Way back in the days I used to kinda work at a skatepark way ooop North called the Skateshack. The place was rad, but it fell on hard times in the early 90s so we persuaded some pro’s to hit us up on their tour. So what’s this got to do with these wheels your asking?
The guy who made the biggest impression was a skinny gawky looking hick, dude was killing the place, and himself on a frontisde 360s over this funbox, screaming, shrieking, as loud as eardrums could stand. The demo went on and he still couldn’t pin it – so he rammed up the vert wall at the opposite end of the park, pushed like a demon across the skatepark and hucked this huge frontside 360 right over the whole box.
Avoiding the slippy flat bank landing and hitting terra firma about 6 feet from the bottom of the bank – guy must have span about 15 feet and landed, screamed like a banshee and then collapsed in a heap laying in pile of dirt with his chest pumping like crazy for air and a crazy look in his eye. Shit was intense! Kid of course was the one true JC, John Cardiel and what was he riding? Spitfires, naturally. That was 17 years ago and the still holds true today, Cards is a legend, and Spitfires, in my opinion are still the best wheel to ride.
These here are the latest F1 formula, they genuinely feel different to other urethanes – it feels really smooth, no tread lathed in, just pure hand poured urethane, smooth as marble. The advert says they are flatspot resistant, so I put them through their paces. On street they slid when I wanted them too, no problems there, but the difference was, when I wanted them to grip, they did that too. I rode some bowls and sketched in some disasters and even going in slightly over rated they gripped and let me correct myself, ordinarily I’d have slipped out! These are hard wheels too – 100DU’s. I have no clue how they know when you want to slide and when you want to hang on and grip – I guess its all part of the magic of skateboarding but remember – with JC on your side, you can accomplish anything.
Go to www.dlxsf.com for more.
Phil Procter