Labeda Addiction mystery

[PeteK 0]

I got new skates with Labeda Addiction wheels on;

First time I took them out for practice (1h), indoor polished concrete tiles rink, they easily felt the best wheels I've ever skated on, I've never experienced such a good grip before.

Second and third timed I played on the hockey plastic tiles with equally excellent grip (ca. 2x 1h).
Fourth time on wooden court, no complaints.

Fifth time I went for a brief 30min practice in an outdoor polished concrete tiles rink (same surface as the indoor concrete tiles rink) and experienced a superb grip also. (I used to play on this rink over summer with my previous wheels/skates and the rink was feeling very slippery (to everyone))

However yesterday, on the same rink as the first time (indoor polished concrete tiles) the wheels had no grip whatsoever and I was sliding all over the place. I even tried cleaning the wheels with paper tissues in case there was some dirt/dust residue on the wheels but that didn't help. It felt the same or even worse than my previous wheels on that same rink.

It really is a mystery to me how the wheels could have lost grip on the very same rink in course of a few weeks / 5 hrs of use.

I'm going to play on the plastic tiles tonight so I'll see how the grip is there.

[althoma1 574]

The Addiction wheels are designed to be used on a Sport Court indoor surface (blue tiles) as are many other high end wheels. Usually once you use sport court wheels on any type of cement they won't grip as well on sport court. For Sport Court, multi-pour wheels like the addictions or other brands top end wheels perform well. A different wheel is recommended to surfaces like smooth cement - in the Labeda lineup the single pour Yellow Grippers are renowned for being great Sport Court wheels.

I only play on Sport Court these days, but ref on both smooth cement and Sport Court. I save my nicer wheels for Sport Court and for cement I use cheaper single pour wheels - using older sport court wheels on cement that you don't intend to use on sport court anymore can also work. There are some people that do use the same wheels on both, but the life and performance of sport court tile wheels will always be lower if you use them on other surfaces.

I know it seems like a pain switching wheels based on surfaces, but if you get a second set of bearings and spacers along with another set of wheels then you can usually make the swap in under 10 minutes. It's popping out bearings and spacers that becomes more time consuming. I actually have two different sets of skates now, but when I only had one I'd do the swap with two sets of wheels, bearings and spacers.

[the_game 452]

I'd be more concerned about using the addictions on a wooden surface, especially depending on what was used to finish the wood. I haven't skated on a wooden surface in ages but I remember some wood floors just killed the grip.

i also agree with going with some single pour wheel on smooth concrete. It's not worth it to risk burning out a high end wheel like the addictions.

[PeteK 0]

I had a practice on a Sport Court yesterday and the grip was very good. (I'm relieved)
The concrete tiles must have been dirty, since many people complained about it being very slippery.