Speed Skate Wheels

Speed Skate Wheels

Skate Wheels: Understanding The Durometer Scale

Durometer? What's it all about? You'll likely encounter this word a number of times when choosing skate wheels. And with an alien word like this, it's easy to get confused. When you're confused, some sellers of skate wheels could take advantage of your confusion to sell you expensive wheels that you don't really need.

That's why we're going to tell you what a durometer scale is. That way, you'll be armed with more information to make choosing skate wheels an easier task. Plus, we'll show you how it relates to getting the best skate wheels.

What is a Durometer Scale?

First off, let's define what a durometer is. As big as the word sounds, it's simply a scale for checking the hardness of a particular material. With a scale to refer to, buyers of these materials will have an easier time choosing the type of hardness that works best for them.

What's called a durometer scale consists of two parts. The first one is a number, followed by a letter. The numbers refer to the hardness of a material used. As a rule of thumb, the bigger the number, the harder the material is.

Meanwhile, the letter indicates the density of the material, with ‘A’ being the least dense, and ‘D’ being the densest. Skateboarding wheels use the A scale. So when choosing skate wheels, you’ll immediately know that an 95a wheel is harder than an 80a wheel.

How the Durometer Scale Relates to Skate Wheels

As we mentioned earlier, understanding the durometer scale makes it easy for you to choose skate wheels. But how? Depending on the type of skating you’ll be doing, the harder or softer the wheel you choose will affect your performance. With the durometer scale in mind, you’ll know immediately what kind of performance you’re going to get from a particular type of skate wheel.

Take for example a wheel that’s rated a 101a. Simply looking at the figures will tell you that that’s a very hard skate wheel. And with a skate wheel that hard, you can get as much speed as you like because hard wheels have less traction. Plus, a hard wheel would be fantastic if you’re planning on doing sliding or grinding tricks.

Other Factors when Choosing Skate Wheels

When choosing skate wheels, also keep in mind the size of the skate wheel as this factor will also affect your choice of wheels. Make the compromise between the size and the hardness of your wheel to get the best performance that you require. For example, a small wheel will give you more control over the way you ride, but it will also slow you down. To compensate for the reduction in speed, you’ll have to choose a hard wheel.

The durometer scale is easily the most technical stuff you’ll encounter in skating outside of the tricks themselves. But with the mystery out of the way, you’ll have an easier time choosing the best skate wheels for you. And you won’t get swayed by all the sales talk other sellers of skate wheels will give you.

About the Author

Tom Smith is a skateboarder and been an author for skateboarding for two years. for more detains please visit : Firstborn Skate

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