Expand Quote
Expand Quote
Expand Quote
Expand Quote
Expand Quote
Classics are only like .5mm skinnier than conical fulls
They all end up pretty much the same in the end for the most part between radial, classic, and conical full.
I know this is hyperbole but the 54mm Classics have a 16.5mm riding surface while the 54mm Conical Fulls have a 22mm riding surface so they are 33% larger which is pretty significant.
i think he meant like overall width, not contact patch.
yep exactly. once you wear it down, then the riding surface is just going to be the overall width
I don't know how accurate the illustrations are in this guide are but it would take a pretty long time to get down to the max with of a classic due to the roundness of the outside walls. It's true that the classic is only 1mm thinner in total width but you would have to skate a 54mm down to like a 40mm before hitting the total width where a conical full would hit the total width way sooner (or just any width wider than its default riding surface width). I don't know if a classic would ever catch up to a conical full.
https://www.spitfirewheels.com/formulafour/
Saying all that, I do ultimately agree that I don't think wheel shape makes as big of a difference as people think though. Like the idea that kick flips are easier with a rounded wheel. Whose wheels are still on the ground when the board starts flipping? That doesn't really make sense. I think the main difference would just be weight and grip but you could get used to that pretty quickly if both wheels were the same formula.
it might be a task to track down, but i'm 99% sure someone has posted pics on here of a worn down set of wheels they calipered along with a fresh set specifically on this subject
Pretty sure I had posted a few very worn down wheel pics at some point, but I know others had too, or when looking for images online, there were some crazy ones.
Before I forget too, that Spitfire page is the old one, so you would be better off going to the new one for more relevant info, pics, shapes, etc.
https://www.spitfirewheels.com/wheel-shapes/As to wheels, especially larger wheels, I usually get a lot of wheels back from people as swaps and trades and some are so very worn in certain ways to make an inside or outside edge very sharp, some with a lot of chunks out, others a bit more smoothly rounded in the same shapes, so I can see some people doing certain things that would keep wheels a little less sharp, or certain tricks on certain terrain that make a difference.
Conical Full and similar conical shaped wheels are way more prone to getting a very sharp edge on them, just by looking at the wheel shapes and then running a line across them a few mm down.
Classics and more rounded wheels can still get sharpish edges, especially if they are not rotated, but more often than not, they take a lot longer and need to go through a lot more wear to get down to the max width of the wheel, by which time they are often well past what most people would ride anyway.
I can try to look for those wheel pics or take some more if people are super keen, but just playing edit with the wheel shape pics will give you the general idea.