For everyday use and riding, cruiser boards are the default choice for many skateboarders. Maneuverable boards with versatile wheels for all types of surfaces.
While most cruiser decks are short and have a kicktail, the choice of wheels can greatly impact the riding experience.
Here are some tips on how to choose the right cruiser skate wheels for your riding.
Soft wheels or hard wheels?
This is the main question to consider when making a decision. Most of the time, a cruiser is made to move in the street, on the asphalt, and as such, soft wheels are more adequate to keep comfort on the most irregular grounds. This is what we find on a large majority of complete boards which are precisely designed to be as versatile as possible.
If the range of cruisers complete boards often have wheels of duro 78a to 83a, it is not impossible to mount hard wheels on a Cruiser.
Hard wheels, and especially slide wheels, allow to modify the behavior of a cruiser to gain in maneuverability. In addition, the slide wheels have a better sliding capacity, so they are more adapted for tricks lovers and those who want to leave the possibility to go to skatepark. Finally, even if it's a bit more radical, the slide wheels are made for... slider! If you want to ride a freeride board to get around and have fun slidding, the choice is made.
Special wheels
If the vast majority of skateboarders will opt for longboard wheels (soft or slides), it is nevertheless possible to equip your cruiser with wheels a little different.
You can for example choose to mount skateboard wheels from street to maximize your ability to do tricks and evolve at skatepark. Of course, in this case, your Cruiser will lose a lot of versatility and you will have more difficulties to ride on damaged sidewalks or to face the number one enemy of the skateboarder of street: gravel ! However, you will still enjoy a wider and more comfortable deck than a street skateboard while maximizing the freestyle character of your board.
Conversely, you can opt for large carving longboard wheels to optimize the grip of your board. Particularly interesting to send aggressive carving without ever stalling, the big wheels (70mm and more) will offer you an unequalled comfort in front of the asperities and the obstacles which litter the ground. No more stops on a gravel or a twig, you are in steamroller mode. Be careful, with this kind of mounting, your cruiser board loses maneuverability and you find yourself "on rails". This may not be a disadvantage if your ride is on a stretch of bad sidewalk and you don't need a lot of maneuverability (to go 2 km straight for example).