The Wheel Review
Didn't have to wait that long, did you?
Ok. I started the evening on the Scotts as they are my go to wheel for Lloyd's. I haven't been there for a couple months so I wanted to use something familiar to get used to the floor. About 10 laps and it was time to change.
First up, the Atom Lanzini Skins. First thing I noticed is that these wheels are a fair bit lighter than the Scotts. They have a plastic hub and they are 6mm narrower. Second thing I noticed is they had a soft ride. Not a lot of floor feedback, which was actually quite nice. The softness also translated into a harder push to get that feedback I was looking for while accelerating, and although they did allow me to accelerate slightly quicker than I'm used to, I really had to work to maintain speed. The Skins did have the perfect amount of grip on the floor, I could push to my heart's content without losing traction, but hockey stop and powerslide on demand. Nice. This particular set of Skins does suffer from my biggest wheel pet peeve. They are way out of round. Hmm, instead of out of round, I suspect the rolling surface of the wheel is not concentric to the bearing bore. It felt like I was rolling over train tracks. Nothing a trip to the lathe wouldn't fix, but I really don't think I need to machine brand new wheels.
Next up, Atom Jukes. This set is much better as far as concentricity goes. Not perfect, but pretty darn close. These wheels get up to speed quickly, being 59mm tall, but man did I ever have to work to maintain speed. This wheel is very slow. Any gain in acceleration you may get is kind of pointless if you need to work really hard to maintain. They have good grip, and I was able to push without losing traction, and hockey stop and powerslide at will. The short wheel also had me feeling more balanced? I had wondered about that and was pleasantly surprised. Oh, these wheels are also very light.
Radar Bullets. Very smooth wheel. Had better free roll (when not striding) than the Skins and Jukes. They had very good concentricity with just a bit of bumpy feel. I'm pretty particular about this and I think it would go unnoticed by most skaters. These wheels gripped better than the Jukes and Skins. I could still hockey stop, but more effort was required. I could get a great push, but the lack of lip and seemingly larger radius on the outside edge of the wheel felt really strange while crossing over. Good acceleration, and that same feeling of balance that the Jukes exhibited. This wheel seemed to be the lightest of the 3.
Back to the Scotts. These wheels are HEAVY compared to the other 3 sets. They have a removable aluminum hub, and a lot of urethane to make up the tire. They have as close to perfect concentricity as possible, as each wheel is cut by Scott Corey (the manufacturer) before they ship. They also seem to roll forever. My guess is that because they are heavy, they act like little flywheels. Grip was about the same as the Skins and Jukes, good long push without slipping, but easy to bust loose for that hockey stop or powerslide. I really like a lip for going fast. In Derby, people complain that a wide wheel will get you tangled up with other skaters, but I haven't had that problem.