For me 83mm is the same as 97mm wheels. O.k. on 97 you can go over bigger rocks and bla bla bla…
But I’m riding my 83mm wheels sometimes in super bad roads. I’m riding over brunches no problem. Actually I hadn’t found road I cannot ride with my 83mm wheels.
O.k. closer to topic: so bigger wheels have nothing to do with making you feel less speed wobbles. I can suggest you from my own experience. At the beginning I had super soft bushings, even how hard I tightened them board still was curving machine. At 44km/h speed wobbles was scary as fuck, but I managed to fight them of by leaning forward and giving nearly all my weight on front wheels, leaving back leg just very light on board. Other thing is when you have wobbles you can make them stop is curve to one side and they will be gone.
But the most amazing thing how you can still have good turning board but without speed wobbles is: buy good bushings like riptide, get harder ones. I use 95A. Next is: front truck make loose and rear like 2-3 half turns tighter with skate tool. And experiment: start from super loose front and go up to your desire feeling. Just make sure rear trucks are tighter than front. With this set up your board still be able to turn as you like, but no wobbles. Of course work on your stance and power of legs too😉
I definitely felt the difference between 76mm and 97mm. Philly has some crappy roads. And it’s pothole season. Ive been looking at those bushings. A few others said I should get some.
I’ll probably need to make some mud guards with my wheels. 1 thing that was confusing me is which riptide bushings I should get. I know which durometer but there are a bunch of different shapes to choose from.
Get standard size barrel, there are also tall barrels in shop, don’t take them, standard size is what you are lookin for. Now you need to decide go with barrel/barrel set up or with barrel/cone?! I tried barrel/cone set up and now I’ll be testing barrel/barrel set up. Barrel/cone is less stable in theory, I’ll test tomorrow and will see.
If you need help with bushings talk to Brad from riptide in the “bushing set up” thread, I mean you can’t get any better than talking to the guy who makes them!
I feel like I don’t have enough info for him. I don’t actually know how it will rude with my truck/wheel changes. I haven’t even tried tightening the back and loosening the front yet.
He is the pro Sapphi, I’d let him make that decision.
Have a read of the topic and give him what you can. Likely he might save you money in not having to try a zillion combinations to get your setup right. We really are lucky to have him here helping.
Brad has already seen and liked my post suggesting you ask him in his “bushing set up” thread so I think it is fair to say he is happy to help you.
Not gonna lie, machining that out of AL is gonna be hard and expensive. The endmill alone is $30. The 3/4" aluminum block is gonna be spendy too, $35 a shot for an 8"x8"x3/4" piece of 6061. Then there’s the machine time. This is a multi-operation piece. roughing the outer shape and pocketing the inner circles with a larger endmill, then moving to the smaller one for the teeth. Just gonna be a long time.
Oh, and weight. It’s gonna weigh about two pounds all by itself, which is the opposite direction of where you want to go. - lighter
have you considered those versapulleys? At $6 seems like it would be worth a try before moving on to a super custom part.
to answer the topic tittle, a park deck has tiny wheels cause a low COG is stable, big wheels go over rough terrain better than small wheels but are not more stable on a groomed surface…
Foot fatigue and vibrations are annoying. Though wheels would be one of the last things I would change to counter that. First would be decent skateshoes. There are a lot out there. I love my oldschool high top vans pro model. Good dampers already in. Next step: Get some proper vibration dampening insoles for your shoes. Usually found in specialist trekking stores or in random skateshops. Secondly put 2 brake soles underneath your shoes, prevents destryoing them and dampens it even more, will still give you enough feel (some are crappy and usless and are super slippery). Added bonus you stick on your griptape, mine are just old racing slick tires chopped and sliced then put under my shoes.
If all that isn’t enough try vibration dampening hard foam. Lay it under the griptape. With all that you ride on a cloud even with 82a + wheels.
I love my Gilbert Crockett Pro Mid wish they still made them… I gotta sand the sole even and replace it with a Roger Bros soon… I wish I had put an alternative sole on when they were new so I’d have a perpetual fresh flat mating surface Everytime I needed a new sole
I have a couple nice pairs of skate shoes. I switched those when I first had vibration issues with the hub motors way back when. I specifically want bigger wheels since it’s pothole season and they’re everywhere. Actually I got 2 flat tires on my car on Tuesday… Roads are crappy right now. It happens every year from the Salt and snow.
I come from an online skate/trick skate background. My trick skate wheels were always more similar to skateboard wheels but I could slide/slip easier. Way less grip but I used it to my advantage. My other pair of skates were your typical thin skate wheels but they were way more grippy and smooth riding. They were great at skating rinks or even using them to street skate to the skatepark. I was thinking that would transfer well to the commuter board.
I worked/lived in Filthadelphia for some years. It’s terrible the time of year. Come down south the roads actually get taken care of down here.