When I first started skating in the 80’s wheels were mostly 60mm, 95a, conical shape and some kind of neon color, usually pink. That was basically the 80’s in a nutshell and skateboarding was no exception. I loved the shapes and colors of wheels back then but things were changing, wheels were getting smaller. In the late 80’s when street skating was about to blow up a 57mm thinner harder wheel was becoming the norm. By the time the 90’s were in full swing wheels were becoming ridiculous and so were the pants. Wheels were like bearing covers, they were terrible and if you rode anything bigger than a 52mm you must have been a vert skating jock! Big wheels were not cool. By mid 90’s things evened out, 52-54mm were deemed acceptable by the skate world, no colors though and all the same shape! Probably the same shape wheel you are riding now. If you had colored wheels you were very different. This thought blows me away, how could wheels be the same shape for so long? Nobody seemed to care or notice? I certainly didn’t, until they started selling re-issue old school wheels. Powell Peralta was one of the first companies that started selling re-issues. G-bones and rat-bones were some of the best wheels ever made. These wheels were more for cruising though. The reason wheels haven’t changed much is because a huge amount of tricks incorporate some kind of slide, this is why the durometer of wheels are generally 99a-101a being the hardest. A popular durometer for cruising is 78a. Still that’s no excuse for wheels having the same bubble shape for so many years. I’m happy to see some really different wheel shape, colour and durometer coming out, it keeps skating refreshing and fun.
Don’t be afraid to make your skate set-up your own, try new things. Design your own board graphic or do some kind of grip tape design. Try a wider board or softer wheels. Be you, have fun and keep shredding.
– The Captain
