Saturday, 04 February 2012
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Best Longboarding Wheels
Inspiration
Even as collectively begun to dabble in new directions in sliding, we found inside us want of your new and unique wheel. Our existing lineup of freeride wheels (the Durian, Stimulus, and Fat Free) maintained a conservative balance of traction and driftability which is designed for downhill freeriding. The current emphasis is around the ability to grip and hold a line through corners as fast as possible. The slide aspect of these wheels is centered on losing speed (inside a pragmatic fashion) or even begin exploring progressive freeriding.
The Balut may be the results of our need to investigate the opposite end with the grip-slip spectrum: a freestyle slide wheel that allows longer drifts and quicker, more numerous rotations with minimal speed loss. This is a initial step in the new direction for people, and we’re excited to find out where it takes us.
Baluts is going to be available worldwide on Thursday, February 2nd at $54 per set (MSRP).
Specs
Diameter: 72.5 mm
Contact patch: 35 mm
Width: 44 mm
Durometers: 80a, 83a, 86a
Weight: 4.7 oz (per wheel)
Bearing seat: centerset
Design
The Baluts are centerset and symmetrical, permitting maximum flexibility when rotating and flipping to promote even wear on all four wheels. Simply by using a larger spoked core and removing a lot of urethane between the bearing seat and outer fringe of the core, we were capable of decrease the overall wheel weight for increased agility in slides and freestyle tricks alike.
The core found in the Balut is pretty wide as compared to the wheel. Coupled with a stiff and rounded lip profile, the core provides lots of rigid support for your contact patch and facilitates smooth slides with a predictable release and hookup.
Urethane
Within the development process, we quickly remarked that early protos with this shape lent themselves to unreasonably long standup slides and so demanded a urethane that may withstand the inevitable abuse and was appropriate for this unique (narrow) shape. The shape was dialed almost a year ago, but we’ve been delaying around the release to discover this magic thane. And so the Euphorethane formula was made, offering exceptional durability and flatspot resistance while still retaining an easy, predictable drift and reliable (albeit nominal) speed control.
Wheel Rotation
Good rotation habits will help smooth out wear patterns and dramatically extend the life span of the wheels. Be aware, though, that wheel rotation can get just a little confusing, especially since wear patterns often change from rider to rider.
The easiest suggestion to consider would be to swap your most worn wheel along with your least worn wheel, swap the other two wheels, and flip when appropriate.
Beyond that concept, below are a few suggestions and info tidbits that we’ve found useful when you are our sideways smile sessions:
Uphill wheels (on your own heelside rail for heelside/frontside slides and also on your toeside rail for toeside/backside slides) often cone (faster wear on the inside lip), while downhill wheels tend to reverse cone (faster wear on the exterior lip).
On a board having a centered stance (snowboard style) a lot of the rider’s weight is normally over the front truck, so expect the front wheels to put on faster compared to the rear wheels. On the board with a rear stance (e.g. ridden using the back foot mostly on the kicktail) there is usually a lot more weight placed on the rear truck, so the rear wheels tend to wear faster than the front wheels.
Over a directional setup (ridden mostly in one orientation) we generally recommend rotating your wheels diagonally (front still having rear right, front right with rear left). On the symmetrical setup (ridden equally in the orientations) we generally rotate wheels on a single hanger (front still having front right, rear playing rear right).
A symmetrical centerset shape also lets you flip each wheel to counteract coning. Whenever you rotate your wheels, verify if all of your wheels start to cone and flip them when needed. Be sure to consider the wheels’ new positions about the board and your personal riding habits (if you do more heelside slides than toesides, you will probably have your heelside wheels to cone and your toeside wheels to reverse cone).
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