pneumatic wheels - pros and cons?

[LordSnow]

Hello,
Longtime lurker here and I am finally ready to dive in and begin building an eboard. I haven't bought any parts yet and I'm still trying to decide on some things, one of which is the general type of wheels to use - pneumatic or urethane? Can someone share their experience with pneumatics and what some of the pros and cons are? I like the idea of a smoother ride, but are there some downsides i need to know about? It seems like there would be more maintenance involved (flat tires, balancing). I'll be riding primarily on city streets. I live in San Francisco, so hills and rough roads will be the usual. No plans to take it offroad at this point, though an emountainboard sounds like a blast.

Any help is appreciated.

 

[psychotiller]

I love pnuematics. I make custom pneumatic hubs. But honestly, especially if you're primary riding is to be done on asphalt, nothing beats a nice soft set of urethane wheels.

In a week or so you will start to see feedback from the guys who just bought wheels from me. Let's see what they say!

 

[whitepony]

pneumatics offer a super smooth ride over nearly every terrain, and really crazy grip for carving! basically you dont have to constantly evaluate the surface anymore, can just go wild.

downside of that grip: pneumatics wear down very fast, I usually replaced a whole set of pneumatics in 3, max 4 weeks (about 250-300km)! if you carve very little, they will last you much longer though. another downside: pneumatics can get punctured and then your tour is over. :wink:

 

[LordSnow]

Hmm... that's discouraging. I didn't realize they would wear down that quickly. I'm sure it depends on the hubs/wheels, but what is the usual cost of replacing a full set of tires once they've worn out?

 

[psychotiller]

The matco 6x2 tires wear alright. They cost $80 for a set with tubes.

 

[alexaus]

For my commuting, it's nice to have smaller polyurethane wheels. They use a lot less energy, so your range is increased compared to using pneumatics. They also can't get punctured, and can last thousands of km. My 80a Kegels have done at least 3000 km with plenty of carving and fun and rough pavement, and only one has chunked out a little bit is still completely useable.

Fixing a flat on those tiny pneumatics sucks.

 

[whitepony]

They use a lot less energy, so your range is increased compared to using pneumatics.

ah yea, thats a really good point! you can see the difference very well in the evolve portfolio: a carbon street has max range of 40km, a carbon all terrain a max range of 25km! its the same battery, I had both setups and I can confirm these numbers!

 

[alexaus]

They use a lot less energy, so your range is increased compared to using pneumatics.

ah yea, thats a really good point! you can see the difference very well in the evolve portfolio: a carbon street has max range of 40km, a carbon all terrain a max range of 25km! its the same battery, I had both setups and I can confirm these numbers!

Yeah. Well, the numbers are rubbish, unless you want to spend 4 hours going 10 kph (just buy a regular longboard for that haha). But the proportion may indeed be valid.
The Evolve ranges are like ideal conditions and no hill, and on low speed mode. If you actually ride it to its capability, you might get half of that stated range if you're lucky.

 

[whitepony]

Yeah. Well, the numbers are rubbish, unless you want to spend 4 hours going 10 kph (just buy a regular longboard for that haha). But the proportion may indeed be valid. The Evolve ranges are like ideal conditions and no hill, and on low speed mode. If you actually ride it to its capability, you might get half of that stated range if you're lucky.

well, the point is not that evolve range is realistic or not, but that you burn nearly half of your battery on the additional deformation of the pneumatic tyres over kegels/83mm abec urethane wheels!

 

[WeeChumlee]

Punctures suck, had a few of them.
Can only agree with whitepony on wear of tires and vastly reduced range.
Went back to urethane on my dual for these very reasons.
Pneumatics are lovely and smooth, absolutely. For me though the disadvantages outweighed the advantages - but everyone to their own.

 

[LordSnow]

Thanks for the info, all! Based on the feedback, I will probably stick with urethane just to keep things simple for my first board. Maybe I'll give pneumatics a try later down the road.

 

[whitepony]

Thanks for the info, all! Based on the feedback, I will probably stick with urethane just to keep things simple for my first board. Maybe I'll give pneumatics a try later down the road.

I went down the pneumatic route first with eboards due to my evolve, but then I got really tired of buying pneumatics every month for 50eur, so I went and tried to make regular urethane boards more comfy. rubber risers, 90mm 75A abec flywheels, some flex and even long rides become actually very pleasant.

on both urethane boards I built so far, I removed some plys of wood/gfk by sanding to tune the level of flex. you can have very flexy boards if you split cases like on the boosted boards or semi-flexy boards with cases that can allow flex (like my rubber tube enclosure). there are a lot of options to make urethane pleasant to ride, even on rough surfaces!