Spitfire formula four

[Samsquantch]

Bones bearings are falling out of my formula fours. Anyone had this experience? Like the inner rins is not tight anymore and so the bearings just fall out. Did i do something wrong? They are around 1 years old.

Something doesn't add up with this one, F4's are tight AF to get bearings in and out of compared to other wheels.

[bombsaway86]

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As someone who prefers fat wide wheels, it doesn't get any better than radial fulls. No diminished performance due to both sides being rounded edges. I love my dogtowns for their softer durometer but that 80s type shape with the outside being a sharp straight cut makes my fs slappies harder to get into. 92a-95a in a radial full would be the holy grail wheel for me.

[close]

What kind of skating are you doing mainly?
And also anyone else riding super fat wheels. What are you doing with these? I totally get big wheels in the sense of large diameter, but why the giant width? Rip to all the truck space covered by fullies

This

[Xen]

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As someone who prefers fat wide wheels, it doesn't get any better than radial fulls. No diminished performance due to both sides being rounded edges. I love my dogtowns for their softer durometer but that 80s type shape with the outside being a sharp straight cut makes my fs slappies harder to get into. 92a-95a in a radial full would be the holy grail wheel for me.

[close]

What kind of skating are you doing mainly?
And also anyone else riding super fat wheels. What are you doing with these? I totally get big wheels in the sense of large diameter, but why the giant width? Rip to all the truck space covered by fullies

[close]

This

I'll skate any terrain: Pools, ramp, ditches, street, park, whatever; have ridden STF V3s (thinnest you can get) to Radial Fulls and so many in between and quite honestly, I don't find any performance benefits when it comes to width, only downsides.

Can someone provide some science (and not 'cuz they feel good) to help up plebs understand why sacrificing hanger room for grinds and increasing board weight (which does apply to speed given equal friction) for a wider/chunky wheel is better, as it's been argued (and proven) that width of an object is not impacting it's ability to grip or slide.

Skateboards don't go fast enough (on Mega, maybe) for things like drag or rolling (width) resistance to come into play.

These aren't fucking drag racing tires pushed by 1000hp

[Frank and Fred]

All things being equal I feel wider wheels smash through rougher terrain better. I've definitely noticed this on some of the more weathered parks in the Northwest. I've also read that while a wider wheel will be harder to initiate a slide, once sliding it will slide better. Also, if you think about contact width, it will also impact how your truck turns. Its not the axle ir even hanger width that's only influencing your turn radius but where the wheel touches the ground. Finally, some people like wider wheels as it protects the hanger threads.

Ultimately, it's all about the subjective feel. I prefer the feel of wider wheels but being a heavier person who likes looser trucks  I don't go super wide as this also enhances wheel bite potential.

I remember in the mid 90s, I had some Golden State Wheel Co wheels. Rock hard 101 58mm, but they were really wide in comparison to most wheels available at the time. They lasted forever and felt amazing on metal mini ramps, wooden vert ramps and crusty Welsh streets. I think, they might have been the best set of wheels I ever owned... they were also translucent blue.. 

[LebowskisRug]

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As someone who prefers fat wide wheels, it doesn't get any better than radial fulls. No diminished performance due to both sides being rounded edges. I love my dogtowns for their softer durometer but that 80s type shape with the outside being a sharp straight cut makes my fs slappies harder to get into. 92a-95a in a radial full would be the holy grail wheel for me.

[close]

What kind of skating are you doing mainly?
And also anyone else riding super fat wheels. What are you doing with these? I totally get big wheels in the sense of large diameter, but why the giant width? Rip to all the truck space covered by fullies

[close]

This

[close]

I'll skate any terrain: Pools, ramp, ditches, street, park, whatever; have ridden STF V3s (thinnest you can get) to Radial Fulls and so many in between and quite honestly, I don't find any performance benefits when it comes to width, only downsides.

Can someone provide some science (and not 'cuz they feel good) to help up plebs understand why sacrificing hanger room for grinds and increasing board weight (which does apply to speed given equal friction) for a wider/chunky wheel is better, as it's been argued (and proven) that width of an object is not impacting it's ability to grip or slide.

Skateboards don't go fast enough (on Mega, maybe) for things like drag or rolling (width) resistance to come into play.

These aren't fucking drag racing tires pushed by 1000hp

In bike tires increasing contact patch can actually reduce rolling resistance.  I doubt anyone has actually studied this on skateboard wheels though. There is also moderately more vibration damping since there is more urethane to dampen. There's also the feeling some people that do a lot of power slides like as I've been told they're harder to brake into a slide and since there is more urethane they wear down slower.

Personally tho I don't find much advantage of a conical full vs a worn down classic full or radial.  I skate an asphalt uphill (for backside) curb spot and in my head feel I can stop pushing earlier but I've been on 52 Classics for a while and have no problems. A lot of the differences probably just exist in peoples heads and they go with that they're used to.

[logjammin]

Big wide softer wheels handle any terrain much better for me. I can set up some classic shaped harder wheels for a smooth park but once I'm skating some crusty parking lot even just to get to my car it's not fun at all. I also just got used to the look of them. Now anytime I set up some 52-54mm classic shaped wheels it just doesn't look right. And losing hanger space isn't a big deal when washers exist. I do 2-3 on the inside and one on the outside and it's perfectly fine with plenty of room to grind.

[BL0B]

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Bones bearings are falling out of my formula fours. Anyone had this experience? Like the inner rins is not tight anymore and so the bearings just fall out. Did i do something wrong? They are around 1 years old.

[close]

Something doesn't add up with this one, F4's are tight AF to get bearings in and out of compared to other wheels.

f4's moved to Mexico recently so there right have been a couple hiccups right out of the gate..

[Mbrimson88]

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Bones bearings are falling out of my formula fours. Anyone had this experience? Like the inner rins is not tight anymore and so the bearings just fall out. Did i do something wrong? They are around 1 years old.

[close]

Something doesn't add up with this one, F4's are tight AF to get bearings in and out of compared to other wheels.

[close]

f4's moved to Mexico recently so there right have been a couple hiccups right out of the gate..

There have definitely been known issues with the molds, mainly the bearing seats didn't quite fit or something ended up crooked in some of them, which usually means the bearing will not fit in the wheel how it should, sometimes at all, as per a set I had seen from someone else and returned to the shop for an immediate replacement, or others which you can just feel when you roll the wheel with bearings in it between fingers that it is ovalling rather than rolling straight.  This is most likely what has happened in the set in question, as you could most likely get the bearings in as per usual and the wheel didn't immediately lock up or not fit on the truck with bearings in, but then over time the bearing has widened out the bearing seat and caused the current situation.

What size and shape are the wheels?

Just curious because I have seen it more so on Conical Full but other people said they have had it on the Radial Full and another set I can't remember right now.


Given the time frame, they are well past warranty from a shop perspective, but if you are in USA, reaching out to DLX might help anyway.

[FatGuy92]

Got some 53mm radials and man I might have found the perfect wheel for me. I had such a good session on them straight out of the gate. I’m learning transition skating kind of late in my (skate) life and these made back 50s feel way more comfortable.

[yourbreakfsat]

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As someone who prefers fat wide wheels, it doesn't get any better than radial fulls. No diminished performance due to both sides being rounded edges. I love my dogtowns for their softer durometer but that 80s type shape with the outside being a sharp straight cut makes my fs slappies harder to get into. 92a-95a in a radial full would be the holy grail wheel for me.

[close]

What kind of skating are you doing mainly?
And also anyone else riding super fat wheels. What are you doing with these? I totally get big wheels in the sense of large diameter, but why the giant width? Rip to all the truck space covered by fullies

[close]

This

Less hanger space is actually one big reason why I use Radial Fulls on wider trucks. As much as I like wide boards, sometimes I feel like 159/169s are too much truck and the coping/ledge has so much room to move around on the hanger which means locking in is a bit harder. Combing Radial Fulls and wide trucks gives me the best of both worlds.

[Sedition]

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As someone who prefers fat wide wheels, it doesn't get any better than radial fulls. No diminished performance due to both sides being rounded edges. I love my dogtowns for their softer durometer but that 80s type shape with the outside being a sharp straight cut makes my fs slappies harder to get into. 92a-95a in a radial full would be the holy grail wheel for me.

[close]

What kind of skating are you doing mainly?
And also anyone else riding super fat wheels. What are you doing with these? I totally get big wheels in the sense of large diameter, but why the giant width? Rip to all the truck space covered by fullies

[close]

This

[close]

Less hanger space is actually one big reason why I use Radial Fulls on wider trucks. As much as I like wide boards, sometimes I feel like 159/169s are too much truck and the coping/ledge has so much room to move around on the hanger which means locking in is a bit harder. Combing Radial Fulls and wide trucks gives me the best of both worlds.

I have two set-ups. An 8.25/144s, and 8.75/159s. The 8.25 is my main one. There are some things I love about the 8.75, but I hate the lateral slop that happens with 159s, so I can absolutely relate to your sentiment. 

[Xen]

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As someone who prefers fat wide wheels, it doesn't get any better than radial fulls. No diminished performance due to both sides being rounded edges. I love my dogtowns for their softer durometer but that 80s type shape with the outside being a sharp straight cut makes my fs slappies harder to get into. 92a-95a in a radial full would be the holy grail wheel for me.

[close]

What kind of skating are you doing mainly?
And also anyone else riding super fat wheels. What are you doing with these? I totally get big wheels in the sense of large diameter, but why the giant width? Rip to all the truck space covered by fullies

[close]

This

[close]

Less hanger space is actually one big reason why I use Radial Fulls on wider trucks. As much as I like wide boards, sometimes I feel like 159/169s are too much truck and the coping/ledge has so much room to move around on the hanger which means locking in is a bit harder. Combing Radial Fulls and wide trucks gives me the best of both worlds.

I feel you with 169s, 159s are usually the perfect fit for sitting on most curbs and slimmer wheels help in that regard.

I was riding AF1 low 44s and had to switch back to STF V3s, it's crazy how small that hanger is compare to other 144/148 trucks, especially with classics on them. Makes them look like ~139s

[bombsaway86]

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As someone who prefers fat wide wheels, it doesn't get any better than radial fulls. No diminished performance due to both sides being rounded edges. I love my dogtowns for their softer durometer but that 80s type shape with the outside being a sharp straight cut makes my fs slappies harder to get into. 92a-95a in a radial full would be the holy grail wheel for me.

[close]

What kind of skating are you doing mainly?
And also anyone else riding super fat wheels. What are you doing with these? I totally get big wheels in the sense of large diameter, but why the giant width? Rip to all the truck space covered by fullies

[close]

This

[close]

Less hanger space is actually one big reason why I use Radial Fulls on wider trucks. As much as I like wide boards, sometimes I feel like 159/169s are too much truck and the coping/ledge has so much room to move around on the hanger which means locking in is a bit harder. Combing Radial Fulls and wide trucks gives me the best of both worlds.

This makes sense. I usually ride 169s/AF1 66, but I feel like I would enjoy some fulls on a set of 215s.

Also @yourbreakfsat your YouTube videos are great, definitely one of the better channels out there

[yourbreakfsat]

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As someone who prefers fat wide wheels, it doesn't get any better than radial fulls. No diminished performance due to both sides being rounded edges. I love my dogtowns for their softer durometer but that 80s type shape with the outside being a sharp straight cut makes my fs slappies harder to get into. 92a-95a in a radial full would be the holy grail wheel for me.

[close]

What kind of skating are you doing mainly?
And also anyone else riding super fat wheels. What are you doing with these? I totally get big wheels in the sense of large diameter, but why the giant width? Rip to all the truck space covered by fullies

[close]

This

[close]

Less hanger space is actually one big reason why I use Radial Fulls on wider trucks. As much as I like wide boards, sometimes I feel like 159/169s are too much truck and the coping/ledge has so much room to move around on the hanger which means locking in is a bit harder. Combing Radial Fulls and wide trucks gives me the best of both worlds.

[close]

This makes sense. I usually ride 169s/AF1 66, but I feel like I would enjoy some fulls on a set of 215s.

Also @yourbreakfsat your YouTube videos are great, definitely one of the better channels out there

Thank you!

[rikki]

Just wanted to say that after being off the Classics for a while and now being back on them: the best wheel ever?

Pop feels so light after a some heavy ass fat conical wheels and the flip factor has just sparked back up. No chance I'm going to try something like Lock-In fulls. Seems like putting a lot of unnecessary weight and bulk to one's setup.

Even on bigger transition I prefer something narrower than the needless fat wheel trend offers these days. The control is just crispier with "normal" wheels. I mean, the Bones 58mm SPFs on my big pool setup have a 16.5mm contact patch and they are just perfect.

[rawbertson.]

Just wanted to say that after being off the Classics for a while and now being back on them: the best wheel ever?

I am really happy with them. just got my first set 51mm 99a. Also with my first set of Thunders. I am very glad I got classics with these trucks because thunders dont turn as much as i am used to and it feels like the shape kinda helps make up for that.

I was also worried about drag on noseslides with these trucks, but since a lot less of the wheel is touching the wall, it doesn't feel like i am really losing any speed on the noseslide compared to any other brand truck.

Final thing I am very happy about the way that it pinches for feeble - finally learned this frickin trick! took me forever! I learned it on a full soft wheel with rails and then when i brought it to this setup with no rails it felt great still.


I would say i guess if i were to list downsides, it feels like these wheels can kinda wear a little more un-evenly than a full. It felt like i had a flat spot but i just rode it out for awhile and then it seemed to go back to normal... it just looked like the wheel wore a little more on one of the corners for a moment but it quickly rode out.

i suppose the wheels wont last as long in general compared to a full due to less material. I just wanted to get back to a tiny wheel as quickly as possible and this one is perfect for me. will probably feel really amazing once its worn down to 49mm.

[sionarancsle]

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Bones bearings are falling out of my formula fours. Anyone had this experience? Like the inner rins is not tight anymore and so the bearings just fall out. Did i do something wrong? They are around 1 years old.

[close]

Something doesn't add up with this one, F4's are tight AF to get bearings in and out of compared to other wheels.

[close]

f4's moved to Mexico recently so there right have been a couple hiccups right out of the gate..

[close]

There have definitely been known issues with the molds, mainly the bearing seats didn't quite fit or something ended up crooked in some of them, which usually means the bearing will not fit in the wheel how it should, sometimes at all, as per a set I had seen from someone else and returned to the shop for an immediate replacement, or others which you can just feel when you roll the wheel with bearings in it between fingers that it is ovalling rather than rolling straight.  This is most likely what has happened in the set in question, as you could most likely get the bearings in as per usual and the wheel didn't immediately lock up or not fit on the truck with bearings in, but then over time the bearing has widened out the bearing seat and caused the current situation.

What size and shape are the wheels?

Just curious because I have seen it more so on Conical Full but other people said they have had it on the Radial Full and another set I can't remember right now.


Given the time frame, they are well past warranty from a shop perspective, but if you are in USA, reaching out to DLX might help anyway.

conical full 54 mm from last summer.

[roba]

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As someone who prefers fat wide wheels, it doesn't get any better than radial fulls. No diminished performance due to both sides being rounded edges. I love my dogtowns for their softer durometer but that 80s type shape with the outside being a sharp straight cut makes my fs slappies harder to get into. 92a-95a in a radial full would be the holy grail wheel for me.

[close]

What kind of skating are you doing mainly?
And also anyone else riding super fat wheels. What are you doing with these? I totally get big wheels in the sense of large diameter, but why the giant width? Rip to all the truck space covered by fullies

[close]

This

[close]

I'll skate any terrain: Pools, ramp, ditches, street, park, whatever; have ridden STF V3s (thinnest you can get) to Radial Fulls and so many in between and quite honestly, I don't find any performance benefits when it comes to width, only downsides.

Can someone provide some science (and not 'cuz they feel good) to help up plebs understand why sacrificing hanger room for grinds and increasing board weight (which does apply to speed given equal friction) for a wider/chunky wheel is better, as it's been argued (and proven) that width of an object is not impacting it's ability to grip or slide.

Skateboards don't go fast enough (on Mega, maybe) for things like drag or rolling (width) resistance to come into play.

These aren't fucking drag racing tires pushed by 1000hp

my favorite shape is the classic (58mm, but still), but the wider wheels are so much better on crusty spots and shitty ground. where i live there’s these bricks everywhere and it’s so much easier to skate on that with wider wheels. all the full shapes make it harder to flip the board around though.

[Firebert]

My philosophy is that a wider wheel distributes forces applied over a larger surface area, thus creating less pressure on a specific point, allowing the wheels to begin to slide more easily.

[Mbrimson88]

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Bones bearings are falling out of my formula fours. Anyone had this experience? Like the inner rins is not tight anymore and so the bearings just fall out. Did i do something wrong? They are around 1 years old.

[close]

Something doesn't add up with this one, F4's are tight AF to get bearings in and out of compared to other wheels.

[close]

f4's moved to Mexico recently so there right have been a couple hiccups right out of the gate..

[close]

There have definitely been known issues with the molds, mainly the bearing seats didn't quite fit or something ended up crooked in some of them, which usually means the bearing will not fit in the wheel how it should, sometimes at all, as per a set I had seen from someone else and returned to the shop for an immediate replacement, or others which you can just feel when you roll the wheel with bearings in it between fingers that it is ovalling rather than rolling straight.  This is most likely what has happened in the set in question, as you could most likely get the bearings in as per usual and the wheel didn't immediately lock up or not fit on the truck with bearings in, but then over time the bearing has widened out the bearing seat and caused the current situation.

What size and shape are the wheels?

Just curious because I have seen it more so on Conical Full but other people said they have had it on the Radial Full and another set I can't remember right now.


Given the time frame, they are well past warranty from a shop perspective, but if you are in USA, reaching out to DLX might help anyway.

[close]

conical full 54 mm from last summer.

Not to read too much into it as a few different wheels have had issues, but that is the exact same wheel I saw with issues.

Definitely check out DLXSF.COM and ask about them.

[BALARGUE]

My philosophy is that a wider wheel distributes forces applied over a larger surface area, thus creating less pressure on a specific point, allowing the wheels to begin to slide more easily.

yes
another consequence is it makes them better at handling rough ground (ie more comfortable)

[Sedition]

My philosophy is that a wider wheel distributes forces applied over a larger surface area, thus creating less pressure on a specific point, allowing the wheels to begin to slide more easily.

I'm not a physics guy, but everything about my Classics slides better than my Conicals.

[rawbertson.]

i have 51 classics with thunders
and 54 conical full with aces
they seem to slide about the same to me (both 99a)
probably because the Thunders drag a bit more and the Aces are a bit more slippery. So that would lead me to believe the classics noseslide a lot better.

[WelcomeToHell]

Random question for the Spitfire historians here in the chat. When were Tablets introduced (2019?)? Was there a Tablet-like Spitfire wheel in the 90s? I swear at one point I rode Tablets for a while but maybe they were a different blocky Spitfire wheel.

[Frank and Fred]

This ad was from 1991.

[BL0B]

This ad was from 1991.

was he on Dogtown back then? Dogtown K9's, believe it or not were pretty great back then. IIRCC, they would've just been going out of style as they where 57mm-ish. spitfire's kinda sucked and were thought to flatspot easily.

awesome photo!

[Mbrimson88]

Random question for the Spitfire historians here in the chat. When were Tablets introduced (2019?)? Was there a Tablet-like Spitfire wheel in the 90s? I swear at one point I rode Tablets for a while but maybe they were a different blocky Spitfire wheel.

That ad / pic is always such a rad one to see, but wheels from back then were all very squared off, for the most part, so even from the late 80s, early 90s the shape was significantly different now to what it used to be.

When Spitfire first brought out the Formula Four in 2013, they had four options, Classic 99 duro, Full 99, Classic 101 and Tablet 101, again not quite the same shape as is now, but very similar, in that it was flat sided with minimal curved corners.


I don't have any 80s Spitfire wheels, but I have seen pics and people have had them on ebay a fair bit over the years, so the easiest to find and look at similar type of wheel is the old Powell or OJs reissues or even the still current original urethane Spitfire 60mm Classic wheel, the really big square one with the red swirl graphic.  Note NOT the Formula Four Classic, which is rounded.


Also in looking through things, this was the only reasonable (but tiny) pic with Spitfire wheels from 1988 or so - very much the similar shape to what is now the OG Classic shape, the one from the ad in 60 mm 95 duro, which was fairly common middle ground back then for a wheel.


https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/679621400009863958/

[Mbrimson88]

.

I found another listing, almost by accident, but this one has really good pics too:


https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/vintage-spitfire-rubber-duck-eez-3762315909


https://thumbs.worthpoint.com/zoom/images2/1/0920/25/vintage-spitfire-rubber-duck-eez_1_17bf2e0325076e18569fe00781414824.jpg

[Ok]

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This ad was from 1991.

[close]

oh sick, a nice photo from when skating was cool


was he on Dogtown back then? Dogtown K9's, believe it or not were pretty great back then. IIRCC, they would've just been going out of style as they where 57mm-ish. spitfire's kinda sucked and were thought to flatspot easily.

awesome photo!

[WelcomeToHell]

This ad was from 1991.

Ok so I'm not completely crazy. Did they discontinue them at some point and then bring them back in 2019? Appreciate everyone's help! My memory is an absolute sieve.