Wheel Wear is Crazy

I've been realizing over the weeks I started slaloming that wheel wear is different with slalom. I predicted this because A to B skating relies primarily on the inside edges because you're only going forwards.

I didn't know the differences would be so drastic, though.

If you have a separate set of wheels for slalom and street skating, then what you're going to see on your slalom wheels is the exact opposite of flat wheels or front rockers. If I need to spell it out: Your wheels will wear on the outside if slalom is 99% of what you do with them.

If you use your slalom wheels for street skating use, though, it gets a little weird (for me). The middle two wheels are going to wear fairly evenly, though this is variable and your results may be slightly different from mine.

The outer 76mm will show the most obvious signs of wear, with the front wheels wearing asymmetrically on the inside and the rear wheels wearing on the outer edge. While I said the 80mm will wear fairly evenly, they will show a trend towards their respective positions front or back.

I'd like to mention my current strategy for wheel rotation: I have 2 sets of 80mm wheels (8 wheels) for one set of 76mm wheels (4 wheels) to make up one rocker kit. I rotate between the 80mm wheels because I figure the 76mms are getting less overall wear than the 80mms. So far it's holding okay. We'll try this for a while and see how it works out, then change it up.

Anyway, the unusual wheel wear created an interesting rotation scenario for me. I ended up bringing the front wheels to the back and reversing their sides while bringing the back wheels up to the front of the same boot in a pseudo "X" pattern.

It took me a little too long to figure out that I needed to place the unworn edges on the edges that will be worn down to balance the wear, but in my defense it was very unusual.

Rotate your wheels often. Get creative. Find new and flexible ways to maximize the lifespan of your wheels and get the results you want. As you grow as a skater, those old diagrams stop applying to how you skate.