Hey look, I’m not making this stuff up. This is a system for skateboard wheels that consists of an aluminum hub with interchangeable urethane treads. It dates back to around 2003 or so, possibly a little bit earlier. I believe they were made by Dragonetti, although I could be wrong. If not, I think it was some similar sounding name with an Italian sounding suffix. These pictures are from a used set, and I neglected to clean out the skatepark grime that accumulated on them, but you get the idea. The aluminum hub was actually a two piece fabrication. Pressure from the axle nut was supposed to compress the hub against the inner lip of the urethane wheel to keep it stable, but the reality was that normal use would cause the wheels to slip on the center hub. It seemed like a difficult but not insurmountable deficiency to overcome. This might have been a case where the product was rushed to market too soon. They don’t seem to be available anymore. In fact, this set belonged to Grover, and he was in contact with the manufacturer for a while about the performance issues. They said they had a solution figured out and were supposed to send him a replacement set under warranty but nothing ever came of it. The costs of the initial wheel and hub combo was moderately more expensive than a traditional wheel, but the replacement treads were priced to make them cheaper than buying a new set of standard wheels. There are some more pictures after the jump.
Aluminum hub skateboard wheel system with replaceable urethane tread.
Click to enlarge.
21 comments
shazic17
I have a pai of wheels just like that. I actually cleaned them up last night and put them on my board. I always liked those wheels because of the rim and the fact that it carried no logos.
Andrew
I purchased these wheels for my board and I truly loved them. I have talked to the owner of the comapny several times and if anyone needs any parts, I would be willing to try to hook you up!!!
andrewpixeleyez@gmail.com
As for right now, the newest product, the Dualleys they sell kick ass, they grip well in turns and glide really smooth!
Barf
There were plenty of vintage wheels with replaceable tires on aluminum hubs back in the day. The most common ones were called “Fanjets” and interchangeable tires and hubs were made by several manufacturers, including Vanguard, Labeda, and Hugger. The wheels were used on rollerskates as well as skateboards.
http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii300/TyRhunt/Huggerscirca1979.jpg
There’s a guy in Australia that’s working on replacement tires for ’em.. but only in really high duros for rollerskaters.
solboy
The same wheel assembly system as a Vespa… enough to put anyone off.
Carl's pink belt
“…good natured heckling from the crew” Fag!
Ryan Heckler
seems Josh has fewer and fewer legs to stand on, or original wheel ideas to roll on, if you will…
Kilwag
Holy shit. I actually own a set of skateboard wheel hubs with replaceable urethane treads. On my Sizzler!
I only bought it becasue I thoughtit was funny they had a skateboard named after those Sizzler cars that they also made.
That might explain why it doesn’t roll so well.
Kilwag
No, I didn’t. I have one of the Matell Sizzler boards. Plastic. Awesome. Crappy.
Actually, the hubs look the same. I’ve got to look at that thing more carefully.
Livmo
Randy, Did you happened to catch what they cost? $50 for a set of four. Pretty steep for a set of crappy wheels in 1977. Their boards and trucks were just as cheesey.
Kilwag
Got it bigger here
Oops, damned frames! Tthey don’t have a direct link. Check out the extensive advert gallery.
Kilwag
Those MAG hubs look like crappy plastic.
Banana Jammers and Blue Streakers!
Classic!
Kilwag
LIVMO – Damng! You’re holding out on me. Apparently the idea is older than I thought. There’s got to be a patent for that somewhere.
Can you email me a pointer to a larger version?
enemy combatant – We’re damned if we don’t skate enough pools and damned if we do. Are you off your meds or something?
enemy combatant
Bones ditch-tech suck for ditches and other rough stuff. NoSkools, Rainskates, and ‘gators in mid-80 duros are all superior. Not that you morons who only skate pools would actually know.
Livmo
Didn’t Mattel Toys do this same thing in ’77 with their Magnum line?
Mac
Love the ditch-tech bones for rougher and/or more slippery stuff. Fast, smooth, grippy. I’ll bust them out for masonite or maybe an older park like West Linn where the surface is going south.
Kilwag
I have a set of ditch formula Bones, and have received a lot of good natured heckling from my crew., but I like them. I love the SPF’s but wanted to have a softer wheel on some occasions.
I think one of the draws of that Genghis system was supposed to be that it allowed you to have multiple wheel setups without having to buy bearings for each. I suppose It might make sense if you wanted to ride really expensive ceramic bearings and didn’t want to have to buy multiple sets. You could switch them out at a race or something. I don’t think it would save you any time, that’s for sure.
The draw of thee Dragonetti system above was supposed to be that it was substantially cheaper to buy a set of retreads than it was to buy another full set of wheels.
I imagine someone will try to pitch the idea from an environmental standpoint too. Less urethane waste over time, but you’d have to calculate that against the carbon footprint of forging and finishing the hubs…
Ideas like this usually don’t make it on a large scale because a simpler approach seems to work best for the most part. Super specialized conditions like racing seem to be the only place where people are willing to invest big bucks in different technologies.
Tony D.
I had krypto ultralights which had a plastic hub… couldn’t change the outsides though.
Larry
i dont know why you’d ever need interchangeable tires and rims when a set of wheels can be had for 30 bones or less…speaking of bones, theyre the best i have ever skated, spf and stf. havent tried the ditch ones yet. nary a flatspot, but some coning.
Kilwag
There have been aluminum hubbed wheels before, I have an Alva set too, but the urethane was not replaceable. Did the Schmitt Six wheels have replaceable parts?
john aguilar
schmitt stix came out with something similar i think they were 60mm and had a aluminum hub , but you had to use some special washers>??
Seth
you got the name right. Oust has similar looking wheels a while back as well from what I remember.