How Do Skateboard Wheels Work?

The sport of skateboarding began receiving international attention at the end of the 1960s and beginning of the 1970s. The wooden board combines surfboard-like emulations on land with the use of axles, or trucks, and four wheels. The wheels may determine how fast or smooth a rider skates, but the attached hardware is just as vital.

  1. Development

    • Early skateboarding wheels were typically steel or clay versions from roller skates. However, these types of material offered high resistance and little traction when trying to skate. Therefore, a change needed to occur. With the development of a urethane-based wheel, introduced to the consumer market in the early 1970s, the sport changed drastically. This wheel composite allows precise deformation when riders stand on the skateboard as well as maximum gripping of the surface. Many wheels are manufactured this way still to this day. Wheel designs today typically feature flat bottoms with small grooves for maximum grip and to reduce wear.

    Sizes

    • The size of a wheel that a rider chooses is mainly dependent on the intended use. However, the wheel size is one of the most important factors in speed, so a rider should decide if that is an important factor in riding. Vert and skatepark riders tend to favor larger wheels, such as 56 to 64 mm sizes, in order to achieve high speeds for tricks. Likewise, skaters who use longboards to mimic surfing on land also tend to choose larger wheels in the 60 to 74 mm size range. Casual riders usually favor smaller wheels in the 48 to 56 mm range.

    Bearings

    • A skateboard's bearings may be the single most important feature for wheels to work, as they connect the wheels to the trucks. Bearings are small, round devices that are made of metal and feature a series of balls inside that decrease friction against the trucks. The ABEC, or Annular Bearing Engineering, is a series of numbers that determine a bearing's quality of performance. Ranging from one to nine with nine being the most capable, these ratings help determine how well the wheels will stay consistent when spinning at high speeds. Each wheel uses two bearings that push and snap into place.

    Trucks

    • The trucks, or axles, of a skateboard work in a similar fashion to cars and trucks. Each skateboard features two metal trucks equally positioned on the ends. The metal bearings spin around the metal ends of the trucks. Smooth trucks offer less resistance and more efficient wheel revolutions per minute. Keeping trucks and bearings properly greased also improves wheel functionality.