Oh, the wheelbite, one of the longboard’s worst enemies! Imagine happily cruisin’ on your longboard or feeling the wind while your downhill longboarding, then you’re wheel lockup, screech, and before you know it, you’ve crashed.
It’s like the Grinch who steals happiness from longboarding, forever in the back of your mind. But hey – you don’t let a wheelbite ruin your fun!
There are tried-and-true ways to avoid it. But first let’s define what exactly wheelbite is.
Defining Wheelbite
A wheelbite happens when the underside of the board touches the rolling wheels. You may hear a screeching sound when this happens because of the rolling wheels rubbing against the board. With a wheelbite, there is a risk of hurting yourself because it can cause the longboard to suddenly stop. This can cause the skater to be thrown off the board and cause minor bruises to major injuries.
Why Should You Avoid A Wheelbite?
For obvious reasons, you should learn to avoid having a wheelbite for safety. No one is looking forward to being thrown off their longboard while using it. Even if you think your reflexes are good, when your longboard suddenly stops, you’ll be thrown off due to momentum. It’s good if you can plan your landings and avoid major injuries but minor bruises are still painful.
Secondly if you do necessary steps to avoid a wheelbite, you’d be more confident with how you cruise and carve. You wouldn’t be worried about the wheelbite because you took necessary precautions and adjustments to avoid it. This can help have a better experience at longboarding. It also helps you to better push yourself.
Thirdly, avoiding wheelbites can also save you money. With a wheelbite, the durability of your wheels and deck would be affected. The more you can avoid this, the less likely you’d have to repair or replace those parts.
How To Avoid A Wheelbite
There are different reasons why you could experience a wheelbite. There are things in your longboard that you can check, adjust, add or replace to lessen the risk of having a wheelbite. Here are the things you can do to avoid that nasty wheelbite.
Tighten Your Trucks
One of the things that could cause you to have is a wheelbite is when your trucks are too loose. Some suggest beginners to have loose trucks because they can better learn their balance with looser trucks. However, too loose would increase the risk of having a wheelbite.
To prevent a wheelbite, you can tighten your trucks a bit so that it doesn’t touch the board whenever you turn. Just take note that tightening it could restrict the turning ability of the truck. Trucks that are too tight would be more difficult to steer so you should find the balance between too loose and too tight trucks.
Choose Decks With Cutouts
Longboards come in various lengths and shapes. Some may even have cutouts. Those cutouts aren’t there just to make the longboards look unique or cute. They are there to prevent wheel bites.
You’d usually find the cutout above the wheels. This will allow the rider to fully lean without having to worry about having a wheel bite. Longboards that have drop decks as well as drop-through decks have cutouts or are shaped in a way where the wheels are exposed to prevent wheelbite.
Consider Wheel Wells Or Flares
Wheel wells are usually created by the deck manufacturer to prevent wheel bite. Instead of cutouts, the boards are grinded out to give more space for the wheels. Usually two to three layers of material from the underside of the board are grinded out. This is a good substitute for those who are not fond of how cutout boards look like.
Alternatively, flares can also be done on the deck to make more room for the wheels. When you look at a longboard with flares on it’s side, you’d see a bump on the areas right above the wheels. Instead of grinding the material, it is simply flared to add more space for the wheels.
Add Risers
If you don’t want cutouts or flared decks, the next option that would work for your setup would be to add risers. Risers are added to the truck’s baseplate to, as the name implies, raise up the deck. However, raising the deck could also affect stability as it would be further from the ground.
Opt For Smaller Wheels
In order to give more room to your wheels, you may also select those that have a smaller diameter. Many skaters would select bigger wheels so they can reach faster speeds however, smaller wheels also go fast. If you want a faster longboard without increasing the risk of a wheelbite too much, then select a mid-sized wheel rather than the biggest you can find.
Conclusion
Wheelbites could happen to any longboard. However, you shouldn’t let it stop you from enjoying your longboard. There are different ways on how to avoid it as discussed above. You just have to figure out which one works best for your preferred setup.
