Wheels on Smooth Concrete?

[henryb 4]

I have found a few interesting pieces of information that I thought that I would share with the rest of you. I play Roller Hockey in Canada, just east of Toronto. We use indoor ice hockey rinks after the ice has been taken out. The surface is smooth concrete. In general it is fairly even, but there are varying degree's of grip around the floor.

I have always thought that the softer the wheel, the better your grip would be! The fact is that is not exactly true for concrete floors. I have a pair of Bauer RX:60's with Red Addiction wheels, maybe one of the softest and grippiest wheels on the market (I'm sure some would argue that point, but certainly they are at a minimum a very good solid wheel).

Well on smooth concrete, they slip around like no tomorrow! I ordered a pair of Orange Addictions, which is a harder compound and they are better for sure, certainly fast, easy rolling. But the grip is not as good as I have had before, with basic Gripper's.

I talked to Rob at Labeda about this and he indicated that his experience has shown exactly that. Concrete floors are very susceptable to atmospheric conditions, temperature, barometer, humidity, etc. They have dust that seems to come off and statically cling to certain types of wheels? Anyways, he has found that single density wheels, such as the Gripper, in medium or just soft are really the best performers for such surfaces.

I would like to hear what other people have found about grip on these types of surfaces?

[sandlane 0]

sounds like it makes sense.. ive only played on tile in recent yrs but do remember getting extra slide on my stops when playing on a smooth concretelike surface. ive always used 76a's

[davidc 0]

i've been using some really old labeda grippers and have had good luck. just ordered some T8's and some more grippers to use together.