wheels upgrade for 10 year old?

[fussellino 2]

I bought my son(10 yr old) a pair of Baur xr60 skates that he will get for xmas, they came with a set of hi-lo HL1 wheels 76a. I found one review of them and it wasnt good..any one have any opinions on these for a wood rink floor? or should I upgrade to another wheel?

Thx

[cookieduster35 0]

Honestly, unless he's skating like Crosby or so I would't worry too much about them. Starting out I used Hyper Edge's and they weren't good but they worked. What is his skill level? I mean you could upgrade to a wheel such as the Labeda Milleniums. Or do what I did and just ebay some Hyper Unity / Trinity and usually find a set of 8 for around $25-30.

[fussellino 2]

Crosby he is not, but he can cut sharp turns on his edges and hockey stop well. He had a set of 74a grippers on his last pair of skates which were good for a while but the top layer of urethane peeled off after about 20 games on half the wheels... maybe a set of 76a milleniums if these hi-lo wheels have any issues. Now how big of a deal is it that on IW's website it reccomends sport court surface for milleniums since he plays on a maple wood rink?

[rjk 13]

if he is skating on wood, especially if it is varnished then you should really avoid soft or tiled wheels as any turn will start to tear the urethane.

perhaps a med softness gripper suitable for his weight.

maybe even a softer outdoor wheel would be more durable.

[Wicked3Aussie 68]

I skate mostly on wood and see the results of a lot of beginners using them.

They're quite slippery for the wooden surface(better outdoors on concrete) and the tend to wear out really quickly.

An upgrade would definitely be a good idea just for durability sake.

All the young ones at my rink are mostly using world cups, conflict, theft and revision variant varieties.

At least you'd also have the hilos there for outdoor skates.

[Vet88 673]

Those Hi Los aren't great, I'd recommend the 76a in grippers, world cups or thefts.

[fussellino 2]

Is there much difference between grippers or RR thefts? can get a better deal on grippers right now.

[Vet88 673]

Not a lot of difference, the grippers are a good wheel and if you can get them at a better price then go for it.

[gokdog 11]

I also have a young player about that age, and also use Mission/Bauer hi-lo setup. We have had really good look with both the Millenium Gripper and most recently the higher performance Dynasty 3.

In the end you get what you pay for, and as such the Dynasty wheels have for a few bucks more performed better and lasted longer. That said, My son is a great skater, and I wanted to go "big" to see if it helped, it did.

He still uses the grippers for Rec league and such, with no issues, again both are great wheels.

[fussellino 2]

I did buy him some 76a (white) grippers. They roll better and grip better than the hi-lo wheels he says. I bought a set set of world cups for me in 80mm... wow they roll well! grip doesn't seems as good as the shooters I have on the wood floor but they are faster.

[Justin 1933 134]

Check out this for our recommendations:

http://labeda.com/choosing-the-correct-wheels/

[fussellino 2]

Ok good chart... but what I dont get is what is the actual difference between the wheels that are made for "sport court,tile only" and the one that can be used for "wood, roll on".. etc, and what happens to them if you use them on the opposite surfaces?

[Vet88 673]

The difference between them is how they are made - multi pour (different hardness of urethane layered on top of each other), different hardness and urethane construction.

The sport court, tile only recommended wheel (generally a multi pour wheel) will give too much grip on a wood, roll on surface and they will wear very quickly (chunk out, split, peel off the hub etc).

Whilst you can use the wheels recommended for wood, roll on floor (generally a single pour and much harder wheel) on a sports court, tiled surface you do not get as much grip hence will slip more.