Honest Review of The Orangatang Bee's Knees

I'm very impressed 

The Bee's Knees are VERY good. 

They're very nimble and VERY fast. 

Honestly like, I even like them a little bit better than the Karmas. 

Let's talk a little about why:

THE FEEL

They feel very different compared to all my other wheels. I feel like I'm on my tippytoes when riding these wheels, versus the hard contact of the underfoot with other wheels like Karmas, Abec11 Reflys, SpeedVents, etc. 

Which incidentally brings me to my next point:

THE LIPS

The lips are rounded over. They're not a square edge lip!! It's to primarily provide relief to the wheels to prevent chunking. And man, this combined with the core, really set this wheel apart from other competitors. 

THE SPEED

They're VERY fast. These wheels weigh in at around 10 oz per wheel, so you know they're light. And brother, they feel light, too. But they're also super nimble. "Why are they nimble" you may be asking. Well, that's because of the lip. It's rounded over. Making these wheels very thin. They're actually smaller width wise than Kegels at 54mm (CP of Bees Knees 44mm, Kegels are 56mm in overall width, 80mm in height) 

THE CORE:

These cores actually come centerset....most wheels of this size (and frankly, all big wheels on the Otang lineup... except for these) feature an offset core. But these ones, they're actually a centerset core. What this does, that's different compared to the other wheels with a offset core, is that both lips will contact the ground and grip with both lips, versus one that's gripping. Because most wheels are often offset, which grip with one lip, the outer lip. Not to say all of them are offset (Abec11 Refly 90mm is Centerset, for example), but this wheel is. But SpeedVents are offset, as well as Karmas. As well as most Boas iirc. 

The Duro:

I got the 77a blue Bee's Knees. Not only are they very squishy, you can feel them gripping the pavement. I'm thinking of buying a harder set (80a Orange, or, the NEW 83a Pink) and putting them onto the front truck of my setup, so that way I will have minimal slippage, plus grip for days. But we will see. 

Verdict:

They have the IT factor to them. 11.1/10. They're better than the Karmas, and I thought that the Karmas were among the best of the best. I mean, honestly, I feel the lips gripping hard, and gripping right despite the rounded lips. 

Comparative Progress

I started out my LDP career with an experimental board. 

It was an experiment for sure. It was more of a hodge podge of things I had at the time. The deck itself is an Ehlers evo shape, and I got it pretty cheap. I chopped it so I can outfit a TTS/A(?) , and no, it wasn't pretty. For grip I have Vicious griptape, for a front truck I have the narrowest Bennet Vector truck available (because they were out of stock on their website and thought; "Hey why not?", not realizing at the time that the different widths/trims were important to distinguish between the two disciplines). Those disciplines of course being Slalom and LongDistancePush/Pump. And for wheels, it had Ahmyo Akasha FR on the rear, 79a, and 78a plow kings on the front. 

Think of this, like an early (very early, rough) version of the Melonenkacke Platypusher. Now granted, I didn't think this setup out all the way, hence why it's so goddamn ugly. Especially the front truck. Too narrow of a front, paired with used cruiser wheels, paired with fairly scrubbed Ahmyo Akasha FR's, is a recipe for a sub par setup. Not to mention the fact that both these wheels were well under the 75mm threshold for pumping wheels. 

Compare this, to what I have now

Optimized bushings for my weight. Plus, much larger wheels, make this a pumping machine. 

DON'T TRIP SPHERICAL REPLACEMENT

If you are thinking of "upgrading" the spherical in your Pivot for a Pivot Cup , heed this warning: 

Don't Trip Pivot Tubes don't work!!!

SKOA CUPS WORK!!!

I know, very confusing. 

Honest Review of the Orangatang Love Handles

They're okay. They're really slow though.

I've taken them to a multitude of places, including:

1. The skatepark 

On the skatepark, they're very slow. You will be carving and turning, wiggling, but if you go too slow past a certain threshold they're very hard to get back up to speed. Which is weird. But, my Surfskate is longer than usual (~57") so that may have something to do with it.

2. The trail.

On the trail though? They're very easy to get up to speed. You can carve pretty fast, and then when your carving turns into pumping, that's when you can seriously get some speed.

The Consensus?

They're okay. They really excel at quick, concise movements, especially over a trail where you have to be going back and forth constantly. But other than that? No, this isn't the wheel for me. 

Why?

I think it was two things:

1. The Core

2. The Urethane 

Let me explain to you why I think that. 

1. The Core

It's a VERY basic core. No step to stiffen the Urethane or anything. Like I said, it's just a simple core. Nothing like the EC HUB core from Seismic, which actually stiffens the Urethane. By having the step in the core, it'd actually stiffen the outer lip area, but, no, it doesn't have anything like that.

2. The Urethane 

It's very sluggish, just in general. Many LDP'ers actually don't like Orangatang wheels because of how slow they are. They actually feature a  notoriously slow urethane, called Happy Thane. But there are exceptions to this rule. Like, for example, The Kegels, and The Caguamas. In Heat,iykyk. Even the Bee's Knee's...... So yes there are exceptions, but they're pretty minute when compared to other Urethane formulas. 

Overall though?

Ehhhh...

3-4, maybe a 5/10, high 4/10, really low 5/10. Which is weird because I don't mind this Urethane when poured in, say, a Kegels mold. But, on the other hand however, my Surfskate is on the longer side. So, that may influence the feeling. 

They roll, but other than that? No, these wheels aren't it for me. Very disappointed 

Don't forget to leave a comment.about your favorite Urethane, Wheel or Brand of Urethane, i.e. Abec11, Seismic, Orangatang etc. etc.

Honest Review of the Pantheon Karma

Pantheon Karma Wheel Review 

I've had two sets, the first ones in were, let's say, pretty rough. I got them from a friend. The friend in question actually downhilled on these, and threw some slides. So, they were pretty worn when I got them. I believe they were worn down to at least 91mm, maybe even 90mm.

So obviously, that's not ideal. BUT, I will say this; when I first got them from Sam Odenborg and threw them on the old BB+, I could almost immediately start pumping them. Even with a not so ideal bushing setup. So, that's a good testament to how these wheels perform. 

I liked them so much in fact, that I got them for myself. Here are the specs:

Diameter: 92mm

Width: 53mm

Contact Patch: 49mm

Weight: 278g each

I love them. 

They're grippy when fresh. They're also very fast.

The thing I like the most about the karma's is how they are poured. They're poured to be gripping, no matter what. Like, they're poured with a slight skew. It's pretty interesting. Not only that but they are also poured upside down, so the bubbles are forming on the outside of the wheel, instead of on the inside, because again it has that lip. Pure performance, right?

Plus, with that rebound lip, it helps a lot. I can actually feel it helping. All around though, I am very impressed. 

One thing I absolutely love about this wheel is that it has the Nautilus Core....a new core by Pantheon. I like it cause it's unique, it has that biomimicry effect. The thing about the core though, is that Pantheon updated their core, making this core harder to find, essentially. They updated it to increase the strength, but man, that new core looks boring. I'm sorry, but it had to be said. 

It's also huge. It stands at 92mm tall. In fact it's slightly bigger than my other 90mm wheel, the Abec11 Refly's. And it's at least 7mm taller than my old Speedvents. But it's still small, when compared to it's bigger brother the Hoku, which stands at 102mm. 

But by golly miss molly do I love these wheels. 10/11 for me, truly.

Honest Review of the Abec11 ReFly 90mm Wheels

They actually feel really good!

They're a 74a wheel, which means that they are really soft. 

Granted now, I have experience pumping some Pantheon Karmas, as well as 85mm Speed Vents. 

Now, here are my thoughts.

1. The Comfort 

The Comfort on these wheels are astonishing. 

Although, that comes with a disadvantage as well. But yeah, these wheels, when initially pushed, feel absolutely amazing. 

2. The Pumping 

The Pumping is..... okay (?). I mean like it does it's job fine enough, but I was struggling with it a little bit. But it pumps fine. This actually is a sorta extension on point 1 though, being that because they're so soft, they're harder to pump. Now, with the Karmas, also being 74a, it's weird. They don't feel that soft, so they feel better in the pump, but with the Abec11's, they feel gummy. Which should in theory be great for pumping, however, because they're so soft, it also decelerates the wheel just a tad, which equals to more work on MY (YOUR) part. So, with that being said, I have no idea why the Karmas are better, whether it's the shape, or the urethane, I like the Karmas a heck of a lot more than the Reflys!!

3. These wheels aesthetically are very pleasing.  But also, they're a very simple wheel. Nothing fancy about these wheels, no sir! In fact, that's probably why I don't like them that much, THEY'RE A VERY SIMPLE SHAPE.

4. In comparison to the Karmas (review coming soon btw) they feel a tad sluggish, but overall, they are for sure a wheel haha! I think because of the urethane, plus the simple shape and design, these wheels feel really lackluster.

My overall rating of them tho??

7/10 

They feel good enough for pumping, but, there are better options for sure.

Honest Review of the Zealous Ceramic's

Honest Review of the Zealous Ceramic's

They're definitely a bearing.

Not much different than Regular Zealous Steel