New Wheels - What Durometer?

[althoma1 574]

Hey, I have done a search and read through some of the durometer related posts, but was hoping I could get some specific advice. As most of you know 1800faceoff is having a moving sale so I thought I'd take advantage and pick up some new wheels, but I'm not sure what durometer I should get. Currently I'm skating with VForce boots and a comp rocker chassis with all 76A Rink Rat Blue Flame wheels. I have a 76mm 72mm 76mm 76mm setup. I used the wheels for the first time last Sunday and one of them cracked (the second last 76mm on the right skate). I already emailed Mike Hunt about that, but I think I may need a harder durometer wheel.

I read on some of the rocker posts to use the grippiest wheel possible which is part of the reason I went with the 76A durometer. I do like the grip and I actually got better speed with those then with my old wheels (I was using 76A Kuzak indoor wheels in the front and back, brand new, an old Labeda 72mm Gripper lite as the second wheel and an old Red Star Sniper as the third wheel - and I was slipping a lot and felt much slower than on ice or with the rink rats) On the updated Rink Rat sight I see that they say a lot of pros use a 76A up front, two 78A's in the middle and an 80A in the back and make adjustments depending on the surface and if they like more turning ability ect. However, on the Revision site they have the wheel matrix that suggests for a combo setup for people over 200lbs has the two hardest wheels in the middle and two mid-duro wheels at the back and front.

I play in a recreational mens league in the A division (there's A, B and C as well as women, youth ect). All of the games are either on Sport Court or Spider Court. I'm 6'2" and weigh around 200lbs (sometimes just over and sometimes just under, but consistently within 10 pounds of 200) and play forward.

If I pick up some Rink Rat Hot Shots while they're on sale (I'd go with the Hornets but they only have the 76A durometer on 1800faceoff and the MB816 wheels are only available in 76A durometer for 76mm wheels and 76A and 78A for 72mm wheels) what set up would people recommend? 76A in front, 78A in the middle, and 80A at the back? or 78A at the front and back and 80A in the middle? Or something else? I'll probably pick up a bunch of wheels while they're on sale, but want to make sure I pick up the right durometer.

The durometer is my primary concern, but if you also have advice on the rocker setup I'd be interested in that too. I've played a few years with all 76mm, but played with a 72mm in the 3rd spot last year and in the second spot this year. I was previously using Nike Ignites with a 9 foot rocker for ice, but then switched to Vector Pros and now I'm skating in KOR shift 1's with an 11 foot rocker which is why I tried to more closely mimic my ice radius...the thing is I'm not really sure which is the BEST radius for ice or roller as I seem to be able to adapt fine to all of them. I've been able to skate on 9, 10, and 11 foot radius's and don't notice that much difference other than turns do seem a bit tighter with the 9 foot radius and at first when I used the 9 foot radius it felt like there wasn't enough blade on the ice and then when I switched to 11 it felt like there was too much, but after a few games I just adjusted. Is there any ideal radius for a guy my size? I've been playing hockey for over 20 years and am usually considered one of the stronger skaters on my teams (but never really played above select and Mens B league in ice and A division in roller so that's not saying that much), but I've never had a custom radius because I really don't know what I should be getting. I know a longer radius is supposed to give more speed and stability and a shorter radius allows for tighter turns at the expense of some speed and stability.

Anyway, to anyone who made it through this mammoth post thank you for taking the time. My primary concern is durometer at this point, but radius/wheel setup opinions are also welcome.

[CSW1618 5]

revisions- if you do decide to go with the revisions.. the site is a very good way to decide. the wheel setups are created with the softer wheels in the back and front so you dont slip.. although you make think a harder wheel in the front and back wheel slot would work better this is probably not true(im sure there are **some people with different experiences) the softer wheel in front allows more flex for the push off. The back wheel should be soft for maximum grip and turning.. once again the flex of the wheel

[althoma1 574]

Thanks for the feedback..it's appreciated. The wheel matrix on the revision site does seem helpful. It's just the Rink Rat site suggest using a different type of setup...I was wondering if anyone had tried the setup found half way down this page http://www.rinkrat.com/wheeloptions.htm with the "Inside Story" article and had any feedback on that as well. I'd love to of course try every wheel and all kinds of durometer setups myself, but I'm not in the industry or a pro so don't have access to free product and I'm not made of money. I do see that the two most popular brands of wheels on this site are Rink Rat and Revision. It's why I bought the Rink Rat wheels I'm using now - and they did perform better than any wheel I've used on sport court before...that is until the one wheel almost fell apart - I know they shouldn't do that, but I'm also a pretty big guy using low durometer wheels. This is the one wheel after one game:

I do realize that issues can happen with any brand of wheel (although while I've had wheels chunk and lose grip over time I haven't had any basically split from the hub after one game before), but I want to minimize the chance of that happening in the future while at the same time maintaining good grip and speed.

[RINK RAT 15 0]

Hey Guys,

The blue flame was dis-continued over a year ago, It has been replaced by the new MB816.

Our wheel set up (76A on the front, 78A in the middle and 80A on the back is what most pro's and elite players prefer. This set up may not work for you. The beauty of the Tri Duro set up is you can mix and match to find what works for you!

We have tested these different setups on skaters around the world, and it has been widely accepted.

If you haven't tried the Tri Duro set up give it a try.

Thanks guys!

Mike

Rink Rat

Skate the Worlds best wheel, Rink Rat!

[narwhal 0]

How does using a harder wheel in the back one or two positions increase stopping ability?

[WAMPS19 0]

Think about it, when you stop, the bigger wheels in the back along with the fact that most of your weight is on the heel. You want harder wheels because of that extra weight. You will tear up softer wheels if they are in the back.

[TBLfan 25]

I have the same durometer on all my wheels(84A, playing outdoor), and my back wheels wear a lot faster than any of the other wheels.

[althoma1 574]

I can see how using a harder wheel at the back would be better for durability, but not sure why it would be better for stopping - wouldn't you want a softer wheel at the back for more grip stopping? Having the lower durometer wheel at the front for grip in pushing off makes logical sense to me, but by the same logic having a lower durometer wheel at the back would seem to make sense with two harder or mid-durometer wheels in the middle for speed. This is just what it seems like to me on paper, but if Rink Rat has done testing for the setup with the hard rear wheel in the back and have had success and some pro level players like it there must be some good reason...and if players who may be sponsered are using it durability probably isn't the primary concern - there would have to be a performance reason.

[CSW1618 5]

idk.. i use a softer back wheel and front wheel for pushoffs and turning this makes the wheels flex more and give you a closer and tighter turn

[TBLfan 25]

how about we settle it on being personal preference?

[CSW1618 5]

TBLFAN- thats exactly what it is. Its 100% personal preference. Try all the set ups you want.. all the wheels you want.. w/e works is what you should use

[Jim A 4]

I really liked the Rocker chassis when I had it ..but there wasn't a wheel on the market at the time in which I didn't develop flat spots/dent/blowout quickly on a middle wheel (10 ft radius mostly 76A this was early RR and pre-Revision) and I had to go back to the hi-lo...I found that playing on some of the smaller rinks in SoCal (C2C, Skatezone) really made it worse..than when I had the chance to play at Irvine, etc

[althoma1 574]

I decided to purchase some Rink Rat Hot Shots while they were on sale at 1800faceoff - I would've went with the Hornets, but they only had the 62/76A durometer. I purchased 4 76mm Orange 62/78A wheels, 4 76mm Sliver/Yellow 62/80A wheels and 2 72mm Silver/Yellow 62/80A wheels. I figure those along with the Rink Rat 76mm and 72mm Blue Flame Wheels I already have 62/76A will allow me to experiment and see what works best for me.

I think I'll try the 80A hotshots in the middle 2 spots and the 78A's in the front and the back to start and go from there. I do love the grip I'm getting with the 76A Blue Flames (and none of the wheels gave me problems in my second game), but I don't slide at all in those...so I want to see if using a harder durometer will allow me to gain some speed without loosing too much grip and sliding all over the place. I realize the hot shots use standard bearings and the Blue Flames are mini hub wheels so if I mixed those wheels I would be mixing bearing types...hopefully the all Hot Shot set up works out when they arrive and in the meantime I'm pretty happy with the Blue Flame Setup as long as another wheel doesn't crap out on me - so far it was only the one wheel though and none of the others show much wear at all after 2 games.

[Cheechoo 0]

I can see how using a harder wheel at the back would be better for durability, but not sure why it would be better for stopping - wouldn't you want a softer wheel at the back for more grip stopping? Having the lower durometer wheel at the front for grip in pushing off makes logical sense to me, but by the same logic having a lower durometer wheel at the back would seem to make sense with two harder or mid-durometer wheels in the middle for speed. This is just what it seems like to me on paper, but if Rink Rat has done testing for the setup with the hard rear wheel in the back and have had success and some pro level players like it there must be some good reason...and if players who may be sponsered are using it durability probably isn't the primary concern - there would have to be a performance reason.

Grip and stopping ability are not the same thing. Grip is what you need when the wheel is spinning while your making a turn and you don't want it to slip out sideways. When you're stopping, your wheels aren't turning, but they are sliding sideways. I find that less grip is better for stopping because you can control the sideways motion better, like on ice skates.