Early Swampys Review/Thoughts

I've been riding my swampys down to about 64mm, and did a search to see what others thought of them. Oddly, didn't come across any reviews so I thought I would write up my own experiences with them, in case anyone is considering them.

Note: Im riding them on a Bombsquad SaltflatThrowback with 50 cals, so I don't know how these respond on a lower kind of setup.

Price: This is pretty attractive, and is pretty much why I bought the wheel (as well as knowing that a lot of riders love the blueys). They are cheaper than most other (good) wheels you can get here in Australia.

Specs: Comes 70mm tall, 45mm CP, offset hub, rounded lips blah blah blah. Nothing out of the ordinary for an 'all-round' freeride wheel. They also came pre scrubbed, but not as roughed up as some other 'pre broken-in' wheels, and definitely needed more breaking in when riding.Although they're measured as 78A, they didn't feel noticeably any softer than my other sets of 80A wheels. The lips are fairly thick, so don't flex too much.

The core is all good, the bearings sit tight and you can tighten the nut all the way down without restricting spin.

First impressions: They roll nicely, and seemed to have a nice combo of grip and slip. It may have been my technique or style (i dont freeride at incredibly high speeds), but they did screech/chatter quite a bit when new till about 66mm - during both standies and hand-downs.

Wear: Early claims these wheels to be long lasting, and I guess I can't really disagree. The wear IS noticeable after some solid sliding, but they do seem to last longer than some other wheels which shed thane easier. As a consequence, they aren't big on leaving thane lines (if you care about that), but they do leave mellow red lines after some wearing down.

They do cone, as expected, though not intensely.

Second impressions: I'm currently at about 64mm, and the slide is a lot (a LOT) smoother, while having lost some of its grip. It's really easy to push out into a slide and hold it out, with a decent hookup too. I feel as if the slide is between buttery and icy, and don't shed too much speed.

I switched to another set of super fast wearing pure butter wheels for a sesh, and fell during my first few slides when I switched back to the swampys because they are noticeably slidier. I can do a stand 180 at about walking pace...

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So TL;DR: Decent wheels that get batter after wearing down. Pretty slidy. Nice wear. I like them, although they're not particularly mind blowing or anything.

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If there's interest, I can post some more impressions once I wear them down some more, if anything seems worth telling.

If anyone else has ridden them the please post your thoughts, I'm curious as to what other think.