Wheels Thread

[bbk]

This proof about wider wheels not being grippier comes up every now and then. The thing is that this proof is about more contact with same weight. Wider wheels are obviously also heavier, and therefore also grippier.

[Firebert]

This proof about wider wheels not being grippier comes up every now and then. The thing is that this proof is about more contact with same weight. Wider wheels are obviously also heavier, and therefore also grippier.

Not necessarily. The wheels' shape has a lot to do with the weight, and some wheels with a wide contact patch weigh less than wheels with a slim contact patch. Classics have a lot of the bulk of the wheel not on the riding surface, and tablets have a wider riding surface than any spit of the same size despite being the slimmest wheel in the lineup.

[Roisto]

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Alright I might be jumping the gun here but after two trips to the store yesterday and my commute to work this morning I feel pretty confident in saying that Little Doodies are the best wheel ever made. These things are just flat out fun. I initially put them on an 8.8 shaped deck but after about two minutes I remembered why I never ride that deck, it has gullwing trucks. It rained a little bit so I moved them over to a 8.25 creature with tensor mag lights that I use as a beater/rain board and ended up turning a quick 5 minute cigarette run into a half hour cruise around the Pitt campus.

These things are the most fun I've had since I started regularly skating again last year. They're 58mm and really soft like a cruiser wheel but they ride unlike any big wheel I've tried before. They're surprisingly really fast and way more stable than I thought they'd be, but still more agile than a normal cruiser wheel. The soft, sticky PU compound they use is amazing for rough streets. I hit some streets that I usually walk even on my normal cruiser wheels and it made them totally bearable, and I was able to just roll over cracks and pebbles without issue. They're really good for getting into slappies although they do grab the curb a lot if you aren't centered on your trucks. I have a broken toe so I didn't do any stairs or anything bigger than a couple curb ollies but they were fine for that, and since it was wet out I was actually able to slide them on fresh blacktop.

All in all I'm super stoked on these wheels and I highly recommend grabbing a set if you see them, especially given how hard they are to find.

TL;DR: Little Doodies are fast and super fun cruiser wheels.

[close]

I have a set and they’re probably the slowest wheel I’ve tried due to the contact patch being so minimal. Other than that can’t say much about them. Hated them so much that they didn’t stay on for long.

[close]

Are you sure it wasn't your bearings or something else? They're slower than a hard wheel on smooth ground just due to being soft but a small contact patch isn't actually necessarily bad for speed, at least once you get going. Less contact = less friction (this is, amongst other reasons, why racing/road bike tires are very thin and hard), although obviously there's a lot of other factors that go into it. They're definitely faster than my regular cruiser wheels which are about the same durometer and a slightly larger diameter, using the same bearings and setup.

I'm not saying you're wrong or trying to invalidate your experience, but mine has been very different at least thus far, which is admittedly a very short test period.

Yeah, I'm sure it wasn't the bearings as I used bearings I've used in many other set ups successfully in them. Streets here are really rough and the smaller contact patch goes into every little dent in the surface. Compared to 60 mm 78A Ricta Clouds the Little Doodies were ridiculously slow. The Rictas are mad wide and thus not as much affected by the roughness of the asphalt. Even 101A F4 Conical Fulls are probably faster here than the Little Doodies.

But if you live in an area where they work for you, that's great as it seems like a fun wheel with such a round shape and softness but still being relatively easy to slide.

[Roisto]

This proof about wider wheels not being grippier comes up every now and then. The thing is that this proof is about more contact with same weight. Wider wheels are obviously also heavier, and therefore also grippier.

How much do you think a set of Conical Fulls weigh more than a set of Classics? And compare that difference to the weight of the bearings, trucks, hardware, board, grip and the fucking rider standing on the board. You think that difference in wheel weight will have any noticeable difference in friction on the wheels? And if you notice such a difference, do you also find yourself slipping about uncontrollably after ripping a fart mid session due to the weight you just lost from the fart?

[moonordie]

At any moment somebody is going to create the "how much does your setup weigh" thread.

[bbk]

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This proof about wider wheels not being grippier comes up every now and then. The thing is that this proof is about more contact with same weight. Wider wheels are obviously also heavier, and therefore also grippier.

[close]

How much do you think a set of Conical Fulls weigh more than a set of Classics? And compare that difference to the weight of the bearings, trucks, hardware, board, grip and the fucking rider standing on the board. You think that difference in wheel weight will have any noticeable difference in friction on the wheels? And if you notice such a difference, do you also find yourself slipping about uncontrollably after ripping a fart mid session due to the weight you just lost from the fart?

Dude, chill. It was just a thought, and I didn't mean just contact patch, I meant wider as in just that, wider. Scientifically, wider wheels will be more grippy than skinnier wheels because more mass=more weight.

[backinaction]

Dude, chill. It was just a thought, and I didn't mean just contact patch, I meant wider as in just that, wider. Scientifically, wider wheels will be more grippy than skinnier wheels because more mass=more weight.

Sure.   My fat ass plus my complete has a mass of around 84820 grams.  Wider wheels may add 20 grams making it 84840 grams.    That's a .023574% increase in grip.  Fucking huge. 

I decided I would rather keep $.83 in my pocket to get the same amount of extra grip.

[Roisto]

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This proof about wider wheels not being grippier comes up every now and then. The thing is that this proof is about more contact with same weight. Wider wheels are obviously also heavier, and therefore also grippier.

[close]

How much do you think a set of Conical Fulls weigh more than a set of Classics? And compare that difference to the weight of the bearings, trucks, hardware, board, grip and the fucking rider standing on the board. You think that difference in wheel weight will have any noticeable difference in friction on the wheels? And if you notice such a difference, do you also find yourself slipping about uncontrollably after ripping a fart mid session due to the weight you just lost from the fart?

[close]

Dude, chill. It was just a thought, and I didn't mean just contact patch, I meant wider as in just that, wider. Scientifically, wider wheels will be more grippy than skinnier wheels because more mass=more weight.

Sorry. Got a bit overly worked up there. I get annoyed by the lack of actual facts relating to skateboarding gear and the insane amount of completely pseudo-scientific things ppl go on about.

I do realise that skateboarding is 95% mental and thus things that have no real effect in physical reality can have a massive impact in the reality of skateboarding of the person who has a certain view on whatever aspect of it it is that they feel strongly about.

I guess I'm a bit overly scientific/tech oriented in general and sometimes get annoyed when ppl are different than me. I do realise that I wasn't being constructive at all and I apologise for that. I really do have to work on that.

The facts still stand though. Surface area/contact patch width is not related to friction whatsoever. And adding <0.1% more weight isn't going to make any noticeable difference.

[sharkin]

the doodies are basically g&s rollerballs from late 70s/early 80s
the marketing at the time was total bullshit lol

[Sativa Lung]

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This proof about wider wheels not being grippier comes up every now and then. The thing is that this proof is about more contact with same weight. Wider wheels are obviously also heavier, and therefore also grippier.

[close]

How much do you think a set of Conical Fulls weigh more than a set of Classics? And compare that difference to the weight of the bearings, trucks, hardware, board, grip and the fucking rider standing on the board. You think that difference in wheel weight will have any noticeable difference in friction on the wheels? And if you notice such a difference, do you also find yourself slipping about uncontrollably after ripping a fart mid session due to the weight you just lost from the fart?

[close]

Dude, chill. It was just a thought, and I didn't mean just contact patch, I meant wider as in just that, wider. Scientifically, wider wheels will be more grippy than skinnier wheels because more mass=more weight.

[close]

Sorry. Got a bit overly worked up there. I get annoyed by the lack of actual facts relating to skateboarding gear and the insane amount of completely pseudo-scientific things ppl go on about.

I do realise that skateboarding is 95% mental and thus things that have no real effect in physical reality can have a massive impact in the reality of skateboarding of the person who has a certain view on whatever aspect of it it is that they feel strongly about.

I guess I'm a bit overly scientific/tech oriented in general and sometimes get annoyed when ppl are different than me. I do realise that I wasn't being constructive at all and I apologise for that. I really do have to work on that.

The facts still stand though. Surface area/contact patch width is not related to friction whatsoever. And adding <0.1% more weight isn't going to make any noticeable difference.

Ok, friction isn't the appropriate word if you want to be pedantic - how about rolling resistance (of which friction is one of numerous variables including, but not necessarily limited to, wheel diameter, speed, load, surface, micro-surface interactions, environmental variables and all that entails... and so on and so forth). Is that more to your liking?

And I'm actually working on improving my 180s by farting at the exact right moment to help me overcome that last little bit of friction that's been stopping me.

And the doodies are more or less exactly a copy of the G&S rollerballs - the marketing may have been largely bullshit but the last bullet point in the ad there is the most salient and - so far in my experience, accurate, one.

[lamfordie]

Anyone knows where I can get a set of those spitfire afterburners green and purple swirl wheels in 52 or 54?

[Reese]

I saw some in there ^
Looks pretty safe

Anyone knows where I can get a set of those spitfire afterburners green and purple swirl wheels in 52 or 54?

[cosmicgypsies]

last page i was shilling rictas hard, same day this happened lmao

[Sativa Lung]

Anyone knows where I can get a set of those spitfire afterburners green and purple swirl wheels in 52 or 54?

Which ones? Warehouse skateboards has the Toxic Apocalypse Green/Purple swirl in 54 but the older ones with just the spitfire head are really hard to find.

[SHIREFLIP]

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Alright I might be jumping the gun here but after two trips to the store yesterday and my commute to work this morning I feel pretty confident in saying that Little Doodies are the best wheel ever made. These things are just flat out fun. I initially put them on an 8.8 shaped deck but after about two minutes I remembered why I never ride that deck, it has gullwing trucks. It rained a little bit so I moved them over to a 8.25 creature with tensor mag lights that I use as a beater/rain board and ended up turning a quick 5 minute cigarette run into a half hour cruise around the Pitt campus.

These things are the most fun I've had since I started regularly skating again last year. They're 58mm and really soft like a cruiser wheel but they ride unlike any big wheel I've tried before. They're surprisingly really fast and way more stable than I thought they'd be, but still more agile than a normal cruiser wheel. The soft, sticky PU compound they use is amazing for rough streets. I hit some streets that I usually walk even on my normal cruiser wheels and it made them totally bearable, and I was able to just roll over cracks and pebbles without issue. They're really good for getting into slappies although they do grab the curb a lot if you aren't centered on your trucks. I have a broken toe so I didn't do any stairs or anything bigger than a couple curb ollies but they were fine for that, and since it was wet out I was actually able to slide them on fresh blacktop.

All in all I'm super stoked on these wheels and I highly recommend grabbing a set if you see them, especially given how hard they are to find.

TL;DR: Little Doodies are fast and super fun cruiser wheels.

[close]

I have a set and they’re probably the slowest wheel I’ve tried due to the contact patch being so minimal. Other than that can’t say much about them. Hated them so much that they didn’t stay on for long.

[close]

...Less contact = less friction...

[close]

This is not true, surface area doesn't increase friction. You can have a lighter wheel with a larger contact patch and it will have less friction than a heavier wheel with a smaller contact patch.

"Although a larger area of contact between two surfaces would create a larger source of frictional forces, it also reduces the pressure between the two surfaces for a given force holding them together. Since pressure equals force divided by the area of contact, it works out that the increase in friction generating area is exactly offset by the reduction in pressure; the resulting frictional forces, then, are dependent only on the frictional coefficient of the materials and the FORCE holding them together.

If you were to increase the force as you increased the area to keep PRESSURE the same, then increasing the area WOULD increase the frictional force between the two surfaces."

Paul Walorski, B.A. Physics

Wot?

[sneakpeekmeek]

Does anybody riding bones STF have a problem with bearings slow creeping out of the seating?

[BMCsteve]

I did a few minutes of cruising around on these things (still can't ollie or do anything else while injured) and they're surprisingly fine.  I really didn't notice a big difference in speed between these and my usual 52mm.  They are hard as hell though

[Sundaynuggets]

Does anybody riding bones STF have a problem with bearings slow creeping out of the seating?

I haven’t seen that on the Easy streets at all but I haven't tried the harder STF formula

[BMCsteve]

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Does anybody riding bones STF have a problem with bearings slow creeping out of the seating?

[close]

I haven’t seen that on the Easy streets at all but I haven't tried the harder STF formula

Happened to me constantly with the STF V3 shape.  Haven't had it happen at all with the Easy Street V2 and V5 shapes

[sneakpeekmeek]

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Does anybody riding bones STF have a problem with bearings slow creeping out of the seating?

[close]

I haven’t seen that on the Easy streets at all but I haven't tried the harder STF formula

[close]

Happened to me constantly with the STF V3 shape.  Haven't had it happen at all with the Easy Street V2 and V5 shapes

That's the exact mold I'm riding right now. I'd switch to something different but the v3's are my favorite shape wheel. sigh..

[Ok]

I did a few minutes of cruising around on these things (still can't ollie or do anything else while injured) and they're surprisingly fine.  I really didn't notice a big difference in speed between these and my usual 52mm.  They are hard as hell though

Looks fun as fuck. Are they wider?
Lots of folks were I am, run conical fulls, and then just never ever change they wheels. Eventually the wheel is a super wide, small diameter wheel.
I dunno how the wide wheels effect performance, turning radius, etc. interested if someone chimes in. Small wheels would be ideal, for everything except the horrible streets where I live

[BMCsteve]

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I did a few minutes of cruising around on these things (still can't ollie or do anything else while injured) and they're surprisingly fine.  I really didn't notice a big difference in speed between these and my usual 52mm.  They are hard as hell though

[close]

Looks fun as fuck. Are they wider?
Lots of folks were I am, run conical fulls, and then just never ever change they wheels. Eventually the wheel is a super wide, small diameter wheel.
I dunno how the wide wheels effect performance, turning radius, etc. interested if someone chimes in. Small wheels would be ideal, for everything except the horrible streets where I live

They're wider than most wheels that size and similar to a normal wheel  - 29mm wide with a 17mm riding surface.

The first real board  I had around 1992-93 had Powell Jelly Balls and the dimensions/shape remind me of those

[Ok]

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I did a few minutes of cruising around on these things (still can't ollie or do anything else while injured) and they're surprisingly fine.  I really didn't notice a big difference in speed between these and my usual 52mm.  They are hard as hell though

[close]

Looks fun as fuck. Are they wider?
Lots of folks were I am, run conical fulls, and then just never ever change they wheels. Eventually the wheel is a super wide, small diameter wheel.
I dunno how the wide wheels effect performance, turning radius, etc. interested if someone chimes in. Small wheels would be ideal, for everything except the horrible streets where I live

[close]

They're wider than most wheels that size and similar to a normal wheel  - 29mm wide with a 17mm riding surface.

The first real board  I had around 1992-93 had Powell Jelly Balls and the dimensions/shape remind me of those

Thanks!
Appreciate the specs.
Was thinking of grabbing some of those 45s from hi tek. Or just getting the 101 conical fills and start doing as many slides as possible.
Not sure how bad your injury is, but it’s oretty amazing how much stuff you can try without popping: I’ve definitely mangled myself trying to learn switch powerslides, and a bucket list trick would be that frontside no pop shuv that jb does.
Hope you heal well, and quickly

[Murge]

Anyone see pig prime or whatever it’s 103a and maybe their version of an F4

[j....soy.....]

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Does anybody riding bones STF have a problem with bearings slow creeping out of the seating?

[close]

I haven’t seen that on the Easy streets at all but I haven't tried the harder STF formula

[close]

Happened to me constantly with the STF V3 shape.  Haven't had it happen at all with the Easy Street V2 and V5 shapes

[close]

That's the exact mold I'm riding right now. I'd switch to something different but the v3's are my favorite shape wheel. sigh..

My problem is spits never fitting properly in the seat....the hole is so much smaller and tighter.....

[bombsaway86]

Does anybody riding bones STF have a problem with bearings slow creeping out of the seating?

I used to ride 95a wheels and never had this problem. Once I switched to SPF’s I noticed this. I tried getting new wheels, bearings, and even new trucks and nothing helped. It’s even worse when it’s hot out. My guess is that the heat causes the wheels to expand and push the bearings out.

[ohnowisee]

I'm just finishing my Bones V3 103a 52mm Cody Lockwood wheels and I was pretty impressed by them.  I normally skate 101a OJs now a days( and I'm also not a dragon type of person), but I figured I'd give these a shot. They slide well, had no problem with speed and have lasted me a while.  I mainly skate on concrete and only rode them at a non concrete park once and it felt weird.  I kept feeling like I was going to slide out, but they stuck pretty well. Overall, I'd probably get them again in a 54

[usedtostillskate]

If anyone is interested in knowing about ricta rapidos, I gave them a chance for about 5 sessions before giving up. They're fast and remind me somewhat of landsharks with their speed. They're way softer feeling though. I had to switch back to my bones stf though since it took way too much work to get them to slide. I didn't have any problems with the bones anyways just wanted to give rictas a try. Overall they weren't too bad but if you like sliding don't bother.

[sneakpeekmeek]

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Does anybody riding bones STF have a problem with bearings slow creeping out of the seating?

[close]

I haven’t seen that on the Easy streets at all but I haven't tried the harder STF formula

[close]

Happened to me constantly with the STF V3 shape.  Haven't had it happen at all with the Easy Street V2 and V5 shapes

[close]

That's the exact mold I'm riding right now. I'd switch to something different but the v3's are my favorite shape wheel. sigh..

Just an update.

I found that cleaning the bearing seats of bones stfs with 91% isopropyl alcohol makes the area sticky thus retaining the bearing in fairly well.

[Xen]

If anyone is interested in knowing about ricta rapidos, I gave them a chance for about 5 sessions before giving up. They're fast and remind me somewhat of landsharks with their speed. They're way softer feeling though. I had to switch back to my bones stf though since it took way too much work to get them to slide. I didn't have any problems with the bones anyways just wanted to give rictas a try. Overall they weren't too bad but if you like sliding don't bother.

Ricta Rapido, felt slow and soft to me. No way they were at the level of landsharks (man those cored 101s were the shit); also that whole rapido line had the worst shapes and size combos out, plus the slim was nowhere near slim except compared to the rest of the line.