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A California-based company has a new kind of wheel for skateboards that delivers a novel shape and claims a special ride experience. This is the Shark Wheel, not circular, not square, but something more interesting. The wheels appear as square when in motion from a side view but the wheel geometry is more than that. The wheels feel circular to the rider, and viewing them along with more details may help to clear the mystique. The wheels are made of three strips each; these create a helical shape when they roll, and they form a sine wave pattern. When the wheels make contact with the ground, good things happen, say the team behind the wheels - the user gets speed, better grip, and a smoother ride.
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Shark Wheel to Reinvent Skateboarding Experience
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(Score: 3, Interesting) by el_oscuro on Sunday May 25 2014, @01:06AM
I have actually performed a controlled experiment on this and while I wasn't sure before, I am now:
Your wheels have by far the biggest impact on your speed.
On the same board, with the the same trucks and bearings (Bones Swiss), I tested 3 wheels:
1. Bones Street XFS (55mm, typical small hard wheels that most popsicle boards have)
2. Rat Bones black (60mm, 85a, medium hardness and size)
3. Sims B52s (65mm, 96a) hard old school wheels that skaters like Tony Hawk and Christian Hosoi used to use
The hill I used was the parking lot into the skatepark with a frontside turn at the end. A quick push then coast down the hill into the turn. Both the Bones Street XFS and Sims performed about the same, getting up to about 10mph and then slowing to a stop at a small drainage ditch at the end of the turn.
The Rat Bones couldn't be more different. I hit 10mph quickly and kept accelerating all the way down and into the turn. Instead a gentle roll to a stop, I am at considerable speed and am still accelerating. A hard frontside carve is required to keep from flying off into the bush, and I am hoping to avoid wheelbite. Now having completed the 180 turn, I still have almost all my speed and the drainage ditch looms. I am able to get over it but feels like when you bottom out your suspension in a car. Now going uphill, I ollie a curb, entering the park and still have enough speed to do a little rocky off the volcano near the park entrance.
Same hill, same bearings, same board. The only difference between a lazy cruise where you can chat on your cell phone and a full out carving run is the wheels.
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(Score: 2) by Tork on Sunday May 25 2014, @02:26AM
That was interesting, thank you!
Slashdolt Logic: "25 year old jokes about sharks and lasers are +5, Funny." 💩