Mixing wheels of different durometers

[hockeydad3 51]

What`s the advantage of mixing wheels of different durometers?

And what do you prefer?

Two soft wheels in the middle or two hard wheels in the middle? Two soft wheels in  the front or in the back?

[JSchultz 27]

Isn't this sort of what Revision did with their flex wheel?

 

I remember Mission doing this with he Proto VSI vibe chassis edition too. 

[JSchultz 27]

[Vet88 674]

It depends on what you are after, more speed, more grip, more durability... But there is always a trade off, eg you might get more speed but less grip. I used to mix depending on the surface I was playing on, not only hardness but different brands and types of wheels. imho what you pay is what you get in wheels, in the end I stopped mixing and settled on whatever was the best wheel for me, Addictions, Rink Rats, Revision Gold, Pures etc and then just worried about the right hardness for the surface I was skating on.

[shoot_the_goalie 287]

Back when I used to play roller a lot more (I barely play now), I used to use smaller mm front and back wheels to mimic the rocker of an ice skate blade as much as I could.  I would also use Swiss bearings for the middle two wheels and like ABEC 5 or 7 on the front and back wheels. Not sure how much benefit the latter gave, but the different size wheels definitely were noticeable.  As far as wheel hardness, I typically used soft wheels when playing roller for better response to the surface.  I typically didn't change wheel hardness depending on surface just because.  When I would inline for exercise (anyone do this anymore...lol?), I would use very hard wheels, all the same size, all with Swiss bearings since I wanted those to feel more like speed skates.