Deville Bomber Wheels Check-In

So yea, I posted a link to my review on skateslate not too long ago. Just wanted give a little end of the line report on the Deville Bombers. They finally cored, but they lasted me a lot longer than I figured they would. Yea, they coned a lot, but they never really flatspotted (until the very end when I did hit the core) and they stayed pretty damn circular until the bitter end. Above is a photo of their demise. The Sector 9 centerset raceform is there for a 70mm size comparison (stay tuned for a new review on the raceforms! feel free to check out my one from awhile ago if youre bored).
My final opinion on these wheels? I would definitely buy them again.

Deville Bomber Wheel Review

So, it's been quite awhile, but maybe i'll try and be better at posting a little more? I spent most of my summer without a computer so things feel a bit strange, but I figure with the raining months coming I can catch up on my backlog of photos...maybe. 

Regardless, here is a review I did before the summer started for Skateslate. Check out the goods on some slippy slide wheels by Deville. Review HERE.

Orangatang Balut Wheel Review

So, I've been testing out the new Orangatang Balut wheels and worked up a review for them. Y'all should check it out over on SkateSlate! These wheels are a blast to ride, and are coming out soon! Keep an eye out because they drop on Thursday, Feb 2nd. Here is an outtake shot from when I was still warming up and getting used to sliding in the rain. Gotta love that facial expression.

Sector 9 Centerset Raceform 70mm

I picked up a set of new 70mm CS 78a (yellow) raceforms when I was throwing together my Saltflat complete and man am I happy I did. I had noticed a lot of hype around these wheels, or rather Raceforms in general, and I wanted to see if they were really as good as everyone was saying. Well, as of now they are my favorite slide wheel. They are extremely buttery and it seems like the wheels just melt from traction to slide effortlessly. Very predictable, but don't have a defined traction point. That being said, these are not good wheels for cornering. I my back wheels tend to slide out when I try to corner at the local garage, but you know, I'm alright with that. Plus, they're centerset, so you don't even really need to worry about coning if you just remember to flip and rotate your wheels every once and awhile.

Thank you sector 9 for making some tasty, greasy and very affordable slide wheels. I can foresee more sets of these in my future.

Wheel Review: Orangatang Durian 80a

Seriously, these wheels are saweeeeeeet as sugar (hence why I shot them with sugar when I first got them). I’ve had the privilege of putting on some serious commuter miles with them over the past two weeks and I must say, they’re quite appealing to me. So, with that being said, I would like to go out and say that the majority of what I’m going to be talking about in this review is how these wheels perform in a commuting manner. Now don’t worry, I know that they’re intended to be the freeride wheel series from Orangatang and I did test them in that field as well, but most of the miles I’ve put on this new thane is through commuting 10+ miles a day over the past few weeks.

Now, let’s get into the cold hard stats. I’m rocking a pair of the Durians, so they are the 75mm wheel. They come in a variety of 80a, 83a and 86a thane (as well as their other wheels in the freeride series: the fat free and the stimulus). The durians have a 45mm contact patch with benevolent teacher known as the ground and come pre-stone ground. “What does this mean?” you may ask. Well, that just means there is almost no break in time for these wheels. They will slide in a pretty consistent manner from when you take them out of the box, to your first week of sliding on them, all the way till a month+ down the road (if they last that long).

So, like I was saying, I put in some serious miles (okay, nothing as serious as that) on these guys making sure that they were up to par with the previous O’tang wheels I’ve ridden. I’ve got one word for these wheels: PREDICTABLE. Now, that may not sound good, but it is exactly what you want in the urethane that connects your board to the ground. When you want them to stick, they will, and when you want to bust a nice standie to shed some speed, you will have no problem throwing your board out and pushing the wheels sideways. What does all this mean? Again, another awesome all around wheel.

Besides skating everywhere on these wheels over the past weeks, I also dedicated some pure fun time to them as well. Because they are free ride wheels, I decided to take them to the local parking garage and see how they fared. Well, they held up just fine. Obviously, the parking garage took me faster than I am able to push while commuting. They would hold their own on an array of different slides and were able to handle the sharp corners at higher speeds better than I initially expected.

Pros?: well, it’s an awesome all around wheel. What more can you want from it? Skate from your house to downtown and throw in a few slides to keep things interesting. Use em to grip or slip, either way you’ll be happy.

Cons: I’ve always got to address this stuff. Orangatangs are expensive, yes, but you pay for quality. Now I know there are a lot of people who say O’tangs wear out super fast. That is a true. It would probably take me twice as long to go through a pair of Classic Freerides as it would for a pair of O’tangs. But hey, you make sacrifices.

Overall, would I recommend this wheel? Yes. The 80a happy urethane (Orangatang formula) is probably one of my favorite types of thane out there. For dedicated sliders however, you may have to buy a few pairs if you want to keep using. For the mean time, however, I will keep these wheels on my trusty commuter, where they’ll probably stay for a long time.

a shot of happy wheels in a Loaded family

wear comparison on my old O'tang in heats (used to be 75mm)