a Slimeball formula blend is poured in a reversible dead center bearing and no flex edge radius lip design, resulting in the fastest on command slide-able, slip to grip ratio wheel available. No chipping, no coning, no bearing seat stretch, no softening and no speed loss."

This has been bothering me for a while but are Slime Balls and Keyframes not the same wheel mould/core now pretty much? are Keyframes just a hipster Slime Ball? ;-)

I fucking love my Keyframes (52mm/87a) so no problem here...

[drinny]

actually, ignore me... the back of the wheel is clearly not so cut away on the Slimers, view from the contact patch side is very similar tho'

[layzieyez]

Those garage produced DIY wheels look sick. I'd market it as Meth Lab Wheels.

[Sativa Lung]

The bubbles are pretty common if you've ever tried hand-pouring urethane or epoxy. It's pretty hard to avoid introducing air/moisture in the mixing/pouring process without a perfectly controlled environment and machinery, but it shouldn't really affect the quality of the wheel. The quality (and amount) of the ingredients is what's most important, so if they're doing small batch hand pours of high quality urethane then the wheels are still going to be good with or without the bubbles.

I used to mess around with a girl who's dad was really into roller skating (he did speed skating trials and shit) and the wheels they used always had bubbles because they used some special urethane that poured really slowly and he wouldn't buy wheels that were perfectly smooth because it was a sign they were using fillers or lower quality urethane. Wheels from the big manufacturers undergo a smoothing and bleaching process to make them look pretty but it doesn't make them skate any better. It's kind of the same thing as any other homebrew process... just because the final presentation isn't as polished doesn't mean the product is inferior quality. I'll take a small batch IPA in a mason jar from someone who knows what they're doing over a budweiser any day.

I haven't tried NFG's wheels so they could be dogshit for all I know, but I wouldn't be scared off by the imperfect casting. If anything its nice to know they're actually hand pouring them and its not just marketing bullshit. 

[CaptainCheeks]

Anybody tried jivaro wheels I usually skate 99a but  I just want to know if they are slippery at 101A

[Ol Nick]

The bubbles are pretty common if you've ever tried hand-pouring urethane or epoxy. It's pretty hard to avoid introducing air/moisture in the mixing/pouring process without a perfectly controlled environment and machinery, but it shouldn't really affect the quality of the wheel. The quality (and amount) of the ingredients is what's most important, so if they're doing small batch hand pours of high quality urethane then the wheels are still going to be good with or without the bubbles.

I used to mess around with a girl who's dad was really into roller skating (he did speed skating trials and shit) and the wheels they used always had bubbles because they used some special urethane that poured really slowly and he wouldn't buy wheels that were perfectly smooth because it was a sign they were using fillers or lower quality urethane. Wheels from the big manufacturers undergo a smoothing and bleaching process to make them look pretty but it doesn't make them skate any better. It's kind of the same thing as any other homebrew process... just because the final presentation isn't as polished doesn't mean the product is inferior quality. I'll take a small batch IPA in a mason jar from someone who knows what they're doing over a budweiser any day.

I haven't tried NFG's wheels so they could be dogshit for all I know, but I wouldn't be scared off by the imperfect casting. If anything its nice to know they're actually hand pouring them and its not just marketing bullshit.

Thanks for that input. When I first opened them I was struck by the look enough to bother taking pics before putting them on the board but couldn’t really think of a reason not to give them a shot. I finally rode them for a couple hours on the first smooth concrete this afternoon and they honestly rode perfectly. I didn’t know how much I was missing the feel of a new hard wheel on smooth concrete.

[chris.]

I’ve been eyeing some Loophole. Seeing those pics just make me want to give them a shot even more.

[Ol Nick]

I’ve been eyeing some Loophole. Seeing those pics just make me want to give them a shot even more.

If you do and/or anyone else who has ridden Loophole or NFG could offer their thoughts on how they compare to other similar wheels you’ve ridden, I’d appreciate it. Lurking on slap has intensified my gear acquisition hunger over the last few months and I figure I might as well start planning out my next two or fifteen sets of wheels.

[Murge]

I really wanna try loophole also. I’m always skating 101a but I’ve been debating on trying 99a or anything aside from spitfire F4. I just wanna try a new wheel.

[tony volume]

Recently moved to the bay area, Berkeley to be specific , any recommendations on a wheel for street skating out here, the ground here is really rough

OJ Keyframes. Pick a size! They work really good on those rough streets. I’m from Orinda, but currently in process of moving to Honolulu, HI

[munchbox]

does bigger contact patch = less slide? trying to find out if i want 53, 54, or 56 conical full 101 spits next

[sadnocomply]

does bigger contact patch = less slide? trying to find out if i want 53, 54, or 56 conical full 101 spits next

Yes, but the bigger the patch the more “controllable the slide” less contact would be easier to get into slide. I’m sure it’s all subjective. I have way better slide on 54 conical than I do 53 conical full and it’s like a 1.5 mm difference in contact patch.

[munchbox]

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does bigger contact patch = less slide? trying to find out if i want 53, 54, or 56 conical full 101 spits next

[close]

Yes, but the bigger the patch the more “controllable the slide” less contact would be easier to get into slide. I’m sure it’s all subjective. I have way better slide on 54 conical than I do 53 conical full and it’s like a 1.5 mm difference in contact patch.

are you riding 99 or 101a? in my mind im thinking that 101a will be less grippy anyways so the wider contact patch would help control it, but thats just an assumption

[rocklobster]

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does bigger contact patch = less slide? trying to find out if i want 53, 54, or 56 conical full 101 spits next

[close]

Yes, but the bigger the patch the more “controllable the slide” less contact would be easier to get into slide. I’m sure it’s all subjective. I have way better slide on 54 conical than I do 53 conical full and it’s like a 1.5 mm difference in contact patch.

[close]

are you riding 99 or 101a? in my mind im thinking that 101a will be less grippy anyways so the wider contact patch would help control it, but thats just an assumption

Ah shit I hope this doesn't re-ignite that contact patch / friction debate again.

[sadnocomply]

99s sorry forgot to mention that, I think 101s and my knees/feet don’t mix too well and I like to go fast and huck a fair amount. 99s are my jam in every shape. I’m hooked on conicals tho, best shape ever full or non. Broken in 54mm classics (more like 52) if I’m feelin tech