I came across NFG MFG wheels a few weeks back on IG and thought they looked interesting. I live in one of the oldest neighborhoods in Houston which means I’m surrounded by miles of terribly rough, pitted concrete so I mainly stick to softer wheels but I’ve been wanting to try something harder and heard newer hard formulas are way better on rough streets than the old hard wheels I used to ride a decade or two ago so I ordered a set of the square shape 54mm from them.
Overall, I’m really happy with them and I don’t mind the feel on shitty concrete. They grip well enough on hard turns at speed, roll fairly fast, and are way more forgiving when sliding the board around after landing a little crooked than soft wheels are.
I know these guys are a small operation and have read a couple posts here where other people mentioned some weird blemishes, maybe, on the surface of the wheels from the hand-pouring process. Honestly, I was a little bugged out when I opened the set cause they definitely have a very different look than stuff I’ve bought from major wheel manufacturers. There’s weird bubbles on the sidewalls and some speckling that reminds me of melted vanilla ice cream or something. I have no experience with hand poured wheels or these newer formulas so I wasn’t sure what to make of it but the aesthetic issues don’t seem to have any effect on the ride; I guess time will tell if they have an effect as the wheels age.
Also, a note about the graphics: Right out of the shrink wrap some of the lettering (see pics) was just loosely adhered to the wheel and I found it would come off with just a little rubbing with my thumb. I dig the look of a blank wheel so it didn’t bother me at all, just thought it was strange they’d not want the branding to last more than a day, especially as a newer company. I later saw some posts saying that these guys also make wheels for Loophole and flashed back to a guy at a local shop telling me about his issues with the same phenomenon. He was saying that he loved them but recommended just taking the graphic off ASAP cause he had issues with the paint flaking into his shieldless bearings.
I figure I’ll ride these for a while and try out some other companies’ modern hard formulas to compare eventually.
After one session
After three or four sessions and rubbing the rest of the graphic off with my fingertips