Tips to Buy Roller Skating Wheels

Are you going to buy a new set of wheels for your skates? Ever wondered which wheels your skates need while skating indoor or outdoor!  So, let’s start as we are sharing easy to understand tips to buy roller skating wheels to find out which roller skating wheels are best fit why?

There are different types of roller skating wheels available for you to choose but which one is the right one is the question of concern. Because wheels are one of the most important parts of your skate which you cannot ignore while buying a skate.

It sometimes becomes hard for parents to choose the right wheels due to lack of information or maybe because the skating products are not easily available at the local store. Today we are going to share about types of wheels, their size, and hardness and which wheel is the best suitable for a newbie or professional skaters. Let’s start with the 1st tip to buy roller skating wheels in India.

Wheel Hardness

Often people ignore the age of the skater while choosing skates and its wheels. Few wheels are specifically designed for teen skaters who are above 14 years of age. It would be better to choose lightweight wheels like this for kids who are just starting out. These wheels are built for coated synthetic or kota stone tracks and for other cemented tracks choose hardness like this.

Why does it matter like which hardness to choose? The answer to this question is that wheels hardness decides the speed of your skate on indoor or outdoor tracks. A soft wheel with hardness from 78A to 85A like the picture in the left is perfect for outdoor asphalt, concrete or uncoated surface than softer wheels of 78A-85A hardness are a good selection, why? because softer wheels will give you better gripping and much softer ride on a concrete surface. One can always start with a 78A or 80A hardness wheels.

On the other hand, harder wheels are good for the indoor tighter, smooth and synthetic coated surfaces like the one we see at the national level venues (Vishakhapatnam or Belgaum). Hard wheels will provide less grip and more speed. The advanced skater will always choose hard wheels for the smooth, coated synthetic surfaces as they know they need better speed and lesser grip on that kind of tracks. It’s not that one cannot skate on coated tracks with softer wheels but obviously, it won’t give the results one look for but it is not a choice of professional skaters out there.

Also the type of hardness is more available in quad roller skate wheels instead of inline skate wheels. In inline skating wheels, there is only 3 type of hardness.

Firm and X Firm are considered to be the softer wheels while XX Firm is considered to be the hard wheels.

1. Firm – 83A (Softer)
2. X Firm – 85A (Softer +)
3. XX Firm – 87A (Hard)

So it is very clear from above information, that the wheels are selected based on the track we skate on.

Wheel Size

Ok, we already learned which wheel hardness to select from, now it’s time to discuss wheel size and which wheels are best fit for your skates. You must have noticed some numbers written on the wheels like 62, 65, 66 etc along with 78A, 80A … where 78A or 80A depicts the hardness of the wheels, 62, 65, 66 shows the height of the wheel. The wheel is measured as

Height X Width

But only the height and hardness is shown on the wheels and not the width and same is the case with inline wheels. The height is measured in mm… For example; 62mm, 66mm, 100mm, 110mm etc.

Logically, the smaller wheel will always allow for a faster acceleration while the larger wheels takes time to accelerate but does it matter in quad roller skate wheels?

The answer according to me is NO; it doesn’t matter in accordance with quad wheels if you are using a 62mm wheel size or 66mm … difference of 4mm will not be of much concern if you have a power in your legs and has a good start in skating but it might matter for a fraction of seconds if you have a competitor same as of your caliber.

Normally the roller skating wheels used are between 60mm-66mm in roller speed skating, but YES; it can be a matter of concern if you are rolling on inline wheels because the difference in diameter is more than a quad wheels.

In India, the size of the inline roller skate wheel is based on the age of the skater like the skaters aged under 14 years will wear 100mm wheels and all above will wear 110mm wheels and for marathon, the wheel size is 125 whereas there is no criteria set for quad roller wheels.

In India, there is no option left to choose for wheel size (height) as the criteria of choosing wheels have already been set by RSFI (Roller Skating Federation of India) and it is going to be mandatory from the year 2020.

Young and new skaters should use the beginner’s skates to learn the skating before choosing the 100mm professional inline skates.

Wheel Hub

This is another factor to consider while buying a speed skating wheels. The hub put a great impact on wheel’s speed. Hub is the one that hold the bearings and make skate roll. The 3 types are

1. Nylon Hub
2. Aluminum Hub
3. Hollow Core

Nylon hubs are less in weight and cheaper than other hubs. One can find these hubs in most of the wheels. Even Atom Poison uses the nylon hub but still a very popular wheel in India. In most of the softer wheels, nylon hub is found. The aluminum cores are quite strongest and most expensive of the three core types.

There are number of different wheels available as per needs of the skaters and I hope that from the above article, it would be easier for your to buy roller skating wheels for your kids or for yourself. Even if you have some doubt, you can always ask us using the contact us form and will try to help you decide the wheels to buy. But if you ask my recommendation, I have listed few wheels below in both category (Quad and Inline).

Quad Roller Skating Wheels

1. Atom Poison: These are the most used wheels in India and treated as the best wheels of all time.  The hardness of the wheels is 78A which is softer and can be used on un-coated, cemented track and on road also. But beware of the duplicates available in the market. So always buy from a reputed person or website.
2.  Slipway Dragon: Slowly but definitely spreading its wings into the Indian market. The hardness of the wheel is 80A and the size is 66mm x 38mm. Again a softer wheel but good choice for outdoor uncoated cemented tracks and for roads as well.
3. Slipway Black Eyes: Definitely a choice of professional skaters in hard wheels category. The hardness of the wheel is 98A and the size is 62x44mm. The The wheels are good for hard, tight, kota stone and synthetic surfaces but not for roads.
4. Cannible Hyper Skate Wheels: Hyper Cannibal Wheels are hand poured in the USA. Cold pour race urethane are used in the making of the wheel, with an aluminum hub. Good gripping of the wheel makes it a choice among skaters.

Inline Speed Skate Wheels

1. BlackMagic: It is the most trusted brand when it comes to inline skating wheels. Not even in India but internationally, very recognized brand which most professional skaters use. Comes in all variants like 90mm, 100mm, 110mm and 125mm with all types of hardness Firm, XFirm and XXFirm.
2. G13: Another great wheel in the same category. The only thing you need to decided is the size and the hardness of the wheel.
3. Simmons Rana Arma: The hardness of the wheel is 86A which is X firm+ and good for un coated smooth surface and roads.

Hope I am able to clear most of your doubts but still you are unaware of wheels to buy, don’t hesitate to contact us. If you think that I need to add/amend some more points, do let us know .. Will be happy to revise the article. Also please share this article with your friends so that we can have their views as well (TIA).

Header Image Credit: Ryan McGuire from Pixabay