Wheel rotation
Why rotate your wheels?
Wheel rotation is a method of prolonging the life of your wheels. As you start wearing down your wheels from prolonged use of your skates, you will notice that your wheels do not wear down evenly. Usually, your wheels will wear more on your stronger foot than on the weaker one, more on the inside than on the outside thanks to using stopping techniques like T-stop and power slide, and more towards the front if you are a beginner or intermediate skater. Rotating your wheels evens out this wear pattern, which extends the life of your wheels and saving your money. Unevenly worn wheels can also cause inconsistent and weird behaviour from your skates, which can be dangerous, especially when urban skating.
Wheel wear
The above image shows the 4 categories of wheel wear.
- A: A perfectly new and unworn wheel. There is no need for any wheel rotation.
- B and C: Uneven wheel wear. These urgently need to be rotated.
- D: These wheels are beyond saving, and should be replaced entirely. You might find that your skates behave very differently after these wheels get replaced.
Frequency of wheel rotation
There is no fixed rule for how frequent you should be rotating your wheels, as it depends on a lot of different factors. Some factors include:
- Hardness of wheels you are using.
- The type of skating you do, as urban skating and performing slides will wear your wheels out more than doing slalom tricks.
- The surface you are skating on.
- How often you skate.
- The distance you skate.
- Your skating style.
- Your weight.
To keep it simple, the general rule of thumb is to rotate your wheels when your wheels look asymmetrical. Ideally, you should check your wheels at the end of your skate sessions. Rotate your wheels before you put your skates away if they look worn and asymmetrical, so you will have your skates ready to go the next time you need to use them.
Wheel rotation for a flat setup
The image on the left shows the classic 1-3 and 2-4 wheel rotation, which is a great place to start to even out wheel wear. Ensure that you always turn the worn side (the angled side) towards the outside of your skates when you put the wheel into its new position.
The image on the right shows the 4-1-2-3 wheel rotation, which you should alternate with the classic 1-3 and 2-4 wheel rotation to ensure that your wheels last as long as possible.
If your wheels are beyond saving or are too small, purchase a new set of 8 wheels in one go and replace the old wheels with the new ones. Most of the time, your new set of wheels should come with bearings. If they don't, then move the bearings from your old wheels to the new ones. While doing so, ensure that you don't lose any bearings or spacers, or any other part for that matter, but especially the spacers, as your wheels will wobble more and make funky sounds without them.
Wheel rotation for Hi Lo setups
The wheel rotation strategies below will extend the life span of your wheels, but will change the behaviour of your skates as they result in the Hi Lo setup and the Banana Hi Lo setup respectively. The transition will be gradual if you start from a flat setup, giving you time to adapt to the new behaviour of your skates.
Reordering your wheels
Before you start rotating your wheels for the Hi Lo setups, your wheels need to be reordered. For this, take out all the wheels from your skates, and then order them by size, as shown in the image on the left. If you can't decide which wheel is bigger by simply looking at them, no need to break out the ruler or the calipers, just put them side by side. This should take a minute at most, not hours.
If you find the smallest wheels getting too small, or if they start 'coring', which is when the polyurethane starts peeling away from the core of the wheel, then discard the two smallest wheels and add two new wheels to the end of the stack, as shown in the image on the right. Make sure to move the bearings and spacers to the new wheels if they don't come with any, otherwise, just save them for a rainy day.
If the smallest wheels are broken, throw them away, or use them in an anti-rocker setup as the central two wheels. Otherwise, measure them and write the current size on them, and place them into a bag of spare wheels for special occasions or specific setups.
The diagrams in the following section assume that your right foot is stronger than your left, so the wheels on the right skate will be a touch bigger than the ones on the left. If you are left-footed, simply reverse the left-right pattern for the correct effect.
Hi Lo setup
Once you are done reordering your wheels, distribute them as shown above for the Hi Lo setup.
Banana Hi Lo setup
Alternatively, when you are done reordering your wheels, you can distribute them as shown above for the Banana Hi Lo setup.
Practical advice
- Depending on the type of your frames and axles, you may need either one or two Allen keys. Skates from Seba most likely require two Allen keys, one called the frame key for the frame, and the other for the axles. These should come with your skate, but if you have misplaced them, you can use standard Allen keys in your toolbox, buy them from hardware stores, or use those provided by IKEA.
- Be very careful to not lose any parts, and hold on to anything you are taking out, be it axles, bolts, or spacers, you will need them again in the future.
- If you have a brake on your skate, look out for the longer axle. That axle must go back in the same place.
- If you are changing wheels, make sure you move all the bearings and spacers before you throw the wheels out. If your new wheels already comes with bearings and spacers, make sure to salvage and store the bearings and spacers from the old wheels, and save them for a rainy day, you never know when you might need them.