What freeride wheels should i get

A great source for this information is forums, such as the ever popular Reddit or Silverfish Longboarding. Here it is common to find informal terminology that can be confusing at first.

Schooling time below. Ultimately, picking the right set of wheels is a matter of doing research and then trying stuff out to discover what works best for your personal ride style. Anything we missed? Let us know on our contact page! Hi Dudes: I would like to know the effect of the temperature of the asphalt on the grip. And what is your advice regarding the hardness of urethane to keep grip on cold asphalt?

Hi Guys, great article!!! Of course we would show creds and have a link to original article. Is it ok for you?

About Stoked In , as a high school student, I founded Stoked with a focus on making sure the customer received exactly the kind of ride they wanted. The Ultimate Longboard Wheel Guide 3 comments.

Diameter The diameter of the wheel measured in millimeters. The bigger the wheel the smoother the ride, but the more weight to push around. Also going too big might get dreaded wheel bite. Generally for longboarding a 70mm - 80mm wheel is ideal. Width The measurement from the furthest point out on the wheel face to the furthest point on the wheel back. Using this measurement can help determine if a wheel is too big for a set up, however, it is not very commonly referred to. Durometer The hardness of the wheel measured on the Shore scale.

This is the second most common feature of a wheel after size and greatly affects the way a longboard wheel rides. Harder is generally more for sliding and softer is generally more for grip. A wheel around 80a is usually a safe midpoint. Contact Patch Size The width of the area on the wheel that touches the ground. It is measured in millimeters and can help determine how much grip a wheel gives the rider. The bigger the contact patch, generally the more grippy the wheel will be.

Contact Patch Surface The type of wheel surface that touches the ground. This can be smooth for grip or sand stone ground for sliding. Edge Type The shape of the outer most lip on the longboard wheel. The following guide is not a checklist. Rather, it is a list of tried-and-true properties that have proven themselves in freeride longboarding. Ride what you like and forget the rules, but remember that wheel formulas or characteristics that work well in one situation but may be hazardous in another one.

Terrain may be rougher or smoother; roads can be straight or serpentine, and your wheels can either accentuate your style or inhibit it. You can never have too many wheel choices. This is the one characteristic of longboard wheels that is the most difficult to quantify.

Manufacturers each have proprietary urethane technically: polyurethane formulas for each of their wheels. Wheel companies add different chemical ingredients in varying amounts to their formulations in efforts to eke out certain characteristics while suppressing or eliminating others.

Each one of these additives plays a role in the final characteristics of a formula, and those characteristics determine how wheels slide. One urethane formula may make wheels that are slick and fast, with icy slides that are predictable on certain terrain.

Another formula may produce silky smooth, buttery slides that are inherently predictable. No one formula is correct or right; terrain and personal preference dictate all. Manufacturers determine it by using a deformation test, and they give its value as a number followed by a letter, normally an A.

Diameter is simply the height of the wheel. Given only these two numbers, it is possible to determine if a wheel might function well in freeride. Freeride wheels typically have diameters between 65 and 70 mm, while durometers normally run from 78A to 82A.

Rider preference and board setup will dictate the best diameter for a given application. Hardness is relative as well, as a 78A in one formula may feel harder than an 80A in another. Let the hill dictate the wheel. The lip profile is the area of the wheel where it transitions from vertical to horizontal, and it varies wildly on longboard wheels. Typically, freeride wheels will have a rounded lip profile to make it easier for the rider to break traction and kick out into a slide.

They are stable and they turn on rails, but it takes a lot of force to get them sliding. The rounded edges of most freeride wheels allows them to slide with much less effort, and also serve to keep contact patches minimized. The contact patch is the cross section of the wheel that actually makes contact with the ground. Wheel geometry varies between the disciplines and within each one, but sliding wheels will generally have thinner contact patches than most other longboard wheels.

The reason freeride wheels keep contact patches small is simple: It reduces friction. The wider the wheel, the more of it is likely in contact with the ground. Wide contact patches are inherently stable, but they require a bigger push to get them sideways. Cores serve multiple functions in longboard wheels, and each is important in freeride. First, they allow wheels to roll faster and more smoothly, retaining speed for longer periods of time. Also, they prevent the wheel from deforming too much during slides.

Wheel cores may be centerset, offset or sideset. Centerset wheels are more stable and grippy, and they may be flipped to allow for even wear. Offset cores are only slightly off center. They allow for easier kick out into slides and hook up smoother than centerset wheels as well. Orangatang Longboard Wheels.

Orangatang Wheels and Bushings. Powell Peralta. Longboard Wheels 61mm - 65mm. Longboard Wheels 66mmmm. Longboard Wheels 71mm to 73mm. Blood Orange Jammerz Wheels 60mm.

Blood Orange Jammerz Wheels 66mm. Blood Orange Jammerz Wheels 69mm. Blood Orange Smoke Wheels 60mm. Cult Wheels Chronicle 65mm White Stoneground. Cult Wheels Emperor 71mm White. While choosing your wheel, stick to rounded lips to maximize slide ease and to prevent gripping up and highsiding.

The skin of the wheel is most commonly overlooked. Most longboarding wheels come with the skin of the wheel the shiny part still intact on the contact patch.

This means you will have to break the wheel in before it will slide smoothly. What this does is basically reduces break in time as well as makes for an easy slide right out of the package. Different wheel companies produce different wheels, meaning the urethane formula in each wheel is going to be completely different between each company.