Wheel for a variety of outdoor surfaces?

[chelster 0]

This past weekend I played in a tournament at an outdoor rink here in Mexico, and I had a lot of trouble stopping and turning because the surface was smooth concrete. Apparently the rink wasn't completely finished and they still have to put some sort of covering on the surface so that there is a little more grip. Everyone was sliding all over the place. I played our first game with my Labeda Asphalt wheels which are super hard 84a. My team normally practices on rough concrete so the Asphalts work fine for that and they last a long time which I like, but on the smooth concrete, I really felt off balance. My wheels were actually making screeching sounds and slipping out from under me which they never do on rough concrete. I had some old Hyper Formula G wheels with me that I used to use on Sport Court many years ago, and I switched to them for the last three games. They seemed to help a bit, but still they weren't really ideal for the conditions. From what I understand though smooth concrete seems to just suck for skating and no wheels are really perfect for it, but it got me thinking, maybe I should get some sort of all purpose wheel for tournaments so that I don't have so much trouble with the skating surface at tournaments. All the tournaments here are played on outdoor rinks, but the surfaces vary a bit from place to place. So I don't think my Asphalt wheels are really the best choice for all of them. Can anyone recommend something relatively durable with a good amount of grip that would work on a variety of outdoor surfaces? I'm more interested in performance than durability since I'd probably only use them for tournaments. Or maybe a combination of different wheels would work best? My skates are old Mission Proto VS's with the Penetrator Hi-Lo chassis (80mm in the back and 72mm up front), and I'm about 5'7" and 125 -130 pounds if that makes a difference. Thanks!

[glu 1]

This past weekend I played in a tournament at an outdoor rink here in Mexico, and I had a lot of trouble stopping and turning because the surface was smooth concrete. Apparently the rink wasn't completely finished and they still have to put some sort of covering on the surface so that there is a little more grip. Everyone was sliding all over the place. I played our first game with my Labeda Asphalt wheels which are super hard 84a. My team normally practices on rough concrete so the Asphalts work fine for that and they last a long time which I like, but on the smooth concrete, I really felt off balance. My wheels were actually making screeching sounds and slipping out from under me which they never do on rough concrete. I had some old Hyper Formula G wheels with me that I used to use on Sport Court many years ago, and I switched to them for the last three games. They seemed to help a bit, but still they weren't really ideal for the conditions. From what I understand though smooth concrete seems to just suck for skating and no wheels are really perfect for it, but it got me thinking, maybe I should get some sort of all purpose wheel for tournaments so that I don't have so much trouble with the skating surface at tournaments. All the tournaments here are played on outdoor rinks, but the surfaces vary a bit from place to place. So I don't think my Asphalt wheels are really the best choice for all of them. Can anyone recommend something relatively durable with a good amount of grip that would work on a variety of outdoor surfaces? I'm more interested in performance than durability since I'd probably only use them for tournaments. Or maybe a combination of different wheels would work best? My skates are old Mission Proto VS's with the Penetrator Hi-Lo chassis (80mm in the back and 72mm up front), and I'm about 5'7" and 125 -130 pounds if that makes a difference. Thanks!

For a variety of smoother outdoor surface i've had good luck with the Labeda Shooters (78A).. but if you're practicing on rough concrete that might not work so well. They're relatively cheap though.

[usurhc 0]

Keep a set of wheels, (it doesn't really matter the brand) Hyper, Rat Rink, Labeda, etc, that have a lower durometer rating (either 76A or 78A). This will help a ton for those times when you have to play on a surface smoother than what you are used to playing on.