Anyone tried SML? how do they compare to Spitfires?
Good timing, I'm just about done skating my second pair of SML AG 52mm v-cut 99as, these ones:
https://www.tactics.com/sml/grocery-bag-ii-v-cut-skateboard-wheelsReally like them once the tread goes away (why do wheels still come with tread???), feel slightly softer than 99a f4s, maybe a hair better on rough ground, really like the way they slide, very controlled, just as good as f4s imo. Felt just as good bombing hills and doing bluntslides. Maybe a little less flatspot resistant compared to f4s, I got a few small ones that went away quickly (though for context I also flatspot f4s regularly so...). If we're splitting hairs maybe a tiny bit grippier. The conical ish shape is good too, though would be curious to try the classics lookin og-wides in the future.
My next set of wheels are some f4s just because I wanted to skate radial slims again, but in the future I definitely see myself skating these again regularly and probably over f4s if I can find them either for cheaper or in the og wides. Good to support a smaller company, and I like the colour or the urethane a lot more, much less yellow and ever so slightly translucent like classics kinda. Though if you skate really dirty terrain the dirt seems to stick to the wheel a bit more. If I had to compare them to anything I'd say maybe a hybrid of a spitfire classic and an f4? With the riding feel and appearance leaning closer towards classics, and the slide and performance leaning towards f4s.
Edit:
Two days in on F4 radial slim 99s, and coming back to f4s they're slipperier than I remember, the SMLs were probably right in between classics and f4s. Interesting because it feels identical on ledges but when bombing hills the SMLs take a little more effort to push into a slide. I actually like this a lot more because the whole point of powersliding is to slow yourself down and if the wheel is too slippery you don't lose any speed and you're more likely to slip out.