Wheels Thread

[LebowskisRug]

I ran into a Bones sponsored rider at a skateshop yesterday and he had 95s on his board. They had a graphic on them. I asked how he liked them and the dragons and he said "they're a bit slow and sticky but great at (insert some spot name I don't remember" and he was putting on a fresh set of SPF since he's a park/X Games dude. Apparently he thought when he landed certain airs he felt they pushed him off balance.

[sk8n hugon]

A word on the durability of the Dragon wheels: I have heard multiple people say that they are durable despite being soft. That has not been my experience. 2 of 4 wheels are already worn down to 48 from 52, and my back heel wheel has edge flat spots from poor form sliding while pivoting out of board slides on curbs. Never had those on any other wheel. The wheel looks really weird if you look at it from the side. It’s not flatspotted across the wheel though, so no helicopter sound. Regardless, I still love these wheels and will ride them for everything except bowls.

[tzhangdox]

Damn just measured my prototype 95s which were 54, they’re all 52 now and Iv skate them no more than ten times total. Maybe they do shrink a lil faster. Small chunk too but no flat spots for me

[LebowskisRug]

Softer will wear faster especially since everyone is probably trying to slide these as much as they can to verify Powell's claims.

[Plan9Customs]

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It’s all good my dude!

Hubs/cores change the feel of wheels more than most realize; we don’t even know what duro those cores are…same as the wheel? Softer? Harder? Each one would have a different feel for sure.

I’m doubtful these would replace the 99a spit but a more forgiving wheel that feels like 100+ would be pretty special.

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I'm doubtful that it'll feel like a 100+. At least in terms of riding. Personally I don't see the need for anything that feels harder than an f4 99a unless you only skate perfect parks, in which case an stf should work just fine?

These 93as feel pretty true to 93 to me, like a 93-95ish vibe. So a 97 will probably perform like a harder wheel? But probably feel like a true 97 when riding. Just guessing

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If the 95/97 come close the feel of the 97a spit but aren't gummy dead feeling/perform like a hard wheel, I'd a happy camper...but if they feel super close to a 99a spit, slide just as well or better, but are more forgiving...

I'd never choose these over a 101 spit or 103stf or SPF (or OJ elite 101a) in a park setting...makes zero sense unless that park is torn up/has a ton of primo pit marks.

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Here's another annoying paid for promotional dragons vids

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Can't trust them.  Graphics are out.

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"They literally sound like walmart wheels!" in an enthusiastic tone. I'll just skate harder wheels and let my bones rattle to dust.

Sidenote: I saw this reynolds story a few weeks ago and just thought of it now. I wonder if Spitfire is brewing a response.

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Having skated the 97a F4, I honestly can't figure out the need for a 95a F4....same goes for the Bones x...we're talking to duro here 95/97a logic would say 'just pick one'

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Yes, but you like hard wheels. I have never gone above 99a so I would say why do we need a wheel harder than 101a and who cares about a B scale but you would probably scoff at my ignorance.

I can tell the difference between 99a, 98a, 97a, 95a and now 93a. I have ridden them all and know what I would pick for different set-ups or phases.

I suppose there is enough demand for 95a to where Spitfire can’t sit on the sidelines and let Powell eat up that market share. They probably already got caught with their pants down when STF or SPF hit the market.

[close]

I still have some of the older Spitfire 92 and 95 Soft Ds (which are reasonable but not great), as well as the original formula 92s, 95s and 97s (which seem to hold up better), so although I have preferences for each with different terrain, I would also prefer something like the F4 95 duro wheels over the 97s, if it came down to it.

Sure the Formula Four 97s in both Conical Full and Classic shapes that I bought and have on boards are a bit more of an easier ride than the 99s or 101s on some things, but the 95s are just in the right duro bracket for all rounders, if the 99s are a bit too slippery.

If I had to choose, I would use the 99s as my normal wheel, then the 95s as my softer go to, but that is just me.

Oh. I had a set of the 92 soft D’Souza. Worst of all worlds with that one! The 80hds were a huge improvement(after the whole wheels ripping thing was addressed) the sucked for nose/tails but worked fine for everything else. I could even get reverts on transition if I was drunk enough to forget I was riding my cruiser.

[FatGuy92]

i swear he said he wasn't gonna review them but i'm all for more Ben content

[cucktard]

What I got out of the video was

Dragon 93a is smoother and slower than Spit F4 97a, but while they stick a bit more than a hard wheel, SF 97a are stickier.

Dragons are suboptimal for smooth conditions, but maybe the best all-round wheel for rough ones.

[goodatmeth]

Daddy Ben coming to the rescue and making me accept that I don't need these wheels. Thank you.

The consensus from experience (and also physics) is that a wider riding surface should powerslide better on rough ground, right? So the 97a even had an advantage in terms of shape and still slides worse. Powell really made something weird and great here. Still no idea if I'm gonna get 95a or 97a, but 93a isn't the one for me.

Btw do you guys think it would be smart for bones to completely drop (the current) 99a? Because they clearly are inferior to f4 99a. Maybe bones 97a will be the new 99a. I trust Ben when he says the 93a dragons slide as good or better than the 99a bones, because those kinda suck.

[manysnakes]

Softer will wear faster especially since everyone is probably trying to slide these as much as they can to verify Powell's claims.

Yeah, softer wheels are less dense and will wear more quickly. My 54mm 97a Spitfires would always be at ~50mm within a couple of months of regular skating. Comes with the terrain.

[manysnakes]

What I got out of the video was

Dragon 93a is smoother and slower than Spit F4 97a, but while they stick a bit more than a hard wheel, SF 97a are stickier.

Dragons are suboptimal for smooth conditions, but maybe the best all-round wheel for rough ones.

Basically what every beta-tester on Slap has been saying for two months now.

[LebowskisRug]

Except our pall Fuzz and a few other minions, but fuck it, it's wheels, try them and if you hate them sell them. It's not a house.

[FuzzGNU]

Except our pall Fuzz and a few other minions, but fuck it, it's wheels, try them and if you hate them sell them. It's not a house.

Dude, you have an unhealthily obsession with me. You gotta chill with that. I've been ignoring you, but it's getting out of hand.

Have you ever been checked for a learning disorder, specifically in regards to reading comprehension? I never once said I personally grinded with these wheels as you keep continually lying about.

People entered the thread asking about the wheels and I summarized what other users already said in the thread. I also summarized those kooked out vlogs so no one else has to watch that shit. I am able to watch them on a second monitor while working, not everyone has the luxury to waste 25 mins of their life watching some barely editted vlogs like you and I do.

I said "grinds seem to depend on the type of grind and the surface, but nothing seems to really be a deal breaker" and you started crying about how bad you are at crooks and how you're afraid to skate faster when doing slappy grinds, and started flaming and saying everyone who disagrees with you is bad at skating.

Guess what. Ben did crooks, bluntslides, and lipslides and said that these wheels were 8/10 slides for all of them when compared to hard ass wheels. He literally is agreeing with everyone in the thread besides you, while you are tweaking out and insulting people for disagreeing with you.

Someone posted a video of them doing a crooked grind slappy saying they grind great and you went "no, actually they didn't grind great for you" and started an argument with them.

I'm not sure what's going on in your personal life, but you're giving me major divorced-guy energy right now with how you keep acting. Quit being a freak.

[Frank and Fred]

So far the most impressive thing about these wheels is their ability to cause virtual interpersonal conflict.

[FuzzGNU]

So far the most impressive thing about these wheels is their ability to cause virtual interpersonal conflict.

It's all just that one kook picking fights with several different people.

Sorry for derailing the thread. That was about the tenth time he's said something about me, including going through every single page of my post history to comment about me skating Fallens 10 years ago. Going back to ignoring him.

[LebowskisRug]

Hey Kook here, there's several of us disagreeing with you. Now Ben Degros too. I clicked on the last 2 pages of your history which took about 3 minutes. It's a useful thing to do sometimes, like when a poster was going on about not getting Ventures loose enough yet posted a trick tip asking about how to do 50-50's on a curb. Sometimes it provides valuable context.

In your case you were making a debunked claim that some wheels slid and grinded as good as 99 F4, then later that you didn't do much of that. You were one of the first posters who come up in a Google search and that context might be useful to someone trying to find an accurate review.

[FuzzGNU]

Hey Kook here, there's several of us disagreeing with you. Now Ben Degros too. I clicked on the last 2 pages of your history which took about 3 minutes. It's a useful thing to do sometimes, like when a poster was going on about not getting Ventures loose enough yet posted a trick tip asking about how to do 50-50's on a curb. Sometimes it provides valuable context.

In your case you were making a debunked claim that some wheels slid and grinded as good as 99 F4, then later that you didn't do much of that. You were one of the first posters who come up in a Google search and that context might be useful to someone trying to find an accurate review.

You are delusional or illiterate. There's others disagreeing, you are the only one starting arguments over and over again with several users across multiple threads.

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And you said the slide is comparable, both on ledges and powerslides in the street?

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They are slightly harder to initiate slides but in a way that you can get used to. Once you start sliding they are similar in slideability but more controllable. The initiating is slightly worse, but the actual slide and revert are better in my opinion.

From what everyone has said: depending on the combination of surface and the grind you might run into some friction issues, but it's kind of hard to predict. It doesn't seem like any grinds are bad enough to be a deal breaker.

They have so many upsides over F4 99a that it's worth those small trade offs. Just be patient the first week getting used to the slide difference and you will fall in love with everything else about them. These wheels are really something else.

I made it very clear from the start I was talking about them sliding on ground. Everything else was me summarizing videos and posts from others. And its EXACTLY what Ben Degros said in the video: It depends on the grind and the surface, but nothing is a deal breaker.

EDIT: Here, I bolded everything for you to help with your reading comprehension issues.

[yourbreakfsat]

[LebowskisRug]

Alright dude I give up you win, but July 22nd wasn't your first post and argument about em.

Anyways, giving these a shot at the slappy spot tomorrow that is slightly uphill and see if I can get used to em better. 95s could be my ticket if they do angle iron better so I can also use them at home on my ramps.

[Xen]

lol

You are delusional or illiterate. There's others disagreeing, you are the only one starting arguments over and over again with several users across multiple threads.

That's what he does, dude. He likes to argue/stir shit up. Just look at his post history; He'll dig up a post from 10yrs ago to hopefully score a win.

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

Who knew a longboard wheel would be such a disruptor……..reverse kingpin tensor would be something else…

[LebowskisRug]

I've done that twice, once to Fuzzy-boi, once to the example I gave above. Usually when you want to frame an argument and gain context you try to gather some sort of background evidence and if you are an adult with average reading speed the extra 5 minutes can potentially save you some headache in trying gear recommend by a neurotic person that probably isn't even skilled enough or stringent enough in a analyzing something for it to matter.

Y'all just wanna pick on me and not the other posters saying the same shit albeit more diplomatically because it's easier for you and then you can deflect the actual argument I might be making. Like you and when you told me to step up and try Royals since I bashed them and I did, noted where I was wrong, and you still were a turd. But not before sending a message and blocking me like a child so I couldn't respond.

[GardenSkater77]

[Xen]

Huh, I actually didn't know that's how the ignore function worked (good to know) as you are the first and only ignore.

Truth be told, I was hoping it would wipe your entire presence from my feed/view of the forum, e.g, hiding each and every one of your posts due to not valuing your opinion; I didn't know it only blocked messages. When I could still 'see' you I figured the feature was broken.

Shame it doesn't work that way, cuz here we are.

--

Anyway, wheels. Based on all cumulative data prior to, and post release, it was plain as day as what we were going to get (and they delivered).

Personally, as a 'powell' branded wheel, they nailed the 93a drop.

The forthcoming 'Bones-X' formula, that's the market 'we' should really be looking at when making critical comparisons to the current champ (spit) and second place STFs @ 99a/101a/103a+

Why TF do you think they put the first release, a 93a, under Powell in the first place...they know exactly which market [re-issues] they are targeting and surely knew it wouldn't compete with F4s/STFs or it would have had Bones branding...you know, like if they made a 90a and put it under ML.

[LebowskisRug]

The best discourse is when you choose to blatantly ignore someone that contributes even when they eventually do it in a manner that is desired.

I agree with your conclusion. I tested the prototypes thinking that maybe Bones would release all of them and wasn't a fan aside from on bad asphalt. Kinda still thought the production would be better (it is), but figured $40 isn't much to try out if they end up being better.

Once we are getting up to 97a I'm wondering how much of this "soft but slides" will still be left. That smoothness is going to diminish if it's anything like the 93 to 95 to 97 difference in the protos.

[Easy Slider]

Nobody looks good losing his cool over skateboard wheels, brehs.

[Schinken]

Anyone tried those 93a dragons on slippery metalramps?
Sometimes I ride a very slippery metal ramp nearby which I cannot ride on bones stf and spitfire 99a.

[GardenSkater77]

Anyone tried those 93a dragons on slippery metalramps?
Sometimes I ride a very slippery metal ramp nearby which I cannot ride on bones stf and spitfire 99a.

I got cut off by earbudded skater and tried to swerve off the side of a metal quarter pipe and went down hard. It was a hard angle but I was surprised. Not as slick as a new pair of F4s but slick nonetheless.

[Xen]

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Except our pall Fuzz and a few other minions, but fuck it, it's wheels, try them and if you hate them sell them. It's not a house.

[close]

Dude, you have an unhealthily obsession with me. You gotta chill with that. I've been ignoring you, but it's getting out of hand.

Have you ever been checked for a learning disorder, specifically in regards to reading comprehension? I never once said I personally grinded with these wheels as you keep continually lying about.

People entered the thread asking about the wheels and I summarized what other users already said in the thread. I also summarized those kooked out vlogs so no one else has to watch that shit. I am able to watch them on a second monitor while working, not everyone has the luxury to waste 25 mins of their life watching some barely editted vlogs like you and I do.

I said "grinds seem to depend on the type of grind and the surface, but nothing seems to really be a deal breaker" and you started crying about how bad you are at crooks and how you're afraid to skate faster when doing slappy grinds, and started flaming and saying everyone who disagrees with you is bad at skating.

Guess what. Ben did crooks, bluntslides, and lipslides and said that these wheels were 8/10 slides for all of them when compared to hard ass wheels. He literally is agreeing with everyone in the thread besides you, while you are tweaking out and insulting people for disagreeing with you.

Someone posted a video of them doing a crooked grind slappy saying they grind great and you went "no, actually they didn't grind great for you" and started an argument with them.

I'm not sure what's going on in your personal life, but you're giving me major divorced-guy energy right now with how you keep acting. Quit being a freak.

It's not just you dude, I feel like he follows me around the forum/can't let someone else have the last post in a thread he argued in; He's got issues.

[LebowskisRug]

Answering both of you at once: I don't follow either of you around, you just post in a lot of gear threads as do I and we don't disagree so you remember what I post more.

Yah, I am autistic and also have ADHD and OCD thanks for asking! I really don't read text walls too well on my phone when I am often posting and speed read a lot of stuff. Ergo, my memory for what was said and precisely when it was said is not as great as it is for things that actually matter in life. In the rest of said life I'm actually a technical writer and Machine Learning Eng so yes, I think reading comprehension is OK when I care, but this is fucking Slap of all places.

I think ya'll are taking what I am saying too seriously. I view conversation on Slap as banter that I would have with people I know. People don't often have to agree on shit and can argue and still not hate one another. I dunno what the internet does to people to take it too personally.

I never said I was afraid to do crooks or slappies what on earth are you talking about? I bought these wheels to do those faster at an asphalt slappy spot haha. I mostly dislike them at skateparks and on my DIY ramps in front of my house, which is on an asphalt street (with angle iron and galvanized coping) and again a place where I hoped they would do well. It took Ben making a video for you to believe what myself and @tzhangdox were saying all along.

Why don't you film yourself doing either a normal or slappy crook and I will do the same and we can compare? Maybe include something with coping, a normal cement ledge, and a curb? I've skated with a few people on here and I think all of them would note that is probably my go-to trick so it's something I focus on providing feedback on. I don't like waxing shit and rely on speed, so a wheel catching and slowing down is a deal-breaker.

I agree with Ben, who I am quoting "they slide almost as well, if not better than STF, but are way slower than an F4", which is what I/others ride and are comparing them too. You said they were as good as F4 for grinds and slides hence our original tiff

So now that I have clarified yet again maybe you should do some introspection on your own memory recall, but I won't stoop as low to bring up learning disorders since yes, I have several, and have spent most of my life trying to learn how to communicate better with myself and colleagues and know how frustrating it can be to not be able to converse normally without significant effort.

You're also the one that insulted me by calling me a kook. I do not recall insulting you, just said that you admit you can't or don't do basic grinds and that your last 2 pages of your post history indicate that you nerd out on small details of wheels and never seem fully happy with anything. I hope you are finally at peace with your Powell Dragons!

[Xen]

I was waiting for that card to be played (again).

Anyway, we’re all kooks here.