i remember going to a 95a wheel before soft sliders came out, coming from like 104a STF wheels, and i was like "whoa, i actually have grip on transition" and felt so confident skating transition again. but thne it was like "oh, i cant cant noseslide or crook unless you wax it every single fkn time..."
I skate curbs probably 5-10x more often than i skate ramps, so you can guess what becomes more of a priority for me.
i find the wider shapes once they start to slip you absolutely lose it, so like a 97a radial/conical probably more ideal if you want transition to feel somewhat grippy, but 99a classic is also totally fine and seems to be a fairly preferred wheel of most skaters (i prerfer the radial full)
never had 101a F4s but they must be CRAZY slick like the old STF
i would be curious to try OJ 101as to see how slick they are, especially that double duro
The crazy thing with some (maybe not all) of the 101 variants is they don't actually slide too well, some even feeling way more grippy and abrasive than normal 99s, but then other times if they let go, they definitely let go and slip out.
I have noticed too that more of other brand 101s are not actually that hard, or don't slide too well, compared to some other wheels that seem to have all the properties you want and none of the issues you don't want.
You know my preference of wheel, so I don't need to go on about it here.
OJs seemed to be more grippy in general, which was good for some people on the slippery ramps we have round here, but I haven't tried all options in OJs, maybe more so the older formulas and the regular ones that people have on their boards - haven't seen the double duro on anyones board and not willing to get a set just to test them for how much they cost.
Maybe more than anything the harder duro options are just better on the smooth and fast surfaces too, whereas 99s are really just a nice all rounder for everything, but I have been experimenting with the 97s and even the 95s on various surfaces, just to see what they are like. The 93 are almost a little too "slidey" for some things (like carving in towards parking blocks on a local carpark surface I can feel them going), but when they are called "Soft sliders" then that all makes sense.