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

Joined: 15 Jun 2008 Posts: 1391 Location: UK

I originally made this post for Obiwan but realised it had a lot of info in that might be useful to anyone buying rumbles so I gave it it's own thread. If you are going to buy Rumbles, or are not sure if you should, this should help. Anyone who's not interested in buying rumbles, or simply doesn't care for making informed decisions, can safely skip this. No getting on my case about providing too much information - I'm not forcing anyone to read it. :p It's just offered out of the goodness of my heart, no questions asked, because I like helping out my fellow heelers. If that's a crime then lock me away. Very Happy

Ok there are (at the time of writing) three colours of rumbles:

Black, Wheat, and Brown. Rumbles are a little different than other mega shoes. For instance:

* the wheel bay is set a little more forwards meaning switching feels a bit strange, and you have to balance with the foot slightly further back for footys etc, but once you get used to it, it isn't bad. In theory having the bay further forwards should mean it's less tiring keeping the fore-foot up for long distances, although that would probably only be needed for newer skaters or people with other problems, except in really rare places where there is smooth floor or sidewalk/pavement for like a mile or so.

* The high ankle surround means they're less flexible when new, but ok when broken in and therefore more supportive. Just takes a bit of getting used to.

* The upper material is mainly a kind of suede, and so has all the quirks of that material. It's quite warm and doesn;t have holes or mesh, so more of a winter/hiking boot than a summer boot, and more for show/looks than skatepark work - they'd be too sweaty for that kind of stuff where the vented and plated torches or evo's would be better.

* The original rumble bearings are silver HSL abec 5's... not bad once you've worn them in a bit so the gunk they fill em with is worn away, but the original bearings themselves can be a bit slow sometimes if you're used to good aftermarket beaings, so if you're really into your heeling and need the absolute best and know you can do it without messing anything up swap em out for your favourite brand of fast bearings. Of course swapping bearings is an art in itself - get them in just slightly off the correct angle and they could feel stiff for a while, but this is something you just learn with practise, and even if the bearings are shoved in a bit skewed they can usually skate themselves straight. And of course if they're not all the way in you'll get pressure on the inner-races from the axle-stops, meaning slowness again, and if they're pushed TOO far in (possible with some wheels) the wheels have room to slide side to side a little on the axle, resulting in clicking when walking, but like I say, all this is just something that needs practise.

* The axles are coin type (easier to maintain) and also silver, which is not currently common among standard Heelys Mega's (they look a bit like megavert axles).

* The wheel compound itself is nice... harder than mega's and therefore the compound itself is a little faster, a lot faster with the right bearings, although not quite megavert fast of course, but the slightly softer (than megaverts) compound means a nicer ride on rougher surfaces, less shocks to the joints etc, and less squeaky than mega's or less noisy than megaverts on smooth clean tile floors... it's all about the right bits for the job really, but then again I'm a perfectionist and like to have the perfect wheel/shoe combination available for every surface, and I know many people aren't as crazy as me like that, but even so, if you just want a good all rounder, I still like rumble wheels best out of all the original HSL wheels. But I can't guarantee you will like them best of course - everyone's different. Smile

* The wheels have sweet grip on the rolling surface of the wheels which (if you take care of it) doesn't look quite as bad after a few uses like normal mega's tend to.. . of course it can be roughed up if you skate hard on street - so if you like to keep them looking mint don't do that. Smile

[GEEK]

* OK this bit definitely IS TMI - sorry, just including it for completion's sake: The axles also have the weird sized hex-nut fitting on the bearing-stops, which some other coin axles don't... so they can be undone with a torque wrench or socket set or similar if you can find the right sized socket which is deep enough. It's not a standard known size of socket tho... it's not 9mm and not 10mm - maybe about 3/8ths of an inch but I don't have an imperial sized socket set to check with. Of course this is only important if your axles are really tight, which they usually aren't once used. If you try to undo tight axles with the wrong sized socket you can do some damage sometimes.[/GEEK]

* The graphics are on the side of the wheel (where it's slightly less prone to being ruined by rolling on, although slightly more prone to being damaged if you remove it the way Heelys themselves suggest by putting force on the wheel edge or stepping it out, but better if you carefully unclip both axles the way I do and the way I showed in one of my early YT vids). For me I find the side graphics are a slight improvement over the graphics hidden inside normal mega's because once the outer surface s worn/dirty you can no longer see the graphics on normal mega's. Not that you can see them very well when you're rolling on them anyway, but sometimes I just like to enjoy the look of good Heelys wheels - I told ya, I'm crazy Very Happy

The wheel is a little more forward on all the new models. I first noticed it on the ninjas, it was sooo weird to switch from ninjas to some other older model.

Joined: 15 Jun 2008 Posts: 1391 Location: UK

Cool, I hadn't noticed that when swapping from Ninja's to torches, but I guess it might depend on where your foot sits in the shoe, so might be very slightly different for different people. Smile

Joined: 09 Nov 2008 Posts: 222 Location: claremore, OK

ok now i realy want some ill keep watching those rumbles you showed me

Joined: 29 Aug 2009 Posts: 10 Location: Jeddah,KSA