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Know Your Skateboard: Wheels

What do the numbers on skateboard wheels mean?

Have you ever looked at your skate wheels and wonder what those numbers stood for? Well that’s a great question to ask yourself. Ollie Flaps would like to shed a bit of light on the subject just incase someone asks you.

Lets first look at an average wheel that might say 52 mm/98A on the face of it. The first part is easy. 52 mm stands for the diameter or how tall the wheel is in millimeters. For this case it’s 52 millimeters high. This is a pretty popular size for street skating. The second part is more in depth. Let’s jump to the next paragraph so we can explain it and for this blog post to look like it has some breaks in it.

If you don’t already know skateboard wheels are made of various combinations of rubbers, plastics and urethane. Depending how much more of any one of these ingredients determines how hard or soft the wheel is. This measurement is called the durometer (or duro for short). Skateboard wheels are typically on the “A” durometer scale. The higher the number the harder the wheel will be. This number is what to look for when choosing skateboard wheels. If you primarily street skate harder is better because they will slide more. This is great for skate parks and pools. Therefore, look for a 95-101A duro for your wheels. If longboarding or cruising is you thing lower is the way to go. The wheels are softer and have more traction Lower makes for smoother rides. If you want a bit of slide in your longboarding find something in the 83A range. If comfort is in your cruise try anything 78A or lower. You will feel like you are skating on silk.

Well we hope this helps and everyone has learned something fun and new. If you have any questions or just want to chat some skate feel free to drop us a line or post on our social sites. Ollie Flaps love ya.



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