Wheels Thread

[LebowskisRug]

I've got ti axles now and they sound pretty normal to me actually. Loopholes also sound dead.

[iw0]

Loopholes also sound dead.

with the knowledge that loophole/nfg are the epitome of 'ymmv', i still respectfully disagree lol
to add - they are actually one of my fav sounding wheels, just the right pitched clack for me

[manysnakes]

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Loopholes also sound dead.

[close]

with the knowledge that loophole/nfg are the epitome of 'ymmv', i still respectfully disagree lol
to add - they are actually one of my fav sounding wheels, just the right pitched clack for me

Yeah, I don't get this at all. My Loopholes have a great sound, and a solid, loud bark when sliding.

[LebowskisRug]

maybe i gotta be more patient with the break in. My patience is dogshit.

[SchizophrenicFatBoy]

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Loopholes also sound dead.

[close]

with the knowledge that loophole/nfg are the epitome of 'ymmv', i still respectfully disagree lol
to add - they are actually one of my fav sounding wheels, just the right pitched clack for me

[close]

Yeah, I don't get this at all. My Loopholes have a great sound, and a solid, loud bark when sliding.

What Spitfire wheels do the V Shape and Teardrop most closely resemble? I saw that discount you posted in the sale thread, and I'm leaning towards the Chris Athens V Shape.

[intendedreceivers]

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Loopholes also sound dead.

[close]

with the knowledge that loophole/nfg are the epitome of 'ymmv', i still respectfully disagree lol
to add - they are actually one of my fav sounding wheels, just the right pitched clack for me

[close]

Yeah, I don't get this at all. My Loopholes have a great sound, and a solid, loud bark when sliding.

[close]

What Spitfire wheels do the V Shape and Teardrop most closely resemble? I saw that discount you posted in the sale thread, and I'm leaning towards the Chris Athens V Shape.

The V has a pretty sharp edge, probably closest to the OG Classic or Tablet, but quite a bit wider (and with a conical cutout, obviously). The Teardrop is almost identical to a regular Classic, maybe Classic full?

[Ok]

maybe i gotta be more patient with the break in. My patience is dogshit.

I’ve been all about being a shit to people that refuse to break in their trucks/bushings, and then complain: ‘I setup a new complete and instantly cranked my trucks down 9 turns and the bushings split these trucks don’t turn good!’ …that kind of thing grinds my gears. And yet, I’m showing up with multiple boards, widely varying parts, and just firing off opinions…I could be more patient as well.

[intendedreceivers]

Here’s a dumb question: what size wheels, beginner on transition?
I skate 52s on most setups, but I mainly skate ‘street’ (‘skating street’ sounds a lot fucking cooler than ‘I drive to a secluded parking lot with several boards and whimper while I try to land slow moving flip tricks from 25 years ago).
Jumping hurts the old body, even tiny jumps. I know ramps and bowls are not pain free by any means, but I’m trying to ride as long as possible, and I see old people doing it, I’m old, why not.
Blah blah blah: any wheel recommendations for scary concrete bowls? The local park is gnarly.

I’ve got to think these new 56mm Radial Fulls would be great for beginner transition. 99A, massive width, very solid.

[beandemon]

Few ATV/transition pro's go bigger than 55-56mm. Keeping it less clunky and low to the ground and with minimal risers is nice.

Winner, winner, chicken dinner.  56ish gets you some of that big wheels speed and roll-over-shit-ness without excessive weight, height or wheelbite.

[FuzzGNU]

Can anyone tell me what wheels this guy is rocking at this timestamp onward?

https://youtu.be/UQnb_pR8hK0?t=237

Please ignore the video, its awful. I just wanna know what wheels those are.

Here, I took a screen of it: https://imgur.com/a/h5ju6cI

And another one here: https://imgur.com/a/eR3KNcs

Its a fairly wide wheel, with seemingly a pretty straight edge, and a deep cut? I don't think its a Spitfire, Bones, or OJ wheel? Unless its Spitfire OG Classics, but I'm not sure? I haven't seen one of those in person to be able to say.

[thanksgiving]

Can anyone tell me what wheels this guy is rocking at this timestamp onward?

https://youtu.be/UQnb_pR8hK0?t=237

Please ignore the video, its awful. I just wanna know what wheels those are.

Here, I took a screen of it: https://imgur.com/a/h5ju6cI

And another one here: https://imgur.com/a/eR3KNcs

Its a fairly wide wheel, with seemingly a pretty straight edge, and a deep cut? I don't think its a Spitfire, Bones, or OJ wheel? Unless its Spitfire OG Classics, but I'm not sure? I haven't seen one of those in person to be able to say.

quite sure its 58 f4 og classics

[onkalo]

Are dialtones threaded? Anyone who has ridden them, how do they feel like compared to something like spitfire classics (non f4), and are the ones called ”round cut” something like spitfire radial shape?

[Gene_Harrogate]

Are dialtones threaded? Anyone who has ridden them, how do they feel like compared to something like spitfire classics (non f4), and are the ones called ”round cut” something like spitfire radial shape?

They are treaded. can’t really give an opinion in regards to non f4 spits as I haven’t ridden those in a long time.  Between the 3 cuts of dial tone, round, standard, and conical, the round does seem to have more of an edge than the standard which is closer the spit classic shape (for whatever reason), but still more round than the radial shape.

[Mbrimson88]

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Can anyone tell me what wheels this guy is rocking at this timestamp onward?

https://youtu.be/UQnb_pR8hK0?t=237

Please ignore the video, its awful. I just wanna know what wheels those are.

Here, I took a screen of it: https://imgur.com/a/h5ju6cI

And another one here: https://imgur.com/a/eR3KNcs

Its a fairly wide wheel, with seemingly a pretty straight edge, and a deep cut? I don't think its a Spitfire, Bones, or OJ wheel? Unless its Spitfire OG Classics, but I'm not sure? I haven't seen one of those in person to be able to say.

[close]

quite sure its 58 f4 og classics

Yes I would agree with the Spitfire Formula Four OG Classics, most likely turned in with the black inside print showing, but I could still be wrong.

Here is a good pic, not so much for size, but just for shape of the OG Classics:

[fs1/2cab]

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Can anyone tell me what wheels this guy is rocking at this timestamp onward?

https://youtu.be/UQnb_pR8hK0?t=237

Please ignore the video, its awful. I just wanna know what wheels those are.

Here, I took a screen of it: https://imgur.com/a/h5ju6cI

And another one here: https://imgur.com/a/eR3KNcs

Its a fairly wide wheel, with seemingly a pretty straight edge, and a deep cut? I don't think its a Spitfire, Bones, or OJ wheel? Unless its Spitfire OG Classics, but I'm not sure? I haven't seen one of those in person to be able to say.

[close]

quite sure its 58 f4 og classics

[close]

Yes I would agree with the Spitfire Formula Four OG Classics, most likely turned in with the black inside print showing, but I could still be wrong.

Here is a good pic, not so much for size, but just for shape of the OG Classics:

OG Classics just look very massive in general. Had some 53 mm ones and my homie thought those were 58mm OGs ^^ They handle crust very well but the weight made them a bit harder to flip.

[Ronnie Rodriguez]

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Are dialtones threaded? Anyone who has ridden them, how do they feel like compared to something like spitfire classics (non f4), and are the ones called ”round cut” something like spitfire radial shape?

[close]

They are treaded. can’t really give an opinion in regards to non f4 spits as I haven’t ridden those in a long time.  Between the 3 cuts of dial tone, round, standard, and conical, the round does seem to have more of an edge than the standard which is closer the spit classic shape (for whatever reason), but still more round than the radial shape.

Dialtones are poured at Creative so they are the same as Satori, Speedlab, Sml (99a only), and a bunch of other brands. The good news is that the 99a formula that creative does feel very similar to the classic Spitfire formula, probably as close as anything else is going to get. So if that is your thing you should be good to go.

[onkalo]

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Are dialtones threaded? Anyone who has ridden them, how do they feel like compared to something like spitfire classics (non f4), and are the ones called ”round cut” something like spitfire radial shape?

[close]

They are treaded. can’t really give an opinion in regards to non f4 spits as I haven’t ridden those in a long time.  Between the 3 cuts of dial tone, round, standard, and conical, the round does seem to have more of an edge than the standard which is closer the spit classic shape (for whatever reason), but still more round than the radial shape.

[close]

Dialtones are poured at Creative so they are the same as Satori, Speedlab, Sml (99a only), and a bunch of other brands. The good news is that the 99a formula that creative does feel very similar to the classic Spitfire formula, probably as close as anything else is going to get. So if that is your thing you should be good to go.

Thanks for the info you all :-)

[FuzzGNU]

Finally got to try out Bones STF 99a V5 55mm. Got them on clearance for like $23 which is pretty nutty. It was on my rain deck, so I didn't really get to try to do much on it, so take this all with a grain of salt. The other wheels I will be referencing are Spitfire F4 99a Radial Full 56mm and F4 97a Conical Full 54mm.

+ Rides shitty streets noticeably better than my Spitfire F4 99a, despite being much thinner.
+ In general feels faster than my F4 99a (but might be due to being thinner)
+ Doesn't feel bouncy or muted like F4 97a feels. It still feels hard.
+/- Looks plasticky, I know some people care about how the wheel looks.
- Definitely slides worse than F4 99a, and maybe even worse than F4 97a as well?

I will have to give them another session to figure out how to make them work with slides, because aside from that I'm really liking the wheel. I was expecting them to struggle with crusty streets just as much as F4 99a did, but honestly it handled them more in line with F4 97a. I was really impressed by that.

If you don't give a shit about powerslides, and want a hard feeling wheel that can handle crust better than F4 99a, maybe look into Bones STF 99a. I think I might pop these on my main setup next time I skate, because they are reminding me why I love Bones wheels with the speed they bring to the table. Its nice that they have a street wheel that isn't foot-numbingly hard like their STF 103a.

If they could somehow retool these STF 99a to slide better, they would be the perfect wheel. Until then though, the lack of slide is a pretty massive issue for me.

Side note: Modus Blue bearings felt great straight out of the package first ride.

[Schinken]

Finally got to try out Bones STF 99a V5 55mm. Got them on clearance for like $23 which is pretty nutty. It was on my rain deck, so I didn't really get to try to do much on it, so take this all with a grain of salt. The other wheels I will be referencing are Spitfire F4 99a Radial Full 56mm and F4 97a Conical Full 54mm.

+ Rides shitty streets noticeably better than my Spitfire F4 99a, despite being much thinner.
+ In general feels faster than my F4 99a (but might be due to being thinner)
+ Doesn't feel bouncy or muted like F4 97a feels. It still feels hard.
+/- Looks plasticky, I know some people care about how the wheel looks.
- Definitely slides worse than F4 99a, and maybe even worse than F4 97a as well?

I will have to give them another session to figure out how to make them work with slides, because aside from that I'm really liking the wheel. I was expecting them to struggle with crusty streets just as much as F4 99a did, but honestly it handled them more in line with F4 97a. I was really impressed by that.

If you don't give a shit about powerslides, and want a hard feeling wheel that can handle crust better than F4 99a, maybe look into Bones STF 99a. I think I might pop these on my main setup next time I skate, because they are reminding me why I love Bones wheels with the speed they bring to the table. Its nice that they have a street wheel that isn't foot-numbingly hard like their STF 103a.

If they could somehow retool these STF 99a to slide better, they would be the perfect wheel. Until then though, the lack of slide is a pretty massive issue for me.

Side note: Modus Blue bearings felt great straight out of the package first ride.

Did you buy the bright white version or the natural version?
I've tried the white ones(2019) and they are way more slippery than my f4 99a.(on asphalt) Kind of scary once you reach a little bit more speed.

[FuzzGNU]

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Finally got to try out Bones STF 99a V5 55mm. Got them on clearance for like $23 which is pretty nutty. It was on my rain deck, so I didn't really get to try to do much on it, so take this all with a grain of salt. The other wheels I will be referencing are Spitfire F4 99a Radial Full 56mm and F4 97a Conical Full 54mm.

+ Rides shitty streets noticeably better than my Spitfire F4 99a, despite being much thinner.
+ In general feels faster than my F4 99a (but might be due to being thinner)
+ Doesn't feel bouncy or muted like F4 97a feels. It still feels hard.
+/- Looks plasticky, I know some people care about how the wheel looks.
- Definitely slides worse than F4 99a, and maybe even worse than F4 97a as well?

I will have to give them another session to figure out how to make them work with slides, because aside from that I'm really liking the wheel. I was expecting them to struggle with crusty streets just as much as F4 99a did, but honestly it handled them more in line with F4 97a. I was really impressed by that.

If you don't give a shit about powerslides, and want a hard feeling wheel that can handle crust better than F4 99a, maybe look into Bones STF 99a. I think I might pop these on my main setup next time I skate, because they are reminding me why I love Bones wheels with the speed they bring to the table. Its nice that they have a street wheel that isn't foot-numbingly hard like their STF 103a.

If they could somehow retool these STF 99a to slide better, they would be the perfect wheel. Until then though, the lack of slide is a pretty massive issue for me.

Side note: Modus Blue bearings felt great straight out of the package first ride.

[close]

Did you buy the bright white version or the natural version?
I've tried the white ones(2019) and they are way more slippery than my f4 99a.(on asphalt) Kind of scary once you reach a little bit more speed.

I believe these are natural: https://bones.com/bones-wheels-pro-stf-skateboard-wheels-mcclain-apocalypse-55mm-v5-sidecut-99a-4pk

Which I've heard are even stickier than the bright white ones for better or for worse.

[DarkPools]

Weird, I had great slide performance on my 99 STF V5 naturals  ^ but it did take a little bit to find the sweet spot. I was on the bright white V5 103A or whatever the harder, common STF wheel consistently before that. Then I tried Spit 99 F4 conical full and it was identical to the Bones 99 STF V5 naturals BUT they initiated powerslides better than the Bones. The actual slide quality was comparable for me between Bones and Spit for the two models.

I'm going back to some Bones STFs later this year after riding two F4 sets in a row ([99]Oct 2020-Sept 2021 & [101]Oct 2021-present).

[Xen]

If they could somehow retool these STF 99a to slide better, they would be the perfect wheel. Until then though, the lack of slide is a pretty massive issue for me.

Zero proof, but when bones changed the 99a EZ Streets to off-white to compete with potato colored spits, it had an effect on, or they changed the formula; the first bright white 99a EZ streets were sooooo much better, felt 'normal' and slid great, on par or better than 99a spits and not as jarring as 103stfs or 101 spits.

V5s are my favorite shape bones, they work so well for everything.

[NORTHBYMIDWEST]

Anybody ride Satori wheels recently? They’ve got a 20% off sale going right (420 BROZ!) now and I’m thinking about grabbing a couple sets but I’ve never rode them before. I’ve always wanted a set with the dude riding the elephant and those Philly Santosuosso wheels look dope too haha

[bbk]

Anybody ride Satori wheels recently? They’ve got a 20% off sale going right (420 BROZ!) now and I’m thinking about grabbing a couple sets but I’ve never rode them before. I’ve always wanted a set with the dude riding the elephant and those Philly Santosuosso wheels look dope too haha

The dude on elephant are their higher grade urethane, don't know anything about them, but should be good.
I sold a set of vinyl cuts 101 52 to a friend because I had them in my skatebag and he had flatspots, and he's happy with them.

[NORTHBYMIDWEST]

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Anybody ride Satori wheels recently? They’ve got a 20% off sale going right (420 BROZ!) now and I’m thinking about grabbing a couple sets but I’ve never rode them before. I’ve always wanted a set with the dude riding the elephant and those Philly Santosuosso wheels look dope too haha

[close]

The dude on elephant are their higher grade urethane, don't know anything about them, but should be good.
I sold a set of vinyl cuts 101 52 to a friend because I had them in my skatebag and he had flatspots, and he's happy with them.

Dope, I’m gonna cop a couple sets. It’s like $8 off per set of wheels.

[backinaction]

New Powell / Bones softer formula coming out. 

On the SkateOne forum about 2 years ago they sent out a couple demo sets of wheels that were to replace the DTF (Ditch Tech Formula) and these may be those.  The people that reviewed them raved. 

https://www.skateone.com/forum/discussion/comment/48037#Comment_48037

I got to test ride the prototype DTF's. Here's the write-up I did for Rob after a few weeks. Warning - LONG read.

Hey Rob,

I never got to skate the actual gnarly concrete drainage ditch, but I don't know when I will because it needs to be cleaned up badly. I only skated it once, with spitfire f4 99's, and in the confined space it was really hard to get speed. I only mention it because after skating these wheels in some other places, I bet they'd have performed beautifully. I'll tell you where I did skate and the SPEED, GRIP, SLIDE, FEEL and WEAR.

1. The street (the real street)

SPEED: I cannot commute around my town with regular street wheels (99a and harder) because I will rattle to a stop. I actually lose speed going downhill half the time. Getting from one place to another means constantly working against this, so there's way more pushing than gliding. New asphalt is the exception and all the spots are rough asphalt or pavement. Skating the harder wheels is just too unpleasant and difficult for me to want to do it much, and the ML 90a's were much faster but would deform a bit when sticking something hard. I thought that with craggy streets there was no good compromise, but these wheels are. They were faster everywhere on the street than any of hard wheels AND the 90a Mini Logos of about the same size. I measured this using an inertia test. I would start at the top of a stretch and just roll, and then see how far I went up the opposite uphill side. The DTF's definitely felt faster, took me way further up the other side than the Bones STFs I have on another board, and also further than the 90a ML's (though not as far). They are fast and I would pick these over any other wheel for "real" street skating because nothing is faster. The only thing that would probably beat them downhill are my large 85a Bombers on my big cruiser board, and I don't have the guts to go that fast these days anyway.

GRIP: Grip is awesome. I have slid out hanging hard turns on harder wheels before, and these stuck. I could feel that they were sticking (more on that below) and so I was able to lean into turns harder while going faster with much greater confidence. I never lost it and they never squirreled out from under me. I have a small quarter pipe surfaced with masonite and these definitely gripped better than my hard wheels.

SLIDE: I'm not a slidey skater. For power slides could make my back wheels break loose on asphalt but not on smooth concrete. To me this is good, because I've slid out and eaten shit on hard turns before. I'm sure others could get real slides out of them. They still slid well enough for me to scoot into the direction I wanted to be going when I landed 180's and I could still do 180 slides.

FEEL: This is where I feel like I sound like I'm overselling these. These wheels feel great. They stick and stay smooth like a softer wheel on rougher terrain, but they don't deform when landing tricks (or maybe I just don't land that hard...I weigh 150 lbs and am not that aggressive). I've had 97a wheels that felt A LOT harder than these and rode like rocks, but big cruiser 85a Bombers and the 90a Mini Logos sacrifice some trick performance for their ride. This is the most ideal "real street" wheel I've ever encountered. These are staying on my street board and I'll never put hard wheels back on it except for the park.

WEAR: Honestly, no wear to speak of. I could see a little streaking in them when I did slides, but these were never flat spots. I expect this from Bones wheels, though.

2. The park (a pretty smooth park)

SPEED: This is where this wheel surprised me the most. They were REALLY NOT SLOW AT ALL. Was it slower than my 84b SPF's? Yeah, but the difference was not enough to put me off. I pretty much only skate 84b SPF's at the park, especially in the bowls, but...

GRIP: ...the trade-off in grip in the bowl was WAY positive. I could tell pumping down transitions that I was on a slower wheel, but after a little initial adjustment I skated them without issue. They didn't feel "sticky" like 90a or 85a wheels do. In a big smooth bowl those things can feel like rolling on glue traps. These were still fast and I didn't spend any time at all at the park wishing I had my harder wheels. The funny part is that I actually WENT HIGHER with more confidence in the bowl because of the additional grip. I slashed the highest parts of the bowls in these that I've yet to even touch with my SPF's despite feeling like I wasn't going quite as fast. I'm still kind of coming to terms with this and comparing; would I rather have a pair of these in the bowl than my SPF's?

SLIDE: Never really got these to break into a powerslide at the park, but that's really not my bag. They slid just fine on the coping. Feebles and little "scoots" in the concrete mini ramp were just as easy as with hard wheels.

FEEL: They are not quite as fast, but they don't feel like a squishy or sticky wheel at the park. If I were one who skates to the park to skate the park, it'd be these wheels all the way.

WEAR: Again, nothing noticeable. I only skated maybe four sessions with them, but I would expect these to last as long as other Bones wheels.

Overall...I'd say 9.5 out of 10. it's hard not to give these a 10 because they're not optimal for everything, but they are the most optimal across all categories. Before these wheels there was really no street wheel that I'd take to most of the spots in my town, or that I would commute with. These wheels are IT for that. For parks I'll still use my SPF's, but since I was climbing higher on these I'm gonna continue to skate these there too.

I never skated the old Ditchtech Formula wheels, but given how versatile these wheels are I'd say that's a bit of a misnomer. This is really a great general street wheel that can still be used at the park. But again, I'm a little guy. A bigger person and/or someone doing big stuff and sticking it hard might not be as enamored as I am with them for street use.

I am gonna clean out the growth and trash and try to skate that ditch eventually.

[Xen]

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Anybody ride Satori wheels recently? They’ve got a 20% off sale going right (420 BROZ!) now and I’m thinking about grabbing a couple sets but I’ve never rode them before. I’ve always wanted a set with the dude riding the elephant and those Philly Santosuosso wheels look dope too haha

[close]

The dude on elephant are their higher grade urethane, don't know anything about them, but should be good.
I sold a set of vinyl cuts 101 52 to a friend because I had them in my skatebag and he had flatspots, and he's happy with them.

[close]

Dope, I’m gonna cop a couple sets. It’s like $8 off per set of wheels.

Didn't know they were doing decks as well these days!
https://www.satorimovement.com/collections/decks

[goodatmeth]

New Powell / Bones softer formula coming out. 

On the SkateOne forum about 2 years ago they sent out a couple demo sets of wheels that were to replace the DTF (Ditch Tech Formula) and these may be those.  The people that reviewed them raved. 

https://www.skateone.com/forum/discussion/comment/48037#Comment_48037

Expand Quote

I got to test ride the prototype DTF's. Here's the write-up I did for Rob after a few weeks. Warning - LONG read.

Hey Rob,

I never got to skate the actual gnarly concrete drainage ditch, but I don't know when I will because it needs to be cleaned up badly. I only skated it once, with spitfire f4 99's, and in the confined space it was really hard to get speed. I only mention it because after skating these wheels in some other places, I bet they'd have performed beautifully. I'll tell you where I did skate and the SPEED, GRIP, SLIDE, FEEL and WEAR.

1. The street (the real street)

SPEED: I cannot commute around my town with regular street wheels (99a and harder) because I will rattle to a stop. I actually lose speed going downhill half the time. Getting from one place to another means constantly working against this, so there's way more pushing than gliding. New asphalt is the exception and all the spots are rough asphalt or pavement. Skating the harder wheels is just too unpleasant and difficult for me to want to do it much, and the ML 90a's were much faster but would deform a bit when sticking something hard. I thought that with craggy streets there was no good compromise, but these wheels are. They were faster everywhere on the street than any of hard wheels AND the 90a Mini Logos of about the same size. I measured this using an inertia test. I would start at the top of a stretch and just roll, and then see how far I went up the opposite uphill side. The DTF's definitely felt faster, took me way further up the other side than the Bones STFs I have on another board, and also further than the 90a ML's (though not as far). They are fast and I would pick these over any other wheel for "real" street skating because nothing is faster. The only thing that would probably beat them downhill are my large 85a Bombers on my big cruiser board, and I don't have the guts to go that fast these days anyway.

GRIP: Grip is awesome. I have slid out hanging hard turns on harder wheels before, and these stuck. I could feel that they were sticking (more on that below) and so I was able to lean into turns harder while going faster with much greater confidence. I never lost it and they never squirreled out from under me. I have a small quarter pipe surfaced with masonite and these definitely gripped better than my hard wheels.

SLIDE: I'm not a slidey skater. For power slides could make my back wheels break loose on asphalt but not on smooth concrete. To me this is good, because I've slid out and eaten shit on hard turns before. I'm sure others could get real slides out of them. They still slid well enough for me to scoot into the direction I wanted to be going when I landed 180's and I could still do 180 slides.

FEEL: This is where I feel like I sound like I'm overselling these. These wheels feel great. They stick and stay smooth like a softer wheel on rougher terrain, but they don't deform when landing tricks (or maybe I just don't land that hard...I weigh 150 lbs and am not that aggressive). I've had 97a wheels that felt A LOT harder than these and rode like rocks, but big cruiser 85a Bombers and the 90a Mini Logos sacrifice some trick performance for their ride. This is the most ideal "real street" wheel I've ever encountered. These are staying on my street board and I'll never put hard wheels back on it except for the park.

WEAR: Honestly, no wear to speak of. I could see a little streaking in them when I did slides, but these were never flat spots. I expect this from Bones wheels, though.

2. The park (a pretty smooth park)

SPEED: This is where this wheel surprised me the most. They were REALLY NOT SLOW AT ALL. Was it slower than my 84b SPF's? Yeah, but the difference was not enough to put me off. I pretty much only skate 84b SPF's at the park, especially in the bowls, but...

GRIP: ...the trade-off in grip in the bowl was WAY positive. I could tell pumping down transitions that I was on a slower wheel, but after a little initial adjustment I skated them without issue. They didn't feel "sticky" like 90a or 85a wheels do. In a big smooth bowl those things can feel like rolling on glue traps. These were still fast and I didn't spend any time at all at the park wishing I had my harder wheels. The funny part is that I actually WENT HIGHER with more confidence in the bowl because of the additional grip. I slashed the highest parts of the bowls in these that I've yet to even touch with my SPF's despite feeling like I wasn't going quite as fast. I'm still kind of coming to terms with this and comparing; would I rather have a pair of these in the bowl than my SPF's?

SLIDE: Never really got these to break into a powerslide at the park, but that's really not my bag. They slid just fine on the coping. Feebles and little "scoots" in the concrete mini ramp were just as easy as with hard wheels.

FEEL: They are not quite as fast, but they don't feel like a squishy or sticky wheel at the park. If I were one who skates to the park to skate the park, it'd be these wheels all the way.

WEAR: Again, nothing noticeable. I only skated maybe four sessions with them, but I would expect these to last as long as other Bones wheels.

Overall...I'd say 9.5 out of 10. it's hard not to give these a 10 because they're not optimal for everything, but they are the most optimal across all categories. Before these wheels there was really no street wheel that I'd take to most of the spots in my town, or that I would commute with. These wheels are IT for that. For parks I'll still use my SPF's, but since I was climbing higher on these I'm gonna continue to skate these there too.

I never skated the old Ditchtech Formula wheels, but given how versatile these wheels are I'd say that's a bit of a misnomer. This is really a great general street wheel that can still be used at the park. But again, I'm a little guy. A bigger person and/or someone doing big stuff and sticking it hard might not be as enamored as I am with them for street use.

I am gonna clean out the growth and trash and try to skate that ditch eventually.

[close]

I watched some nka youtube video at least 2-3 years ago and && was already talking about how much he loves these wheels. Seems like he's been on them for quite some time. Definitely gonna try them out

[Xen]

Expand Quote

New Powell / Bones softer formula coming out. 

On the SkateOne forum about 2 years ago they sent out a couple demo sets of wheels that were to replace the DTF (Ditch Tech Formula) and these may be those.  The people that reviewed them raved. 

https://www.skateone.com/forum/discussion/comment/48037#Comment_48037

Expand Quote

I got to test ride the prototype DTF's. Here's the write-up I did for Rob after a few weeks. Warning - LONG read.

Hey Rob,

I never got to skate the actual gnarly concrete drainage ditch, but I don't know when I will because it needs to be cleaned up badly. I only skated it once, with spitfire f4 99's, and in the confined space it was really hard to get speed. I only mention it because after skating these wheels in some other places, I bet they'd have performed beautifully. I'll tell you where I did skate and the SPEED, GRIP, SLIDE, FEEL and WEAR.

1. The street (the real street)

SPEED: I cannot commute around my town with regular street wheels (99a and harder) because I will rattle to a stop. I actually lose speed going downhill half the time. Getting from one place to another means constantly working against this, so there's way more pushing than gliding. New asphalt is the exception and all the spots are rough asphalt or pavement. Skating the harder wheels is just too unpleasant and difficult for me to want to do it much, and the ML 90a's were much faster but would deform a bit when sticking something hard. I thought that with craggy streets there was no good compromise, but these wheels are. They were faster everywhere on the street than any of hard wheels AND the 90a Mini Logos of about the same size. I measured this using an inertia test. I would start at the top of a stretch and just roll, and then see how far I went up the opposite uphill side. The DTF's definitely felt faster, took me way further up the other side than the Bones STFs I have on another board, and also further than the 90a ML's (though not as far). They are fast and I would pick these over any other wheel for "real" street skating because nothing is faster. The only thing that would probably beat them downhill are my large 85a Bombers on my big cruiser board, and I don't have the guts to go that fast these days anyway.

GRIP: Grip is awesome. I have slid out hanging hard turns on harder wheels before, and these stuck. I could feel that they were sticking (more on that below) and so I was able to lean into turns harder while going faster with much greater confidence. I never lost it and they never squirreled out from under me. I have a small quarter pipe surfaced with masonite and these definitely gripped better than my hard wheels.

SLIDE: I'm not a slidey skater. For power slides could make my back wheels break loose on asphalt but not on smooth concrete. To me this is good, because I've slid out and eaten shit on hard turns before. I'm sure others could get real slides out of them. They still slid well enough for me to scoot into the direction I wanted to be going when I landed 180's and I could still do 180 slides.

FEEL: This is where I feel like I sound like I'm overselling these. These wheels feel great. They stick and stay smooth like a softer wheel on rougher terrain, but they don't deform when landing tricks (or maybe I just don't land that hard...I weigh 150 lbs and am not that aggressive). I've had 97a wheels that felt A LOT harder than these and rode like rocks, but big cruiser 85a Bombers and the 90a Mini Logos sacrifice some trick performance for their ride. This is the most ideal "real street" wheel I've ever encountered. These are staying on my street board and I'll never put hard wheels back on it except for the park.

WEAR: Honestly, no wear to speak of. I could see a little streaking in them when I did slides, but these were never flat spots. I expect this from Bones wheels, though.

2. The park (a pretty smooth park)

SPEED: This is where this wheel surprised me the most. They were REALLY NOT SLOW AT ALL. Was it slower than my 84b SPF's? Yeah, but the difference was not enough to put me off. I pretty much only skate 84b SPF's at the park, especially in the bowls, but...

GRIP: ...the trade-off in grip in the bowl was WAY positive. I could tell pumping down transitions that I was on a slower wheel, but after a little initial adjustment I skated them without issue. They didn't feel "sticky" like 90a or 85a wheels do. In a big smooth bowl those things can feel like rolling on glue traps. These were still fast and I didn't spend any time at all at the park wishing I had my harder wheels. The funny part is that I actually WENT HIGHER with more confidence in the bowl because of the additional grip. I slashed the highest parts of the bowls in these that I've yet to even touch with my SPF's despite feeling like I wasn't going quite as fast. I'm still kind of coming to terms with this and comparing; would I rather have a pair of these in the bowl than my SPF's?

SLIDE: Never really got these to break into a powerslide at the park, but that's really not my bag. They slid just fine on the coping. Feebles and little "scoots" in the concrete mini ramp were just as easy as with hard wheels.

FEEL: They are not quite as fast, but they don't feel like a squishy or sticky wheel at the park. If I were one who skates to the park to skate the park, it'd be these wheels all the way.

WEAR: Again, nothing noticeable. I only skated maybe four sessions with them, but I would expect these to last as long as other Bones wheels.

Overall...I'd say 9.5 out of 10. it's hard not to give these a 10 because they're not optimal for everything, but they are the most optimal across all categories. Before these wheels there was really no street wheel that I'd take to most of the spots in my town, or that I would commute with. These wheels are IT for that. For parks I'll still use my SPF's, but since I was climbing higher on these I'm gonna continue to skate these there too.

I never skated the old Ditchtech Formula wheels, but given how versatile these wheels are I'd say that's a bit of a misnomer. This is really a great general street wheel that can still be used at the park. But again, I'm a little guy. A bigger person and/or someone doing big stuff and sticking it hard might not be as enamored as I am with them for street use.

I am gonna clean out the growth and trash and try to skate that ditch eventually.

[close]

[close]

I watched some nka youtube video at least 2-3 years ago and && was already talking about how much he loves these wheels. Seems like he's been on them for quite some time. Definitely gonna try them out

There was another video of an 'end user' testing them out ages ago/skating some really shoddy bank terrain, I know it's floating around this forum.

EDIT: Here it is

[bombsaway86]

New Powell / Bones softer formula coming out. 

On the SkateOne forum about 2 years ago they sent out a couple demo sets of wheels that were to replace the DTF (Ditch Tech Formula) and these may be those.  The people that reviewed them raved. 

https://www.skateone.com/forum/discussion/comment/48037#Comment_48037

Expand Quote

I got to test ride the prototype DTF's. Here's the write-up I did for Rob after a few weeks. Warning - LONG read.

Hey Rob,

I never got to skate the actual gnarly concrete drainage ditch, but I don't know when I will because it needs to be cleaned up badly. I only skated it once, with spitfire f4 99's, and in the confined space it was really hard to get speed. I only mention it because after skating these wheels in some other places, I bet they'd have performed beautifully. I'll tell you where I did skate and the SPEED, GRIP, SLIDE, FEEL and WEAR.

1. The street (the real street)

SPEED: I cannot commute around my town with regular street wheels (99a and harder) because I will rattle to a stop. I actually lose speed going downhill half the time. Getting from one place to another means constantly working against this, so there's way more pushing than gliding. New asphalt is the exception and all the spots are rough asphalt or pavement. Skating the harder wheels is just too unpleasant and difficult for me to want to do it much, and the ML 90a's were much faster but would deform a bit when sticking something hard. I thought that with craggy streets there was no good compromise, but these wheels are. They were faster everywhere on the street than any of hard wheels AND the 90a Mini Logos of about the same size. I measured this using an inertia test. I would start at the top of a stretch and just roll, and then see how far I went up the opposite uphill side. The DTF's definitely felt faster, took me way further up the other side than the Bones STFs I have on another board, and also further than the 90a ML's (though not as far). They are fast and I would pick these over any other wheel for "real" street skating because nothing is faster. The only thing that would probably beat them downhill are my large 85a Bombers on my big cruiser board, and I don't have the guts to go that fast these days anyway.

GRIP: Grip is awesome. I have slid out hanging hard turns on harder wheels before, and these stuck. I could feel that they were sticking (more on that below) and so I was able to lean into turns harder while going faster with much greater confidence. I never lost it and they never squirreled out from under me. I have a small quarter pipe surfaced with masonite and these definitely gripped better than my hard wheels.

SLIDE: I'm not a slidey skater. For power slides could make my back wheels break loose on asphalt but not on smooth concrete. To me this is good, because I've slid out and eaten shit on hard turns before. I'm sure others could get real slides out of them. They still slid well enough for me to scoot into the direction I wanted to be going when I landed 180's and I could still do 180 slides.

FEEL: This is where I feel like I sound like I'm overselling these. These wheels feel great. They stick and stay smooth like a softer wheel on rougher terrain, but they don't deform when landing tricks (or maybe I just don't land that hard...I weigh 150 lbs and am not that aggressive). I've had 97a wheels that felt A LOT harder than these and rode like rocks, but big cruiser 85a Bombers and the 90a Mini Logos sacrifice some trick performance for their ride. This is the most ideal "real street" wheel I've ever encountered. These are staying on my street board and I'll never put hard wheels back on it except for the park.

WEAR: Honestly, no wear to speak of. I could see a little streaking in them when I did slides, but these were never flat spots. I expect this from Bones wheels, though.

2. The park (a pretty smooth park)

SPEED: This is where this wheel surprised me the most. They were REALLY NOT SLOW AT ALL. Was it slower than my 84b SPF's? Yeah, but the difference was not enough to put me off. I pretty much only skate 84b SPF's at the park, especially in the bowls, but...

GRIP: ...the trade-off in grip in the bowl was WAY positive. I could tell pumping down transitions that I was on a slower wheel, but after a little initial adjustment I skated them without issue. They didn't feel "sticky" like 90a or 85a wheels do. In a big smooth bowl those things can feel like rolling on glue traps. These were still fast and I didn't spend any time at all at the park wishing I had my harder wheels. The funny part is that I actually WENT HIGHER with more confidence in the bowl because of the additional grip. I slashed the highest parts of the bowls in these that I've yet to even touch with my SPF's despite feeling like I wasn't going quite as fast. I'm still kind of coming to terms with this and comparing; would I rather have a pair of these in the bowl than my SPF's?

SLIDE: Never really got these to break into a powerslide at the park, but that's really not my bag. They slid just fine on the coping. Feebles and little "scoots" in the concrete mini ramp were just as easy as with hard wheels.

FEEL: They are not quite as fast, but they don't feel like a squishy or sticky wheel at the park. If I were one who skates to the park to skate the park, it'd be these wheels all the way.

WEAR: Again, nothing noticeable. I only skated maybe four sessions with them, but I would expect these to last as long as other Bones wheels.

Overall...I'd say 9.5 out of 10. it's hard not to give these a 10 because they're not optimal for everything, but they are the most optimal across all categories. Before these wheels there was really no street wheel that I'd take to most of the spots in my town, or that I would commute with. These wheels are IT for that. For parks I'll still use my SPF's, but since I was climbing higher on these I'm gonna continue to skate these there too.

I never skated the old Ditchtech Formula wheels, but given how versatile these wheels are I'd say that's a bit of a misnomer. This is really a great general street wheel that can still be used at the park. But again, I'm a little guy. A bigger person and/or someone doing big stuff and sticking it hard might not be as enamored as I am with them for street use.

I am gonna clean out the growth and trash and try to skate that ditch eventually.

[close]

Oh man DTFs were so good, stoked to try these out