by Mel @troubleon8wheels
As more and more rinks are opening up around the country - yay! - now seems like a great time to do a little run-down about our favourite indoor roller skate wheels.
You will often see roller dancers wearing wheels with a cylindrical form, rather than a curved form like a skateboard wheel. This is to allow the skater to use the edge of the wheel to balance and push against. Maybe you have heard skaters talk about their 'edges'? Depending on their background, they are either talking about the two sides of their foot or the edges of their wheels. It is also fine to use curved edge wheels indoors.
Indoor roller skate wheels are usually harder than outdoor wheels, on the durometer scale. If you are a brand new skater, or have little experience in different places, we always suggest you use wheels you are used to, as any change in size, width or durometer can make you feel uneasy on your skates. If you do insist on upgrading you wheels, it may be worth taking the familiar set as standby. In our experience, rink and hall floors are different, and multi-sport tile feels very different from polished wood or concrete.
How the wheels behave when they are on your skates will depend on a number of things, including the skater's size, body shape and way they skate.
Here is a run down of our favourite indoor disco and rink wheels. (This blog post is not covering hard park wheels, though these are perfectly fine to use at roller discos and rinks!). If you are local to us, we have most of these wheels in our Wheel Library v2.0
Did you know that we import lots of hard-to-find gear, and specialise in roller dance and rink skating? (The irony of no roller rink where we live is not lost on me.) The products we love have are all in stock at our shop at the time of writing.
Mid-hardness Wheels 85A - 90A
If you only have soft (78A) wheels on your skates, we suggest you pick a mid-hardness wheel in the 85A - 90A range.
Our favourite wheel in this range is :
With a huge range of colours, you can mix and match to your hearts desire! Luminous launched gorgeous glitter light up wheels in 2021 too. These have actual glitter in them, so they sparkle by day and night! The magnetic spacer held in place with the bearings means these wheels do not need a battery, and they light up as long as the wheel is spinning. A great reason to invest in good quality bearings!
Luminous wheels can be used outdoors too.
Other wheels we love:
Ghibli Wheels 88A lilac, 90A peach
Hard wheels: 91A - 96A
If you are a confident skater, get ready to increase your speed! Harder wheels don't actually make you faster (they have no inherent power) there is simply less friction to slow you down, so as you continue to push, the speed accumulates. It also takes longer to slow down!
Our favourite wheel in this range is :
Komplex Ghibli wheel (mint 93A) 57mm though they are all superb. The range of wheels starts at 88A and goes to 98A. The wheels are designed for artistic roller skating, so any skater wanting precise movements should consider this wheel.
We love this small, slim wheel, as it allows the skater to be very agile with their movements.
Other wheels we love:
Medallion wheels 96A 57mm
Super hard Wheels: 97A - 103A
These are slippery, folks. We suggest that skaters using super hard wheels should be experienced and know how to stop, confidently, as you will slide out on corners if you don't know how to control your weight. Also be aware that you should aim to be as smooth as possible to avoid constant trauma to your joints.
Our favourite wheels in this range are:
These are super small, hard wheels that give the skater a feeling of control when they wear them, as they are close to the floor. It is possible to skate fast with them too, but they were designed for roller dance.
Other wheels we love:
Moxi Trick Wheels 97A 57mm the slim shape of these wheels gives them a tiny footprint. Very little contact with the floor will elevate your spins!
Sure Grip Velvet wheels 99A are similar to FO-MAC clay wheels, just not quite as slippery, but they are a similar weight. These are made from VANATHANE, rather than urethane though, which is harder.
Riedell Varsity Plus wheels have an aluminium hub to keep the wheel from any kind of flex.
Luminous Hard wheels 98A or 101A 57mm
Frequently Asked Questions
I heard I need hard wheels to skate inside?
Well, it depends what you want to do. You don't have to have hard wheels inside, you could have outdoor soft ones. You will have to work a little harder to keep them rolling, as the grip will make them stop rolling sooner, but you will likely feel more in control.
What does skating in a hard wheel feel like?
Apart from seeming faster and more slippery, the pushing action is slightly different. You will likely need to get lower (yup, bend your knees more) to lower your centre of gravity otherwise your foot will simply slip. Embrace the sliiiiiiiiide though! There is a skate party in California every year called the Cali-Slide, where sliding, not skating is the thing!
You will also feel every grain of sand on the floor. Make sure your knees are always soft, so you're ready to absorb these imbalances!
Why do my hard wheels get dirty?
Hard wheels have different amounts of urethane, vanathane, clay or even wood in their composition. Softer wheels contain an additional high-rebound compound that pushes the dirt away from the wheel. As there is also more flex with soft wheels, the dirt cannot create a shell around the wheel in the way it can with a hard wheel, where having no flex is important. Skating with wheels caked in dirt will affect the performance of the wheel, which is why it is recommended hard wheels are used indoors or on specialised skate surfaces outdoors only.
Why are hard wheels noisy?
Harder wheels do not contain any kind of rebound compound that provides shock absorption. At least you can hear when someone is coming up behind you!
What wheels are you curious to try? Do hard wheels scare or excite you?
Drop your comments below.
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I currently skate on suregrip fame wheels 95a and they are great. They are slippery especially when cornering at speed but that’s quite exciting 🤣I’m debating getting Komplex Ghibli to compare! Before my household bills increase so much I can no longer think of such things as wheels as a necessity 😊🛼🕺
Speaking of hard wheels and dirt - do you have any tips for how I can clean my rink wheels? They are roll line ice wheels and scrubbing with a wet toothbrush has done nothing for the clods of crud 😂