ORANGATANG FLAVORS
By Adam C at Loaded Longboards
To clear up some confusion and to answer some questions... please read below.
What is the difference between the Orangatang In Heat & 4President 80a and the 83a versions?
The 83a wheels are a harder duro. The wheels will have less grip than the 80a’s, more prone to losing traction and will be a tab bit faster on most surfaces. The 83a’s should also wear better due to the harder duro.
Note: The 83a’s are NOT SLIDE WHEELS. They will slide easier than the 80a’s, but they are still not a slide specific or even a free-ride wheel. These shapes are intended to be grippy and have high rebound lips for energy generation.
Which duro should I get?
If you want more grip go with the 80a. If you want more speed and less grip go with the 83a. This all depends on your riding style.
Note: For those that want maximum grip with less speed and hardly any worries about sliding, Orangatang is playing with developing a softer formula than the 80a. Time will tell.
If all I care about is sliding and very minimal grip what should I do?
Orangatang will be releasing a free-ride wheel, which will be geared towards riders looking for a wheel than can grip when needed and slide (buttery smooth of course) when the time is ripe. These free-ride wheels are still at least 3-5 months away from being released.
Orangatang FREE-RIDE WHEELS
By Adam C at Loaded Longboards
The Development of the Free Ride Wheel, created by robots.
The Concept
Versatile wheels designed to grip when wanted and to slide smoothly and consistently when desired. Intended to enhance the current caliber of freeride longboard riding.
Prototyping
The concept of these shapes was initially formulated in 2002, and the original prototyping tooling was created in 2005. Throughout 2006 we refined the urethane and hit a few dead ends. In 2007 we created second round prototype tooling, further refining the shape and swing weight characteristics. We finally achieved urethane that we were happy with and continued to refine the lip shapes and offset placement. In 2008 we took what we learned from the 4 Pres and In Heats and had a round table with our riders in August which helped propel the designs. We developed a serious understanding of offset placement, appropriate widths (by height), inner and outer lip flex characteristics and the relationship between the two. We also continued to further refine the inner and outer lip round over radii and the face shapes to dial in the flex and increase speed (by removing excess swing weight). Subtle changes have a pronounced effect, and the drawing revisions could fill a large book. As always, we continue to experiment and are always testing new urethane compositions, core shapes/materials and rethinking the shapes from the ground up.
Testing
After each batch of prototypes were poured, rigorous testing followed on a variety of world class terrain by the Orangatang riders. With each tested batch, valuable information was gained as to how the wheels felt, wore and performed on different surfaces and at different speeds. We broke down each batch till they were un-ridable nubs and determine favorable wheel characteristic and how the shape, urethane, and core performed. Through our testing we also found that the stone grind finish promotes a butter slide right out of the box and a more consistent wear pattern. We literally thrashed multiple wheels/compounds in dozens of prototype phases per shape and now feel that the wheels have all the qualities that we were looking for.
The Final Product
These wheels are designed to grip as well as to slide. They therefore have relatively wide contact patches to provide dependable grip (especially without sharp lips to dig in with). But they are still intended to slide, so they are noticeably narrower than a slalom/race wheel (ie. the 4 Presidents and In Heats) and have different angles on the inner and outer faces so as to make them firmer. They have rounded lips (inner and outer) so as not to get caught up while sliding, and firm and balanced lip flex characteristics so as to reduce chatter in slides. We’ve stone ground a thin layer of the contact patch and lip radii in order to break the surface structure. This makes the wheels pre-broken in (smooth slides out of the box) and makes further wheel break-in more consistent and predictable. Overall, we believe we’ve created some really unique and kick-ass wheels with these freerides that will greatly expand what can be done on a skateboard.
Ride a hippo,
Orangatang