Unless you have the money to go out and buy every wheel on the market for testing, it’s hard to make a decision as to which wheel is the best to choose for your particular build. To make better purchasing decisions, I’d like to have this thread be a compilation of people who have tried more than one set of wheels to give their opinion as to how they compare. It would be also nice to see how the Abec core wheels compare with the Kegel, so that new builders can decide which ecosystem to invest in. (Even I have no idea how a 90mm Abec11 flywheel compares to a 90mm Popoca, or how the new Evolve 100mm wheels compare)
In your comparisons, don’t forget to mention things like chunking, discoloration, weight, or anything else you think people might find important to know. I’ll start off with an example.
My kegels started chunking in just a few weeks of use, probably due to the sharp side edges.
I’ve tested my orange Caguamas for the longest, and I’m surprised they’ve held up so well despite riding them on horrible UK roads. A bit hard, but not a bad wheel.
I haven’t extensively tested the Popoca wheels and my blue Caguamas, but the blue Caguamas offer a surprisingly smooth and predictable ride, which lets me have confidence in my board. The Popoca wheels are very similar. They’re super bouncy, and even 5mm larger than the Caguamas, yet, because the Caguamas are a bit softer, when riding on cobblestone you can definitely tell that the Caguamas glide along a bit better. Also, the Caguamas aren’t center set, so riding down or up a curb diagonally should feel a bit better with them.
If you’re into color, go for the Popocas because they don’t turn into that nasty piss green color the Caguamas do, but in terms of ride quality, the light blue Caguamas are the best urethane wheels I’ve ever tried.
(Another thing I thought I’d mention: The Popocas have the kegel core flipped, so I had to put electrical tape over the poles of my press-fit pulley for a secure fit. Kinda beats the purpose of having a press-fit pulley that’s easy to attach)
Sept. 22nd update:
Tried Evolve’s new wheels on my friend’s Haya: they feel a bit nicer than my caguamas, but they’re also quite large and definitely more expensive. If price and weight doesn’t matter to you, then they’re the best, but given how similar the Caguamas feel, I think those are still no. 1 in my book.
The ReFlys are definitely my favorite, they are decently soft that I can ride cobble and bricks without my ankles getting sore, and they are glorious on tarmac
The ATs are significantly harder so all the textures come through, but they are a little nicer on sidewalks at lower speeds because of the extra radius and handle better on wet ground. On smooth ground they have a decent amount of buzzing from the texture but it goes away on textured ground
The clones are basically ass, they have totally chunked and lost their surface, also hard as a rock…I fear the brick paths because they shake the board appart, they have jiggled the sensor JSTs out of their sockets
I ride 97mm superfly on one build and six shooters on another. Lately ive been kinda upset with my six shooters, they are really wobbly and scare me over 30mph.
Moska 80mm 78a: Used in my first board, a Brazilian wheel, pretty cheap and the only a quarter of imported wheels at the time, for the price they were ok, but only on smooth roads as they are hard and absorb almost nothing
Kegels 80mm 80a (Orange): My favorite wheel so far, really smooth ride and you feel gripped to the road, but requires a relatively smooth pavement or you have to go slow. Turns into soap wheel wet
Trampa Gummies: My favorite considering that I have pretty bad roads in at least 50% of the places I ride. You still feel every tiny crack, but it’s just that, they don’t become an annoyance or make the board unstable, the large diameter makes easy to go thru cuts on the road for water drainage (don’t what they are usually called in english). Off road in packed roads is perfectly doable and even with a bit of loose sand they plow through. The best thing is that the grip on soaking wet roads is almost the same as when dry, you don’t have to worry about riding in the rain. Consumption is around 10% higher than Kegels
Boa’s.
Honestly the perfect size wheel. You feel way more connected with the board. The grip is outstanding as they’re wide af and lets me carve insanely hard with out fear of sliding out. Also that rebound is so beautiful especially on a stiff deck. The cores on these are fitted correctly unlike other wheels… Popocas… 110’s…
My only gripe with these wheels is that they are an absolute death sentence on anything but perfectly dry asphalt. You ride these in wet conditions and you’ll eat shit 100%.
Popocas.
These honestly surprised the hell out of me for their price. They’re very plush feeling for being 90mm. The grip is amazing considering the small contact patch. I’ve been using these as my permanent front wheels on the Taytor to compliment some raptor hubs (I posted the build on here). They’re very forgiving and are buttery smooth. Rebound is solid and can handle some pretty shit roads no problem. It’s funny as my back foot starts hurting way before my front since enertions thane on the hub is abysmal. If you have a Raptor 2 throw the enertion front wheels in the garbage and pick up some Popocas. Only issue I had with them is that all 4 of my wheels had backwards cores. Luckily I am using them as fronts on a board that it doesn’t matter.
Orange Cag’s.
I didn’t have a bunch of time on these maybe a few months on my evolve but they were really fun. Very grippy and pretty cushy for 80a. They held up ok but have quite a few ugly looking slices. They actual did pretty well on wet roads as I road home 4 miles on them after a quick thunderstorm. Honestly if I ever do a build with DKP trucks I would definitely look to these again.
Abec 107 Superfly.
These things were solid for like the first 3 months and then the edges started falling apart drastically. For me personally they’re way too cushy and take the feel of the road out . I don’t feel as safe carving hard on these as I do other wheels. They don’t handle potholes well for me either. I mean they’ll tackle it but I always felt like I would die or almost dead stop as they don’t skip across. They legit let you feel out that pothole, which is super scary and damn near threw me sometimes.
Gummies
Now this may be unfair as I only rode them for about a mile. I couldn’t get the vibration of them to go away and they felt pretty stiff. They literally started shaking my entire board at speed. You’d tackle bigger potholes/lips up driveways no doubt but they don’t feel anywhere near as cushy or grippy as full thane. They look cool af but to me they’re more looks than anything. I don’t see anyone really riding these anymore in DC/NYC. When I ask why I get the same answer.
Bonus,
Moes Race wheels,
This should be at the top but I don’t own them
Holy fuck I wish I could get a set. My buddy Jonifin has a set on his board and they are absolutely awesome. They’re so fucking smooth. They’re the perfect wheel, somewhere between an AT and thane. Since they’re practically racing slicks you can carve as hard you want and you aren’t sliding them. He has been riding them for a few months and they held up really well so far.
I have limited wheel experience but I’ll share what I think about the few I’ve tried.
China 81a 90mm abec clones.
Hard as rocks.
ABEC 11 97mm flywheels 75a
Soft as shit. What a difference swapping to these from the 81a clones stated above. While it’s not quite the smoothest ride on battered roads, it’s good enough where you don’t feel like you’re vibrating every bone in your body and can still give it some gas without losing control. Grippy.
Blue Caguamas (only tried on front truck)
Smoother on rough roads than my abec 11’s and the smaller size isn’t a noticeable drawback because of the wider contact patch. Still treat me fine at speed, like i said the 12mm smaller diameter isn’t really an issue. Go over train tracks @90 degrees just fine with a bit of wheelie. Send rocks flying and not the hard stop you’d expect with small wheels.
Discolsue: Everything but the Boas has chunked on me. The TBs haven’t chunked yet and it they last as long as I’ve had the boas now they’ll be better then Abecs… I have chunked Abecs.
What happened to the BOAs? I can’t find them except for aftermarket stupid prices. Just going to stick with the TB 110s for now but they are hella huge compared to the 80mm orangutang wheels I’m used to on my analog board. Still super nice though.
Personally I like the castor wheels you can get from any hardware store. Because you don’t know which way they will turn, it’s like a new adventure every time you get on the board !
