I got these wheels from everyone’s favorite Smut Peddler and former Accel employee Gish. You know how when you get free stuff and it sucks? Well this wasn’t the case. Gish warned me that these were some hard wheels and that a lot of people couldn’t hang with them. These wheels were as kick ass as the sign of Satan that is featured on the graphics. They were indeed hard, and stayed that way for longer than Ron Jeremy. I have to tell you that I was sad to see these wheels go when they had outlived their usefulness. I liked them so much that I probably rode them a lot longer than I should have. They were hard as hell but I felt I could control the slides and not sketch out. My primary use for these was in concrete skateparks. The only use for which I found them too hard was at the local indoor park. The bowl in the back is covered in masonite and as a rule seems to get swept out about once a year, although management indignantly assured me otherwise. On (dirty) masonite the wheels were deadly. They collected turf dirt in lumps on the wheels and were very Wilson inducing, including the deadliest of all Wilson’s, the sideways Wilson down the waterfall on the hip into the deep end. But really, any hard wheel would perform similarly under like circumstances. Did I mention these wheels did not flatspot? When it came time to replace these wheels I couldn’t find them in my local shops and I was really quite agitated as a result. I would gladly consider buying more, and so should you unless you are a friend of Gish, because they canned him.
Not Pictured: Skatepark formula wheels. I rode some other wheels for a while after the Accel Rocks wore out. I wasn’t that happy so I decided to try the Accel Skatepark formula wheels. The Skatepark wheels have a completely different formula and had a kind of a cheap looking finish to them. I’m not sure what they meant by skatepark wheels, cause to me, in Oregon it means concrete. Perhaps they are meant for street/prefab skate parks. I found these wheels to be a little too soft and slow for my tastes, and I never really warmed to them although they did perform better in the dust bowl.
I also received some street wheels that Accel makes with different cities as the focus of the graphics. I chose the Chicago graphics because I’ve spent a lot of time growing up in and around Chicago, but I don’t live there. The idea of trying to cash in on civic pride is a smart one. However, I’d probably feel like a bit of a tool buying them in the city that they are named for. It my be just my insecurities, but they mostly appealed to me because I was in exile. Of course, they sit on a shelf still shrink wrapped. Hey, they’re a souvenir.
General thoughts on the company:
One thing I liked about Accel’s lineup was the fact that they had the same formula available in multiple sizes. One thing I disliked was that for a while they were offering some wacky wheels that had non-removable built in bearings. They were substantially cheaper than buying wheels and even discount bearings separately, but they seemed pretty cheesy. The owner at the shop I saw them at said the kids weren’t going for it either. They kind of smacked of a roller skating promotion or something else that would leave a bad taste in your mouth. Remember, the hard wheels are really quite good. My favorites actually. Until they fired Gish. Of course their whole product line has probably changed by now, so this is pointless. Their design sense as a whole is pretty schizophrenic. There’s no common denominator, and to look at the whole product line together you’d be hard pressed to tell it was all from the same company. I think Mike V has something to do with this company as well. He’s one of their pros and the Accel news emails I got had a lot of extraneous Mike V. info.
Online Action: accelwheels.com
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