Heelychat, the forum for heelys, the shoes with wheels - View topic

Joined: 15 Jun 2008 Posts: 1391 Location: UK

I notice that the line the wheel rolls in on Heely's (at least on all the models I have) is not actually the way beginners imagine it would be, which causes them a little difficulty for the first few moments until they realise and point their toes slightly inwards to go straight.

See, when most people walk or even stand at rest, the toes seem to naturally point slightly outwards with the feet in a V, nowhere near as bad as Charlie Chaplain of course but a little bit that way. So the way the Heelys wheel points more towards the little toe than the big toe makes the first tentative efforts at heeling a little more difficult, and this might be partly why turning left is easier if you heel "leftie" (left leg in front) and vice versa.

However, I realise that this design is not without it's benefits, namely, making it easier to crabwalk: the wheels being pointed sligtly outwards means that you don't have to spread your legs quite as far.

So, I was wondering, is the wheel angle the same on all Heelys, or are some wheel-bays angled more outwards than others, making crabwalk even easier? Smile

And of course, in contrast, are some Heely's wheel bays aligned to make the wheel point more inwards than others, making bloodstain rolling easier?

Joined: 03 Jan 2007 Posts: 469 Location: Ol' Virginny

You know... I thought you were gnutz till my Gelato's arrived. They are without a doubt aligned different than my Torches and Rumbles. I laced em up, strapped em on, and went for a push when I realized my front foot wasn't going where I wanted it to.

Hmmmmm???

Conspiracy???

My old Atomics felt fine. When I went to Torches, they felt fine. Maybe like it was a natural progression. Now I go back to FATS (for 2 reasons... I like Gelatos and I wanted to try rolling low profile again) and they just feel weird.

Joined: 15 Jun 2008 Posts: 1391 Location: UK

I think the design wasn't meant for stability doing tricks, but stability just heeling.

Going staight would require more effort keeping your feet in a weird pattern.

Then again, why would they vary the models?

Honestly, it may just be a design flaw. No two things are ever alike. You have to put glue to hold the wheel bay in. The glue is probably hot (cold glue would adhere to the machine and I doubt HSL has sweat shops). The hot glue could warp the rubber and it cools down weird. Now if each shoe was the same and the patterned varied by model (Tevos point slightly more outward then Zevos), that could could be a design concept. Change the colors, but change the wheel base as well.

Now that I am interested, I am wondering if it would be possible to manually tweak the wheel bays for custom performance... Anyone with enough time and disposable shoes should definately try it...

nice observing ME

thats weird Deez!

Joined: 22 Feb 2007 Posts: 1548 Location: Ohio

it looks like it kinda works the same way as freelining (though not as much, I've never measured the angle). On freelines, the platforms are angled outward from the arrangement of the wheels, for a more natural ride.

I would not buy Heelys with the wheels tilted like that.

ME, your analysis compares the heels to the whole foot, NOT to the heel itself. They're perfectly 90 degrees with respect to the local area of the heel.

Learning how to point your heels straight ahead is a lot easier than learning to point them *just so* in order to go straight.

I've only ever noticed the difference when the wheel is alot more front or back, not more to any side though. Just like on rumbles, ninjas, furys, TKO's and such have the wheel way much more forward then evos, torches and others and evos have it a LITTLE more back then torch (dave told me he discovered this when he was first making megaverts and did some measurements) and on rebels and other 2x2's when you take out the front wheel.

Joined: 15 Jun 2008 Posts: 1391 Location: UK