Harder Wheels for more speed on Slower Slopes?

[squareballbuddy]

hey, got my T-board on 9/6/2007, i'm jon from albany, georgia. loving it so far, even posted a video on google titled "one way to mount a t-board." i don't have many hills in my flat city, and i'm thinking some much harder wheels would make it better. mine are the urethane 78a(?) that came with it and i think a urethane more like 90A would be much better for the slow slopes around here, or is that way too hard you think? anybody in southwest georgia? later, jon w.

[adamxg]

I would not suggest using a wheel much harder than the one you are currently using. Because of the "in-line" set-up of the T-Board wheels and the angled turns, a lot of force is put on the wheels during a turn. The harder the wheel, the less traction it will most likely have, the more it will slip out. If you really want a different wheel, though, don't go any harder than, say, an 85A, and that would be better for flatland and slight slopes. Any harder than that, and I don't think the rear wheel will hold enough traction for how the T-Board works. Alternatively, just get some faster bearings for the wheels you already have. I put Bones Swiss 606 that I had laying around into the urethane and indy wheels, and they both go faster now than when I got them.

One more thing, if you are using urethane wheels, practice some power slides (frontside and backside) to aid in shaving off speed and to round ou the square profile of the wheels. Once the sides of the wheels are much more rounded out, they will have better traction because more thane will come in contact with the ground when you turn, as opposed to balancing on the only slightly rounded edge of the wheel. Especially do this if you go with the harder durometer wheel, because you'll need that extra traction.

Abec 11 longboard wheels sells their Grippins model (good for T-Boards, a center-set wheel, much like the ones T gave to you) in many durometers, including an 84A. I'd give them a try if you want the harder durometer. You can buy single wheels from them for $10 each, so you won't have to hack out a bunch of money for four wheels when you only need two.

Good luck riding,
Adamxg