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

Joined: 15 Jun 2008 Posts: 1391 Location: UK

I notice some vintage rollerskates had metal or wooden wheels.

Anyone had any experience of other materials than plastics for wheels on any skates/board, and how they felt/handled?

Joined: 10 Mar 2009 Posts: 51 Location: Bucharest Romania

I saw some super-strong glass 2 years ago on roller-skates, they handled absolutely perfect, and they looked wicked Twisted Evil

Joined: 15 Jun 2008 Posts: 1391 Location: UK

Now THAT is an interesting thought. . . . of course glass would be a BITCH for me to make myself - I'll keep my eye out for any pre-made ones that might fit into a heelys bay tho (like Pro skateboard wheel size), thanks! Smile

Glass is gold when you are indoors on special surfaces, but other then there you're wasting a couple benjamins (or queens in your case)

Stick with what is common, its been tried true...

Joined: 15 Jun 2008 Posts: 1391 Location: UK

True.

I guess I just enjoy finding out WHY a given method isn't used, by making the mistakes for myself - so I often do things even when I know they'll probably fail, sort of as a learning experience as to why they fail, if you get me? Smile

But thanks for letting me know the down-low on the glass wheels. Smile

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

Try clay. Before urethane was used, clay was the staple material used for pro-level (if you can even call it that) skateboard and rollerskate wheels. For the most part >> u-thane revolutionized the street wheel. Get yourself a copy of Lords of DogTown and witness history.

Joined: 15 Jun 2008 Posts: 1391 Location: UK

Cool, I'll see what I can find. Thanks Deez. Smile

Clay wheels are near impossible to find that can be lathed down into Heelys wheels though Sad

I would love a pair of clay wheels though just for skating on smooth concrete

Joined: 15 Jun 2008 Posts: 1391 Location: UK

Yeah, i'm not even sure clay COULD be lathed. . it would crack, right? I mean once it's dried and you've cut through glaze, it's like hardened powder inside right? Assuming the clay is the same kind we used to make in school or whatever? But maybe there are some clay wheels somewhere smaller than the current absolute max heely wheel size (which with a large mega bay is currently about 49mm diameter, 46mm width) that I could provide a modded axle to fit them into the shoe?

Joined: 26 Nov 2009 Posts: 7

Sorry about resurrecting this old thread, but how about ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene? UHMW is very tough and crack resistant. You can machine it like wood with a regular drill and lathe, although you can't sand or grind the stuff because it's very abrasion resistant. Some sources say it literally wears better than steel does. They already make some aggressive skate wheels with UHMW and they don't need a separate plastic frame molded into it. It's 100% UHMW.

Forgive me for my ignorance, since I don't have Heelys yet (still figuring out which Heelys to buy). But you wrote in another thread that Megas are 48mm in diameter. Is there any reason one couldn't create homemade Big Deuces with two 47mm aggressive wheels separated by an axle spacer? Even with urethane wheels, you can get pretty hard (over 100 durometer) aggressive wheels, which should eliminate the complaint about real BDs being too soft.

This is why Freespins were invented, and those even have independently-spinning sides.

They just don't *sell* them for reasons unknown.

Joined: 26 Nov 2009 Posts: 7

Once you mentioned Freespins, a little Googling found Merrie's thread from early this year where he had scratchbuilt BDs out of Macks. Also saw his Youtube video where he just stuck two 47mm inline skate wheels on an axle. Maybe I'll try that. Shouldn't be too hard, just two wheels with maybe a washer between them.

Joined: 15 Jun 2008 Posts: 1391 Location: UK

Yeah, the tough bit is finding donor wheels with suitable characteristics (size, hardness etc). And the 48mm mega's are from the larger shoe sizes (usually around US 9-12) - smaller Heelys come with 46mm (medium) or 44mm.

Also, if you're making Heely wheels out of Inline wheels - some of the width will need to be shaved off... two inline wheels total 50mm wide, and this is wider than any current axle. Smile

Joined: 26 Nov 2009 Posts: 7