However you roll-on sidewalks, in the urban jungle gym, at giant vert parks, on a longboard or a compact street model-you are in all likelihood rolling on four rubber wheels just like Tony Hawk.
The skateboard deck gets a lot of attention, but the foundation of the skater’s world rests on those tiny little wheels. Many board-hoppers hardly ever think about it, but those wheels have become a highly engineered piece of technology, durable enough to absorb the astonishing punishment a skateboard receives during its lifetime, yet pliant and smooth enough to convey delicate human cargo across the most improbable and perilous of landscapes.
Virtually every major skateboard company offers a unique take on the skateboard wheel. Hundreds of varieties exist, each capturing the flavor of a different ride and crammed with some of the most expressive logo art in the industry.
Skateboard wheels are gauged by two primary key factors: “durometer” (how hard the material is) and diameter (how wide the wheel is). The greater the diameter, the faster the board, as larger wheels will more rapidly cover ground with each revolution. Phatty wheels are favored by vert skaters for the zippy ride over ramps, whereas more compact wheels are conducive to tricks, being both lighter and more proximate to the terrain.
Boards which are used primarily for getting around generally are outfitted with wider, softer wheels, usually from semi-hard rubber, that move fast and forgive high-speed surface variations.
Other critical stats which help classify the mountain of different options are the wheel profile, an indicator of the ratio between height and width, and the rebound factor, which deals with the elasticity of the material.
The choice of skateboard wheel confronts the skater with a values decision; when favoring a harder wheel, a certain amount of control is sacrificed, whereas softer wheels gain manageability at the expense of speed. New dual-element technology attempts to integrate the best of both worlds by containing a soft inward-facing surface complimented by harder urethane on the outer face of the wheel. Such wheels make grinding and sliding easier, because although the purpose of the grind is ride the truck along rail, the inner wheel surface will frequently drag along the grind surface.
Regardless of what kind of skateboard wheels you have, your safety may depend on proper maintenance and cleaning. Care should be taken to ensure that all bolts and bearings are optimally tightened and lubricated. Skateboard wheels, just like automotive varieties, should be regularly rotated to mitigate uneven wear.
It’s easy to forget that early skaters had to make do with recycled roller skate wheels, with literally hundreds of varieties now available. But it wasn’t always that way.
The first urethane wheels were patented by Frank Nasworthy in 1972, bringing with them the first huge boom in popular skateboarding. Along with the concave deck design that also appeared around that time, this invention made trick skating as it is known today a reality.
Skateboard wheels are like clocks-when they’re working right, you don’t even notice they’re there. But after riding a half-pipe at warp speed, you’ll be glad that your four little friends are there to keep you rolling on.
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