I need more please. You've sent me to wheel horny jail
I'm sorry! Okay, I will give these a full review.
As I've said earlier in this thread, I had some issues with the 97a (and to a lesser extent 95a) which both had the hard core ATF hub. I have no idea which issues I had were related to the durometer being too hard, and which were related to the hub. However, I now suspect the power slide initiation issues must have been related to the hard inner hub. It may have caused those wheels to feel overly vibratey on rough streets too(?), but that could easily just be the durometer. There is a pretty big leap in vibration reduction from the 95a hubbed to these 93a unhubbed though, so I think the hub is probably to blame for the vibrations as well.
With that being said, these wheels basically solved all the issues I had with the 97a and 95a hubbed versions.
Bones/PP Experimental Formula 93a V6 56mm:+ Feel like 99a or 98a. Not bouncy or muted feeling. Definitely a street skating trick wheel. Doesn't feel "heavy" or "delayed" doing tricks.
+ Vibrate less on rough surfaces and maintain speed on rough surfaces better than F4 99a.
+ Handle cracks/pebbles/twigs a bit better than F4 99.
+ Revert/spin better than F4.
+ Break into powerslide way better than the 97a/95a hubbed version, and are a bit more controllable once sliding than F4 99a.
+ Haven't slipped out yet while riding or sliding. They grip very well. Requires a bit more intentional action to initiate a powerslide but not an excessive amount. Large margin of error in terms of force you can apply for powerslides since they don't slip out as easily during slides.
+ Can break into powerslides even at low speeds.
+ V6 shape is better than Conical Full in my opinion. Deeper cut that goes all the way down to the bearing. Actually weighed 56mm CFs and these were ~10% lighter (~275g vs. ~305g)
+/- Has a slightly different slide feel than F4. They have about the same amount of friction overall. I personally prefer this slide, it just took a bit of adjustment to get used to the initiation. It feels like while F4 rely a bit more on being rubbery friction, these use vibration to regulate slides. It somehow feels like it slides easier once sliding but also more controlable during slides.
+/- About the same top speed as F4 99a, maybe these are a bit faster but its pretty close... but I've been swapping around bearings and such so I wasn't able to get a precise 1:1 comparison for this.
- Very slightly less groundfeel than F4 99a. Its subtle. That is part of the trade off for it handling rough roads better I guess. Its not very noticeable, but I've been doing 1:1 comparisons back to back so I can tell.
- Take slightly more effort to break into a powerslide than F4 99a. Its not a huge issue, I've already gotten used to it, and it makes up for it by being harder to slip out on.
- The hubbed 97a and 95a felt a bit faster than this duro... to be expected, but its worth mentioning because those other wheels were so fast.
- I've heard they are sticky for slides and pinched grinds. I haven't gotten to try myself, but could be a dealbreaker for some I'm sure if its bad enough. I have no idea to what extent... and if its something that you can get used to or not.
I honestly have got to give these a
9.5/10 for my purposes. These wheels are pretty fucking awesome and sort of a dream wheel for me.
I've got some of these in 90a on the backburner, but I honestly don't want to take these off my board to try them. I'll have to grab some new bearings so I can go back and forth between the two.
I'm also now curious about how those 95a would feel WITHOUT the hub... if they aren't as vibratey and initiate slides better, those could be a really solid wheel too.