3dm/Turner Avilas, 75mm

These became my main choice of LDP wheel back in 2003, especially the softer duros as I've found them to be extremely versatile, evening out all the rocky, uneven long bike trails and giving the feet a much needed reprieve.

I experimented for years with Abec11 wheels afterward, and rolled back to the 81a Avilas for all-around LDP riding when the new urethane came out.

http://pavedwave.myfastforum.org/Black_Ops_Avilas_about514.html

Seismic Speed Vents - 77mm

Currently, these or the Blast Waves are about as big as I'd go for LDP boards. You're going to need a couple angled wedge risers on the front plus another 1/4" or so of flat riser.

Fast and light, with an energy returning core. A little harsher ride if the roads are rough, which is why most of the time I roll back to the softer Avilas, even though they're technically not as fast a wheel.

http://pavedwave.myfastforum.org/ftopic537-0-asc-0.php

3dm / Seismic HOT SPOTS - 69mm

These were the wheel to get in 2005, and take top podium spots in slalom -- even moreso since Gesmer updated the urethane to the "Black Ops" formula.

Just slightly larger than the uber-popular Avalons, and essentially answering the most common Avalon post-market modification, the trimming down of the outer lip to make the wheels' contact patch slightly narrower and ultimately grippier.

3dm/Turner Avalons, 69mm

I ran these on many of my slalom setups, usually 86a in front and 82a in back. Hardly anyone I know actually uses them "untrimmed" - an easy to do after market modification that shaves the outer lip off each wheel, adding more traction. The Seismic Hot Spots were essentially an answer to that issue, coming off the shelf with a narrower contact patch and at 69mm diameter.

BENNETT WHEELS

Still waiting to try the SuperGators!

Love the green Bennett Thane in 71mm. These wheels are unsung and underpopularized, taking a back seat in the shadows of the advertising blast of Loaded and Abec11. The fact is the green thane rides a lot like the Abec11 Flashback, a nice controlled slide and not too fast a hook-up. But you won't hear too much about them on the forums. A great solid wheel, and the tiny ones (62mm) are super stylin' for a mini cruiser setup.

DE THANE! DE THANE!

Chaput's new Retro urethane has landed! It is bouncy and springy like a super ball, which makes them feel like they'll roll forever.

Running 66mm on my Cyber/Tight deck and 70mm on my Hybrid/GS slalom deck. They come in vibrant tropical colors and look good enough to eat. In fact if you were drunk, you could probably eat one and not know it until the morning after.

Big Zigs

The first sets I got were in the shape of Gumballs, just in the new urethane, at 76mm. Nowadays they're 75mm and better known as "Big Zigs."

Normally, 'rebound' and 'snap' are terms I would use only for describing the liveliness of a composite deck. But this urethane has some serious bounce all its own. For a long time I ran 83a front and 80a rear on a couple LDP setups. Later I moved to just running the lime 80a's all around.

Abec-11 Grippins, 70mm

I like the center-set design, as you could easily rotate and flip these wheels for even wear. They were grippier than the Flashbacks, but still had a controlled slide, which the 3dm and newer Abec11 urethane does not. These were on my Lib that was stolen. Waaaah!!!

Abec-11 Flashbacks, 70mm

The classic, all-around longboard wheel in the 75-78 duros. At the same time, some of the fastest world's cyber records were set on the 88-92 durometer combos. Also a great sliding wheel.

Abec-11 Gumballs, 76mm

Big and Juicy. A little too fast for Giant Slalom at least for my taste. Perfectly sticky and responsive on a big longboard.

Abec-11 Flywheel 101mm

They don't make 'em anymore. I was lucky enough to grab a set off eBay in 2001 when I first set up my distance Subsonic drop deck. The hubs are larger with much less urethane than the 97mm's which is now the biggest you can go in the abec11 selection. Apparently a popular choice amongst the streetlugers in the late 90's.

Abec-11 Flywheel 97mm

Once up to speed, the 97mm's have a momentum and life all their own. No surprise they get "bad press" on some skateboarding forums, mainly because most people can't or don't want to afford them to experiment.

$100+ for a set of wheels is a commitment, but I got mine back when Subsonic (a.k.a. "Curve") was building his first distance cruisers, and they've totally been worth it. I started out on the 101's (above) that have a larger hub, and later got the 75a 97mm's, which are much stickier and shock-absorbing.

A lot of impressions people have of the 97's are indirect, and often negative -- really just parroting off the few people who've actually skated them. But in my experience these monsters have their place when it comes to distance skating.

The cons: Slidey at higher speed (25mph+) harder to stick turns. A little slower to start off the line, but I find that so-called "con" pretty trivial, especially on longer treks where you're really not starting and stopping all that frequently.

The pros: Great top end speed, and hold their momentum really well. Best wheel by far for taking out vibrations from nasty chipsealed asphalt and plain crappy conditions, like gravel, small rocks, expansion joints, roadkill, etc...

97's on my extra dropped Gbomb (front board)

Abec11 Electric Flywheels - 107mm MONSTERS!

Review by Greg "Stocago" Feiss

First the bad. They are very heavy. There are clearance issues. I couldn't run a bennett 6.0 because of baseplate bite! They work nicely on a 6.25 fyre truck. For a cast truck, the randal 150 works okay. At times, they felt very sketchy, especially when I had them set up with a virage ldp rear truck w/spacers. I got thrown off a couple of times. For wide wheels, even with a dead rear truck, I lost traction regularly. I know they have round lips, but durians grip better. Since they are 40% taller than regular wheels, I found that I was straining my squatting leg when I had to push repeatedly.

Now the good. They are fast. They carry momentum very well. This somehow negates the fact that they are heavy. I did a time trial over the full marathon distance with these and it's still my personal best for that course. This blew me away when it happened because of all the preconceptions I had about big wheels. I expected to be 5 to 10 minutes slower over the distance. It's an out & back course and the conditions were normal. I hadn't even put much time on the setup to really get in sync with it.

I used the eflys on a 42" foam core deck, to help lighten the total weight of the setup and also because this deck has very generous wheel wells and kept the total riser height reasonable. Ideally, these big wheels would be more at home on a bigger deck. I briefly rode Ian's flexdex fat daddy with these wheels and it was pretty sweet.

http://pavedwave.myfastforum.org/about1568.html

Powell Pool Bombers, 65mm

For starting out in the pools and parks with a grippy, responsive wheel I'm sold. At some point I'll probably move to the harder "pool" formula in the blue color.