Downhill Wheel Query?

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Permalink Reply by Dale on September 11, 2009 at 23:34

a harder wheel on the front with a softer wheel on the back will mean you should 'technically' have a higher roll speed then two softer wheels while not sacrificing too much grip as you've got sticky wheels on the back. Someone else should be able to explain it better then me

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Permalink Reply by SteveC on September 11, 2009 at 23:44

Most people use the same duro' front&back for downhill and freeriding in general.

Pros. (harder front)
Given it's not too-hard for the road's surface - you can potentially get more speed from the front, without losing any traction at the tail. Which tends to slide first anyway.
It's easier to push the front around more to control slide angles/hookup.

Cons. (harder front)
Harder is not always faster.
Understeer is evil - oversteer can be controlled from the front, having just the front slide pretty much prevents steering.
it generally dedicates a board to a direction.


I haven't ridden a board with a harder tail, or with two trucks on the front, but I imagine it would tend to wash the tail right out - rather than slide tail first, then all-four.
It could perhaps be useful on a dedicated drift-board if the front had a lot of steering and a lot of grip.

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Premium MemberPermalink Reply by sean meaney on September 11, 2009 at 23:45

yeah, fendy does it on his hell cat with tangs, i see alot of slalomers doing it for more speed and grip, or even running dif wheels back and front but for dh dont mix duro's it dont matter as much, your better off going for even grip

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Premium MemberPermalink Reply by Fendy on September 11, 2009 at 23:58

I recommend going with 1 duro if you're going to drift a lot. The cons of having 2 duros is that you won't be able to swap your front wheels with your back if the back ones are wearing faster than the front ones. 2 duros is great for slalom because you don't really wear out slalom wheels as much as you would on a freeride/dh deck.
I'm using 2 duros on my hellcat at the moment. I found little difference drift-wise, but the softer wheels in the back does give you that extra grip. I found drifting on 2 duros is actually a bit easier because I tend to put more force on my back foot. The front wheels will unlock easier with less force compared to the back. Again, once the wheels start wearing differently, you won't be able to swap them around.

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