Wheel-Diameter:
Higher = more top speed but sluggish in acceleration.
Lower = better acceleation and agility but less top speed.
Wheel-Width:
Wider = more grip, more stability but less speed, danger to stick together, sluggish, less suitable for Plow- and Hockeystops.
Narrower = less grip, more overturning moment, more speed, less danger to stick together, agile, responsive, better suitable for Hockey- and Plowstops.
Hub-Diameter in relation to overall diameter of the wheel:
Bigger hub and less urethane = less grip but more speed and much more direct and agile, better for Hockey- and Plowstops.
Smaller hub and more urethane = more grip, more comfort, less speed, less feeling, less agility, less sitffness, less suitable for Hockey- and Plowstops, forgiving bad technique on Cross-Overs.
Urethane hardness:
Harder = faster on straight but less grip in turns. Less grip in turns makes your skating slower in general. The more grippy and clean the floor, the harder your wheel can be - means when there is enough grip on the track you should go for a hard wheel to be faster.
Softer = slower on straight but definitely more grip in turns. You can better accelerate when coming out of a turn, but loose speed on straights. It is much more strenuously. The more slippy and dirty the floor, the softer your wheel should be.
A low quality urethane wheel (like most OEM wheels) has less grip, less rebound and less speed. The wheels which we offer as aftermarket sales have in general a much better urethane quality. So you will realize a big difference between the OEM and the aftermarket wheels from the first second.
Hub(Core)-Flex/Hardness:
The more flexibility the hub has, the slower the wheel is on straights, but on the other hand the more grip you'll have in turns and while pushing. The bearing moves in softer hubs what makes the wheel slower and wears the bearing out.
The harder the hub, the faster the wheel. Important: This is only valid for wheels with high quality urethane and high rebound.
Lip:
In case the wheel comes with a lip: The wider and flexy the lip is, the more grip has your wheel. A lip also makes the wheel forgiving bad technique on Cross-Overs.
Weight of the wheel:
General rule: The bigger the wheel, the heavier it is. On 8 wheels you'll notice a difference between small light wheels and big heavy wheels. Heavier = sluggish and less agile. But on the other hand a heavy wheel will keep the speed longer.
Weight of the skater:
The heavier and taller the skater, the harder the wheel should be. Often tall and heavy skaters feel more comfortable on wider wheels. That's the result of more stability in turns.
The smaller and lighter the skater is, the softer the wheels should be.
The surface and hardness recommendations in our online shop relate to the average weight of 65kgs. So if you weight only 45kgs you can go for 1-2A softer. If you weight 85kgs for example you can go for 1-2A harder.
The main problems at Roller Derby:
The jammer is constantly making turns, has to be super fast and agile. Too much grip makes her tired and slow. Too less grip makes her insecure in turns and tired because of the constat balance problem.
The skater in the pack (according to size and weight) prefers on average a wide steady wheel with grip. Certainly a lot of pack skaters uses also a compact wheel to be more agile. That makes it possible to switch between jammer and pack position.
Skater that switchs between jammer and pack has to find the right compromise.
On straights you'll always have too less hardness and speed and in turns you'll always miss grip.
Important: The perfect wheel for all belongings doesn't exist. But you can adjust your setup perfectly to the floor and the respective need. For more information about that check our wheel combination page.
RDH-Recommendation: The look and colour of a wheels shouldn't be important when choosing a new wheel (even it's not quite easy). Functionality, quality and the right combination should be in the reason for your decision. Because when the setup works with your style of skating, you'll definitely have more success and fun! ;-)
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